This would be awesome,you could put alot of those taped matches on a DVD.Rubyron said:
Remember pool on ESPN?!?!
- Thread starter atthecat
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Jerry Forsyth
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If any of you are looking for an easy way to share your old pool videos you can just go to AZBtv.com and click on the "user upload" tab and post them where everyone can see them for free.
thepavlos said:
ABC's Wide World of Sports probably.
atthecat said:
Lot of information in this thread, much of it answers your question. They played the semis and the finals live for this match. Earl played George Breedlove live, then Earl played Efren live. Great idea, but Earl's great play made the finals not very exciting for any new viewership. That was the first exposure for George Breedlove and his huge break.
Prior to that by a few years, the first "live final" was a Scotch Doubles Invitational (sponsored by Brunswick) event with Mike Sigel and Ewa Mataya (now Ewa Laurance) winning overand Loree Jon Jones/Allen Hopkins. Steve Mizerak/Jean Balukas were one of the other partners. Sadly, I can't remember who the other pair was. Sigel and Mataya were sponsored by Brunswick at the time.
For years in the 80's, we'd see Sigel, Varner, and Strickland in the finals with a spattering of other matches. THere were a handful of matches that ESPN rerun over and over including the Last Call for 9-ball which Sigel won over Varner in the finals who beat Jose Garcia in the semis. They must have replayed those matches a hundred times over the course of five years.
Varner beat Hopkins (I believe) for the 14.1 World Championship in 1986 which was broadcast. I'm not sure if it was WWoS or ESPN. Varner had a purple pin-striped tux jacket with tails. I'm not sure that was the look that was going to keep people begging for more.
Danny Medina won the Disneyland "World Championship" which saw air time on ESPN for the finals. After seeing so much Sigel (who seemed to win everything that was aired), that was the first time I saw the difference in play between Sigel and the rest of the world.
The most airtime for ESPN was probably the 88 and 89 Brunswick World 9-ball Open which aired a match from the quarters to the finals of the women's and the men's every Wednesday. So, we had pool scheduled for a dozen weeks in 88 and a bit more in 89.
1988 was the infamous Balukas vs. Robin Bell (Dodson) match which would be the last for Jean on the WPBA. For the men, Sigel over Buddy Hall (9-8 after Hall snaped in the 9-ball to tie it) and then Strickland over Sigel (9-6)were two great matches as we got to see the legends of the game still at their prime. Strickland looked perfect in that match with one skid ball that almost hurt him. Hall proclaimed on tv that Mike Sigel gets "every roll in the world." Mizerak agreed as the commentator!
In '89, that's the first time I ever saw Johnny Archer play (lost to Jimmy Mataya), who looked like he was ready to go to Prom Night. Howard Vickery was using a titanium shaft for breaking in his loss to Earl Strickland. Grady Matthews was tearing up the world and coming out of hiding as he came oh so close to winning a broadcast world championship. And Nick VArner who was winning everything (9 or 10 major championships with a handful of other satellite stops) sneaked out the win over Grady with what has been one of the most exciting matches and games ever played on TV.
Fred
I remember a live televised event from Walt Disney World back in 1998.
It was CJ Wiley Vs Roger Griffis (I believe this was the match where CJ told Allen Hopkins (who was one of the commentators) to basically STFU on live TV... lol
CJ lost to Griffis, who then faced Johnny Archer - Who beat Griffis. I remember that it was a close match, in one game, Griffis made 5 balls on the break and had no shot... that's pool.
On the ladies side, it was Dawn Hopkins Vs Allison Fisher - I forget what the other match was. I do remember that Allison was the reigning US open and World Champion, which complicated the ladies side of the event. I can't remember what the name of the event was, but it was held at Disney's Wide World Of Sports.
It was CJ Wiley Vs Roger Griffis (I believe this was the match where CJ told Allen Hopkins (who was one of the commentators) to basically STFU on live TV... lol
CJ lost to Griffis, who then faced Johnny Archer - Who beat Griffis. I remember that it was a close match, in one game, Griffis made 5 balls on the break and had no shot... that's pool.
On the ladies side, it was Dawn Hopkins Vs Allison Fisher - I forget what the other match was. I do remember that Allison was the reigning US open and World Champion, which complicated the ladies side of the event. I can't remember what the name of the event was, but it was held at Disney's Wide World Of Sports.
Cornerman said:
Man, what a memory you have. I was at (and even directed) most of those tourneys and don't remember it as well as you do. How can we get copies of these shows I wonder?
Blackjack said:
Basically correct. I was there for that one too. It was in Orlando at Disney World. The matches were played in the ESPN Sports Zone bar.
jay helfert said:
That is correct sir.
I believe that because Allison was the World Champion and the US Open Champion, she played Gerda and Dawn because they had both been runner ups in those events.
IIRC, CJ had gotten a funny angle on the 5 and was trying to get on the 6 - Allen was in the booth and said something about CJ getting "extremely poor position - and how CJ should have known better" CJ was down over the cue ball when Allen was saying all of that. CJ was pretty ticked off because he had a tough shot, tough position, and all he could hear was Allen talking about what he did wrong.
CJ dogged both the shot and position and he was pissed!
I remember Mitch and Allen being very silent in the booth for about a minute or two after CJ blew up at Allen.
Classic live TV.
Pool on ESPN is as rare as music on MTV. Best sell would be a pool reality show where they would follow a hustler (change his voice and image) into a bar and see what happens. To the U.S. pool = bar.
I swear I heard this on Sat. night from a group of teens that walked in:
"this is like going to the mall, except we are playing pool".
I swear I heard this on Sat. night from a group of teens that walked in:
"this is like going to the mall, except we are playing pool".
JG-in-KY said:
Blackjack said:That is correct sir.
I believe that because Allison was the World Champion and the US Open Champion, she played Gerda and Dawn because they had both been runner ups in those events.
IIRC, CJ had gotten a funny angle on the 5 and was trying to get on the 6 - Allen was in the booth and said something about CJ getting "extremely poor position - and how CJ should have known better" CJ was down over the cue ball when Allen was saying all of that. CJ was pretty ticked off because he had a tough shot, tough position, and all he could hear was Allen talking about what he did wrong.
CJ dogged both the shot and position and he was pissed!
I remember Mitch and Allen being very silent in the booth for about a minute or two after CJ blew up at Allen.
Classic live TV.
Was that the Ultimate 9 Ball Challenge or something like that?
I think it was played 2 years in a row at Disney. One of the years i believe it was Earl who had a death in the family and left so they had to insert someone else in the semis. I remember quite a controversy and they eventually chose a player that was "international" but i cannot recall who it was.
Fragged said:
It was the Ultimate 9 ball challenge.
I only remember the year that Roger Griffis played Archer.
I vaguely remember that David Matlock played in the event... I thought it was cool to see him on TV and kicking a$$ on a big table!
There was a few threads on RSB about it (January 31, 1998) - my favorite post was from Smorg...
Original Thread on RSB
In today's Tampa Tribune (Sat.31st) in the TV section,there's a space
called sports ON tv which lists 'todays' sports (32 shows listed) among
them are:
College Basketball
Golf
Hockey
Auto Racing
Women's Basketball
Speed Skating
Figure Skating
Softball
Horse Racing
Boxing Tennis
NO mention of 'Live' pool/billiards at 2:00p.m. e.s.t. There
JUST have to be more pool players than 'speed skaters' OR 'women
basketball players'. IMO
Aaaaaaaarrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhhhh !!!!!!
Doug W.
~>*) Big Fish EAT Little Fish (*<~
Some things never change -
The only way you get pool on TV is if the producers pay to get the programming on. WPBA puts up some pretty decent lettuce to get their matches on ESPN. ESPN knows exactly what kind of number they're going to pull when they put pool on, which is why new programming gets run once or twice max before being buried in the Classic graveyard.
You'll also notice that even though the BCA 9 Ball championship puts both the men and the women on TV every year, the women consistently outdraw the men. Domestically, outside of hardcore fans no one knows any of the men because they don't do anything to get their name out in front of the public.
You'll also notice that even though the BCA 9 Ball championship puts both the men and the women on TV every year, the women consistently outdraw the men. Domestically, outside of hardcore fans no one knows any of the men because they don't do anything to get their name out in front of the public.
Craig Fales said:
Fragged said:
The year before they played it in Santa Rosa, CA. CJ won the men's and Vivian won the women's, each player winning something like 50K. Then CJ played Vivian for an additional 40K and beat her easily. Nice score, something like 90K! For a moment ESPN did something big for pro pool. They just decided it was cheaper to produce their own event rather than send crews all over the country taping tournaments.