Half is European. Looked it up and the European part(40% of total Europe) is about the size of India or half the size of the contiguous US. Not small by any means.
Mosconni Cup needs a major change to stay relevant.
- Thread starter SomeDeadGuy
- Start date
I noticed that too. The influx of players from Poland, there are a lot right now.
West point touched on the development side, in his post.
Agreed that DAZN, despite good content outside of pool (boxing, snooker, darts) remains an inferior streaming platform, and that events that are viewable of DAZN alone are a problem that tends to disenfranchise the American pool fan. Matchroom does a great job in producing its events, but DAZN sometimes limits the quality of the experience of the American fan.
Changing the game or including more countries isn't the answer. Europe is ahead of us in terms of player development. Most all European countries take pool seriously (as a sport) and fund training facilities and development programs for young players. Shane is a once in a generation talent given the status quo. If we put focus on pool as a sport and devoted resourced to it, we could develop 10 "SVB's" over the next 25 years. It will be much of the same and may get worse until we catch up to the rest of the world.
Last edited:
agree 1000%. U.S. development strategy is: play on barboxes and gamble. Yeah, like that's really working. Take SVB out of the equation and there MIGHT be five players with ANY chance playing a top Asian/European player close.
I completely agree. And yet somehow DAZN remains the best (economic) value in pool streaming at the moment. Imagine what we'd be paying if the US distributor for Matchroom events was the same as we see for the DCC, US International Open, or other PPV action matches. $39.99 per event? $29.99 per event? At 8 events, we'd be looking at well over the $150 annual price DAZN charges. But again, I do agree as a platform DAZN is disappointing in its reliability, content availability and functionality and it has been disenfranchising fans.
Best thing to even out the matches in MC is to finally get rid of jump cues in "pro" events. In a short race being able to jump easily is very strong and has been a turning point in many matches, mostly for the Euro side. Want to jump, use a full cue. Leave jump cues for bangers.
Agree that PPV in the US is overpriced.
If Earl gets in despite failing to participate in almost every major event in 2022, it will set a sad precedent and we'll know that Mosconi selection still reeks of politics. Those who don't compete on a regular basis don't merit consideration.
That said, if he has top ten at either the US Open 9-ball or the International 9-ball, he will merit consideration.
Eliminate that and 3/4 of the people who participate in this game won’t be able to anymore.. the pool hall is dead except in big cities. That’s all we have unless you belong to a private club in the town I live in.
going by rankings as they stand right now the three automatic picks are svb, oscar, sky. i think tyler is a good pick going by recent MC experience. the fifth man, why not a total joker? tony chohan can play rotation games, here pushing chang to a hill-hill shootout in 10-ball:
would rather see that than wolford or reinhold. would rather see JJ again tbh
Does anyone else get tried on listening to the population excuse regarding the Euro's dominance...?
The easiest yearly comparable for me would be hockey. Last 20yrs of junior world cups has Canada winning 10 /w 10x less population than the USA. Finland winning 3, w/ a mere pop of 5.5M. The USA with 5 wins during that same span. ...but why..?..., they have so much talent pool to draw from.
It's about passion and development infrastructure. It's the same reason Canada has only produced 2 note worthy professional pool players in Alex and Morra. Even with that said, you can easily say Alex isn't 'really' Canadian. The only thing worse than the USA's approach to pool, is the Canadian version...lol
The easiest yearly comparable for me would be hockey. Last 20yrs of junior world cups has Canada winning 10 /w 10x less population than the USA. Finland winning 3, w/ a mere pop of 5.5M. The USA with 5 wins during that same span. ...but why..?..., they have so much talent pool to draw from.
It's about passion and development infrastructure. It's the same reason Canada has only produced 2 note worthy professional pool players in Alex and Morra. Even with that said, you can easily say Alex isn't 'really' Canadian. The only thing worse than the USA's approach to pool, is the Canadian version...lol
Wow that's weak... how about we eliminate the break cue as well. You wanna hit the break shot hard, then do it with your playing cue and run the risk of messing up your tip.
Do you really think the reason for Euro dominance is the jump cue...?
I've gotten that feel as well over the last few years with the choices in the US line up. Icing on the cake was Earl for me.
If the paradigm is meant to shift from competition to circus then so be it. It may be more profitable as a gong show. It really boils down to how the US wants to handle it.
That said, if the argument is that the Euros dominate because of the USA's focus on BB pool, then embrace it. I don't see any reason why the Mosconi can't still be a legit competition but yet be played on the equipment of choice of the home team. Euros can opt for the 9ft, and while the event is being held on US soil, it's on a 7fter.
In the U.S., there is almost zero reason for any young person to devote themselves to pool. The high cost of just existing, requires a sizable income. There are so many better options. It's unlikely the U.S. will have more than a rare few, that can compete.
The reason I don't want a total joker (like Chohan or, even worse, Earl) is that Matchroom is moving the sport in the direction of becoming a meritocracy. and year-to-date, their invitationals (PLP, World Pool Masters, World Cup of Pool) have reflected their admirable commitment to making that happen.
The Premier League Pool field was filled based on Matchroom ranking and so was the World Pool Masters. At the World Cup of Pool, nations chosen to participate had to feature their two highest ranked players. Iin fact, the defending champions, Team Germany (Filler and Reintjes) couldn't try to defend because Filler and Hohmann were the two highest ranked Germans. I'm pleased with and proud of Matchroom for filling the fields in its invitationals based on Matchroom rankings. That's as it should be, for such invitations are perks that are earned through commitment to the Matchroom events and excellence when playing in them.
If the fourth and final Matchroom invitational (namely the Mosconi Cup) of the year is filled in a frivolous manner, it will, to a point, compromise the values that Matchroom has lived by in 2022. Those who didn't play the inaugural edition of the Matchroom tour probably don't deserve inclusion on Team USA.
Only three of them are playing the full Matchroom tour this year (SVB, Skyler, Oscar) and I don't think guys who chose to not to play it deserve inclusion in an event that is, in some respects, the culmination of the Matchroom year.
Nonetheless, JV, I'm very much with you on the point that filling the team entirely on merit makes sense. If you'd said, fill Team USA based on Matchroom rankings, I'd have been on board with that, but on this occasion, the use of Fargo doesn't make sense.
thanks for the input. i agree on that in general it should be based on merit. and 3 of 5 spots are directly from the rankings. but then it becomes trickier, because JJ (and alex) is also supposed to field the team with the highest potential to win, rather than rewarding high attendance. for the euros that means in my opinion picking gorst over szolnoki or zielinski.
going strictly by rankings, as it stands right now, that means shane wolford and greg hogue for the US side. not very strong fargorates and both would be mosconi rookies.