Wow - I just returned from the tournament and am just now seeing this thread. I was really looking forward to seeing this rematch since I saw the first match up close from two years ago. It was a great match up and they also bickered with each other the whole time, which made it even more amusing. This year, here is what I know, saw, and heard first hand.
To be clear, for those of you that will say I am a hater or in the bag for one party or the other: 1) I don't know any of the parties involved (Charlie or his staff, Mike, or Danny); 2) I have been to all 3 of these events and just love 14.1, plain and simple. 3) Mike was always my favorite player when I was younger.
This year, I was actually sitting down front at Danny and Mike's table prepared to watch this match and was pretty disappointed when it was called. A few minutes before the match was supposed to start, Mike came in, rather loudly and started complaining about the match times being rescheduled. I thought this was pretty inconsiderate given that there were other matches going on at the time and it was disruptive to the whole room (even though it lasted only a minute or two). He was told very clearly by the Tournament Director (not Charlie - I don't even think he was in the room) that he had 10 minutes to return and be ready to play or he would forfeit. He walked out complaining and never returned. The TD came over and asked Danny what time he had seen the schedule/brackets, and Danny replied around 9:30 or 10, he couldn't remember for sure. Mike never returned, but he had the chance to do so and play and in my opinion he should have. I was disappointed he didn't.
Everyone else made their matches on time for that session, and it doesn't make sense to me at least, that just one match would have changed time slots given there are only 8 tables. No one else mentioned their times being changed that I know of or have heard of. I know Mike said he had people that would vouch for him that his match time had changed. I read earlier here that it was Bobby and John, but I don't know anything about that at all. I saw the brackets earlier that morning on my way back from breakfast, probably around 7:45. I really think Mike may have misread things here, because what I saw was that he was slated for the early match at 11am.
Just to add more context here, in another match, Mike lost the lag by a good 2-3 inches, but insisted after the balls were racked, he had won it. I don't think it was a hustle move to try and get the break either - I really think in his mind he thought he had won it. When he began to argue about it, the whole section sitting around that table had to tell him that no, he did not win the lag. In another match, he was pretty rude to the crowd when they didn't applaud as loudly as he thought they should. He continued to explain how great the shot was and then when no one applauded, he stated several times that he couldn't wait to get out of this place. Someone even replied back to him that "Yeah Mike, that was the shot of the century", which really set him off.
It seems to me what he perceives to be the case in certain circumstances, isn't always the reality.
It sounds like people have a lot against Charlie on this forum, maybe for good reason...I don't really know. It seems like many people have made up their minds about this without being there and seeing what happened. Instead they have decided based on previous events or dislike for Charlie and his company. That too, may also be warranted, but I cannot speak to any of those instances. This is not meant to be negative towards people like Jay or JAM - I enjoy reading posts from both of you and think each of you add to the quality of this forum. Hopefully, you will not take what I am saying the wrong way.
Just my take - I really do think Mike may have misread the time on the brackets.
