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If you had been paying attention to my posts over the course of the last few years, you would know that I'm all in favor of Pool tournaments that feature the top men competing on equal terms with the top women. THAT might really make a difference in the furtherance of Pool as a professional sport! It would create a buzz in the sports world, unlike anything in any other sport. The publicity value alone would be huge! Put some of that on TV and see what happens!
Yes, I know Jay. You are one of the good guys in a lot of ways.
There have already been many notable single matches between men and women, where the woman has come out on top. The most recent money game between Siming and Donny was just one more, and perhaps not as noteworthy as Karen Corr's demolition of Ko Pin Yi in the U.S. Open a couple of years back.
I agree except for the "just one more" part. No doubt many examples of a woman beating a top male player in a tournament. The Karen-Ko Pin Yi match was amazing. And the fact Karen went to the hill 10-11 later in the same tournament against Jayson Shaw made it that much more amazing.
And then there is Karen beating both Donny Mills and Earl Strickland less than a year later at Turning Stone.
So now Donny has lost to Chezka, to Karen, and to Siming ;-)
And Siming beat Daryl Peach recently in Austria. And Allison once beat Oscar 9-4. And Melissa Herndon beat Brian Parks 8-3. And Vivian beat Max Eberle and Hunter Lombardo. And Monica Webb beat Stevie Moore. And the list goes on.
But what makes the recent Siming/Donny match different is it is not just something we noticed after the fact. In all these other cases, the response to noting the match would be.. yeah, sure, that can happen in a tournament match now and again. But if we switch to 10-ball, lengthen the race, put some serious cash on it, etc, she has no chance...
This time, the female responded to the kind of stuff with a quiet, confident, ....yeah, OK. And we were paying attention before the match started; it isn't something that came about by a random draw and that we noticed after it happened.
Whether Siming played a previously unknown player without a Fargo Rating is insignificant in the overall scheme of things, regardless of how you personally feel about it. Somehow I suspect his lack of a Fargo Rating is underneath some of your contempt for this match.
I don't agree. If some male with a well established but modest Fargo Rating--let's say John Barton for instance-- wanted to match up with Siming on this trip, I wouldn't like that. I think it is way more interesting to find horses for whom many people around them find it inconceivable they would lose a serious, i.e., long enough, match to a woman.
If Siming lived in the US, and the John Barton match or this guy's match was just like a reality show episode that could happen in addition to the other things, then fine. But here there is only so much oxygen.
If you are sincere and really want to make a difference in professional Pool, then why don't you put some money into producing a tournament like I just described above. I will match whatever money you put into it! How about a 64 player Invitational event with $50,000 added. I got 25K to help produce that event. How about you? We could hold it at the greatest pool room in America. I think you know the one I'm talking about.
The ball is in your court.
That's a generous offer. And I know you have committed resources in the past to make things like DCC Bigfoot and other events happen. I will contact you offline.