I talked to a team member toady

O

one stroke

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Having know Brandon for many yrs , I stopped him today at a turney we were playing in to get the scoop on why he was not going ,
I informed him of the threads here and what the opinions were including mine that he should go ,,let me start by saying Brandon is a fine young man and a class act , one thing about Brandon he will shoot from the hip if he knows you

There never was a clear procedure of how the players were going to be chosen , he like the other 2 thought therbwould be some merit of consideration given for traveling and playing events abroad , in which he spent several thousand doing just that , where others had not again this was assumption he was never led to believe this by Mark
I know who he's refering to but I'll leave that to speculation

He also said although there was a basic agreement that who didn't make the team who still travel with them , he was told by more than one member they would not go if not chosen again I'm not going to say who that was
At the end of the day it came down to , if all three not chosen were not going none were going ,, part of it was pride, part of it was at least that one had a special occasion they didn't want to miss and part of it was they didn't want to further cut up the players money of who was and thier getting some money anyway
I told him what I thought , this being a once in a lifetime opertunity , we agreed to disagree , but I told him I respect his opinion

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Thank You!

Although you are at risk of trying to confuse us with the facts, thanks for asking and getting some info straight from one of the players involved!

Hu
 
one stroke said:
Having know Brandon for many yrs , I stopped him today at a turney we were playing in to get the scoop on why he was not going ,
I informed him of the threads here and what the opinions were including mine that he should go ,,let me start by saying Brandon is a fine young man and a class act , one thing about Brandon he will shoot from the hip if he knows you

There never was a clear procedure of how the players were going to be chosen , he like the other 2 thought therbwould be some merit of consideration given for traveling and playing events abroad , in which he spent several thousand doing just that , where others had not again this was assumption he was never led to believe this by Mark
I know who he's refering to but I'll leave that to speculation

He also said although there was a basic agreement that who didn't make the team who still travel with them , he was told by more than one member they would not go if not chosen again I'm not going to say who that was
At the end of the day it came down to , if all three not chosen were not going none were going ,, part of it was pride, part of it was at least that one had a special occasion they didn't want to miss and part of it was they didn't want to further cut up the players money of who was and thier getting some money anyway
I told him what I thought , this being a once in a lifetime opertunity , we agreed to disagree , but I told him I respect his opinion

1
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Brandon most definitely would have gone if the other two went. That's how I interpret this.

You're right about Brandon Shuff. He does shoot straight from the hip. I hope pool doesn't beat him up and he has a Plan B in his life. The way professional pool is today, not even the strong can can survive. The lifestyle and expenses far outweigh the ROI in the professional pool world, sad to say. :(

Brandon deserves only the very best, as far as I'm concerned. I like this kid, always have and always will. I'd like to see him succeed in anything he tackles in life, including pool. :smiling-heart:
 
one stroke said:
Having know Brandon for many yrs , I stopped him today at a turney we were playing in to get the scoop on why he was not going ,
I informed him of the threads here and what the opinions were including mine that he should go ,,let me start by saying Brandon is a fine young man and a class act , one thing about Brandon he will shoot from the hip if he knows you

There never was a clear procedure of how the players were going to be chosen , he like the other 2 thought therbwould be some merit of consideration given for traveling and playing events abroad , in which he spent several thousand doing just that , where others had not again this was assumption he was never led to believe this by Mark
I know who he's refering to but I'll leave that to speculation

He also said although there was a basic agreement that who didn't make the team who still travel with them , he was told by more than one member they would not go if not chosen again I'm not going to say who that was
At the end of the day it came down to , if all three not chosen were not going none were going ,, part of it was pride, part of it was at least that one had a special occasion they didn't want to miss and part of it was they didn't want to further cut up the players money of who was and thier getting some money anyway
I told him what I thought , this being a once in a lifetime opertunity , we agreed to disagree , but I told him I respect his opinion

1
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First of all I would like to say good luck to Brandon in his endeavors. That said I really wish they would have stuck to the plan and all went to show the unified front. I know the Mosconi 5 players will all play well and to many AZers and to these 3 players minds "what is the difference", they are not playing.

But the coach thought it would add value to the effort and the players all worked for quite a while to build themselves as a team. If a leader has a vision and is working to achieve it, he has to get the people he leads to buy in and commit and stick to a plan. I think Mark thought he had those commitments and I guess obviously he did not. Those three will have to watch or ignore the event from afar. The roles they could have played will go unfulfilled. The value they could have added will not be realized. The team will persevere while keeping their eye on the prize.

For the next few days we will see the results of most of Mark's plan and no matter what this year in Blackpool American pool will be shown as what is possible with a positive professional unified team.

Good luck to the US Mosconi Cup team, bring home the cup.
 
Personally I always thought the idea of sending a few players as 'coaches' was ludicrous. I get that the decision on who to include was hard but that doesn't mean you should take the easy way out and put unneeded pressure on those who weren't chosen. In my eyes it always looked like Mark was doing what was easiest from his viewpoint rather than by the players that weren't chosen.
 
zpele said:
Personally I always thought the idea of sending a few players as 'coaches' was ludicrous. I get that the decision on who to include was hard but that doesn't mean you should take the easy way out and put unneeded pressure on those who weren't chosen. In my eyes it always looked like Mark was doing what was easiest from his viewpoint rather than by the players that weren't chosen.
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Theirs some of that the players say it's not a team sport anyway so it's hard to get in the team spirt ,unless of course thier getting paid to play , MC , BB then thier all in
If they were paid a full share they would be thier



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zpele said:
Personally I always thought the idea of sending a few players as 'coaches' was ludicrous. I get that the decision on who to include was hard but that doesn't mean you should take the easy way out and put unneeded pressure on those who weren't chosen. In my eyes it always looked like Mark was doing what was easiest from his viewpoint rather than by the players that weren't chosen.
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One stroke, thanks for sharing this with us. I think Zpele's thoughts have a lot of merit.

I was surprised to see, if I understand the conversation with Brandon right, that there was not very clear guidelines given to these 8 players up front in terms of what criteria would be used in making the final selection.

I, for one, felt, based on everything that was initially indicated, that Mark was quite clear on the personal make up of the type of player he was looking. From this I would assume that each of the eight players picked fit that mould; team players with integrity that exuded good sportsmanship and would represent their country well.

What seems less clear is what each player needed to do performance wise to make the final 5. Were they given competitive situations to perform in, were they given pressure filled situations to overcome and was their performance both within these structured environments and performance in other outside tournaments given weight and was this communicated to everyone in a transparent way. It would seem that it was not. I would also hope that there were exit interviews with the three that did not make the team to give them a very clear understanding of the reasoning along with some positives in what they could work on in future. It seems to me that it would be somewhat disingenuous, self serving, counter-productive to future teams and unfair to those left behind if they were not given clear criteria of what they would have to achieve to make the cut along with a clear explanation of where they fell short if they did not make it.

When I first got involved in league pool I heard someone from the higher division saying that the team he was on had decided to drop out for the next session, take a break from pool. This was said right after their final match in the playoffs. Later I asked why they would decide to not play. He laughed and said that they just wanted to get rid of two of their players and would in fact re-form as a different team after replacing those two. My response was to say “You do know you are adults and can actually be up front with people. I think you owe it to your two team members to be honest with them. I think that you will find that on their list of ‘disastrous things that have happened to me in my life’ not being on a team with you won’t make the cut.”

I bring this up in the context of this thread/conversation to say that I hope the creation of the positions offered to the three that did not make the Mosconi Cup team final cut; namely to coach some of the best in the sport how to break, play offense and play defense was not used to just shed them from the team without having to do it in an adult way. If it was.......well, it worked. Mark?
 

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Nostroke said:
I call BS-There is no team member nicknamed Toady!!
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(lol) I never realized I was periodically dyslexic until I read this, re read the topic and realized I had read "toady" as "today"

Thank dog you were able to set me straight.
 
When I first read of this small problem, I had to mull it around a bit.

I would have to say that I am still on the fence on this one as a person feelings could easily go either way.

First. It would still be great to be able to travel to the Mosconi and be considered, part of the Team. Whether or not to be given a Token job name is all that much of a consolation prize.

Second. Who wants to be sitting in the viewing audience and be seen as one of the second stringers who were not able to make the Team and will not be played during the prestigious event. Probably no one.

I had quite a few friends and players that I played against in the Juniors that did make it to the NHL. They were good players who were basically bench warmers for quite a few seasons before they saw any real ice time. Yet, that is to be expected and not quite the same as a one time shot at playing in the Mosconi. You can sit on the bench of the Montreal Canadians for 3 seasons and then be released. CYA Buddy. Thanks for coming out.
Haha. My natural birth father was asked to go to Toronto for a try out. He didn't even go as he was more interested in chasing women, fighting, and riding his Harley.
But he was an idiot anyway.

Its like, I am either good enuff to play, I know that I am, or I'm not. If I am not, see ya next year at try outs, maybe.

It is also admirable that they didn't want any part of receiving the other players winnings. Probably quite a few things that went on and said between the players that none of us will ever be privy to also.

Maybe we don't know some of the deeper parts of what went on and what was said or promised, we can only go on some of the things that the OP has mentioned and other threads.
 
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elvicash said:
Those three will have to watch or ignore the event from afar. The roles they could have played will go unfulfilled. The value they could have added will not be realized.
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You and your veiled threats of them being out of further Mosconi Cups is bullshit. Imo, whoever put out the team announcement whether it was you, MW or Matchroom sealed their fate with "Jeremy Sossei is tasked as Offensive Coordinator in the build up and during the event while Oscar Dominguez fulfils the role of Defensive Coach. The eighth member of the squad Brandon Shuff has a technical role as Special Shots Instructor.". Call them alternates, call them support staff but giving them token, cheesy, bullshit titles was condescending, humiliating, and a huge mistake. Their not being there, and the value they could have added, is on whoever wrote that press release, not them.
 
I hope that if 1 or all of the 3 not going has a great year next year is not black balled. That would piss a lot of people off. Johnnyt
 
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