I'm new to reading the horror of the latest IPT fiasco...and saddened by what is happening to the sport, which I believe is truly worthy of greater support and respect. Considering Trudeau's past, then considering similar corporate blunders like Enron, Refco, and the like, I can't have a positive opinion of what's to come for IPT and the players. I'm not an IPT participant, but already I feel I've been hustled out of $2000+...and, frankly, I really think this is what happened to the participants, to no fault of their own.
The upshot is that pocket billiards can have mainstream attraction... and that there is talent out there who will gladly come out to play if the stakes are right.
Maybe it'll be reality TV, maybe it will be all about gambling and hustling... My favorite memory of the Hopkins show I went to a few years ago wasn't the tournament action or the expo, it was the gambling that was taking place downstairs... watching professional players go rack to rack with the locals and hustlers, money in hand, sidebets called out, fading this and fading that... along with a huge crowd, I could feel that energy. Think about it...America is in game show mania! And 'chance' is what's popular RIGHT NOW... have any of you seen Deal or No Deal? Don't you think Pool is the ultimate card game? Like another person said, this isn't a game of luck, although it can be spun that way. IMO, in this day an age, legitimizing the sport must come secondary to promoting it.
AZ is a great forum and the brainpower-pool-knowledge capacity here is daunting. I'm sure we can come up with some great out-of-the-box ideas to promote the sport. Let's use the negative energy we have invested in the IPT and do exactly what, ironically, Trudeau is suggesting..."Let’s put it behind us and move ahead"...as it seems he already has.
for more on Trudeau:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Trudeau