landshark77 said:
I agree with you, Wild Eight, to a point. I guess it is kinda difficult to explain really. The WPBA has a dress code. They all must look nice and professional, and they all do, IMO. Yes, all these girls can play; yes, all of these girls are well dressed and groomed for tourneys (and as far as I know what ever other things they partake in during their daily lives.) I guess the ultimate question I was trying to have answered is to what degree does the looks of the player, the physical looks, lead one to say, "Hey, that chick is my favorite player. I don't care how good she is on the table, I don't care if she is nice, polite, or accessible, and I don't care what she is ranked. She is my favorite because she is hot. Her looks out weigh ANY other criteria. When I root for someone I base it on looks first"?
I really don't know what you keep searching for in this. I think your poll has given you that answer and the numbers, just turn it into a percentage. The results show that "mad skills" come out on top by far, but are you still asking yourself if they're just all lying scum? What do you want to know?
Let's forget about pool and take one name from tennis...Anna Kournikova. You could definitely say that she was the favorite of tennis fans and non tennis fans because she is HOT and her looks out weight ANY other criteria.
I think people rooted for her so they could see her not get knocked out of the brackets in order to see more of her as the tournament progressed. She had more hits on her internet site and related links than ANY other female sports star out there when she was playing. She never won, she wasn't ranked highly, she was an underachiever, and she was somewhat of a bitch at times, but SO WHAT? She packed the stands; more revenue was brought in as a result of her presence in a tournament; there were higher TV ratings when she was shown in a match; and ALL of the women benefitted from greater exposure to achieve name recognition, endorsements, and additional benefits as a result of their "excellent play" that might have gone unnoticed.
The same thing has occured throughout the years in golf with Laura Baugh, Jan Stephenson, and today with Natalie Gulbis. They were HOT, HOT, HOT.
Fans came to see, especially male fans, but they also got to see other women that can play their butts off. It's not like any of these women were/are hacks either, they wouldn't be there if they didn't prove themselves and have the ability to qualify and maintain their spots on tour.
In pool, let's take one name that stands out. Jeannette Lee. Let's face it she's HOT. But she's also #3 in the world, which means she has damn near an even chance with #1 and #2 to win at any time. She dresses impeccably, sometimes provacatively (sexy) but she also focuses and plays with as much intensity and killer instinct as any woman ever has. She brings in a crowd and ups the ratings on TV or at a tournament. She was blasted early on by her own catty sniping sisterhood for being TOO sexy and too much of a self-promotor. Hey...TOUGH SHIT!! If you don't know how to promote yourself and be a business person to maximize earnings, nobody is going to do it for you. Many of the other women don't know how to do it and are just jealous, too bad.
I'll also be bold enough to throw in another name...Jennifer Barretta. (Sorry to drag you into this Jen, but I'm all for you). Now LS77, I threw out these names to you in an earlier post and you totally wimped out and said that you didn't know them, well...you know OF them and you've formed some concrete opinions, I'm sure. But you didn't want to touch it with a ten foot pole. Jennifer is getting coverage everywhere, yet, like Kournikova has yet to win. Is that bad? Is it her fault that she was not only blessed with a great appearance but to also have gone into the gym and worked her tail off to improve even more? The answer is a resounding "F*#k NO!!" She's drawing attention to the sport, something that needs to be done any way that it can.
Will it be like the PGA Tour or women's tennis where there are a lot of disgruntled, unrecognized pro's grumbling behind the scenes? I'm certain that it is happening and will happen. But, is it good or bad in the overall major scheme of things? I say good. What say you? And I don't want to hear one of your backpedaling crawfish statements again......