No one is barred from the US Open events

cleary said:
Oh I think I know who would be starting and spreading this rumor. Same guy who told everyone not to go to the Ultimate 10ball because it was "not a good deal", yet he ended up playing in it. HMMMMMM..... Bet you a pocket full of LINT I know who it was.
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Over the years, I've noticed some very good players unwilling to help put the word out about good-paying tournaments for fear that someone else will get their cheese. This myopic type of thinking helps no one including the thinker, especially in the long run and is just one of the many things that runs pool into the ground.

JoeyA
 
JoeyA said:
Over the years, I've noticed some very good players unwilling to help put the word out about good-paying tournaments for fear that someone else will get their cheese. This myopic type of thinking helps no one including the thinker, especially in the long run and is just one of the many things that runs pool into the ground.

JoeyA
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Tap, tap, tap!
 
JB Cases said:
We need to be clear about something. Professional pool players CHOOSE to be professional pool players. No one is making them play pool for a living. I have immense respect for what it takes to become a pro player and what it takes to try and make a living doing it.

But the sad fact is that if pro players are broke then it's mostly because they are not good at running their own business and leveraging their skills and fame.

I have long held Ralf Souquet up as the consumate professional. He is a player who understands the business of being a pro and works it the right way. Another one is Jeanette Lee. The fact of it is that every pro has what they need inside of them to make a pretty good living as a professional player but most of them do not want to do that much work outside of simply showing up and playing.

There are olympic athletes who make less than average pro players. They have to work one or two full time jobs just to be able to support their training.

The ultimate respect for professional players would be if they themselves started to act like professionals and gathered together to be unanimous in their voice. Instead of allowing every promoter to change the rules at every tournament, to hold events with no money, to mess with schedules and so on, they should show themselves some respect and FINALLY have a pro organization that is willing to step away from events that don't conform to the world rules. But they have not and seemingly will not do that as one group in unison.

As a group they have what it takes to raise money. They have what it takes to make money outside of tournaments. As a group they would have negotiating power. But in fact previous attempts have been heavy-handed and unprofessional.

So pros don't need handouts as much as you think that they might. They are not charity cases. They are adults who choose to play a game and make it into a sport. Companies that want to align with them do so not for charitable purposes but for advertising purposes and to that end those companies want them getting as much exposure as possible. So it's incumbent on the pros to be playing as much in the limelight as possible to give their sponsors some kind of exposure.
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Your post deserves repeating.

In addition, being a professional means many things, far too many to mention in this response.

The recent tournament's dress code for the Ultimate 10 Ball Championship was a good start.

Players could go to the website and read about the dress code and come prepared to meet the dress code. Most did come with the proper attire, some did not and one player even had to forfeit a match because of a dress code violation. Enforcement of the rules, code of conduct, as well as dress code are critical to the continued improvement in professional standards for pool players. While it is painful for anyone to see any player penalized for violating a dress code, or any other rule, it is critical that tournament directors strictly enforce all rules and dress codes for the event no matter who the player is and no matter from where they come from.
 
JoeyA said:
Your post deserves repeating.

In addition, being a professional means many things, far too many to mention in this response.

The recent tournament's dress code for the Ultimate 10 Ball Championship was a good start.

Players could go to the website and read about the dress code and come prepared to meet the dress code. Most did come with the proper attire, some did not and one player even had to forfeit a match because of a dress code violation. Enforcement of the rules, code of conduct, as well as dress code are critical to the continued improvement in professional standards for pool players. While it is painful for anyone to see any player penalized for violating a dress code, or any other rule, it is critical that tournament directors strictly enforce all rules and dress codes for the event no matter who the player is and no matter from where they come from.
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This could be avoided if promoters required competitors to post their entry fee ahead of time. If they don't post the entry fee by a date certain, then they will not be allowed to compete in the tournament. This is a trend that should be in force, though I understand why it is not. Pool players traditionally have always procrastinated paying the entry fees.

If there were a lucrative event that required entry fees by a date certain, it would allow the promoter to plan better as far as chart, name cards, advertising who's going to be there, et cetera.

And best of all, the entrants can be e-mailed not only a set of rules for the tournament, which would include the dress code, but they could prepare in advance for how this tournament may differ from others as far as equipment.

It would be nice if this could happen for all pro-caliber events. :)
 
golubushka said:
Maybe the pro players should have their own organization, to represent them, so that they can have some input into all this stuff to.....
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Oh, but they already do....they have the ABP. Board of Directors are almost all present in Las Vegas playing Bonus Ball.

Do you mean that the players should gave had some input into the dress code requirements for Ultimate 10-ball?
 
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