Jam, some of your viewpoints I agree with, some of them I vehemently disagree with..But, inevitably, when the topic of American vs. european competition is discussed, you become so hostile. Perhaps you dont even realize it, but it comes out so strongly in your posts, at times it's hard to focus on the information contained therin, instead of the tone.
For the record, I too am very pro Amercian pool. I have spent many years supporting pool in the US, and many American players. With that said, though, it is clear to me that the American players have lost their dominace in competitions where there is a diverese international field. Now, in my opinion, there is no rational way to oppose that sentiment, or suggest that americans should be playing in tournaments here in the US with only other Amercians. It would be clear to everyone involved, players, fans and sponsors, what the motivation behind those actions would be. It would only hurt the sport.
To suggest that there be an annual US championship, modeled after the European championships, is a wonderful idea. Ultimately, the winner would get the opportunity to play on the mosconi cup team, and get an invite to both the WPC and the challenge of Champions tournament. I would support an event like this. I would also encourage the same prize fund as the european championships. I think that this would reintroduce the US players with the concept of becoming passionate about the game again, and shifting the focus away from monetary achievement.
for the record, though, i dont think anyone infered that winning the German championships would/should be considered to be the same achievemnt as winning the US open. I think the people who know the structure of both types of events would make the following analogies:
A Euro tour win (100% open event) is similar to winning at turning stone or vally forge, no a regular joss or blaze event. A euro tour event may have 10 world beaters in a field of a few hundred.
A german championship would be similar to UPA tour stop win. Pool is a very serious sport in Germany, and they have a wonderful "feeder" system through their leagues (not like our leagues here) where players learn in clubs with coaches, all trying to make the national team. We have no such "set-up"
here like that. As soon as our young players show any promise, they go off on the road to gamble. Gambling is non exsitenent (as a fair generalization) in most european countries.
a european championship is harder to "handicap". any one of these events would be considered a world class event if the word "european" was removed. Any one of their top players could (and has) win a major championship or world championship. Infact, we dont have an event (other than the US open), held on US soil that I would consider harder to win.
But the most important point is that for the most part, we are not the ones competing. we have people that we are very close with that do, but our main objective should be to support their adventures, and enjoy ourselves while doing so. I respect you and your contributions to this forum, JAM, as well as I do "the One's". With 2 very intelligent posters like yourselves, I know, imo, you too can do better to not press eachother's buttons. It diminishes the forums morale, but more importantly, it subtracts from the overall enjoyemnt that attracted u here in the first place.
rg
), it's still a foreign country with a foreign language and that brings with it the usual inconveniences.
I have tried to ignore JAM time and again but there's a limit to how much I will let her get away with.
