Blackjack's Buzzkill

[JAM]

Point of clarity

I keep wondering why he wants to do this, he undoubtedly isn't doing to just for something to do or just give away money. I was reading the web site...It's a pretty good idea actually and would put pool on the TV a lot and be good for pool...He is not doing this out of the goodness of his heart. I hope the players protect their rights. They need agents...This one answer in the Q&A section on the website is very telling....

Why not lay out the whole picture, Macguy! Here is another quote from the IPT website by Kevin Trudeau:
"This is the first time ever that a pool player can earn over one million dollars in annual prize money," said Trudeau. "The prize money available in pool to date has been an absolute joke, an embarrassment to the sport and players. Now, thanks to the guaranteed prize money and our enormous tv exposure, pool will achieve the same level of interest and excitement of other sports and games such as poker."

AND

The IPT, which is sponsored by Naturalcures.com and financed by Trudeau, also will attract the world's genuinely best players, who no longer have to "hustle" in order to make a living. "Because of the lack of money in pool, great players have had to hustle and thus stay anonymous," said Trudeau. "Now they can step forward out of the pool halls in every city and burb and show the world what they can do-and also make an enormous amount of money doing what they do best."

Sure sounds like sweet music to my ears! Why not give the man a chance? He is willing to invest MILLIONS into this floundering sport and attempt to let it rise to a higher status. It's not a 100-percent guarantee, but at least he's giving it a shot!

The employees of the BCA in Colorado enjoy a decent payday, and the pool players are scraping by. Without pool players, there is no BCA. Industry members need pool players to sell their wares. The BCA Open pro event in Las Vegas every single year has a first-place payout of $15,000. Somehow the scales seem a little tipped in my opinion, but this payout for an annual invitational event is one of the HIGHEST in the game/sport to date.

Dag nab it, pool is going to be taken to a new frontier. I am tickled pink to be witnessing history in the making. The IPT has given players a reason to bring their BEST game to the table. There is a future to look forward to, not to mention a DECENT payday.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, Kevin Trudeau and IPT Tour. You have given HOPE to many pool players around the world, something that has been sorely lacking to date. My horse has a new sparkle in his eye and a bounce in his step. We are both looking forward to Orlando to see history in the making!

JAM

 

[macguy]

Why not lay out the whole picture, Macguy! Here is another quote from the IPT website by Kevin Trudeau:
"This is the first time ever that a pool player can earn over one million dollars in annual prize money," said Trudeau. "The prize money available in pool to date has been an absolute joke, an embarrassment to the sport and players. Now, thanks to the guaranteed prize money and our enormous tv exposure, pool will achieve the same level of interest and excitement of other sports and games such as poker."

AND

The IPT, which is sponsored by Naturalcures.com and financed by Trudeau, also will attract the world's genuinely best players, who no longer have to "hustle" in order to make a living. "Because of the lack of money in pool, great players have had to hustle and thus stay anonymous," said Trudeau. "Now they can step forward out of the pool halls in every city and burb and show the world what they can do-and also make an enormous amount of money doing what they do best."

Sure sounds like sweet music to my ears! Why not give the man a chance? He is willing to invest MILLIONS into this floundering sport and attempt to let it rise to a higher status. It's not a 100-percent guarantee, but at least he's giving it a shot!

The employees of the BCA in Colorado enjoy a decent payday, and the pool players are scraping by. Without pool players, there is no BCA. Industry members need pool players to sell their wares. The BCA Open pro event in Las Vegas every single year has a first-place payout of $15,000. Somehow the scales seem a little tipped in my opinion, but this payout for an annual invitational event is one of the HIGHEST in the game/sport to date.

Dag nab it, pool is going to be taken to a new frontier. I am tickled pink to be witnessing history in the making. The IPT has given players a reason to bring their BEST game to the table. There is a future to look forward to, not to mention a DECENT payday.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, Kevin Trudeau and IPT Tour. You have given HOPE to many pool players around the world, something that has been sorely lacking to date. My horse has a new sparkle in his eye and a bounce in his step. We are both looking forward to Orlando to see history in the making!

JAM

I am just trying to understand it. If Orlando comes off I will be there, I am not far. I look forward to meeting you. We are both on the same side believe me.

 

[Blackjack]

I am just trying to understand it. If Orlando comes off I will be there, I am not far. I look forward to meeting you. We are both on the same side believe me.

Jennie

If you get a chance this weekend, give me a call, or let me know when it is a good time to call you, I still have your number. I'll be away from the phone most of the day with several appointments, but I will be in later this evening. I'll be looking forward to speaking with you.

 

[Roll-Off]

Why not lay out the whole picture, Macguy! Here is another quote from the IPT website by Kevin Trudeau:
"This is the first time ever that a pool player can earn over one million dollars in annual prize money," said Trudeau. "The prize money available in pool to date has been an absolute joke, an embarrassment to the sport and players. Now, thanks to the guaranteed prize money and our enormous tv exposure, pool will achieve the same level of interest and excitement of other sports and games such as poker."

AND

The IPT, which is sponsored by Naturalcures.com and financed by Trudeau, also will attract the world's genuinely best players, who no longer have to "hustle" in order to make a living. "Because of the lack of money in pool, great players have had to hustle and thus stay anonymous," said Trudeau. "Now they can step forward out of the pool halls in every city and burb and show the world what they can do-and also make an enormous amount of money doing what they do best."

Sure sounds like sweet music to my ears! Why not give the man a chance? He is willing to invest MILLIONS into this floundering sport and attempt to let it rise to a higher status. It's not a 100-percent guarantee, but at least he's giving it a shot!

The employees of the BCA in Colorado enjoy a decent payday, and the pool players are scraping by. Without pool players, there is no BCA. Industry members need pool players to sell their wares. The BCA Open pro event in Las Vegas every single year has a first-place payout of $15,000. Somehow the scales seem a little tipped in my opinion, but this payout for an annual invitational event is one of the HIGHEST in the game/sport to date.

Dag nab it, pool is going to be taken to a new frontier. I am tickled pink to be witnessing history in the making. The IPT has given players a reason to bring their BEST game to the table. There is a future to look forward to, not to mention a DECENT payday.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, Kevin Trudeau and IPT Tour. You have given HOPE to many pool players around the world, something that has been sorely lacking to date. My horse has a new sparkle in his eye and a bounce in his step. We are both looking forward to Orlando to see history in the making!

JAM

You're right, JAM. At least the guy is trying. Great ideas are always criticized and I think this thread demonstrates that.

 

[JAM]

Jennie

If you get a chance this weekend, give me a call, or let me know when it is a good time to call you, I still have your number. I'll be away from the phone most of the day with several appointments, but I will be in later this evening. I'll be looking forward to speaking with you.

I'm going to be in and out this weekend, David, but PM me your phone number once more, and I will most definitely try to catch up with you, so we can chat.

JAM

 

[onepocketchump]

I keep wondering why he wants to do this, he undoubtedly isn't doing to just for something to do or just give away money. I was reading the web site and based on his background I would say what he is doing is making an investment. Once he has dozens and even hundreds of matches in the can he will own the rights to it all, this could be pretty valuable I think that is why he is so specific about everything, he's creating a new product and he knows what he wants. Pool is not a timely sport like baseball or football. You can show matches even if they were played several years ago and people will still watch, ESPN figured this out a long time ago. On the web site he says he wants to use the pool tournaments to promote his health books and products. Here is I think how it will work.

He will purchase the TV time just as he does now with his informercials and show the matches as if it is a sports event with his advertising as the sponsor. He could even get other sponsors if he wants, it belongs to him to do with as he pleases, he may even sell videos or dvd's of the matches themselves much like Accu States again, it all belongs to him. If you ever watched any of his shows he does now they pretend to be interview shows talking about his books and products but obviously they are just a 30 minute commercial, this will be the same except it will be pool matches as he hawks his products. He can show the pool matches forever never having to pay the players another nickel once he has enough in the can it all belongs to him. Its a pretty good idea actually and would put pool on the TV a lot and be good for pool, but the players in the end will just have a short payday if he decides to pull the plug or just decides he has enough and doesn't care to invest any more money he will be able to prostituted the players from that point forward as he continuous to make money off them not having to pay them anything. Your right when you say it is a relatively a cheap buy in to get proven content for a promotional platform. He is not doing this out of the goodness of his heart. I hope the players protect their rights. They need agents. I think he sees he can be the Don King of pool and the players will belong to him so to speak. This is a direct quote from his web site, "Don King has been one of the most successful fight promoters in history, making virtually dozens of fighters multimillionaires. It is my intention to be one of the greatest promoters of pool in the history of the sport." The only fighters who made money with Kind were the ones who danced on a string. Like I said, the players need an agent to represent them.

I am not writing this to be negitive, I am just trying to objectivly understand his angle. If you read every word on the web site it begins to make sense. This one answer in the Q&A section on the website is very telling
"QUESTION:
NaturalCures.com is the major sponsor? They don't seem to be a proper fit for pool.

ANSWER:
I hear this all the time. First off, NaturalCures.com is one of my companies. The reason NaturalCures.com is the major sponsor for the International Pool Tour is because I believe that all people need to know about the benefits of natural cures. I believe that everyone is interested in non-surgical and non-drug ways to prevent and cure virtually every disease. It is ridiculous to think that pool players are only interested in drinking beer, smoking cigarettes, and taking erectile dysfunction drugs like Cialis and Levitra! Or eating at McDonalds! Up until now, all sports advertising is fast food, drugs for male erectile dysfunction, beer or some alcohol, and/or cigarettes. This makes no sense to me. Pool players, like everyone else, are interested in eliminating their pain, curing arthritis, learning about natural ways to handle diabetes, acid reflux disease, obesity, constipation, headaches, back pain, etc. Everyone is interested in natural ways to cure and prevent heart disease and cancer. NaturalCures.com is the sponsor because the people who will be watching IPT events and tournaments are great potential customers for NaturalCures.com. I also want to change the way people look at sports sponsoring. NaturalCures.com is also considering sponsoring other sporting events, other than just pool. It has budgeted in 2006 over $15 million in sporting event sponsorships, the majority of which may go to the International Pool Tour."

You notice he says "the majority of which may go to the International Pool Tour."
If he finds something better or the pool thing doesn't sell his products he will dump it in a second, he doesn't care anything about the pool or the players, he just wants to sell products. Don't have any illusions about this guy,If skateboarding sells his products better, that is where he will put the money. From what I read people are getting excited about the William Morris thing, I doubt that has much to do with pool, by his own words he wants to get into other sports, that's why he got them. They may even steer him away from pool as a bad investment and line him up with other sports with real potential so I wouldn't necessarily see that as such a positive thing for the pool project.

Hello,

The IPT has hired the William Morris Agency. That's because William Morris can hook up the IPT with Media Outlets and hook up IPT players with endorsement deals. You guys must really think that Kevin Trudeau is a sucker. This guy makes his own decisions according to his own idea of how things should be.

John

 

[Gabber]

overlooked

Why not lay out the whole picture, Macguy! Here is another quote from the IPT website by Kevin Trudeau:
"This is the first time ever that a pool player can earn over one million dollars in annual prize money," said Trudeau. "The prize money available in pool to date has been an absolute joke, an embarrassment to the sport and players. Now, thanks to the guaranteed prize money and our enormous tv exposure, pool will achieve the same level of interest and excitement of other sports and games such as poker."

AND

The IPT, which is sponsored by Naturalcures.com and financed by Trudeau, also will attract the world's genuinely best players, who no longer have to "hustle" in order to make a living. "Because of the lack of money in pool, great players have had to hustle and thus stay anonymous," said Trudeau. "Now they can step forward out of the pool halls in every city and burb and show the world what they can do-and also make an enormous amount of money doing what they do best."

Sure sounds like sweet music to my ears! Why not give the man a chance? He is willing to invest MILLIONS into this floundering sport and attempt to let it rise to a higher status. It's not a 100-percent guarantee, but at least he's giving it a shot!

The employees of the BCA in Colorado enjoy a decent payday, and the pool players are scraping by. Without pool players, there is no BCA. Industry members need pool players to sell their wares. The BCA Open pro event in Las Vegas every single year has a first-place payout of $15,000. Somehow the scales seem a little tipped in my opinion, but this payout for an annual invitational event is one of the HIGHEST in the game/sport to date.

Dag nab it, pool is going to be taken to a new frontier. I am tickled pink to be witnessing history in the making. The IPT has given players a reason to bring their BEST game to the table. There is a future to look forward to, not to mention a DECENT payday.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, Kevin Trudeau and IPT Tour. You have given HOPE to many pool players around the world, something that has been sorely lacking to date. My horse has a new sparkle in his eye and a bounce in his step. We are both looking forward to Orlando to see history in the making!

JAM

JAM, I posted this earlier and I think it was overlooked.

From the IPT website.
QUESTION:
I heard that at some of these tournaments you will be doing a lot of filming and turning it into a reality TV show. Is this true?

ANSWER:
As of right now, it is our intention to do a massive amount of filming at IPT tournaments. The filming will not just be the matches, but will actually follow players around in a reality TV format. Yes, it is our intention to produce a series of reality TV shows. Whether or not these shows are picked up by any TV network is yet to be seen.


Reality TV is never tasteful. They are only interested in what sells and we know what sells best?
Welcome to Temptation 8Ball.
or
Earl picking up first prize and saying, "I owe it all to N Cures natural laxative!"

Hope I,m wrong.

Gabber

 

[JAM]

JAM, I posted this earlier and I think it was overlooked.

From the IPT website.
QUESTION:
I heard that at some of these tournaments you will be doing a lot of filming and turning it into a reality TV show. Is this true?

ANSWER:
As of right now, it is our intention to do a massive amount of filming at IPT tournaments. The filming will not just be the matches, but will actually follow players around in a reality TV format. Yes, it is our intention to produce a series of reality TV shows. Whether or not these shows are picked up by any TV network is yet to be seen.


Reality TV is never tasteful. They are only interested in what sells and we know what sells best?
Welcome to Temptation 8Ball.
or
Earl picking up first prize and saying, "I owe it all to N Cures natural laxative!"

Hope I,m wrong.

Gabber, I remember reading that. When I think of "reality TV," I think of Fear Factor, Survivors, and the like.

I believe the filming would be similar to a documentary type of coverage, which I guess could be classified as "reality TV."

I saw a really great boxing documentary many years ago about a lady boxer from Europe (I think) who trained in the same camp as Mike Tyson. It was well done. I just can't remember her name. I would think this filming would be reflective of what goes on behind the scenes of a competitive event where the players are shooting for a million-dollar purse. JMHO, FWIW!

I don't think we will be seeing Earl Strickland wolfing down a bunch of hissing cockroaches.

JAM

 

[chefjeff]

I think he has a point here Jeff

I think compromise can still be interpreted as having net benefit.

No transaction gives us everything we want, but by definition, we transact, or act because we believe such actions will improve our current situation. Even when coerced, we act in the way that we perceive to be preferable, though unwanted. When we buy a buger for $5 cause one in not available for $4, we still choose the burger over our $5, but compromise.

That said, we know that many still think they are being cheated when they buy stuff

Thanks Vag and Colin and BlackJack for responding to my concerns...

I don't want to go Randian on you, but compromise means what it says. It doesn't mean taking the best bargain available. It means trading a GREATER value for a LESSER one. To do this is insane.

Perhaps the term should be "investment" not "compromise." How much time, money, etc. should one invest (and how) for the good of the game? And how long can one invest before realizing the payoff ain't coming? This is my problem with calling for everyone to get together and make it work. It just isn't natural.

As for marriage, it requires honesty, not compromise. Compromises kills marriages in the long run as one partner loses more than if not in the marriage. That is a recipe for disaster. The same is true for every relationship, including pool tours. This is why I'm wondering about all the calls for "unity." Just how much value should one "invest" in order to acheive the big goal(s) for pool? And when will I get mine? (all eventually ask this question, by the very nature of living happy lives)

BJ says we need to be unified as far a goal goes. I think I agree. OK, then, what ONE major goal could ALL involved in the pool world agree on? Money? Fame? More pool halls? More _____? Less _____? What ONE goal?

And of course the related question, "Can the IPT be integrated with this goal?"

Jeff Livingston

 

[Mr. Wilson]

Reality tv.

What else might a televised tournament be considered?

I for one hope it is all reality based and no smoke and mirrors.

Regardless, REAL players playing their best on NATIONAL tv can't be all that bad.

 

[vagabond]

As for marriage, it requires honesty, not compromise. Compromises kills marriages in the long run as one partner loses more than if not in the marriage. That is a recipe for disaster. The same is true for every relationship, including pool tours.

Jeff Livingston

Honesty is an essential ingredient for long term survival of any relationship and is not limited to marriage.
By the way, what do u think a guy`s wife will tell him when a guy tells his wife ``honey I have to be honest with u that last night I had sex with a hooker and she gave me oral... better than u``.Do u think the marriage wil last? If the wife replies ``I can live with that.Well I need to be honest with u.Two days ago I had sex with your grandpa in the corn field``.If they both can compromise with each other`s behaviors then the marriage will last.I used the word compromise to mean ` putting up with each other`s crap`.
Vagabond

 

[chefjeff]

(snip)

Welcome to Temptation 8Ball.
or
Earl picking up first prize and saying, "I owe it all to N Cures natural laxative!"

Hope I,m wrong.

Gabber

I hope you're right! I would love to see any pool player helping his/her sponsor market it's products. Money does not grow on trees.

What exactly would be wrong with Earl plugging his sponsor's product? Please be specific.

Thanks,

Jeff Livingston

 

[chefjeff]

Honesty is an essential ingredient for long term survival of any relationship and is not limited to marriage.
By the way, what do u think a guy`s wife will tell him when a guy tells his wife ``honey I have to be honest with u that last night I had sex with a hooker and she gave me oral... better than u``.Do u think the marriage wil last? If the wife says ``I can live with that.Well I need to be honest with u.Two days ago I had sex with your grandpa in the corn field``.If they both can compromise with each other`s behaviors then the marriage will last.I used the word compromise to mean ` putting up with each other`s crap`.
Vagabond

If the guy went outside of his promised commitment, then he is being dishonest and THAT is the problem, not his/her failure to compromise with that. We're getting off track.

Back to subject: What personal compromise (investment) is necessary in the pool world to acheive whatever it is one wants from pool? And can ALL unite in this goal? And does it really help things if ALL unite?

As I see it, it would be better to continue to have the paradigm of 'do your own thing' while not worrying about solving everyone else's problems at the same time. I know the 'do your own thing' crowd hasn't moved pool too far lately, but it has allowed it to survive via the dynamics of business in a small market. Now comes Kevin doing his own thing and he seems to be outcompeting all the "unity" groups, and they don't want that, it seems. The other tours with their smaller payouts, the BCA with it's feet dragging and strange decisions, the WPBA, ESPN, et al, now have to compete with this new guy and his money flow. I think this is good for those of us in pool at all levels, just as competition is good for the customers in any business.

So, what is wrong with doing your own thing, anyway? As long as Kevin isn't starting trouble by force or fraud, then don't we have to simply deal with it? So, maybe the question of "how to deal with the IPT so I can get mine, too," is the real "problem" (opportunity) being presented here?

Jeff Livingston

 

[Gabber]

I hope you're right! I would love to see any pool player helping his/her sponsor market it's products. Money does not grow on trees.

What exactly would be wrong with Earl plugging his sponsor's product? Please be specific.

Thanks,

Jeff Livingston

Is Earl or any other player 'sponsered' by Natural Cures? I dont know.
Money does not grow on trees but I would hate to see pool,s best players reduced to being front men for a company that sells FAKE cures. I think thats specific, dont you? FAKE being the operative word.
Anyway, I thought the IPT was sponsering a pool tournament, not a TV reality programme where the actual tournament takes second place.

Again, I hope I,m wrong.

Gabber

 

[chefjeff]

Is Earl or any other player 'sponsered' by Natural Cures? I dont know.
Money does not grow on trees but I would hate to see pool,s best players reduced to being front men for a company that sells FAKE cures. I think thats specific, dont you? FAKE being the operative word.
Anyway, I thought the IPT was sponsering a pool tournament, not a TV reality programme where the actual tournament takes second place.

Again, I hope I,m wrong.

Gabber

Thanks for your response, Gabber. I understand your opinion about Kevin's products, etc. I don't agree, but that's life, isn't it? In fact, this little exchange of ours is a great example of the difficulty of trying to acheive 'unity.' Two of us can't do it, so how can the whole pool world even consider unity?

The IPT (Kevin) is hopefully going after as much profit as it can possibly generate. I see no problem with this, unless as your opinion displays, it uses fakery to get the dough. Then I'm with ya.

Maybe that's a more specific definition of our common goal and what BJ is trying to convey: Keep the dishonesty out of this whole deal so we don't get burnt. Perhaps our revealing discussions online about this are actually the best thing we can do to help it work for all.

Jeff Livingston

 

[DaveK]

Gabber, I remember reading that. When I think of "reality TV," I think of Fear Factor, Survivors, and the like.

I believe the filming would be similar to a documentary type of coverage, which I guess could be classified as "reality TV."

JAM, with respect to your belief stated above, do you have confirmation of that/inside knowledge or is it your speculation/hope ? I would like to know what the media coverage for these professional pool tournaments will look like. If they package up a bunch of pool one liners, stories, and a few disjointed shots to make a 30 minute TV show I for one am not interested, nor do I believe that would be good for the game of pool. If they package up a documentary about pool players and tournament life, again I would not be interested and have difficulty thinking that many others would be interested. If the plan is to package up a match for broadcast, now I'm interested. I want to see professional pool, not some entertainment package built from pool tournament culture and pool hall culture. I guess fundamentally I want to know if the intention is to create a sport-based entertainment empire (like the World Wrestling Whatever), or a professional sports empire (like the pro tennis tour).

Dave

 

[DaveK]

I have to disagree with this 1000%. "Compromise" means to give up something of high value for something of lesser value. This smacks of the "unity" concept problems that I was questioning in my earlier post.

Why would anyone compromise anything, if the gain is less than not compromising? And on a further note, hasn't compromise been tried and been a complete failure up to this point?

Conscious people are self-centered BY NATURE, thus "greed" or "selfishness" or whatever term currently in vogue MUST be integrated into each and every participants' activities in order to be a part of the real answer to pool's problems. It MUST!!!! Compromise cannot, BY NATURE, create additional values in the pool world, thus is canNOT be part of the real solution. It may provide temporary feel-goods, but compromise ultimately leads to a downward spiral for all involved.

Again, this may be simply a problem with terminology, but I don't think so.

Comments?

Jeff Livingston

This may be a terminology issue... but, if you've seen the movie "A Beautiful Mind" then you'll know that Adams was wrong, and a pure competitive environment does not yield the maximum agregate benefit to the group. There must be some cooperation between the individuals to maximize the total harvest. Yes, I believe that the top competitors may loose a little, but the masses of other competitors will more than make up that loss. Again, this needs to be thought of in aggregation, not as an individual.

Dave

 

[wayne]

Is Earl or any other player 'sponsered' by Natural Cures? I dont know.
Money does not grow on trees but I would hate to see pool,s best players reduced to being front men for a company that sells FAKE cures. I think thats specific, dont you? FAKE being the operative word.
Anyway, I thought the IPT was sponsering a pool tournament, not a TV reality programme where the actual tournament takes second place.

Again, I hope I,m wrong.

Gabber

How do you know they are FAKE. Have you tried to cure something using a natural cure and failed. I always try to cure everything naturally, when I was told I needed a shoulder operation I went to a chiropractor and he handled it. When I was told I needed a knee operation I took BEE Pollen and it handled it. Sometimes the natural way works for some and not for others. I don't know whether his cures work or not but the only way to tell sometimes is to give it a try. There are a lot of Natural remedies that do work.

Wayne

 

[JAM]

JAM, with respect to your belief stated above, do you have confirmation of that/inside knowledge or is it your speculation/hope ? I would like to know what the media coverage for these professional pool tournaments will look like. If they package up a bunch of pool one liners, stories, and a few disjointed shots to make a 30 minute TV show I for one am not interested, nor do I believe that would be good for the game of pool. If they package up a documentary about pool players and tournament life, again I would not be interested and have difficulty thinking that many others would be interested. If the plan is to package up a match for broadcast, now I'm interested. I want to see professional pool, not some entertainment package built from pool tournament culture and pool hall culture. I guess fundamentally I want to know if the intention is to create a sport-based entertainment empire (like the World Wrestling Whatever), or a professional sports empire (like the pro tennis tour).

DaveK, I have no knowledge of what will transpire. I was just providing my interpretation of what might take place. Again, I do not believe it is going to be similar to "Fear Factor" or "Survivors."

I do remember Sly Stalone and Sugar Ray Leonard produced a TV show abuot a boxing competition with 12 (I think) young aspiring boxers which paid out $1 million as the top prize. There were two teams of boxers, and every week, one got eliminated. It came on every Sunday. I didn't see every episode, but the final two boxers left played for that $1 million. It was very exciting, at least for me because I like boxing.

If you've ever seen that show, which name escapes me at the time of this writing, that is more of the type of "reality" show I was thinking of.

JAM

 

[DaveK]

DaveK, I have no knowledge of what will transpire. I was just providing my interpretation of what might take place. Again, I do not believe it is going to be similar to "Fear Factor" or "Survivors."

I do remember Sly Stalone and Sugar Ray Leonard produced a TV show abuot a boxing competition with 12 (I think) young aspiring boxers which paid out $1 million as the top prize. There were two teams of boxers, and every week, one got eliminated. It came on every Sunday. I didn't see every episode, but the final two boxers left played for that $1 million. It was very exciting, at least for me because I like boxing.

If you've ever seen that show, which name escapes me at the time of this writing, that is more of the type of "reality" show I was thinking of.

JAM

I was pretty sure that you did not have any inside scoop, and were hoping that any subsequent television broadcast would be 'documentary' like as opposed to 'Fear Factor' like. I am basicly saying that I would not like either one, I would like a sports broadcast like pro tennis, pro golf, or any other number of professional sports broadcasts.

I've seen the Sly/Leonard show a few times, it was OK. Not the greatest boxing, but reasonable entertainment. I wonder if it will be back next year and the years after ? It is surely no way to provide income for a generation of boxers, rather it is a little novelty for a selected few. And possibly not that long lived either, I have no idea what their Nielson ratings were, and that is often the life or death of a TV show. There is a similar 'reality tv' series about golf, I think it's called "Big Break" or something like that. Again, it is a novelty show where a bunch of very good amateur golfers compete for a few pro-tournament exemptions, and the possibilities of riches that would result from finishing well in one or two.

I would like to see a proper professional tour, run by the united players association (currently a figment of many imaginations) and a sport regulating body, not some novelty show about pool, even if it does provide some short-term financial benefits for a chosen few. Of course at this time we really have no idea what the IPT broadcasts will end up as, do we ?

Also note that boxing and golf have powerful economic infrastructures, have had for years, and these reality TV things are johnny-come-lately sideline attractions. It may be just the opposite with the IPT, and that is what I worry about.

Dave