I have found this to be an interesting thread not only as a way to gauge interest (if any) in having 14.1 featured in a TAR stream but also as a way of seeing which formats are popular.
On a purely personal interest level I was encouraged to see others share the interests in 8 Ball that I do. I think the overall response has been that 14.1 is a niche part of our sport and as such does not garner the support that would be needed to be streamed on PPV.
While we all have our preferences that we would like to see more of, 8 Ball and to a lesser extent Snooker are mine, there are some that others might like to also see more of that are not as spectator friendly as the rotation game (1 pocket, bank pool and 14.1) I think that we can all, or mostly, agree that any discipline played at the highest level has merit. However, that said, on a personal level as much as I love watching pool I would not pay to watch 14.1, 1 pocket or bank pool because I know that I would not last through the whole match.
What I also found interesting, and offer this as simply my opinion in the hope that it has an influence in terms of keeping posts on topic and positive, is the way this thread went off track. It is, after all, a fairly simple topic started by someone who would like to lobby support to have one of his favourite disciplines included in a very popular stream vehicle for pool enthusiasts, TAR.
When I go through the posts I think I see (and offer as my opinion only and meant to be non judgemental) what occurred and how people who seem to share a love for this game went from simple statements of opinions/preferences to intemperate remarks that became somewhat personal attacks.
Follow the string. It is obvious that the support that was hoped for is not there. On page 4 of the posts we see a subtle change, the few comments of support are welcomed by Palmerfan and he supports the idea of trying to pre sell an event and eagerly grasps the 14.1 is alive and well in Europe comment.
However, when Ghosst gives an opinion in support of 8 ball indicating that 14.1 players he knows would not pay for and have never heard of TAR, this opinion offered in a straightforward, non aggressive manner gets a response that I would not have expected from Palmerfan. Palmerfan decides to attack the opinion in general and 8 ball players in particular. This seems out of character in respect of all of the other respectful responses from him previously.
It is interesting to note that in between the aforementioned Ghosst post and Palmerfans reply was a post from JAM with the inference that the banner on Palmerfans posts is a “Banner for Charlie’s tournament” . (As a side note I wonder what her point was as it should be obvious that a fan of 14.1 of his magnitude would, of course, be supporting a world 14.1 event). At any rate, it all went downhill from there. Palmerfan corrects the grammar in JAMs post and the string deteriorates.
One might wonder if the frustration of not getting the support for something you are passionate about was set off by a perceived accusation from JAM (I say perceived because I still do not know what the point was) that there was some kind of agenda of supporting the world tournament and this caused an uncharacteristic reply to the opinion given by Ghosst. (respect, Ghosst, for not getting pulled into it and keeping your posts positive)
And all this just to say that I believe we are all kindred spirits in our love of pool and while we may differ in opinions on a great variety of subjects that enter in this I think we should remember that persons of good will can do so respectfully and I would once more, respectfully, like to ask for more 8 ball matches.
