Finals at 1AM is not fair to the players. It is not fair to the spectators. The promoters/tournament directors are 100% responsible and it should not be socially accepted by the pool community.
Filler won the Big Foot, took top 10 in both the Banks and the One Pocket. He had played between 35-40 matches of pool over the week, with an increased pace towards the end of the week. Round 6 started at 9AM on Saturday and I believe he played at 9AM (He was a 'tbd' and they said all tbd's played at 9AM). I'm not sure exactly but he had to play somewhere between 7-9 matches, again, starting at 9AM. After playing his heart out all day, every day, all week, match after match, he makes the finals of a major event. The culmination of a titanic effort and performance, he won a right to play for the title! And they are going to kick off the match at when? 12:30AM?!?!?!? This was the first time I've ever seen Josh look tired at the table. Normally his secret weapon is a high energy level, bouncing around the table and leaping over adversity like Tigger. The Josh I saw had zero gas in the tank. (EDIT: I just learned he shot a .778 TPA in the finals. This from a guy that was posting 900+s on a 10' all week!!!)
As for spectators it is almost as bad. I was fortunate that my friend and I had front row seats. Almost SJM quality. We wanted to see the finals, but it was so late, and we were so tired it wasn't nearly as fun. We almost left, but we kept talking each other into staying. It felt like a couple of kids having a slumber party and trying to stay up all night watching the Star Wars trilogy. The only reason we decided to stay is we figured Filler/Sanchez-Ruiz would make for a fast match. If Roland had won we'd have had to leave.
I've played in many finals of local tournaments that started after midnight and felt the same way. The number of spectators for a smaller event drops from 25-30 down to 2-3 at most. The players play worse. It is a total joke. My last Midwest 9 ball tour event I made the finals of the one pocket. It was my best finish ever. I really wanted to win the thing. We had been playing one pocket and 9 ball until 4:45AM (night one), 4AM (night two), and returning back by 10 or 11AM to play. On day three I was so tired I could hardly keep my focus. I was playing 9 ball matches on Saturday night at 10PM, they called another at midnight. I was down 3-0 but I knew if I just could finish that one match I could be done, so I dug deep and came back and won. It was 1AM on day three. I was so relieved.
Then they told me I had to play my one pocket match. Right now. At 1AM. They said the 9 ball would go all the next day back to back and we'd have no time, so we'd have to play it now. Do you know what it's like to contemplate having to DOUBLE DIP a guy playing one pocket sets at 1AM when you are totally sleep deprived? I played terrible and felt helpless and hopeless. I worked hard for my shot at the title and feel I never got my shot.
I've also seen many tournaments get so far behind that the final 4 players just do an equity chop and go home. Unbelievable.
And we as a pool community seem to accept this. Isn't there a point at which we draw the line? I mean, if the finals were at 7AM after having played for 22 hours, would we still just shrug and say 'Well, sometimes that happens, lot's of players, the TDs are doing their best...' Where do we as a pool community draw the line? We don't. We've become complacent.
It's almost as if the players are considered the shock absorbers to any scheduling mishaps from the tournament directors. Like 'We'll try to set up for a 10PM finals on Saturday, we'll shoot to have round six done by Friday night before midnight, but hey, if we get behind we can always call 11PM and 9AM matches and make the winners play 15 hours on finals day...' PLAYERS ARE NOT SHOCK ABSORBERS. You can't sabotage the experience and performance of the players who support the event because you can't run a tournament correctly.
People talk about growing pool all the time. This doesn't help folks. I have had so many students tell me they don't play many tournaments and the #1 reason is they either don't have the stamina or don't have the time because of how late they run.
This is one thing Matchroom does really well. You don't see a Mosconi Cup or US Open finals at 1AM. Bravo! The same for Mike Zuglan at Turning Stone. Again, Bravo! It's not impossible folks to run a tournament. It can be done. You simply have to make it a priority. You have to leave room for reality, for slow matches, for delays. You can't fill the bathtub to the top and then climb in or you'll have water on the floor. This is stuff we should be able to figure out at age 2.
Why is this happening? Are TD's totally incompetent? Are they getting paid off by the venue if they can trap the players and audience there another 4 hours?
And why are we allowing this? Are we just numb to it? We don't have alternatives? We are desperate to play? We don't know how to stop it? Or is the group of pill popping drinkers that want to party all night greater or louder than the rest of us?
I don't know y'all. I've seen enough. I don't play a lot of events anymore for this reason. Derby is different, I have zero chance to play in the finals so it doesn't impact me directly (except as a spectator which doesn't hurt the same). So I can still play Derby, Turning Stone, the US Open, etc. But I know which ones don't treat the players right and I have a firm boundary against those. Life is too short and hard enough, I don't need any CIA sleep deprivation interrogation tactics to play for a few hundred dollars.
You all can agree or disagree, you can run your tournaments as late as you want. I'll keep filtering the ones I participate in and I'll be ok. I just thought it was totally violating to Filler, I think it's unacceptable, and I hold our pool community responsible for accepting it and not making a big enough fuss to hold the TDs and promoters accountable.
By the way - I love the Derby, the people there worked SUPER HARD and individually they all deserve medals. I think most players had a great experience, it was only the last few matches that were impacted. Unfortunately those are the most important.
Filler won the Big Foot, took top 10 in both the Banks and the One Pocket. He had played between 35-40 matches of pool over the week, with an increased pace towards the end of the week. Round 6 started at 9AM on Saturday and I believe he played at 9AM (He was a 'tbd' and they said all tbd's played at 9AM). I'm not sure exactly but he had to play somewhere between 7-9 matches, again, starting at 9AM. After playing his heart out all day, every day, all week, match after match, he makes the finals of a major event. The culmination of a titanic effort and performance, he won a right to play for the title! And they are going to kick off the match at when? 12:30AM?!?!?!? This was the first time I've ever seen Josh look tired at the table. Normally his secret weapon is a high energy level, bouncing around the table and leaping over adversity like Tigger. The Josh I saw had zero gas in the tank. (EDIT: I just learned he shot a .778 TPA in the finals. This from a guy that was posting 900+s on a 10' all week!!!)
As for spectators it is almost as bad. I was fortunate that my friend and I had front row seats. Almost SJM quality. We wanted to see the finals, but it was so late, and we were so tired it wasn't nearly as fun. We almost left, but we kept talking each other into staying. It felt like a couple of kids having a slumber party and trying to stay up all night watching the Star Wars trilogy. The only reason we decided to stay is we figured Filler/Sanchez-Ruiz would make for a fast match. If Roland had won we'd have had to leave.
I've played in many finals of local tournaments that started after midnight and felt the same way. The number of spectators for a smaller event drops from 25-30 down to 2-3 at most. The players play worse. It is a total joke. My last Midwest 9 ball tour event I made the finals of the one pocket. It was my best finish ever. I really wanted to win the thing. We had been playing one pocket and 9 ball until 4:45AM (night one), 4AM (night two), and returning back by 10 or 11AM to play. On day three I was so tired I could hardly keep my focus. I was playing 9 ball matches on Saturday night at 10PM, they called another at midnight. I was down 3-0 but I knew if I just could finish that one match I could be done, so I dug deep and came back and won. It was 1AM on day three. I was so relieved.
Then they told me I had to play my one pocket match. Right now. At 1AM. They said the 9 ball would go all the next day back to back and we'd have no time, so we'd have to play it now. Do you know what it's like to contemplate having to DOUBLE DIP a guy playing one pocket sets at 1AM when you are totally sleep deprived? I played terrible and felt helpless and hopeless. I worked hard for my shot at the title and feel I never got my shot.
I've also seen many tournaments get so far behind that the final 4 players just do an equity chop and go home. Unbelievable.
And we as a pool community seem to accept this. Isn't there a point at which we draw the line? I mean, if the finals were at 7AM after having played for 22 hours, would we still just shrug and say 'Well, sometimes that happens, lot's of players, the TDs are doing their best...' Where do we as a pool community draw the line? We don't. We've become complacent.
It's almost as if the players are considered the shock absorbers to any scheduling mishaps from the tournament directors. Like 'We'll try to set up for a 10PM finals on Saturday, we'll shoot to have round six done by Friday night before midnight, but hey, if we get behind we can always call 11PM and 9AM matches and make the winners play 15 hours on finals day...' PLAYERS ARE NOT SHOCK ABSORBERS. You can't sabotage the experience and performance of the players who support the event because you can't run a tournament correctly.
People talk about growing pool all the time. This doesn't help folks. I have had so many students tell me they don't play many tournaments and the #1 reason is they either don't have the stamina or don't have the time because of how late they run.
This is one thing Matchroom does really well. You don't see a Mosconi Cup or US Open finals at 1AM. Bravo! The same for Mike Zuglan at Turning Stone. Again, Bravo! It's not impossible folks to run a tournament. It can be done. You simply have to make it a priority. You have to leave room for reality, for slow matches, for delays. You can't fill the bathtub to the top and then climb in or you'll have water on the floor. This is stuff we should be able to figure out at age 2.
Why is this happening? Are TD's totally incompetent? Are they getting paid off by the venue if they can trap the players and audience there another 4 hours?
And why are we allowing this? Are we just numb to it? We don't have alternatives? We are desperate to play? We don't know how to stop it? Or is the group of pill popping drinkers that want to party all night greater or louder than the rest of us?
I don't know y'all. I've seen enough. I don't play a lot of events anymore for this reason. Derby is different, I have zero chance to play in the finals so it doesn't impact me directly (except as a spectator which doesn't hurt the same). So I can still play Derby, Turning Stone, the US Open, etc. But I know which ones don't treat the players right and I have a firm boundary against those. Life is too short and hard enough, I don't need any CIA sleep deprivation interrogation tactics to play for a few hundred dollars.
You all can agree or disagree, you can run your tournaments as late as you want. I'll keep filtering the ones I participate in and I'll be ok. I just thought it was totally violating to Filler, I think it's unacceptable, and I hold our pool community responsible for accepting it and not making a big enough fuss to hold the TDs and promoters accountable.
By the way - I love the Derby, the people there worked SUPER HARD and individually they all deserve medals. I think most players had a great experience, it was only the last few matches that were impacted. Unfortunately those are the most important.
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