Is there a sanctioning body that sanctions this event? If so they are also to blame since they know from past experience what will happen.
Barry Behrman Stiff Video
- Thread starter Fast Lenny
- Start date
The WPA santioned this event.
Probably busy protecting her reputation.
I agree with you John and I know from personal experience trying to plan something like this that will work for a tradeshow that the numbers just don't come up most of the time.
I haven't seen it ever come up to a positive or I would have already had one. If someone finds a formula that does work its because something gets thrown in free or exists as part of something you pay for.
39 years. I can imagine it would be really hard to throw in the towel but you still keep on driving the train.
Im sure Barry gets in the way of himself some too and that's what we see and I don't agree with a lot of what he is doing but he at least is consistent.
I don't know but I would hope he gets around to paying people eventually and that tells you where its coming from....its coming from him. Like him or love him......39 years.
He has to have some really thick skin.
How could anybody take that little speech seriously? Really, does anyone anywhere believe there are hundreds of thousands of dollars to be made by anyone running this tournament? That's the dead giveaway to sarcasm of this sort, a setup statement that is so completely contrary to common sense that it can't be taken at face value.
Now, was it in poor taste? Well, it's Barry. Is there anything he does that would be considered in good taste?
Again, this is just the guy's ironic sense of humor. There isn't even a champagne commonly available that costs $100/glass, you'd have to get into rare or vintage stuff for that. Probably was some sort of cheap bubbly at less than $100/case and he was embarrassed about it.
There is a difference between understanding it's a joke and getting outraged by the audacity of it.
In a week or so, Barry will release another of his bumbling 'press releases'. He will talk about how he is just doing his best, how he was hoping for a storm to use as an excuse but it never happened this year as the weather was perfect (how many of you in this thread gave him a pass the year of the hurricane--that doesn't seem to matter now cause Barry will mess it up storm or no storm), can't thank the fans enough, how he loves his daughter and his dog, how SVB made history, how the 40th US Open will be bigger and better, he has lots of surprises planned and he hopes to see everyone next year.
I agree.
Of course, he was trying to be sarcastic and funny, but it didn't work. When it comes to money, everything is *not* funny when you're winning big money and not getting paid.
I know Barry has a loving family who surround him. I'm sure they are embarrassed by his behavior when he drinks to excess. I kind of think that is why his daughter is not a part of the Open admin staff this year. I hope his family can get him the help he needs.
In the interim, I sure do hope those post-dated checks clear next Tuesday.
Jenny, I agree wholeheartedly. The US Open at one time was a great tournament and Barry did a great job through the crucial time of the growth of the open. However, in the last ten years or so Barry has displayed some pretty disgusting behavior, mostly because of his alcohol addiction. I'm not saying that it's excusable because of that.. which obviously it isn't and never will be. Barry needs to take a step back and try to dry himself out, if he can do that then the US Open will be the tournament that we can all be proud to be associated with. Until then all we can do is hope things will change.
:frown:Bill Incardona
Outrage is a powerful emotion. Personally, I reserve that feeling for the likes of Dick Cheney or Bernie Madoff. For Barry, I just feel something like this:
Attachments
Unfortunately, this is all true and spot on, except for maybe the last sentence and that may be true too.
Again, unfortunately this is also all true, as are all the comments highlighting his poor judgment when it comes to heavy drinking through the week of the Open and not even trying to hide it.
I am very new to the party. Impressive he's been giving to the game for 39 years. That said, I think as the organizer he should get someone involved to handle the PR and the speeches. While most probably picked up on the sarcasm, it's probably best to leave it for off the cameras.
Again, new to the party, and I've never ran a major event of this nature, but isn't the key sponsorship? (By outside companies and the venue it's being held at) Professionalism would seem to be important to the outside sponsors...
Barry didnt get the privilege to do anything. He built the Open from nothing. The type of people who do things like this are not like the vast majority of other people in the world. With Barry that means having a wildly inappropriate sense of humor (Like joking about slow paying guys right before they play a final you are going to slow pay them for), the impulse control of a five year old, the stubbornness of a mule and the balls to do things that would make almost anyone else run away and hide. Like coming back year after year telling the guys you slow rolled that its all good this year knowing damn good and well its not.
All in the name of the Open. Which is the same thing as Barry himself. They are one in the same. You dont get one without the other.
The thing is without all Barry's flaws and personal quirks there would be no Open. A normal business man would have quit years ago. A normal business man would probably have never started in the first place.
None of this is condoning his silly behavior every year on the mic or being hammered when its obviously a bad idea to be hammered. I'm just recognizing the fact that people who do extraordinary things are not usually normal people.
What Barry has been doing with the payments is terrible for the pro game. It will end up being his legacy instead of the event he held together out of sheer will for thirty nine years. That is sad and it is sad for the game because I see nothing else on the horizon that will have the same prestige as the US Open once had.
Welcome to the pool world. Allow me to present JCIN's Rules of Pro Pool World (Updated 2014 version)
1. Completely disregard any ideas about the pool world having anything at all in common with the real world.
2. Never bet against a Filipino
3. Always bet on Shane
4. If Shane is playing a Filipino keep your money in your pocket and enjoy the show.
5. If Cliff Joyner ever asks you stake him at a craps game...do it. You will lose all your money but you will get to tell the story about how you staked Cliff Joyner at a craps game.
6. If Barry Behrman ever says "We have a deal" consider yourself screwed. You may not know how/why/when but it just happened.
Heed these tenants and you shall prosper.
This would be true if any potential sponsors were watching the event.
They aren't. Professional pool is so far off their radar that it might as well not even exist...for their purposes.
For marketers/sponsors the audience numbers tell the story: How many attendees at the event? Maybe 1,000? Add the PPV audience; maybe another 2,000?
Three thousand viewers isn't even a rounding error in minor marketer/sponsors' book.
Bottom line: as much as I agree BB's handling of the event is badly flawed, there's really no harm to the pool industry in having it continue as is. The only thing that gets broken is people's unrealistic expectations.
hear, hear
Thanks for this post; it is the most articulate and telling explanation of this guy's history but also probably his unfortunate legacy........I said in another post that he probably would not be having these problems if we were living in a better economy and if his pool business was thriving.....the reality obviously is that he is trying to continue his production of the US Open annually, in spite of financial deficiencies. As has been said, no normal businessman would do what he does in putting on this tournament; the prospects for making a profit are next to none; yet he persists in putting it on every year. Sadly, despite his efforts, many people are hating on him for
"conning" them again. Not that I blame them; I'm glad I'm not one of those whom he owes money to.
Thanks for this post; it is the most articulate and telling explanation of this guy's history but also probably his unfortunate legacy........I said in another post that he probably would not be having these problems if we were living in a better economy and if his pool business was thriving.....the reality obviously is that he is trying to continue his production of the US Open annually, in spite of financial deficiencies. As has been said, no normal businessman would do what he does in putting on this tournament; the prospects for making a profit are next to none; yet he persists in putting it on every year. Sadly, despite his efforts, many people are hating on him for
"conning" them again. Not that I blame them; I'm glad I'm not one of those whom he owes money to.
I think this is a great post. There are very few normal folk that even own a pool room. Pool in America is on life support.
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