I’ve just finished watching all four days of the WPC and am putting my thoughts together about this new edition of the World Championship. Congrats to both Matchroom and Albin for snapping off something big this week. In most respects, the event was a triumph, but there were a few negatives. So that I can finish on a positive note, I’ll start with the negatives.
Negative #1: Biased Commentators
Far too often, the commentators were biased. They were, at times, a) far from objective in their introductory match comments, b) apologists for the errors of their preferred players, c) overly critical of the errors and even near errors of their opponents, d) less than objective about which player was having the better of the luck.
Negative #2: Unprepared Commentators
Not talking about guest commentators here, just those who are hired as commentators.
Have the contestants met in other tournaments? Who has had the edge? Have they ever met in a very big spot? Are they rivals? When did they last draw each other in a tournament and who prevailed? When did each contestant win their last title? Which of them is having a good year in tournament play? Questions like these are rarely, if ever, answered.
Commentators rarely furnished the kind of supplementary information that is standard in other sports, and I must attribute most of it to poor preparation by such commentators. It’s mind blowing how little some of them seem to know about the players.
Negative #3: Equipment Not Befitting a World Championship
This was the biggest negative. The equipment was way too easy for players of this caliber, a point reinforced in commentary by both Boyes and Shaw. This made the elite players more vulnerable and ultimately delivered an unusually weak final eight, in which no player whose Fargo rate placed them in the world’s top 15 was present. Watching balls poorly hit going in time after time was hard to bear, and the event was cheapened by the fact that the test was not stiff enough for the world’s best pool players.
Negative #4: Super-weak Field
This cannot be blamed on Matchroom, but the absence of the elite Asians made this what I believe to have been the weakest field in a World Championship since the late 1980s. Based on Fargo rate, just eight of the world’s top 25 players were present.
Positive #1: The Arena
Even if you didn’t attend, you had to admire the arena and the way Matchroom set it up. Great job.
Positive #2: The Ticker on the Screen
Although not in very frequent use, I loved the ticker at the bottom of the screen that offered updated scores of other matches, I hope Matchroom will continue to employ the ticker in future events.
Positive #3: Occasional Look-ins at Other Matches
Matchroom stayed abreast of all the matches, and gave us many look-ins at matches where something dramatic was in progress. That they were able to do so was a dividend of the superb setup of the arena.
Positive #4: Post-Match Interviews
In the later rounds, virtually every winner was interviewed and the interviews were excellent, adding some flavor to the production. Pre-match interivews were good, but not as good,
Positive #5: The Referees and Officiating in General
The highest compliment one can pay the officials is that they blended into the action and didn’t make any significant errors that influenced match results. That’s just how it went at the WPC and the officiating crew is to be congratulated.
Positive #6: Women in the Field
Yes, we all knew the women would not contend for the title, but their presence added to the flavor of the event. We look forward to seeing Han Yu and Siming Chen down the road at this event.
Positive #7: Great Commentary in the Final
Hooking up Boyes and Lely to commentate the final was a stroke of genius. They had great chemistry, stayed objective, showed great mutual respect for each other, and made the final more enjoyable.
In Conclusion
As you can see, the positives greatly outweighed the negatives. The event must be viewed as a great triumph and the fact that it was staged at all is impressive. All those at Matchroom can take a deep bow. Matchroom’s productions are still evolving, but the direction they are taking continues to raise the bar for what’s possible in pro pool entertainment. I couldn’t be happier to see that Matchroom is steering the ship that is pro pool into calmer waters.
Those are my impressions of the event. What are yours?
Negative #1: Biased Commentators
Far too often, the commentators were biased. They were, at times, a) far from objective in their introductory match comments, b) apologists for the errors of their preferred players, c) overly critical of the errors and even near errors of their opponents, d) less than objective about which player was having the better of the luck.
Negative #2: Unprepared Commentators
Not talking about guest commentators here, just those who are hired as commentators.
Have the contestants met in other tournaments? Who has had the edge? Have they ever met in a very big spot? Are they rivals? When did they last draw each other in a tournament and who prevailed? When did each contestant win their last title? Which of them is having a good year in tournament play? Questions like these are rarely, if ever, answered.
Commentators rarely furnished the kind of supplementary information that is standard in other sports, and I must attribute most of it to poor preparation by such commentators. It’s mind blowing how little some of them seem to know about the players.
Negative #3: Equipment Not Befitting a World Championship
This was the biggest negative. The equipment was way too easy for players of this caliber, a point reinforced in commentary by both Boyes and Shaw. This made the elite players more vulnerable and ultimately delivered an unusually weak final eight, in which no player whose Fargo rate placed them in the world’s top 15 was present. Watching balls poorly hit going in time after time was hard to bear, and the event was cheapened by the fact that the test was not stiff enough for the world’s best pool players.
Negative #4: Super-weak Field
This cannot be blamed on Matchroom, but the absence of the elite Asians made this what I believe to have been the weakest field in a World Championship since the late 1980s. Based on Fargo rate, just eight of the world’s top 25 players were present.
Positive #1: The Arena
Even if you didn’t attend, you had to admire the arena and the way Matchroom set it up. Great job.
Positive #2: The Ticker on the Screen
Although not in very frequent use, I loved the ticker at the bottom of the screen that offered updated scores of other matches, I hope Matchroom will continue to employ the ticker in future events.
Positive #3: Occasional Look-ins at Other Matches
Matchroom stayed abreast of all the matches, and gave us many look-ins at matches where something dramatic was in progress. That they were able to do so was a dividend of the superb setup of the arena.
Positive #4: Post-Match Interviews
In the later rounds, virtually every winner was interviewed and the interviews were excellent, adding some flavor to the production. Pre-match interivews were good, but not as good,
Positive #5: The Referees and Officiating in General
The highest compliment one can pay the officials is that they blended into the action and didn’t make any significant errors that influenced match results. That’s just how it went at the WPC and the officiating crew is to be congratulated.
Positive #6: Women in the Field
Yes, we all knew the women would not contend for the title, but their presence added to the flavor of the event. We look forward to seeing Han Yu and Siming Chen down the road at this event.
Positive #7: Great Commentary in the Final
Hooking up Boyes and Lely to commentate the final was a stroke of genius. They had great chemistry, stayed objective, showed great mutual respect for each other, and made the final more enjoyable.
In Conclusion
As you can see, the positives greatly outweighed the negatives. The event must be viewed as a great triumph and the fact that it was staged at all is impressive. All those at Matchroom can take a deep bow. Matchroom’s productions are still evolving, but the direction they are taking continues to raise the bar for what’s possible in pro pool entertainment. I couldn’t be happier to see that Matchroom is steering the ship that is pro pool into calmer waters.
Those are my impressions of the event. What are yours?
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