Okay. Here I am talking to myself again!
However, as I read Schmidt's post once more, it truly makes me sad.
Here is the current U.S. Open 9-Ball Champion, and there doesn't seem to be any golden opportunities in American pool at least for a player of John's caliber. I mean, my God, if a U.S. Open 9-Ball Champion experiences difficulties in this pool world, you can just imagine how difficult it is for other professional players.
I've said it before, and I will say it again. The existing lot of professional pool players in the United States is dwindling, and if there is not any young blood to take their place, pool as we know it may never be the same. No American players? No American pool. Bye-bye, Miss American Pool Pie.
I do not know what the change agent is. I had thought the IPT offered hope. The reality, though, is that the IPT could not succeed because there is no interest in pool in America. Several multi-million-dollar tournaments came and went, and the media, thinking lawn mower races would draw more interest instead of pool, barely took notice.
Say what you want about the IPT and its founder, but the IPT and its founder did try to elevate pool. We have heard the arguments ad nauseum about its founder on this forum, and that is not the purpose of my post. Rather, it is to say that even when money -- multiple millions of dollars -- is infused in pool to try to make it a legitimate sport, there wasn't any interest in it from mainstream America.
JAM