SJM Slant on the 2017 Mosconi Cup
- Thread starter sjm
- Start date
The best measure of American youth is, perhaps, their performance at the World Junior Championships last month:
Here's a link to the results: http://tournamentservice.net/tournament.php?chart=24275
As you can see, in the under 19 men's division, with 24 players in the field, just one American came in the top 8, and that was Richard Noah Evans. Can't say I've ever even heard of him but this result suggests he's the best American male under 19. The last 8, including champion Fedor Gorst, included 2 Russian, 2 German, 1 Mongolian, 1 Dutch, 1 Hong Kong, and 1 American player.
If the 2017 Junior World Championship is viewed as a barometer, and it's arguable whether it should be, of the rising stars in worldwide pool, there's little relief in sight for American men's pool. Perhaps a young American player will emerge at Derby City next month.
Who is nick Evans? Please don’t say “Ricky’s older brother!” :grin:
jumiors
He did well at juniors a couple times I believe. Both are from STL.
Under 19’s
Joshua Filler (GER) had a walk over in his first round. He then got the better of Samuel Hui Sim/Zhong (SIN) with 9:4. The balls were rolling in his favor in that match. His teammate and fellow countryman Raphael Wahl (GER) had a perfect start with a 9:1 victory over Nasie Kotze (RSA). In the second round, Wahl met Liu Hao Wei (TPE). The match was really close and a tough fight for both players. After 14 racks, the score was tied at 7:7. Then Liu managed to get the upper hand and win the match with 9:7. That brought Wahl to the loser’s side of the bracket. Patrick Statkiewicz (POL) lost his opening match to strong American Nick Evans (USA) with 8:9. The Polish lad was already on the hill with 8:6 when he overcoat an 8-ball. That gave second life to Evans. He came back, and at 8:8 he recovered from a tough safety position, winning the match with the closest result possible. Pius Labutis (LIT) drew Kim Su Ung (KOR) in his first round match. The match was completely leveled and Labutis had the luckier end with 9:8 on his side. The player from Lithuania also won his second match over local player Wen Wu (CHN) with 9:6 and will try - just like Filler - to make it into the quarter-finals.
He did well at juniors a couple times I believe. Both are from STL.
Under 19’s
Joshua Filler (GER) had a walk over in his first round. He then got the better of Samuel Hui Sim/Zhong (SIN) with 9:4. The balls were rolling in his favor in that match. His teammate and fellow countryman Raphael Wahl (GER) had a perfect start with a 9:1 victory over Nasie Kotze (RSA). In the second round, Wahl met Liu Hao Wei (TPE). The match was really close and a tough fight for both players. After 14 racks, the score was tied at 7:7. Then Liu managed to get the upper hand and win the match with 9:7. That brought Wahl to the loser’s side of the bracket. Patrick Statkiewicz (POL) lost his opening match to strong American Nick Evans (USA) with 8:9. The Polish lad was already on the hill with 8:6 when he overcoat an 8-ball. That gave second life to Evans. He came back, and at 8:8 he recovered from a tough safety position, winning the match with the closest result possible. Pius Labutis (LIT) drew Kim Su Ung (KOR) in his first round match. The match was completely leveled and Labutis had the luckier end with 9:8 on his side. The player from Lithuania also won his second match over local player Wen Wu (CHN) with 9:6 and will try - just like Filler - to make it into the quarter-finals.
As you seem to be familiar with the Evans brothers, what would you say their playing speed is? Who, among the best known Americans, would you say are their equals?
Excellent post. Creating the kind of tour you advocate costs money, and in the end, the reason there is no such tour in America is that there's no financing available. Any idea how a new national tour could be financed?
I don't know how to finance such a tour, but Patrick Guigui of Snooker Canada has done an excellent job building snooker in Canada and creating a tour. The money isn't always huge, but considering the limited visibility of the game in Canada and the state of the game prior to 2011, it's pretty impressive and it is growing each year.
If some entrepreneurial spirit were interested in restarting a National tour, I would recommend contacting Patrick for some advice.
Its kind of the chicken and the egg scenario...To get high dollar sponsors and money i.e. bud light, camel, etc. you need TV exposure on a regular basis. To get TV exposure, you need a recognized tour with big american star power, to get big american star power, the young players need the ability to make big money on a tour...
TV exposure --> Big money sponsorships---> more american kids dreaming of being pro pool players... its a vicious cycle that we need to break.
I don't know how to get the process started...maybe a guy with ambition, like trudeau and the IPT, but with the ethics, morals, and disposable cash to back it up. I figure if I ever win the Power ball, I will have a few million to sink in to it
Jayson Shaw jump shot, can't remember the match but I thought he'd have a tough time keeping the balls on the table. He executed perfectly and drew back for position.
yeah, the jump shot that he pushed out to. pretty sporty
I always believed that big media stars (Hollywood/sports/television) would be the ones to save professional pool. But not in the usual way.
To finance the tour, I thought a prime time reality based game show would be possible if done right.
Think Dancing with the Stars but with short race pool. In the series, high profile movie/tv actors and actresses get paired with a professional player of the opposite sex. And they play scotch doubles 8 and 9 ball in a round robin format, that leads to a seeded tournament between the teams featuring live matches.
In the mean time, the pro player gets to work with the actor or actress to train and improve their game over the course of the season.
For example:
Jeanette Lee and Mark Whalberg vs Serena Williams and Billy Thorpe.
In 30 minutes (race to 3 each game format edited for tv with commentators), definitely American audiences (and global audiences) would tune in. Advertisers would be all over it because of the Star factor and the reality factor.
Our new players (in this case billy Thorpe) get to shine on a national stage and increase their media potential now getting introduced to the world.
Also the live Mic and fun banter between the pool stars/media stars would be full of originality, breaking up the monotony that pro pool can sometimes fall into.
This also creates interest and possible spike in business for local pool halls when someone wonders of they can hit that shot they saw Michael Phelps hit while playing with Jennifer Beretta for the season championship.
Lots of possibilities. But the grand scheme is the advertising revenue would then go to funding a national tour where the top finishers could qualify to be on the series in the following year.
The possibilities are there. If I was younger and still working in productions, I'd make a serious attempt to get funding/producers involved for a pilot episode and go from there.
But alas, I'm not in a position to invest the resources to see this go somewhere other than this forum.
But it sure is fun talking/thinking about it. :thumbup:
Last edited:
In the end, it is our sport's responsibility to make itself worthy of investment dollars. It's not an unattainable goal.
.760 TPA Accu-Stats is the threshold for regional shortstops... Team USA shot a .782... Journeyman pro is .800.... Europe shot the lowest in years at .845... Oscar at .745 and Sky at .671 made it hard but no US player shot even close to world class.. SVB .819 Hatch .818 and Thorpe .794
There's the real story there. Probably the lowest ebb I've seen from any Team USA during this eight year losing streak. I really had high hopes this year with Johan leading the way. There is definitely a losing mindset that has set in, and our players are not playing anywhere close to their potential.
Just like the old Brooklyn Dodgers, our rallying cry has become "Wait until next year!":embarrassed2:
Yes, and the the accu-stats don't even measure the fact that the US is generating fewer chances to shoot than Europe.
Less chances + less offensive efficiency = 8 straight Mosconi losses