Challenge of Champions - SJM at Mohegan Sun

[sjm]

Went to Mohegan Sun this week and saw the men's and women's challenge of champions. My reflections follow:

The Men's Event: Semifinal 1, Mika Immonen vs Fu Jian Bo
Having seen their double hill thriller in the World Pool Masters in Vegas in May, an encounter won by Immonen, I was greatly looking forward to this one, but it didn't deliver. Fu was way off form in this one, and Mika cruised.

The Men's Event: Semifinal 2, Niels Feijen vs Darren Appleton
Set one was pretty interesting, and went double hill. In the double hill rack, Feijen passed up a couple of fairly routine safeties and opted for, what I thought, a very risky length of the table bank shot on a two ball. The choice cost him set one, and Appleton was the better man in set two, advancing to the final.

The Men's Event: Final, Mika Immonen vs Darren Appleton
Wow, this was a wild one. The play was rock solid in the early stages, but fizzled in the late stages, with the match and the title going to a one rack playoff. This mistake-filled rack is still hard to believe. One of Mika's errors left me dumbfounded, as a six ball that he seemed to hit perfectly came back out of one of the top corner pockets, and it appeared it would cost him the title, but Darren missed right back, and Mika ran out for the title.

The Women's Event: Semifinal 1, Xiaoting Pan vs Allison Fisher
The first set was a masterpiece, with five break and runs, three by Pan and two by Allison, but Pan's dry break at double hill enabled Allison to control the rack, and the result was that Allison took the first set. In set two, Allison got to the hill first but had an unexpected miss on the match-winning nine ball, and Pan managed to take set two, forcing the tiebraker rack. Pan had a runout chance in the tiebreaker rack. As she shot the three ball, it was obvious to any onlooker that the nine might go in, but Pan did not notice, and did not call the shot. Sure enough, she missed the three ball, but the nine dropped. As she hadn't called it, it didn't count under the rues in effect. Allison got up expecting to shoot, but after the nine was spotted, Pan, under the rules in effect, retained the inning and ran out, a cruel end for Allison, who played a solid match. Overall the play in this one was impressive and fairly even.

The Women's Event: Semifinal 2, Kelly Fisher vs Monica Webb
Kelly captured the first set. Monica had a good chance to win the second, but couldn't close the deal and Kelly advanced.

The Women's Event: Final, Xiaoting Pan vs Kelly Fisher
Good storyline either way here, as Kelly Fisher, who entered the year ranked #1, is without a WPBA title to this point of 2009, and Pan had reached the final at Oregon just over a week ago but came up short against Jasmin. A first set with many ebbs and flows, quite fititngly, went double hill, and it looked like Pan would get it until she had a bad miss on the eight ball. A good roll left Kelly no more than a length of the table bank on the eight, but Kelly opted to play it and nailed it for what was surely the best single shot of the event. Pan never really regained the momentum in the match, and took a gamble on a combo with Kelly on the hill in set two. The gamble didn't pay off, and Kelly ranout for the title.

Socially Speaking
Caught up with AZers "T" and Boradriver, two guys whose company I enjoy and two guys who know their pool. Also caught up with good friend Todd Nevins, a former manager of the Amsterdam Billiard Club now living in New England. When the tourney was over, I spent some time at the bar with Kelly Fisher, Val Finnie and her delightful parents, commentators Ewa and Mitch Laurance, Monica Webb and Line Kjorsvik, and enjoyed a couple of beers at Kelly Fisher's expense. Had to run, so I missed the trick shot portion of the three day event, but I was lucky enough to catch up with good friends Andy Segal and Mike Massey, who were there sweating the women's event on Wednesday.

Finally, thanks to Matt Braun and all the players for a great show.

 

[pocketspeed]

good recap of the action sjm. would have liked to have met you there. we azb'ers need a secret hand shake or something...

anyway i did enjoy the tournaments although the level of play for both the men and women was a little up and down. i blame in part those horrible fusion tables but these days i guess you cant be too fussy about your sponsors.

did you think that the editing on the fly slowed down the matches too much? its been a while since i attended an event that was being taped for espn and maybe i just dont remember the delays being that long. from the live fan perspective it made the matches difficult to stay engaged in at times. it may have also contributed to the inconsistent play. your thoughts?

brian

 

[SoundWaves]

Didn't get to go. Thanks for the recap!

 

[badabing]

good recap of the action sjm. would have liked to have met you there. we azb'ers need a secret hand shake or something...

anyway i did enjoy the tournaments although the level of play for both the men and women was a little up and down. i blame in part those horrible fusion tables but these days i guess you cant be too fussy about your sponsors.

did you think that the editing on the fly slowed down the matches too much? its been a while since i attended an event that was being taped for espn and maybe i just dont remember the delays being that long. from the live fan perspective it made the matches difficult to stay engaged in at times. it may have also contributed to the inconsistent play. your thoughts?

brian

I was there for the women's event and the delays seemed to bother the players at times. You could tell by their facial expressions. The fusion tables seemed to present some problems based on the amount of times the pockets had to be adjusted.
David

 

[sjm]

good recap of the action sjm. would have liked to have met you there. we azb'ers need a secret hand shake or something...

anyway i did enjoy the tournaments although the level of play for both the men and women was a little up and down. i blame in part those horrible fusion tables but these days i guess you cant be too fussy about your sponsors.

did you think that the editing on the fly slowed down the matches too much? its been a while since i attended an event that was being taped for espn and maybe i just dont remember the delays being that long. from the live fan perspective it made the matches difficult to stay engaged in at times. it may have also contributed to the inconsistent play. your thoughts?

brian

Sorry I missed you, Brian. Hope you'll be at Derby City.

As for the tables, I agree that a couple of stange things happened. In the final, Appleton had a miss on a shot in the side, followed by his remark that "it would have gone in on any other table." And, of course, in the rack on which the title was decided, a top corner pocket rejected a six ball that Mika appeared to have hit perfectly, and it would have cost him the event had Appleton completed what should have been a routine clearance. The pocket size was fitting for pro level players, but the pocket interiors, which can easily be modified, caused issues. Then again, with wider pocket specifications more suitable for the recreational player, the cut of the pockets might not be nearly as big a problem. My suspicion is that recreational players would enjoy playing on Fusion tables very much. A million thanks to Fusion for supportuing the event and our sport!

The on-the-fly editing, including delays much longer and more frequent than is typical during ESPN matches, was unfortunate, and definitely affected the ebbs and flows of the matches. In particular, the long delay preceding the onset of the tiebreaker rack between Immonen and Appleton was regrettable. Nonetheless, if this keeps production costs down and helps ensure the financial health of the event in these tough times, I'm all for it.

After all is said and done, Brian, I still thought this was a wonderful event, one that I know I'll continue to support.

 

[pocketspeed]

Sorry I missed you, Brian. Hope you'll be at Derby City.

As for the tables, I agree that a couple of stange things happened. In the final, Appleton had a miss on a shot in the side, followed by his remark that "it would have gone in on any other table." And, of course, in the rack on which the title was decided, a top corner pocket rejected a six ball that Mika appeared to have hit perfectly, and it would have cost him the event had Appleton completed what should have been a routine clearance. The pocket size was fitting for pro level players, but the pocket interiors, which can easily be modified, caused issues. The again, with wider pocket specifications more suitable fr the recreational player, the cut of the pockets might not be nearly as big a problem. My suspicion is that recreational players would enjoy playing on Fusion tables very much. A million thanks to Fusion for supportuing the event and our sport!

The on-the-fly editing, including delays much longer and more frequent than is typical during ESPN matches, was unfortunate, and definitely affected the ebbs and flows of the matches. In particular, the long delay preceding the onset of the tiebreaker rack between Immonen and Appleton was regrettable. Nonetheless, if this keeps production costs down and helps ensures the financial health of the event in these tough times, I'm all for it.

After all is said and done, Brian, I still thought this was a wonderful event, one that I know I'll continue to support.

i agree it was a great event and overall i had a great time. i did hear a lot of complaining about the tables but at least it was a level playing field. that top corner pocket showed up in quite a few racks. here's one thing i loved about this event. that practice table set up in the mall area. its pretty cool standing right next to the players while they are warming up. most sports dont allow that kind of access to the athletes. i just wish that tournaments were more based on the fans than they are. i always feel that until pool (a game inheritantly difficult to spectate at time) finds a way to keep the live crowd more involved/entertained it will never truely grow.

brian

 

[sjm]

.....here's one thing i loved about this event. that practice table set up in the mall area. its pretty cool standing right next to the players while they are warming up.......

Yeah, and not all those watching were Challenge of Champion attendees. Many were just there to gamble or enjoy some other of the many attraction at the glorious Mohegan Sun Resort, but they stopped for a few minutes to check out the sharpshooters. This not only adds to the buzz of the event, but it promotes our sport. Matt Braun and Mohegan Sun definitely do a great job with this event and I can't wait for next year.

 

[pocketspeed]

Yeah, and not all those watching were Challenge of Champion attendees. Many were just there to gamble or enjoy some other of the many attraction at the glorious Mohegan Sun Resort, but they stopped for a few minutes to check out the sharpshooters. This not only adds to the buzz of the event, but it promotes our sport. Matt Braun and Mohegan Sun definitely do a great job with this event and I can't wait for next year.

yep me too! this event might have been helped a little by a few posters and maybe a little more advertising. while i was watching the players warm up several pple who stopped to watch had no idea that there was at tournament starting in a little while feature players they were seeing. i felt a little like a hawker telling 'em about the tourney. step right up folks, come one come all... a poster there would have been perfect.

brian

 

["T"]

Thanks for the heads up on the tournament last week and it was excellent seeing you again. I would have really missed the boat on this if you hadn't called!