UGOTDA7 said:
I'm curious as to how many room owners are repeat hosts of Mike's events?
It seems to me that if this was such a losing proposition for room owners that very few would sign up for a second time. Conversely, if many have indeed signed up again, it certainly lends validity to his endeavor.
Regardless, it is nice to see someone out there making an attempt to have worthwhile events that have the potential to benefit everybody involved. If more people in a position to do so did the same, maybe the entire pool community could advance a little bit at a time.
Instead, some people are content to repeatedly play the spoiler with their jaded voice of negativity at every turn of events. This way they can maintain their desperate need to be the center of attention and demonstrate their misplaced sense of self-imposed importance in a public venue. Then take their "I know everything better than you" attitude and combine it with a little Lone Ranger mentality and you have someone who just can't let go, regardless of whatever facts and well presented arguments come their way. They are right, you are wrong, it doesn't matter, end of story.
Pretty sad when you think about it.
Not the case at all with me. For a long time I have been involved in trying to create an atmosphere of unity within the industry in regards to promoting our sport. The debate between Mike Janis and Teacherman is a prime example of why we constantly get nowhere with this. On one hand, we have a well respected, successful tour director that wants to expand his tour. In doing so, he posts on a message board to announce what this would include. When faced with questions from a room owner (Teacherman), he answered only the questions he felt he should. That's Mike's right to do so in a public forum. However.... even if Teacherman began talks with Mike Janis about holding an event at his establishment, the same questions would be asked behind closed doors. Furthermore, Teacherman's math was dead on with mine and pretty sure it was dead on with others that have silently cheered him on without voicing so in this thread. To make matters worse, Mike deleted the first thread. So we now have no historic reference to go by in relation to what was originally said at the beginning of this topic. That's not Teacherman's fault, that's Mike's. If that sounds as if I am being negative so be it.
What you are seeing here is exactly what has been frustrating many of us when trying to deal directly with anybody in the UPA, the MPBT as well as other entities. When the tough questions come, the answers don't. In my conversation with Mike Janis about a month ago, I strongly emphasized the importance of unity in our industry between the equipment manufacturers, press, players, sponsors, and the tours, including N.U.T.S. and the UPA. Whether or not that happens depends on whether or not both sides are willing to sit down and put the future of the game of pool ahead of their own interests. If that does not occur, history will once again repeat itself. 9 years ago the Professional CueSports Association failed to replace or even compete with the MPBT/Camel Pro Tour Series. Before it was all said and done, both tours went belly up, and men's professional pool had lost the support from the billiard industry. This occurred exactly as I predicted several years prior. I wasn't the only that saw it coming. In the end, everybody lost.
As I said earlier, how can we exepct to sell pool to the mainstream when we can't sell it within our industry? This needs to be looked at. Teacherman has reservations because there are several red flags that say he might get screwed in the deal. Mike Janis will make money (prett much a guarantee), and the next week he'll be somewhere else. Now if all they can offer the room owner is a tournament, some merchandise and head full of question marks - smart room owners start asking more questions. If rooms are having the Viking Tour return to their room, then there must be some data that can be found to ease the worries and concerns of the room owner. Not only the room owners you like, or just the room owners that agree with you... ALL of the prospective room owners. Nobody should be left in the dark and all questions must be answered. That has not been done yet. I don't know why. I've spoken with Teacherman and he seems very knowledgable, very intelligent, and this may come as a surprise - he doesn't sound very difficult to work with. He just wants his questions answered. We're twenty-some-odd pages into this - Mike could have called Teacherman and answered his questions in private.
Myself, I could care less what Mike makes per event. But if he's going to make money in my establishment, I feel I have a right to ask. It all comes down to communication. When that breaks down... you end up with 22 pages of this stuff.
I'd also like to say that I support Mike Janis, and the N.U.T.S.. Mike knows that. I have already done a lot of work this year in getting mainstream coverage of the bright side of our industry. I will be the first to point out that we do for the players, we do for the industry, the tours, the fans, but alot of times we fail to make an impact in the communities that host our events. We need to give back instead of always grabbing for ourselves. Until that changes, we'll keep our current image because we've earned it.
