NO Match for Harriman/Schmidt

[SpiderWebComm]

Let's keep on kicking 'em, beating up on an organization trying to effect a change in the pool world. Well done! Beat 'em up to a pulp. Kick 'em while they're down. Knock them out dead. Good work!

They deserve to be beaten to a pulp. Sloppy Pockets said it perfectly, I think.

They could have handled this in private and didn't, instead acting like the Carlo Gambino of their pool family and made sure everyone knew they they were pulling the strings. Once the entire AZB community was like WTF?? Who TF are THEY, Kim came back on and made a post that made even less sense. On one side of their mouth they won't let the match happen because of the players' animosity, and on the other side of their mouth maybe they'll let the match take place if it made sense to them (financially speaking, clearly).

Reading through the stupid talk in this thread has been more painful than watching a deer die.

Like I said, if they want to help junior players, pay them money to keep them OUT of a pool room. The BEF's mission should be to keep kids away from pool halls, not in them.

Both are stone-cold facts -- there's NOTHING educational about pool rooms other than:

- learning how to match-up
- learning how to handicap bets
- learning how to beat car washes in order to "pump up" for next time
- learning what pills can make you play better
- learning what drugs can make you play better
- learning what drugs and pills if taken together can give you the mixture to play better
- learning what a "mixture" is to begin with
- learning how to get into easy action to win "free" money
- learning what an 8ball is or dime bag is
- learning the hierarchy of poker hands after the room closes with some John Candy-like opponents telling you --- "Nah.. you have a lot of those--- you don't want that"
- learning to lick your finger and wipe the chalk off your opponent's tip when he goes to the bathroom when he's on the hill
- learning how to beat poker machines to "pump up"
- learning how to keep pills and manage pills in your pocket during pill pool
- learning how to put someone in the middle with a friend of yours (or someone who you owe money to)
- learning that you can bang the new chick if you show her how to draw your rock better than the next guy
- learning that if you over-charge everyone in the room 50 cents you can make an extra 20 or 40 bucks a day
- learning that if someone spots you the break in 6 ball, it's not quite as good as it sounds
- learning that if you win the weekly handicap tournament and pocket $250, it doesn't matter if you call in sick to school the next day because $250 is $250.

(I can go on and on, almost infinitely)

So, this "junior player" talk is all baloney. The Str8 Shots website is devoid of content. Most of their product listings are blank, Alexa has them rated so low in internet traffic, you can't even pull analytics from them.... YET, they're sweating their image in pool.

There was talk about paying Danny -- was he paid as well? Str8 shots has NO responsibility to pay Danny, so why would they? Just to make nice w/ Danny? If so, why? So, Str8 Shots would rather pay John his lost opp revenue AND pay Danny his lost opportunity revenue in order to "PROTECT THE JUNIORS" in lieu of just letting them play and spending NOTHING??????

The same juniors are playing Call of Duty and turning each others' heads into canoes at 200 yards with 308 ammo while telling each other to "Eat shit and die" over their VOIP headsets and Str8 Shots is worrying about a heated streamed match?!?!?!?!?!?

I can't find anyone who knows anyone who bought anything from Str8 Shots, yet their sponsoring players and paying out opp fees to people who they don't need to in order to protect kids and their image???? Where are they getting their money?

- Car washes
- Poker Machines
- ..... I'm just kidding

Seriously though... the SMART move for a start-up is to KNOW your audience, SUPPORT your audience, be an ADVOCATE for your audience and DONT pay out thousands when you're not locked into doing so. I'm going to highlight this paragraph because any person who is thinking about starting a business needs to read it.

Corvette said something that made me smile but was 10000000% accurate: Who do they have in their marketing department, a group of monkeys? He's right.

 

[Neil]

I don't think that's the point, atleast it wasn't for my post. I just shared my HONEST opinion as a consumer. I felt that I was not insulting, nor derogatory. If this is kicking them while there down, that I guess thats what I'm doing JAM.

I get they want to change, and improve the pool world. I'm all for that, because it certainly needs it. However, here they have an opportunity to provide something to the pool world that almost EVERYONE wants, and the say no thanks, we're going to pass, because we feel that this is bad for pool. Really???? Please explain? Is it because this is a "grudge match?" Is it because Mr. Harriman is not of the same social stature as Mr. Schmidt? I don't get it.

What I do get is that Schmidt/Harriman is both attractive to almost EVERYONE, and it's something other than SVB, or a Pinoy player beating up on someone. John and Danny aren't even top 10 players world wide, and they would both see a huge boost in recognition for playing this match. I see NO way this match is bad for the pool world, the players involved, or the promoters of said event.

Further more, I wouldn't even know John was a str8-shots player if it weren't for this thread. So if TAR would've put it on, I would never have known, unless he wears a shirt/hat/etc. representing them. This was just a bad PR move the whole way around IMO. It has left a very bad taste in my mouth, and I will not be a customer of their's anytime soon.

Sorry if this, or my previous post came off as kicking them while they were down. This is how I feel as a potential customer of what ever it is they are selling. If they make it right, they win me back, and maybe more. That's how I operate, I'm assuming many others are the same.

All the best,

What you actually did was make it clear that you have formed an opinion based on a few things, not all the facts. And, from that uniformed opinion, you decided to publicly bash a company you know very little about.

This company that you and others are so quick to jump on the bashing bandwagon with, has done something already that I have have never heard of happening before. Both players were paid even though they did not get to play! That's unheard of in the pool community. Don't talk much if at all about the great things they are doing, instead just all gang together like a bunch of two year olds going down the candy aisle in the grocery store throwing tantrums because they didn't get what they wanted this time.

Sadly amazing at how so many are so quick to run off at the mouth with so few actual facts about anything. Just immediately start throwing tantrums because they didn't get their way. I thought a lot of those posting in this thread were above that, guess I was proven wrong in spades on that one. :frown:

 

[hang-the-9]

yep, it seems that this company, that nobody knew of before, just managed to get a worse reputation than bernie madoff all because of an effort NOT to get a bad reputation. how weird is that? - snip -.

They drew a line in the sand that is a bit too fine for the pool world. Basically it comes down to, if you don't like each other you should not be competing. That won't work well for the most part, I can think of quite a few tournament matches that would not be allowed to take place because the opponents have a history.

 

[mosconiac]

Str8 shots jumped the shark...on their debut PR move.

 

[corvette1340]

They deserve to be beaten to a pulp. Sloppy Pockets said it perfectly, I think.

They could have handled this in private and didn't, instead acting like the Carlo Gambino of their pool family and made sure everyone knew they they were pulling the strings. Once the entire AZB community was like WTF?? Who TF are THEY, Kim came back on and made a post that made even less sense. On one side of their mouth they won't let the match happen because of the players' animosity, and on the other side of their mouth maybe they'll let the match take place if it made sense to them (financially speaking, clearly).

Reading through the stupid talk in this thread has been more painful than watching a deer die.

Like I said, if they want to help junior players, pay them money to keep them OUT of a pool room. The BEF's mission should be to keep kids away from pool halls, not in them.

Both are stone-cold facts -- there's NOTHING educational about pool rooms other than:

- learning how to match-up
- learning how to handicap bets
- learning how to beat car washes in order to "pump up" for next time
- learning what pills can make you play better
- learning what drugs can make you play better
- learning what drugs and pills if taken together can give you the mixture to play better
- learning what a "mixture" is to begin with
- learning how to get into easy action to win "free" money
- learning what an 8ball is or dime bag is
- learning the hierarchy of poker hands after the room closes with some John Candy-like opponents telling you --- "Nah.. you have a lot of those--- you don't want that"
- learning to lick your finger and wipe the chalk off your opponent's tip when he goes to the bathroom when he's on the hill
- learning how to beat poker machines to "pump up"
- learning how to keep pills and manage pills in your pocket during pill pool
- learning how to put someone in the middle with a friend of yours (or someone who you owe money to)
- learning that you can bang the new chick if you show her how to draw your rock better than the next guy
- learning that if you over-charge everyone in the room 50 cents you can make an extra 20 or 40 bucks a day
- learning that if someone spots you the break in 6 ball, it's not quite as good as it sounds
- learning that if you win the weekly handicap tournament and pocket $250, it doesn't matter if you call in sick to school the next day because $250 is $250.

(I can go on and on, almost infinitely)

So, this "junior player" talk is all baloney. The Str8 Shots website is devoid of content. Most of their product listings are blank, Alexa has them rated so low in internet traffic, you can't even pull analytics from them.... YET, they're sweating their image in pool.

There was talk about paying Danny -- was he paid as well? Str8 shots has NO responsibility to pay Danny, so why would they? Just to make nice w/ Danny? If so, why? So, Str8 Shots would rather pay John his lost opp revenue AND pay Danny his lost opportunity revenue in order to "PROTECT THE JUNIORS" in lieu of just letting them play and spending NOTHING??????

The same juniors are playing Call of Duty and turning each others' heads into canoes at 200 yards with 308 ammo while telling each other to "Eat shit and die" over their VOIP headsets and Str8 Shots is worrying about a heated streamed match?!?!?!?!?!?

I can't find anyone who knows anyone who bought anything from Str8 Shots, yet their sponsoring players and paying out opp fees to people who they don't need to in order to protect kids and their image???? Where are they getting their money?

- Car washes
- Poker Machines
- ..... I'm just kidding

Seriously though... the SMART move for a start-up is to KNOW your audience, SUPPORT your audience, be an ADVOCATE for your audience and DONT pay out thousands when you're not locked into doing so. I'm going to highlight this paragraph because any person who is thinking about starting a business needs to read it.

Corvette said something that made me smile but was 10000000% accurate: Who do they have in their marketing department, a group of monkeys? He's right.

good post. I agree with you.

It's the same old story. Str8 shots is the clearly the victim here, just like Tony Chohan was when he got busted selling hundreds of pounds of pot and drugs. Just like Ronnie Wiseman was when he got caught dumping. Just like Cliff Joyner was when he got caught hundreds of times dumping and never paying anyone back for anything. Just like Kevin Trudeau was when he got caught swindling everyone's money. Just like, well, you get the picture.

Clearly the AZ billiards forum is the bad guy here in all of these instances for voicing their opinions about straight facts, lol. Makes for good comedy though.

I've tried my damnedest <---southern word, to stay out of these fights with the person that I used to engage in them with, and I've been very congenial to her in front of and behind the scenes, but she just makes it so goddamn hard with all of the bullsh!t that makes me want to punch a hole in the middle of my massive computer screen.

 

[JAM]

Everyone is going on the assumption that both guys are getting paid regardless. We have no reason to doubt the lady's word, but this remains pool, with its sterling reputation....and we havent really heard from Danny yet, either.

It's a damned shame it all had to go down this way.

JAM, I am not bashing Str8shots here. This is still in the early stages, there is likely more yet to be written about this story, before all is said and done.

It sure does make good forum fodder though.

Justadub, I've known you long enough through your forum writings to know you are not mean-spirited, and I do appreciate you sharing your thoughts. :smile:

It would be interesting to learn from someone who can speak to Danny about his thoughts on this match.

Just like Fats said: See, there's two different -- there's a scuffler and a hustler. A hustler is one that's always in action and gets it once in a while, see, and a good hustler gets it more often. Then there's a scuffler. He never gets it. You understand? All he ever does is waste his time. Gets in everybody's way. You understand? That's how he goes through life, and he's a failure."

I'm nothing more than a mere chirping railbird on this thread, but I do have thoughts on what can help a struggling pool industry. Without industry members supporting other industry members and those who do infuse money back into pool, there would be nothing. People should try to work together instead of building the proverbial Berlin Wall in the pool world.

This challenge match that may thrill the AzBilliards action enthusiasts and TAR supporters pales in comparison to what an organization working with today's youth can do to help the future of American pool. Of course, these are my thoughts as the chirping railbird.

Different strokes for different folks.

 

[spanky79]

First let me say that THIS POST IS NOT ON THE BEHALF OFSTR8-SHOTS. This is my personal take on this whole situation.

Well, its been hard to sit back and watch this thing go down. My opinion is that there has been a REALLY BIG misunderstanding on a few levels.
I personally have always got along with Justin/TAR/CSI and we have in the past worked together to schedule events so as not to compete or make players unavailable when the other wanted to set something up. Not that I have ever been a competitor of TAR but having 2 events at the same time does nobody any good. I'm sure that you see what I am talking about.
I started a thread asking about Danny with the intention of possibly putting together a PPV match. My opinion was that TAR/Justin had NO interest in working on this again after what had gone down the last time they tried an statements that were made.
Well one thing led to another and before I knew it I had spoke to both players and I tried to make contact with Justin to just see what his thoughts were on it. I am aware that Justin has a life outside of TAR and I'm sure he was busy and I got no response. From that point I left it alone thinking at some point Justin would call me if he felt like he should or needed to an it left my mind completely.

To answer the question Did anyone know that there were any ill feelings between the two players (Danny and John) The simple answer is of course I knew about the ill will but after talking to both Danny and John I guess I didn't really know the extent of the ill will and the impact it could have and what could potentially go down.
I spoke with str8-shots honchos and told them about the match I was working on and that it wasn't going to be friendly and we would need to do all we could to control the situation. Str8-shots were not aware of rivalry being so heated and had concerns about the Jr Players that are involved with str8-shots also wanting to see a team mate play and then seeing a meltdown. Please remember that they work to instill sportsmanship and integrity into these young players and if anything happened it just would go against what the are trying to get across.
A quick response to Kvnbrw I think. I know what you are trying to do with your statements that I don't trust John.to behave. However let me just put it to you like this because you obviously can't see anything but one side. There would be two players in the room and even if John Behaves as agreed and we trust that to happen and he acts like the pope that does not stop Danny doing something (Not saying he would this is just a scenario) So if Danny punches John (Who is behaving) in the mouth John just like many would probably react. Now we have a fight on our hands no matter who is to blame. Meanwhile the kids that Str8-shot are sponsoring have tuned in to watch a team mate play and this is what they see. After all the advice and encouragement to be a sportsman and honor with integrity the Pro is in a fight. I'm sure that you can see how that would look.

Moving right along, the next thing is that I saw was the open invite to John and Danny from TAR. I was a little confused since I had began working on a match that I didn't think TAR wanted and then they go over the top of me without a call back to talk about it. I know that TAR started the rivalry and that was the reason I tried to call in them in first place out of respect. Mean while things went along faster than planned and wires got crossed and here we are.

I have to say that I am a little disappointed in some of the people on here who were willing to make such nasty, hurtful and just plain mean and rude remarks about Kimberly and Str8-shots. I am not saying this because I work for them, I am saying this because they are good people and do more for pool in general than at least 99% of the people who have been knocking them. Seriously do for pool what the do and the Jr programs, the troops overseas and the BEF and then maybe you have right to bash them if you don't like their stance on anything. Until them I think that those who are not doing what they are should show a little greatfulness and respect.

I know this whole thing has not gone the way of popular opinion on here at least and again, mainly down to miscommunications, crossed wires and misunderstandings. NOBODY was trying to take anything away from TAR and I hope after all this that everyone can still be friends around here and I guess lets see what happens next. These are my personal thoughts and nobody elses. Not sure if this has answered any questions but at least you have my input. I have been around here a few years now and I have had a few problems here and here but not too many and so I hope that you guys know that I do all I can for the benefit of the pool world and fans in general. Oh before anyone says it, yeah I make money on it too, not much but it keeps me alive.

Thanks for listening,
Mark Cantrill

Thanks Mark, this is why is asked if there was something I was missing. I would of thought you would of called Justin and apparently you did.

Keep rollin.

 

[JAM]

good post. I agree with you.

It's the same old story. Str8 shots is the clearly the victim here, just like Tony Chohan was when he got busted selling hundreds of pounds of pot and drugs. Just like Ronnie Wiseman was when he got caught dumping. Just like Cliff Joyner was when he got caught hundreds of times dumping and never paying anyone back for anything. Just like Kevin Trudeau was when he got caught swindling everyone's money. Just like, well, you get the picture.

Clearly the AZ billiards forum is the bad guy here in all of these instances for voicing their opinions about straight facts, lol. Makes for good comedy though.

I've tried my damnedest <---southern word, to stay out of these fights with the person that I used to engage in them with, and I've been very congenial to her in front of and behind the scenes, but she just makes it so goddamn hard with all of the bullsh!t that makes me want to punch a hole in the middle of my massive computer screen.

For some, that's what AzBilliards is all about, a game room. Have at me, Corvette. You can use one of your other half-dozen forum identities and come at me, which would even be better.

Do you remember how one of those form identities felt about John Schmidt? :wink:

 

[Ken_4fun]

What are you talking about Kev? I send green your way all the time....

Same for me.

I always comment and agree when you are right....

Waiting on a GREENIE from Kevin.

This just happens to be the first time Kevin.



Ken

 

[Neil]

Justadub, I've known you long enough through your forum writings to know you are not mean-spirited, and I do appreciate you sharing your thoughts. :smile:

It would be interesting to learn from someone who can speak to Danny about his thoughts on this match.

Just like Fats said: See, there's two different -- there's a scuffler and a hustler. A hustler is one that's always in action and gets it once in a while, see, and a good hustler gets it more often. Then there's a scuffler. He never gets it. You understand? All he ever does is waste his time. Gets in everybody's way. You understand? That's how he goes through life, and he's a failure."

I'm nothing more than a mere chirping railbird on this thread, but I do have thoughts on what can help a struggling pool industry. Without industry members supporting other industry members and those who do infuse money back into pool, there would be nothing. People should try to work together instead of building the proverbial Berlin Wall in the pool world.

This challenge match that may thrill the AzBilliards action enthusiasts and TAR supporters pales in comparison to what an organization working with today's youth can do to help the future of American pool. Of course, these are my thoughts as the chirping railbird.

Different strokes for different folks.

I do know Danny's thoughts on this. And, for some reason, the post he did make has been removed. He's not really interested in posting on here anymore. And, this thread is a prime example of why that is so.

Kimberly and Mark said their piece, so I will leave it at that. It's their gig. But, a whole mess of you sure jumped the gun, and didn't even bother reading what was actually written. That speaks volumes about a lot of you.

 

[corvette1340]

For some, that's what AzBilliards is all about, a game room. Have at me, Corvette. You can use one of your other half-dozen forum identities and come at me, which would even be better.

Do you remember how one of those form identities felt about John Schmidt? :wink:

I have no idea what you're talking about. I outed one of John Schmidt's friends that asked us to take part in a dump in Mobile in a game with him around 2001. He says he knew nothing about the dump and that his friend/ex-friend/acquaintance acted on his own. We've had several talks about this face to face and all is good with he and I now. We've even had a few drinks afterwards.

If he wishes to chime in about it he can. I'm sure he'll say the exact same thing.

 

[(((Satori)))]

They deserve to be beaten to a pulp. Sloppy Pockets said it perfectly, I think.

They could have handled this in private and didn't, instead acting like the Carlo Gambino of their pool family and made sure everyone knew they they were pulling the strings. Once the entire AZB community was like WTF?? Who TF are THEY, Kim came back on and made a post that made even less sense. On one side of their mouth they won't let the match happen because of the players' animosity, and on the other side of their mouth maybe they'll let the match take place if it made sense to them (financially speaking, clearly).

Reading through the stupid talk in this thread has been more painful than watching a deer die.

Like I said, if they want to help junior players, pay them money to keep them OUT of a pool room. The BEF's mission should be to keep kids away from pool halls, not in them.

Both are stone-cold facts -- there's NOTHING educational about pool rooms other than:

- learning how to match-up
- learning how to handicap bets
- learning how to beat car washes in order to "pump up" for next time
- learning what pills can make you play better
- learning what drugs can make you play better
- learning what drugs and pills if taken together can give you the mixture to play better
- learning what a "mixture" is to begin with
- learning how to get into easy action to win "free" money
- learning what an 8ball is or dime bag is
- learning the hierarchy of poker hands after the room closes with some John Candy-like opponents telling you --- "Nah.. you have a lot of those--- you don't want that"
- learning to lick your finger and wipe the chalk off your opponent's tip when he goes to the bathroom when he's on the hill
- learning how to beat poker machines to "pump up"
- learning how to keep pills and manage pills in your pocket during pill pool
- learning how to put someone in the middle with a friend of yours (or someone who you owe money to)
- learning that you can bang the new chick if you show her how to draw your rock better than the next guy
- learning that if you over-charge everyone in the room 50 cents you can make an extra 20 or 40 bucks a day
- learning that if someone spots you the break in 6 ball, it's not quite as good as it sounds
- learning that if you win the weekly handicap tournament and pocket $250, it doesn't matter if you call in sick to school the next day because $250 is $250.

(I can go on and on, almost infinitely)

So, this "junior player" talk is all baloney. The Str8 Shots website is devoid of content. Most of their product listings are blank, Alexa has them rated so low in internet traffic, you can't even pull analytics from them.... YET, they're sweating their image in pool.

There was talk about paying Danny -- was he paid as well? Str8 shots has NO responsibility to pay Danny, so why would they? Just to make nice w/ Danny? If so, why? So, Str8 Shots would rather pay John his lost opp revenue AND pay Danny his lost opportunity revenue in order to "PROTECT THE JUNIORS" in lieu of just letting them play and spending NOTHING??????

The same juniors are playing Call of Duty and turning each others' heads into canoes at 200 yards with 308 ammo while telling each other to "Eat shit and die" over their VOIP headsets and Str8 Shots is worrying about a heated streamed match?!?!?!?!?!?

I can't find anyone who knows anyone who bought anything from Str8 Shots, yet their sponsoring players and paying out opp fees to people who they don't need to in order to protect kids and their image???? Where are they getting their money?

- Car washes
- Poker Machines
- ..... I'm just kidding

Seriously though... the SMART move for a start-up is to KNOW your audience, SUPPORT your audience, be an ADVOCATE for your audience and DONT pay out thousands when you're not locked into doing so. I'm going to highlight this paragraph because any person who is thinking about starting a business needs to read it.

Corvette said something that made me smile but was 10000000% accurate: Who do they have in their marketing department, a group of monkeys? He's right.

How do they make their money?

Good question. I think they are in the fundraising business for charities.

They say all proceeds go to the charities but what does that mean? Does that mean for example they send Nick to a tournament and he plays anyone who will donate $20. They then subtract from that the money it took to get Nick there + Nick's appearance fee + their cut for organization fee, and the remainder is the proceeds?

 

[cleary]

John are you happy with all this?

Blink once for yes and twice for no.

Dude you have literally been grounded,

I've read very little of this thread... and in the history of AZBilliards, I've read less than 1% of the posts, but this gets my vote as funniest post of all time.

 

[JAM]

I do know Danny's thoughts on this. And, for some reason, the post he did make has been removed. He's not really interested in posting on here anymore. And, this thread is a prime example of why that is so.

Kimberly and Mark said their piece, so I will leave it at that. It's their gig. But, a whole mess of you sure jumped the gun, and didn't even bother reading what was actually written. That speaks volumes about a lot of you.

Remember in the old western movies when the whole town would be in the saloon and one person would be stirring everybody up about the man in jail?

Before long someone would shout, "Somebody get me a rope." Next thing you know, the entire group of indignant townspeople would traipse down to the jail screaming for his blood, not even knowing anything about the man in jail, whether he was innocent or guilty. It became a pack mentality. This thread reminds me of that pack mentality behavior.

And to think one lousy phone call could have eliminated this entire brouhaha.

 

[(((Satori)))]

I've read very little of this thread... and in the history of AZBilliards, I've read less than 1% of the posts, but this gets my vote as funniest post of all time.

How did I miss that post? That is funny!

 

[kvinbrwr]

How do they make their money?

Good question. I think they are in the fundraising business for charities.

They say all proceeds go to the charities but what does that mean? Does that mean for example they send Nick to a tournament and he plays anyone who will donate $20. They then subtract from that the money it took to get Nick there + Nick's appearance fee + their cut for organization fee, and the remainder is the proceeds?

Yes that's generally what being a charitable organization means. I think that in order to qualify for tax-exempt status, something like 20% (or is it 10%?) of the money you raise has to actually go to the charity in whose name the money is raised.

Kevin

 

[(((Satori)))]

Yes that's generally what being a charitable organization means. I think that in order to qualify for tax-exempt status, something like 20% (or is it 10%?) of the money you raise has to actually go to the charity in whose name the money is raised.

Kevin

It might be just me but saying all proceeds go to charity and only giving a small amount of the gross seems deceptive.

 

[jimmyg]

They deserve to be beaten to a pulp. Sloppy Pockets said it perfectly, I think.

They could have handled this in private and didn't, instead acting like the Carlo Gambino of their pool family and made sure everyone knew they they were pulling the strings. Once the entire AZB community was like WTF?? Who TF are THEY, Kim came back on and made a post that made even less sense. On one side of their mouth they won't let the match happen because of the players' animosity, and on the other side of their mouth maybe they'll let the match take place if it made sense to them (financially speaking, clearly).

Reading through the stupid talk in this thread has been more painful than watching a deer die.

Like I said, if they want to help junior players, pay them money to keep them OUT of a pool room. The BEF's mission should be to keep kids away from pool halls, not in them.

Both are stone-cold facts -- there's NOTHING educational about pool rooms other than:

- learning how to match-up
- learning how to handicap bets
- learning how to beat car washes in order to "pump up" for next time
- learning what pills can make you play better
- learning what drugs can make you play better
- learning what drugs and pills if taken together can give you the mixture to play better
- learning what a "mixture" is to begin with
- learning how to get into easy action to win "free" money
- learning what an 8ball is or dime bag is
- learning the hierarchy of poker hands after the room closes with some John Candy-like opponents telling you --- "Nah.. you have a lot of those--- you don't want that"
- learning to lick your finger and wipe the chalk off your opponent's tip when he goes to the bathroom when he's on the hill
- learning how to beat poker machines to "pump up"
- learning how to keep pills and manage pills in your pocket during pill pool
- learning how to put someone in the middle with a friend of yours (or someone who you owe money to)
- learning that you can bang the new chick if you show her how to draw your rock better than the next guy
- learning that if you over-charge everyone in the room 50 cents you can make an extra 20 or 40 bucks a day
- learning that if someone spots you the break in 6 ball, it's not quite as good as it sounds
- learning that if you win the weekly handicap tournament and pocket $250, it doesn't matter if you call in sick to school the next day because $250 is $250.

(I can go on and on, almost infinitely)

So, this "junior player" talk is all baloney. The Str8 Shots website is devoid of content. Most of their product listings are blank, Alexa has them rated so low in internet traffic, you can't even pull analytics from them.... YET, they're sweating their image in pool.

There was talk about paying Danny -- was he paid as well? Str8 shots has NO responsibility to pay Danny, so why would they? Just to make nice w/ Danny? If so, why? So, Str8 Shots would rather pay John his lost opp revenue AND pay Danny his lost opportunity revenue in order to "PROTECT THE JUNIORS" in lieu of just letting them play and spending NOTHING??????

The same juniors are playing Call of Duty and turning each others' heads into canoes at 200 yards with 308 ammo while telling each other to "Eat shit and die" over their VOIP headsets and Str8 Shots is worrying about a heated streamed match?!?!?!?!?!?

I can't find anyone who knows anyone who bought anything from Str8 Shots, yet their sponsoring players and paying out opp fees to people who they don't need to in order to protect kids and their image???? Where are they getting their money?

- Car washes
- Poker Machines
- ..... I'm just kidding

Seriously though... the SMART move for a start-up is to KNOW your audience, SUPPORT your audience, be an ADVOCATE for your audience and DONT pay out thousands when you're not locked into doing so. I'm going to highlight this paragraph because any person who is thinking about starting a business needs to read it.

Corvette said something that made me smile but was 10000000% accurate: Who do they have in their marketing department, a group of monkeys? He's right.

This post is so good and accurate enough that it deserves to be bumped again. :thumbup:

I, for one, can never do business with anyone that I feel isn't being honest and respectful of my intelligence and will never purchase or recommend Str8 Shots for anything or to anyone....ever.

J

 

[kvinbrwr]

It might be just me but saying all proceeds go to charity and only giving a small amount of the gross seems deceptive.

It's all "regulated" in order to protect the consumer. Much like str8 is regulating this match to protect the kids.

Charitable Orgs live live in that "expenses and admin costs" zone, and of course, they quite often use the public's perception that they are the charity they are representing to their advantage.

Kevin

 

[justadub]

I do know Danny's thoughts on this. And, for some reason, the post he did make has been removed. He's not really interested in posting on here anymore. And, this thread is a prime example of why that is so.

So Danny has addressed it here, and it got pulled?

That means the entire discussion is being moderated, from the outside (Str8shots) and from within (AZB mods).

Therefore, all of us here will not be able to make a truly objective opinion on the subject, as we won't have all the points of view represented. Not to mention Justin has remained silent since Marks reentry into the discussion.

It's all speculation, and opinion, and that's likely all it will ever be, now.

50 pages may not happen now, unless the rail starts infighting in glorious fashion, which is not unheard of.