Billiards Digest Panozzo Takes Away Van Boenings World Title & bashes Juniors

S

Spade

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
the following is a shame towards young american players and the sport of pool in the USA

In Mike Panozzo's editorial, he basically said what Shane won should not be considered a world title .
"..just because there was one italian in the field.." he says

someone should let BD know that there was in fact over 20 countries represented there at the event, 96 players, and names like Bustamente, Pagulayan, Hohmann, Immonen, Archer, Orcullo, Souquet,Engert, Harriman, the list goes on..etc
and this is first world championships held in USA in over a decade

Then he bashes the junior event because of the field size. There were 16 junior boys and 8 junior girls invited.the quality of the fields was strong with many national junior champs such as Anna Kostanian(WPBA top 20 pro), Hijikata(Japan top 12 pro and runner up Junior 9ball worlds). Yu Ram CHa ended up winning the girls 10-ball event

I think he missed the point that at least someone like Charlie Williams,Cindy Lee, and Dragon group are putting forth a non-rewarding effort to help the juniors. also giving the USA some well deserved home field advantage for once with a USA made and hosted World Championship

It's sad to see pool media like Billiards Digest shooting its own foot and discouraging young talents like Shane(who may have the most potential of any American player) and junior programs like the World 10-Ball Juniors.
Shane won a fantastic event and title, and BD gave him a 1 page back of the issue write up. Pool & Billiard put him on the cover.

No wonder Williams focuses more overseas and why the other countries are kicking butt out there in the sports growth. They look on the bright side. realistically probably only a few thousand people really read his articles and it doesnt really impact anything on a global scale , but still its annoying out of principle.
It's the pool industries short sightedness that is part of the USA's problems .
I hope people like MIke Panozzo see the folly of their ways instead of holding back the sport.
at the end, what has he or Biliards Digest done to elevate and promote the sports growth?

More kudos to Inside Pool and Pool & Billiard are trying to raise the game's level.
 
Mike Panozzo seems to chew on his own foot a lot. I remember him doing a scathing "editorial" during some pool match about 10 years ago.
 
it was a really good tournament and a really good field.........i think its safe to assume that shane has earned the right to be called the 10 ball world champ.......whats the point in bashing pool and its players right now with the whole ipt debacle???
 
Spade said:
I hope people like MIke Panozzo see the folly of their ways instead of holding back the sport. at the end, what has he or Biliards Digest done to elevate and promote the sports growth?

More kudos to Inside Pool and Pool & Billiard are trying to raise the game's level.
Click to expand...

Actually, I'd like to take issue with your statement. It's been my experience that NONE of the national billiard magazines are willing to go the extra mile to give the sport better coverage and write positive articles about those organizations/corporations that aren't part of their adverstising base. It's only the smaller players who really care.

Case in point, I sent the following email to ALL the magazine editors, expressing my thoughts on this very subject. The only ones kind enough to even respond were Sandy Schuman of 'Inside English' and Paul Frankel of 'Professor Q-Ball'. And to be fair, 'On the Wire' was left off the solicitation and this rant does not apply to them or the other regional mags. But again, the only thing I heard from the national pool magazines after sending this email, was more follow-up calls from their ad sales staff asking if we wanted to purchase more ad space.



Attention Billiard Magazine Editors and Website Content Contributors:

On 8/23/07, PoolTees held an exciting event at the APA National Team Championships in Las Vegas. You can read more about it and watch the video here, http://www.pooltees.com/videos/videolinks.htm.

As evidenced by the video, the event was huge success. We (PoolTees) were able to bring originality and excitement to an otherwise generic Poolapalooza party. We believe it's important that these sorts of events are broadcast to the remainder of the billiards community, outside of those lucky few who attended the event. Having the confidence that we (PoolTees and the APA - representing the Billiards Merchandise and Billiards Event industry) will receive appropriate coverage after undertaking such events, enables us to plan and budget for similar billiard promotional events in the future.

The status quo, of offering write-ups for frequent advertisers only, both limits the flow of information to the billiards community and also puts smaller and newer industry upstarts, such as us, in the unfair position of having to prematurely budget highly coveted advertising dollars.

That being said, we'd like to ask that you run an article in upcoming issues/publications/postings regarding our event. The coverage will both add substance to otherwise standard articles and hopefully inspire other companies and organizations to put together more ambitious billiards events in the future. Each of us are responsible for doing what we can to promote the sport when and where we can. Remember, a rising tide lifts all ships.

So please give it some thought and let me know if you have any questions.
Thanks for listening!
-JS
President - PoolTees.com

Again, zero responses from the national pool magazines, exept random solicitions from their ad sales departments that didn't even make mention of the email. Therefore its safe to assume it never got more thought than a swift deletion from the inbox of the magazine heads.
 
Last edited:
I let my subsciption expire some time ago, was thinking that I have to get it coming again, cancel that thought.
 
Columnists get paid to express opinions. More to the point, they get paid to express opinions that people will talk about. Seems to me he has done his job with this one.

I was at the event in question shooting pictures for Dragon Promotions, it was a great event (and I got a cool avatar out of it). It was not perfect, the venue, while a nice room, was not what I envisioned for a World Championship. That said, the field was World Championship strength in my opinion. It was only the second event this year that drew Alex out of the Phillippines. Add in the names mentioned above and me thinks Mr. Pannozo just needed a way to stir the pot this month and Shane happened to fit the bill.

The magazines have a tough niche to fill, most do a decent job. I do not envy their business model in the current enviroment.
 
Spade said:
the following is a shame towards young american players and the sport of pool in the USA

In Mike Panozzo's editorial, he basically said what Shane won should not be considered a world title .
"..just because there was one italian in the field.." he says ...
Click to expand...
I just read the article (Sep. 2007), and Mike also had a lot of valid points even if you didn't like the way he stated them. There is now a legitimate world governing body for pool -- we've only had one for about 15 years -- and it is reasonable to expect any legitimate promoter to seek sanctioning from that body for a "world championship." If they don't want to do that, why not call it the XYZ Open? I remember back in the 1980's when 2 (two) players got together and had the World One Pocket Championships. Right.

I suppose I should add the disclaimer that Mike sends me a check every month I send in a column.
 
Isn't Fabio Petroni Italian? I watched two of his matches there. Maybe I am wrong.......this guy sucks!
 
easy-e said:
Isn't Fabio Petroni Italian? I watched two of his matches there. Maybe I am wrong.......this guy sucks!
Click to expand...

Yes my friend, you are wrong. Fabio Petroni is not the best european player, and there are guys who are more consistant than him. But when he is on, nobody has to like playing him.
 
Thank you

Spade said:
yes, it was recent oct issue with ortmann on cover
Click to expand...

Thank you, I found it and have read it. I don't feel like he was attacking Shane at all. I think the concept was being questioned. I tend to agree. I think pool has too many disciplines, 9-ball, 8-ball, 1-pocket, 14-1, artistic pool, 10-ball, speed-pool!! I also think for it to flourish it needs one governing body for each discipline, one and a single world championship for each. Let the discipline that intrigues the fans, rise to the top, and promote it. From what I can see by numbers it seems to be
8-ball if you look at the participation numbers. The games are watered down. I have been playing pool for 47 years. I have been on this forum for over a year. I read Billiard Digest every month, I go to all the billiards sites and read, trying to understand the controlling authorities is so confusing and I follow billiards. I'll bet that the majority of peolple on this forum could not answer 3 out of the five questions asked below! I know I couldn't. Just a rant and IMHO. Thanks for reading and it's time for another Coors.

Who is the 9-ball world champ now?
Who is the 1-pocket world champ now?
Who is the 14-1 world champ now?
Who is the trick-shot world champ now?
Who is the speed-pool world champ now?

If later they decide to come under one umbrella that's fine.
 
jgpool said:
Thank you, I found it and have read it. I don't feel like he was attacking Shane at all. I think the concept was being questioned. I tend to agree. I think pool has too many disciplines, 9-ball, 8-ball, 1-pocket, 14-1, artistic pool, 10-ball, speed-pool!! I also think for it to flourish it needs one governing body for each discipline, one and a single world championship for each. Let the discipline that intrigues the fans, rise to the top, and promote it. From what I can see by numbers it seems to be
8-ball if you look at the participation numbers. The games are watered down. I have been playing pool for 47 years. I have been on this forum for over a year. I read Billiard Digest every month, I go to all the billiards sites and read, trying to understand the controlling authorities is so confusing and I follow billiards. I'll bet that the majority of peolple on this forum could not answer 3 out of the five questions asked below! I know I couldn't. Just a rant and IMHO. Thanks for reading and it's time for another Coors.

Who is the 9-ball world champ now?
Who is the 1-pocket world champ now?
Who is the 14-1 world champ now?
Who is the trick-shot world champ now?
Who is the speed-pool world champ now?

If later they decide to come under one umbrella that's fine.
Click to expand...

You mean like Boxing, with it's countless divisions, and multiple governing bodies. I can't keep track of all the weight classes and every other fight is for somebody's world title. Pool is much better when it comes to World titles. IMO

I'd like to see a World Champion every year in 9-Ball, Ten Ball, Straight Pool, Eight Ball, Bank Pool and One Pocket. That means there are more tournaments going on, and I think we need them.
 
Bob Jewett said:
I remember back in the 1980's when 2 (two) players got together and had the World One Pocket Championships.
Click to expand...

Who were the two players and who was the "World Champion"?
 
Exactly

jay helfert said:
You mean like Boxing, with it's countless divisions, and multiple governing bodies. I can't keep track of all the weight classes and every other fight is for somebody's world title. Pool is much better when it comes to World titles. IMO

I'd like to see a World Champion every year in 9-Ball, Ten Ball, Straight Pool, Eight Ball, Bank Pool and One Pocket. That means there are more tournaments going on, and I think we need them.
Click to expand...

Yes, just like boxing. That's a great comparison. As far as a yearly champ in each discipline I'm all for that too! Here's the difference IMO Baseball has the World Series in October, Football has the Superbowl in Jan/Feb, NCAA Basketball has March madness. What and when does pool have what it has. Consistency and Authority IMO are greatly lacking in this industry. Everyone is going in their own direction. I guess I'm just another one of those because I see a different direction too! In all honesty I have a very difficalt time following the pros and their accomplishments. If it wasn't for this forum I would not know who they are or what they have accomplished other then watching ESPN. That's sad in itself. Maybe pools' niche is in these head to head matches. Like what JCIN/ActionReport have been putting together. That was how the old timers determined the world champs, individual challange matches.
 
honestly, in this splintered world of pool that fights with spelling bees for tv recognition, who cares what a writer for a mag that you can only buy in pool rooms says.
 
Spade said:
yes, it was recent oct issue with ortmann on cover
Click to expand...
While the issue had Ortmann on the cover, it was the September, 2007 issue. The column ends:

By the way, congratulations to Shane for his big win at the Predator World 10-Ball Championships. He topped a great field, and deserves all the praise we can give him.​
 
Bob Jewett said:
While the issue had Ortmann on the cover, it was the September, 2007 issue. The column ends:

By the way, congratulations to Shane for his big win at the Predator World 10-Ball Championships. He topped a great field, and deserves all the praise we can give him.​
Click to expand...

which is even more confusing. its like Mike was trying to get himself off the hook just in case he stepped on toes. Earlier in article he was saying that Shane should not be parading around like a world champion, and went into details and that goes the same for Hijikata from Japan and Cha from Korea. Then he ends it with, by the way good job (even though you won an event with one italian in it)

i would have enjoyed a different editorial where he commended and appluaded the efforts of USA's newest young talent and putting USA pool back in the limelight(no offense to filipines and korea and taiwan)
and also encouraging more people to come out and support the junior events and programs (not ridiculing and belittling teenage players who traveled far to play for what they thought was a meaningful title!)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top