Does pro pool need more team competitions?

O

Oze147

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Last weekend, after the league match, me, my team members and the other team sat down for a drink and we were discussing the current state of pool, pro players, pool on social media, carbon fiber shafts, the missed nine in rack three, who is going to next week's tournament...you know, everything amateur players talk about, when they come together.

And during this discussion one of us brought up a very interesting point:
He said, although he is not so much into pro pool, he is glued to the TV as soon as the MC has started and after a second thought he said, that the world cup of pool is his second favourite tournament.
He said, he can relate to the pressure of bringing in points for your team, the struggle of playing doubles with a stronger partner, or overcoming personal differences as soon as you are not playing for your own but for your club.

And since everyone in our round agreed (someone even remembered the bonus ball pool experiment, or whatever they called it), I was thinking, that maybe pro pool shouldn't focus all the attention on single players and their achievements, but maybe enforce the team aspect of the game a bit more.
 
The Mosconi Cup is exciting because it's Europe vs the United States, a rivalry nearly thirty years old and one that carries a lot of bragging rights in pool, not because it's a team event. Second, it always offers ten elite players in competition. Third, short race nine ball is the most exciting brand of pool on the planet, and the fans love it. The event is, by design, a raucous extravaganza, and the fans eat it up.

The World Cup of Pool is a good event, but not nearly as engaging as the Mosconi Cup, in part because there is always a lot of dead money in the event. The fans don't get into it nearly as much as the Mosconi.

Since you mentioned it, the disastrous Bonus Ball experiment was predicated on the assumption that team play was what the fans wanted to see. Bad assumption.

Personally, I'm fine with two team events a year and don't think we need another. Some may feel otherwise.
 
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sjm said:
The Mosconi Cup is exciting because it's Europe vs the United States, a rivalry nearly thirty years old and one that carries a lot of bragging rights in pool, not because it's a team event. Second, it always offers ten elite players in competition. Third, short race nine ball is the most exciting brand of pool on the planet, and the fans love it. The event is, by design, a raucous extravaganza, and the fans eat it up.

The World Cup of Pool is a good event, but not nearly as engaging as the Mosconi Cup, in part because there is always a lot of dead money in the event. The fans don't get into it nearly as much as the Mosconi.

Since you mentioned it, the disastrous Bonus Ball experiment was predicated on the assumption that team play was what the fans wanted to see. Bad assumption.

Personally, I'm fine with two team events a year and don't think we need another. Some may feel otherwise.
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I’ve actually been rewatching all of the Bonus Ball matches on YouTube. I may be in the minority, but I really enjoyed it and wished it would have lasted! I loved the game, the teams, the commentary…. Only thing I didn’t like was Lee Brett. But that’s mainly for personal reasons.
 
sjm said:
The Mosconi Cup is exciting because it's Europe vs the United States, a rivalry nearly thirty years old and one that carries a lot of bragging rights in pool, not because it's a team event. Second, it always offers ten elite players in competition. Third, short race nine ball is the most exciting brand of pool on the planet, and the fans love it. The event is, by design, a raucous extravaganza, and the fans eat it up.

The World Cup of Pool is a good event, but not nearly as engaging as the Mosconi Cup, in part because there is always a lot of dead money in the event. The fans don't get into it nearly as much as the Mosconi.

Since you mentioned it, the disastrous Bonus Ball experiment was predicated on the assumption that team play was what the fans wanted to see. Bad assumption.

Personally, I'm fine with two team events a year and don't think we need another. Some may feel otherwise.
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but the ball girls were cute,,,,,,,,,,
 
easy-e said:
I’ve actually been rewatching all of the Bonus Ball matches on YouTube. I may be in the minority, but I really enjoyed it and wished it would have lasted! I loved the game, the teams, the commentary…. Only thing I didn’t like was Lee Brett. But that’s mainly for personal reasons.
Click to expand...

I just finished Binging Yellowstone and needed a new show. Halfway done with the YouTube Bonus Ball series. 1000 thank yous!
 
IMO, no. Mosconi works because of all the nationalistic rah-rah shit. A regular team event has none of that. Be like watching hi-level league pool. I'll pass.
 
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Oze147 said:
the struggle of playing doubles with a stronger partner,
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You have this al180 degrees backwards.

The easiest pool you’ll ever play is scotch with a stonger partner.

Just make the ball, don’t sweat shape. That’s the stronger guys problem. Get him to the good side of the ball & let him do the work to get you back in line.

You will play the strongest game of your life because you have 50% of the shots being handled by someone better than you.

Don’t worry about pin point shape, just “don’t miss” and get to the good side. Way less pressure on you.

It’s a frame of mind.

Best
Fatboy😀
 
i'm on the fence. the reyes cup has been mentioned. i guess my curiousity on how good a team asia could bring and how they'd get along could tilt me over the fence.

world cup of pool i didn't like at first because it was only doubles matches. i like it now, it's a cool event and some of those small countries are very proud to represent.
 
They need a team with a pro and amateur capped at fargo 1250 total....I'd watch that.
 
Oze147 said:
Last weekend, after the league match, me, my team members and the other team sat down for a drink and we were discussing the current state of pool, pro players, pool on social media, carbon fiber shafts, the missed nine in rack three, who is going to next week's tournament...you know, everything amateur players talk about, when they come together.

And during this discussion one of us brought up a very interesting point:
He said, although he is not so much into pro pool, he is glued to the TV as soon as the MC has started and after a second thought he said, that the world cup of pool is his second favourite tournament.
He said, he can relate to the pressure of bringing in points for your team, the struggle of playing doubles with a stronger partner, or overcoming personal differences as soon as you are not playing for your own but for your club.

And since everyone in our round agreed (someone even remembered the bonus ball pool experiment, or whatever they called it), I was thinking, that maybe pro pool shouldn't focus all the attention on single players and their achievements, but maybe enforce the team aspect of the game a bit more.
Click to expand...

It's not just the teams, it's the teams you root for in your area. Bonus ball was a good idea, but I think they made a mistake of not using a standard game everyone knows and did not do a good job letting people know it existed outside of a core group of pool fans that knew about it and are interested in everything around the game. A city vs city or state vs state competition is great, and pretty much every sport lives on it. How many people do we know that are fans of a football or baseball team not from the state they are from? It's very rare to find anyone that roots for a team not from their home state/country. This type of us vs them instinct for support can grow some new fans into pool, if only they knew about it.

I mean even something as local as a pool hall, who has not brought in players from "their" local room to "the other guys" local room to do a challenge match? It's just human nature to do that stuff. It's not just the fact it's a doubles or team event, it's the fact we are given a specific thing to root for and get emotionally involved in the result, there is something past one side winning in general, we want something that has meaning to us personally when it happens.
 
SBC said:
They need a team with a pro and amateur capped at fargo 1250 total....I'd watch that.
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1250 is kinda low. If you figure any pro is going to be mid-700's+ you'd have to pair them with with fairly low FR players. You really want to watch that? Might be fun to play in but i don't see that as a viable spectator deal. In my area they have these a lot and they draw good fields. One in OkCity paid over 10grand with the Calcutta $ added.
 
Luxury said:
I just finished Binging Yellowstone and needed a new show. Halfway done with the YouTube Bonus Ball series. 1000 thank yous!
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You have a link for that? I searched YouTube for "bonus ball pool" but am not seeing anything. Wouldn't mind checking that out if someone can share a link. Thanks :)
 
Fatboy said:
You have this al180 degrees backwards.

The easiest pool you’ll ever play is scotch with a stonger partner.

Just make the ball, don’t sweat shape. That’s the stronger guys problem. Get him to the good side of the ball & let him do the work to get you back in line.

You will play the strongest game of your life because you have 50% of the shots being handled by someone better than you.

Don’t worry about pin point shape, just “don’t miss” and get to the good side. Way less pressure on you.

It’s a frame of mind.

Best
Fatboy😀
Click to expand...
Yep, that sums it up. I love playing Scotch Doubles with my dad who's level is way below mine. We have good chemistry and we even manage to beat players who are both around my level (but at least stronger than my dad). I often have to play some pretty difficult shots after him to get shape on the next ball again, but it's a fun challenge and there has never been a bad word between us.
 
Fatboy said:
You have this al180 degrees backwards.

The easiest pool you’ll ever play is scotch with a stonger partner.

Just make the ball, don’t sweat shape. That’s the stronger guys problem. Get him to the good side of the ball & let him do the work to get you back in line.

You will play the strongest game of your life because you have 50% of the shots being handled by someone better than you.

Don’t worry about pin point shape, just “don’t miss” and get to the good side. Way less pressure on you.

It’s a frame of mind.

Best
Fatboy😀
Click to expand...
This 💯.
 
Bonus Ball, just like this was always destined to be on a road to nowhere. Innovation can be good, but if the only novelty is the gimmick itself it's doomed from the start.
 
To me, pool is, and has always been mano a mano or man vs self. Team pool just feels weird and not natural to me. Everything is always your own fault, good or bad, as the gods intended it. Teams don't excite me.

Runouts, unconventional shots, and just plain old fashioned moxie played on GC 1s through 4s excite me.
 
IMO, more pro level team events would benefit pool overall. It would help the pros get stronger and more accustomed to playing on a team.

The amateurs could learn just from watching the pros. SVB is a great example. Have you seen him study an eight ball table after breaking? He looks it over like he is stalking prey. Most amateurs walk up and take the first easy shot they see, like it is an APA match and each ball is worth a point. SVB is up there to get all the way out from the very first shot.

The pressure and responsibility of playing team pool is different than playing one on one as well. If you lose there you are only responsible to yourself. On a team you answer to yourself and the rest of your team which adds pressure.

I have always believed that the Euro teams had better comraderie than we do and I see that as an edge for them and tag is built by the team concept..
 
I think if you had the right match up and story it could sell. Here in the midwest we did a Battle for the Border, a mosconi cup style match with pro level and high skilled amateurs. It drew a nice crowd the entire time and the crowd was invested. Why? Because it was Ohio vs Michigan, which is the biggest college football rivalry. Fans of either state will always be interested in anything Ohio vs Michigan so I believe that added to the crowds they had for the event.
 
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