My "Decider" Blog Lets see what happens.

bfdlad

bfdlad

T-Wheels
Silver Member
Well a few AZers have told me that they like my little recounts of my trips on the road and so I will this little blog for my trip to Montana for the "Decider" with SVB and Earl. The good thing this time is that I have learned how to post photos so I hope to add some of those too.

This is not a long trip and so this won't be an ongoing saga for weeks but I hop that it interests you and you can get a glimps of the behind the scenes.

After quite a lot of planning and organizing I have found myself on the day I leave to Helena for the event. Seems like yesterday it was 3 months away and I had plenty of time to get everything in order. These things just creep up on you sometimes and although there is not much else I can do at this point I still feel like there is something I should be doing. I am sure I will remember when I am on the plane and there is nothing I can do about it.

The last few days I have turned into SVB's social secretary somehow. Mainly organizing fishing trips. Shane decided to arrive a few days early so he could go and do some fishing and so I told him that I knew a couple of people who liked to fish and I would talk to them. That was my mistake, from that point on I had a few people off to take him out an even someone offered Shane 4 fish on the wire for $50 :) After I got him sorted out with fishing trips for Wed and Thurs he asked "What about Tuesday?" "Tuesday?? you arrive on Tuesday afternoon, by the time you get to the hotel and settled it will almost be night time" He basically didn't care and just replied "You know you can go night fishing?, I am addicted"

So Earl arrives on Thurs an I will be working with POV Pool as best I can to help and make sure all is set and ready for Friday night at 6pm. Right now I am just getting ready to take a shower an finish packing and off to the airport. I just want to get there I hate the whole traveling BS , 2 flights to take and land in Montana about 9.30pm. From there straight to the Eagles Lodge as they are setting up the table tonight.

Well I will fill in more info as I go and get together with Earl an SVB and Daniels from POV. The weather is gonna be around 80 during the day and drop to around 50 at night. Its gonna be nice change but after this 100+ I think it may seem chilly. Well more to come.
 
Good post Mark. I'm sure many of us don't even realize the kinds of things you have to deal with to make something like this happen. We're all looking forward to some great days of pool. 4 fish on the wire... that's funny !
 
I finally arrived last night in Helena after a scary flight in from Salt Lake City, I was met at th airport by the Eagles Lodge manger who told me that the guys were setting up the Diamond table at the venue and so I decided to just head straight over and see if I could help and make sure thing were in place as I had asked. By the time I arrived it was already a little after 10pm and all looked great and so I just stuck around and chatted a while and had a couple of beers with the guys since I knew them all from previous events in Helena.

They had came to the conclusion that they really should test out the table just be be certain it was playing ok, I think it was just an excuse to play pool for free :) I noticed that they were playing with the new Cyclops Balls (The ones from the BCA that have the pastal colors) I asked if we had any other sets of balls available in case the players didn't like the colors, I was reminded that Shane just won the US Open 8-Ball using those balls an so he was probably not a problem but Earl may want the others so that's cool at least I have options there.

Daniel from POV Pool called and asked where I was as he knew I was getting into town late and so arranged to meet him also. We had a look at everything together and h began brining his equiptment into venue ready to get things set up and ready the next day. I know we are a little early since the event does not start til Friday night but hey, nothing wrong with being prepared right?

Its now about midnight and Daniel says he is starving and so we headed over the Shellie's Country Café, the only place open in Helena at this time of night to begin with but they are also the main sponsors of the event and so we wanted to show our support back to them. The food was delicious as usual and pretty soon it was time to head to the hotel. I get checked in and in my room to find I am full of thoughts an excitement after a day of traveling I just wasn't ready to go to bed but eventually around 2,30am I made myself go to bed. My head was still spinning with the thoughts of things I had to do the next day and I must have Dozed off because I woke and sat straight up in bed in a cold sweat and panic running through my whole body. I look at the clock its 3.15am! I have not spoken to Earl in 2 days. Is it possible that he has forgotten all about this event??? Is it possible it slipped his mind and just not thinking about the flight he has to get this morning?? is it possible he didn't set his alarm?? I have to remind him somehow, what is the best way to do this?? Got it TEXT! Oh no, Earl does not do the text thing. Crap! I got to call him, This is probably not going to go well but I have no choice. The phone rings and rings, ok I will leave a message. The I hear a faint voice "Hello" I start by saying "I am sooo sorry about the time man but I just needed to make sure that someone was going to beat the airport to get you tomorrow, you are leaving tomorrow right?" there is pause then "Who is this?" "It's Mark, again I am sorry about the time" Another pause and then "MARKEEEEEE, WHEN YOUYOU GET THERE?" "I'm here" "Ok, Yeah, I will just see you tomorrow Markee" 'Great see you then" Well that went way better than I thought it might. I am not sure where this "MARKEE" thing came from but he has been doing in the past few months. Not sure what happened to "T-Wheeeels" but all is good.

Today, I am up and about and ready for action. A lot to do, mainly little things that just need to be done and organizing. I obviously havn't seen Shane at this point and I may not if he has gone fishing again as he is supposed to. I report in later today as Earl will be in town and we can expect something funny going on.
 
Ok Mark, I can't resist asking, at risk to Shane's reputation.

So, you've led us to believe Shane was to have been fishing for 2 days and perhaps one night, and Shane now says it's an "addiction".

At the beginning of the interview (which was very fun to watch, ty all!) Shane said something @ he'd been fishing. I was SCREAMING at my screen for Daniel to ask him what Shane caught. He didn't... until @ the last question.

Shane: "I caught 2".

I just LMAO and said to myself: "3 days fishing for two 4 ounch panfish. WOOT! Dinners' on Shane!!!"


:D:D:D
 
i wish this interview had been filmed as:

picture Earl & Shane, kicked back in oversized wingback chairs, across from each other, (smoking cigars & drinking scotch) infront of a roaring Montana fireplace, amidst the lodge, with a moosehead atop, and an 8-foot bear aside....
....just chatting pool.

(or at Shellie's Country Cafe, eating a 2lb buffalo steak - for even $$$$)
 
PINKLADY said:
i wish this interview had been filmed as:

picture Earl & Shane, kicked back in oversized wingback chairs, across from each other, (smoking cigars & drinking scotch) infront of a roaring Montana fireplace, amidst the lodge, with a moosehead atop, and an 8-foot bear aside....
....just chatting pool.

(or at Shellie's Country Cafe, eating a 2lb buffalo steak - for even $$$$)
Click to expand...

A Montana fireside chat? Interesting. That would be a new twist to give viewers a little more personal feel.

Or too, at Shellie's Country Cafe again for sure! Click below to watch Daz lose his breakfast for a 50 measly dollar bet last time Mark & Co took Helena by storm (a must watch, just don't critique Mark's cameramanship):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdQtd3NSw20

Tough call!
 
Well thanks for that KK9, Also PINKLADY, I appreciate your support and I LOVE the image I got for a Montana Fireside Chat. Get those two a couple of Hot toddies in em by the fire and I am sure it would get real funny :)

So Where did I leave off? Ah yes, this morning waiting to get going and get things as ready as possible.

So We headed out to the Eagles Lodge to begin the real set up for the weekends events. As I get there the Manger is outside and greets us and says "Mark there is a kid in there looking for you" Well since the Manger has no idea about anything pool I could not help think it was maybe Shane since I had not seen him yet. As I enter with Michelle and Daniel of POV Pool a young man (Not a kid) gives me a big grin and says "You must me Mark, I'm Kody." He reached out and shook my hand and then he says "I'm Andy's son" Ah now I know who he is. His mom and Dad are avid pool fans but Kody the 17yr old is the biggest SVB fan maybe in the world. He and his family drove 9 hours to Helena and bought VIP seats well in advance to make sure that Kody got to see Earl and his idol SVB play in person. He politly asked with an excited look on his face "Is Shane here??" I explained that he was not right now but I think he will be showing up a little later. He said "Ok, well if there is anything you need help with, just let me know and I am happy to help out" WOW what a nice polite, well mannered young man. (seem like they are harder to come by these days or maybe I am just getting old:)" Anyway, I told him thanks but I am ok for now and I would let him know.

As I began setting up the "Arena" Shane texted me and asked where I was and after I told him he said he was going to walk over to say hi and see the place. I was outside not long after that feeding my disgusting habbit and here comes Shane sauntering across the parking lot, We say hi and the usual "Whats up" kinda thing and we head to the door to go inside. I say "Hey there is a young man in there who thinks you are the greatest and has been here a couple of hours playing pool in the hopes he might run into you" Shane asks "What right in here" "I will introduce you to him" So we get into the main bar area and I yell at Kody "Hey Kody, come over here I want you to meet Shane" This is one of those times that make the hard work, the struggling and BS that comes with what I do worth while. Kody looked up with a grin on his face that said EVERYTHING! he almost fell over trying to get across the room faster than his legs were ready to go and shook Shane's hand. Shane spend just a couple of minutes with him but I think paid him enough attention for right now to make his day.
Daniel was working all day making sure that things were heading in the right direction and I worked on other organizing things for the onsite people and the rest of the production. Time just slipped away and before I knew it Earl was in town and wondering where we were. He said "I am going to walk over" I said its raining like crazy out there shall I get someone to come get you?" He agreed that was the best way to go so I asked Kody again, "Hey you got a driving license??" He said no in a couple of months I will have it. I said "Oh ok, Earl just needed a ride and I thought that you may like to do it." He looked disappointed but then his Dad had arrived and said "Hey What about me? I would love to get him" "Hey ok you got it and thank you" Well the whole family went to pick up Earl and when they got back everyone was laughing and so I guess their little trip was fun.
Earl was in great spirits, laughing, joking, telling stories and made everyone laugh and enjoy themselves. Earl and SVB engaged in some friendly banter about the match and who was gonna who what and when. It was really quite funny to see. Then our friend Daniel Busch of POV Pool had a brilliant idea, lets do a live broadcast of a quick interview with the guys. I was not so sure about this since he wanted me to do the interview. I explained that I belong on the back side of the camera and he said well maybe you can join in a little. Oh whatever, well I probably made a fool of myself. as I was talking/being interviewed by Daniel I could not get the image from the Ricky Bobby movie when he does his first interview after a race. Well watch it and you will see.
After the interview with the guys we were hungry and had been told that the country restaurant by our hotel was very good and so we decided to go and eat there. On the way in Earl said "I'm gonna have a steak" and Shane said "me too" Well after we had been seated and got the menu it went a little silent and Earl says "Well, they are aweful proud of them steak aren't they?" Shane looks and says "$30.00 is the cheapest steak they got??" After us all complaining about the price of steaks and the fact that there are more cows in Montana than people, etc, etc. Burgers were the order of the evening :) As we waited Shane and Earl recanted stories of the crazy food they had eaten on trips all over the world. Shane ate a King Cobra in Indonesia and went into detail on how he picked it out and the lady caught it with her hands and cooked it up. Earl could not eat the fish eye soup he was once given in a position where it would have been VERY rude to refuse. We has a few laughs and felt content when we left. We headed back to our rooms and tomorrow is another day, a busy day and I will update as we go and as I have time. Its 1am here right now and I really should get to bed. Please tune in to www.povpool.com to order the event that will start tomorrow with 9-Ball race to 30 at 5pm Pacific time or 8pm EST.
Thanks to all who have sent me messages and support.
 
Mark - you can't make this stuff up! what a great story - that's what it's all about. kudos to Shane & Earl - you never know if that boy will be the-next-best-thing....

we will tune in tonight! thanks for the schedule recap. we're still hungover w/ time-zone jet-lag from last night's search.

8PM EST - got it!!!!
 
POVPOOL said:
The website is down due to some maintenance with the HOSTING company. We should be back online momentarily. My site has not been down in the 2 years since its launch.

Please be patient.

The link to the show WILL be on the main page of my site at www.povpool.com as soon as possible.

We are currently arranging a back-up plan on this if necessary.

I will keep you informed but please share this information with friends and family if you plan to purchase this show.

Thanks!@
Click to expand...

Daniels on the job as usual folks!!!!
 
a blizzard's probably rolling into Montana.
or a bison "stepped" on the transformer.

have no fear - Kody's here! i bet they've got him running around (on a horse), going door-to-door, scooping up whatever equiptment needs, for Plan C, if needed. it'll be fixed. those north-west people know how to make things happen!

i'm just waiting on the out-takes, where Earl spears an imposing grizzly with his cue!
 
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PINKLADY said:
a blizzard's probably rolling into Montana.
or a bison "stepped" on the transformer.

have no fear - Kody's here! i bet they've got him running around (on a horse), going door-to-door, scooping up whatever equipment needs, for Plan C, if needed. it'll be fixed. those north-west people know how to make things happen!

i'm just waiting on the out-takes, where Earl spears an imposing grizzly with his cue!
Click to expand...

And not just any horse :rolleyes:

Unicorn-unicorns-32585682-500-604.jpg
 
good morning, Mark! we're up - where are you? i'm waiting for last night's recap of Earl & Shane by the fire....
: )
 
What a day yesterday was, from start to finish it was almost a blur. I woke up and looked at my phone (That's my bedside clock) and see I have misses a couple of calls and have a couple of texts. I wanted to just say "F" it and turn over and go back to sleep and pretend I had not seen it. I just could not do it and so half awake I begin to scan the texts. "POV Pool Website is down" , "I can't get on the website to purchase the event." OH no, what's happening? I text Daniel at POV Pool for answers and he explained he was doing some maintenance on the site. Then after that the site is down and being that I am not very smart with these things have to put my faith in him to make it right. Well this took a BIG part of the day for him before it was finally stable as it was up and down. To his Credit he got it done with the help and patience from his lovely lady Michelle.
So after I had done my best to put out some potential fires I headed down to the venue around noon. I had to make sure that we had enough seats for the people who had signed up in advance. This is another one of those little jobs that seem easy and should be but end up confusing. I was still waiting for the event t-shirts to arrive and a couple of cues and hoping they would arrive so that was in the back of my head. People were popping in and out to see how things were and asking questions and seeing if we needed any help. Very nice of them.
We get to the point where people are starting to arrive and take their seats and so the show is almost ready to start. Earl arrives and begins hitting balls and telling his stories as he goes and people are sat quietly and listening intently as he gives his view of the game and the state of world pool. Shane arrives and just sits and listens with a smile on his face as he watches Earl also.
I can't ever keep still at these events. No matter if its the tours with the exhibitions or these special events, they take me a long time to put together and I live and breath each tour or event for a couple of months at least and then when it actually happens I find myself wandering around, I never actually sit down and watch the fruits of my labor come to fruition. So my feet, legs and back are killing me from being on my feet walking around all day. I may have sat down in total for 10 mins I know I am being a little whiney as there are much harder jobs out there just not used to being stood up all day.
After the show, Earl and Shane signed a bunch of autographs and went in separate directions for some dinner. I hung around with some of the people who stayed around after the event and as I was about ready to leave and get a McD's and get back to the hotel and then get some work done Daniel decided to do a free stream of the locals matching up. Then he decided to play and asked if I would do a little commentary, he has worked so hard all day I felt I probably should. Ended up being there way later than I should and getting in late. Well not much happened really so just back to it today and hope something exiting happens other than the match of course. I will let someone else recant the events of the match.
 
I don't know who those two locals were that Daniel streamed after the match, but they played jam up!

Were they gambling? It appeared as so.
 
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