Do one each month, divide the country into four regions and go from there. Have the public choose ONE player, all the rest come from a points system thru tournament qualifier play.
Mosconi Cup Qualifiers
- Thread starter Island Drive
- Start date
Ten grand minimum for playing a few racks at MC for three day sessions is not bad pay for poverty-stricken pros.
Now you want them to actually travel, pile up expenses, and make greater demands on their time just to make the team?
How much prize money would these qualifiers offer?
From whence cometh the money?
Who or what would run the qualifiers?
To run organized pool requires a pool organization - which American pool don't got.
Yeah your right, sounds like work
organization and commitment. Dbl elim. qualifiers with the finals at three am? I would of enjoyed seeing TKO play on the team. I'd rather see great team work, and something to aspire towards than what it seems to appear, another paycheck. JA and SVB your all good in my book. You could have the top four from each amateur tour then play a round robin format, and then a mock up Mosconi event to test the waters. Just tossin' out ideas, as I want No part of this. Breakin' old school habits is not in my interest, but making others aware of the cracks in the dam are.
I think Matchroom has alot to say about the makeup of each team. The captain does not just pick them. If you do not like how it is done perhaps you should spend the kind of cash they spend and have your own tourney. The spent $150,000 on the 10 playeys plus whatever the non playing player gets plus the announcers, the refs, the techies and brought alot of gear. Probably a million plus. Great production.
That being said I agree we would be better off with a more motivational way of selecting players. Who ever is in contention should be grouped together much earlier and they should play some together as a team for more than a day or two before the event. We had great players on our team but we did not have the team thing going we did not know how to pump ourselves up and how to smooth thing over when things were not going our way. Our team is 5 individuals who it looked to me was like a normal tourney in that they probably said when do you play who do you play good luck with that I am going to the room. We got guys playing and half or less of the other players are in the corner watching some matches. We will have to be used to second place until the team that is fielded decided they are going to prepare together, play together and win together. Team pool can be exciting.
Good luck Team USA.
That being said I agree we would be better off with a more motivational way of selecting players. Who ever is in contention should be grouped together much earlier and they should play some together as a team for more than a day or two before the event. We had great players on our team but we did not have the team thing going we did not know how to pump ourselves up and how to smooth thing over when things were not going our way. Our team is 5 individuals who it looked to me was like a normal tourney in that they probably said when do you play who do you play good luck with that I am going to the room. We got guys playing and half or less of the other players are in the corner watching some matches. We will have to be used to second place until the team that is fielded decided they are going to prepare together, play together and win together. Team pool can be exciting.
Good luck Team USA.
Tommy Kennedy
My vote for next years team, JA, SVB and Tommy Kennedy. TKO, he's our Tebow and a wonderful man, committed to our sport and appreciative of what's he's given in life.
My vote for next years team, JA, SVB and Tommy Kennedy. TKO, he's our Tebow and a wonderful man, committed to our sport and appreciative of what's he's given in life.
This is Matchroom's exhibition, they have their own desires about who/how the teams are made up. I'm sure they LOVE the drama and antics. If it were me, I'd pick a team of total unknowns (or near unknowns, Chris Bartram would be my first pick), pull them together for a minimum of 2 months with a real coach and captain and smoke the Euros at their own game. Unfortunately, left to our own devices, we all have prejudices and preferences and politics would probably screw it up. A "fair" way would be to pick the five top U.S. finishers in a select group of tournaments (U.S. Open, DCC, etc.). I'd also like to see longer races; 8 or 9 would still fit in the production scheme...
I am a Tommy Kennedy fan, too; I like him off the table as much as on...but I don't think he's got the juice today to threaten most of the Euro team members.
I am a Tommy Kennedy fan, too; I like him off the table as much as on...but I don't think he's got the juice today to threaten most of the Euro team members.
I just don't understand the selection process for team USA? How did they end up being chosen. It sure as heck didn't come from the ranking. Just a little confusing why there were a couple players left off when they had a much better year can a couple of the players chosen
It's totally up to Matchroom. It's a production sold to television and needs names viewers (mostly in Europe) recognize. It changes year to year. This year, there apparently was a push to bring some of the old stalwarts back in (like Earl, Mika and Ralf) because of the 20th Anniversary. I'll bet despite all the complaining, most of us watched every single minute of it...didn't you? 
Do all of the American Pros want to be named to the Mosconi Cup Team? or for alot of them is it more of a pain in the butt and money lost because it's a week or so without normal activities or work?
As far as Matchroom goes, yes they pick the team, but when you think about it, the more qualifying tournaments, the more interest it should generate. If pros don't want to go to the trouble of qualifying, they don't deserve to be on the team in the first place. And as we've all been taught, the cream rises to the top. The best players will be the ones to qualify, and don't we want to see the best players? I for one do, especially when they're representing the USA. I want to see a competition, not a rout caused by "picking" the wrong players.
I'll agree with you, i'd like to know how a couple of the players were picked to be on the team. It's obvious to me that the process for choosing the team players needs revising.
What was very interesting during the Kevin Trudeau Days, were who started playing and showing up and doing extremely well in those events. There's allot in the woodwork of play in our society, this chum could surface a few Key team players, and it could easily give our youth a target to achieve. Justin Bergman could of easily been one had this been around during his youth, along with McMinn and the Quad city Jessie. Just some ideas to throw out there. Still I like the energy TKO could bring, as a team captain :thumbup:.
In the past the non-wildcard picks were whoever was highest on the BCA points list.
It was a good system because it rewarded participation in a ton of tournaments,
which made the whole scene more active.
That's how Mike Dechaine earned his spot previously.
People complained but he played in a ton of events and won like a half dozen of them.
I also remember googling an old quote where matchroom said they guaranteed the US Open winner
and runner-up a spot. And another one had said they would take BCA points into consideration
when picking their wildcards.
The wildcards exist pretty clearly to shoehorn in guys like Johnny Archer,
players who are still a household name even if they aren't entering 20 events a year.
This year I think the selection was based mostly on 2 things:
1. As many 'household names' as possible, even if it means guys well past their primes.
2. Emotional players who the crowd loves (or loves to hate).
For the 20th anniversary, they wanted to pick guys a euro pool fan is likely to have heard of...
"oh yeah! Rodney the Rocket!" ...not "Jeremy who? Saucy? Who's that?"
I'd like to think that they did this only because the 20th year is something special,
and that next year it will go back to giving at least 2 or 3 slots based on merit (BCA points),
and maybe they will finally let the old-timer americans take a rest and bring in some fresh faces.
But, who knows.
It was a good system because it rewarded participation in a ton of tournaments,
which made the whole scene more active.
That's how Mike Dechaine earned his spot previously.
People complained but he played in a ton of events and won like a half dozen of them.
I also remember googling an old quote where matchroom said they guaranteed the US Open winner
and runner-up a spot. And another one had said they would take BCA points into consideration
when picking their wildcards.
The wildcards exist pretty clearly to shoehorn in guys like Johnny Archer,
players who are still a household name even if they aren't entering 20 events a year.
This year I think the selection was based mostly on 2 things:
1. As many 'household names' as possible, even if it means guys well past their primes.
2. Emotional players who the crowd loves (or loves to hate).
For the 20th anniversary, they wanted to pick guys a euro pool fan is likely to have heard of...
"oh yeah! Rodney the Rocket!" ...not "Jeremy who? Saucy? Who's that?"
I'd like to think that they did this only because the 20th year is something special,
and that next year it will go back to giving at least 2 or 3 slots based on merit (BCA points),
and maybe they will finally let the old-timer americans take a rest and bring in some fresh faces.
But, who knows.
Face the truth
I know it's a difficult thing to do, but how about admitting that America cannot field a team today that can compete with the first and second teams from Europe and the same goes for China and the Phillipines?
I know it's a difficult thing to do, but how about admitting that America cannot field a team today that can compete with the first and second teams from Europe and the same goes for China and the Phillipines?
If the fees and payouts were small enough, and then an end of year event with points accumulated to give ONE person the nod, it could work. By keeping the dollars low, the pros would have NO interest in attendance and it would be seen as a waste of Their time/money. Look back tho, when the IPT formed, a few unknown Great players surfaced, it definitely took me by surprise. There are quite a few in the trenches of our society. Someone could also form a National Amateur Championship with No payouts and give the points leader the nod to be an attendee. Justin Bieber came out of No Where. I might have the spelling wrong.
