Suggestion for Moscou Cup Captain
- Thread starter Nuts4Tascarellas
- Start date
spelling
My cell phone automatically changed the heading to the wrong spelling in the heading. I'm quite aware of how to spell Mr. Mosconi's name. Thanks.
My cell phone automatically changed the heading to the wrong spelling in the heading. I'm quite aware of how to spell Mr. Mosconi's name. Thanks.
So true. The game isn't played on paper.
Tom Watson had to pick before last two fed ex
Point well taken .... and, consequently, we went to battle without Billy Horschel, who was the hottest American player in golf when the Ryder matches began.
Hope you're well, fella. I'll likely spend a few weeks in Durham in February if you care to hook up for a game.
Yeah, that would be pretty cool. Perhaps something like this:
Shane/Sossei/Shuff/Hall vs. Bergman/Deuel/Dominguez/Schmidt
Lets not stream it and say we did. Why give the European team more Info then they already have. They are top notch and will use everything to their advantage. I assume Ruijsink is captain of team Europe again this year. Lets not give him any unnecessary reconnaissance.
Actually I think it's a great idea if it was done by both the Euros and Americans.
Perhaps Matchroom could use all WPA ranked tournaments, and do the following a month before MC is scheduled to start.
1. Take the top 10 European and top 10 Americans*
2. Have them play a round robin 9 ball tournament against each other. US vs. US and Eur vs. Eur
3. Then take the top 5 from each side to make up the teams.
4. Maybe to get more involvement from the fans, they could do top 4, and then have the fans vote for the 5th player as a wildcard.
Doing this would force players to play in more high profile events because the points are important. Then once they qualify they still have to go through 9 other top players to truly earn their spot on the team.
*As of right now, the top 10 ranked players would be:
Europe
Niels Feijen
Mika Immonen
Albin Oushan
Thorsten Hohmann
Darren Appleton
Nick Ekonomopoulous
Ralf Souqet
Karl Boyes
Jayson Shaw
Radoslaw Babica
USA
SVB
Jeremy Sossei
Rodney Morris
Corey Deuel
Mike Dechaine
Johnny Archer
Oscar Dominguez
Hunter Lombardo
Chris Bartrum
Shaun Wilkie
On the contrary, it's rather clear why Mr. Wilson and those behind team USA chose the 8 players early. Not only to give them time to work together, etc, but also to give the usual suspects a whole year to change how they act, if they choose to do so... There are many reasons for the players chosen, and many reason for not choosing certain top line players, as many of them needed a bit of a wake-up call.
Playing on the Mosconi Cup team is a privilege, not a right. Not to be taken lightly, and to be made a mockery of. As has been seen in the recent past.
We'll see if that part of the message worked in the future. I'm hoping it did.
Tom Watson , was criticized for his handling and pairings at this yrs cup ,, It was suggested that they go to Paul Azingers method of getting the players together and pairing them before the match to build team chemistry rooming them eating together and such so they get use to one another ,, team building who would have thunk it ,,
This is something Im relatively sure Mark understands and why he is by far the best choice
after last yrs event that displayed any thing but team chemistry
1
Last year is a toss out. The team was picked by Matchroom relatively late in the year and, for practical purposes, had no captain (even though Archer was named a playing captain). In my book, Matchroom atoned in full for that mistake by naming a coach for Team USA in January, giving him 11 months to assemble and prepare his team. I really respect and applaud Matchroom for having done this.
This year is the beginning of a new era. Mark Wilson is a visionary in American pool, and he'll have his team prepared for battle.
Although we love to debate the matter on the forum that he may not have picked the players many of us think are America's best, none of it matters. Mark has selected the players he feel will mesh and represent us well, and that's as much as we could ever ask of a coach. His agenda is a long-term one that extends beyond what will happen in 2014, and I respect that.
Finally, I'm delighted to see that all of the "Mosconi 8" will be playing in the US Open 9-ball event in a couple of weeks. Not only will it give Coach Wilson a last look at his candidates for the final 5 but it will be a valuable tune-up and bonding opportunity for the players.
We're in very good hands with Mark.
This viewpoint assumes that all that is important is how good a person plays as an individual and that nothing else matters at all. But other things do matter, and quite a bit.
Also important are:
-That the players will represent America with professionalism, pride, and class.
-That the players function well on a team and work well with others.
-That the players will give their 100% effort at all times.
-That the players are open to coaching (with some bias toward younger, hungrier players).
-That there is enough time for the players to be coached and trained prior to the event so that there is time that it can actually maybe make a difference (which obviously means they must be at least tentatively picked fairly far in advance).
It seems that Mark was only considering the pool of players that he felt met all of the above characteristics, and tentatively chose the best 8 among them which he will then further cut down to the best final 5 all things considered after he has had a chance to work with them and watch their performances for most of the year. As you can see there are several of America's top individual players (based on individual skill) that do not meet one or more of those criteria and could not be considered.
Also, let's face it, most of the past coaches were just the "Queen Elizabeth" figure head who had no real say so or impact whatsoever. They had a relatively meaningless title/position and that was about it. Partly this was because they didn't have the power to do much, and partly it was because they simply didn't have the desire to make the effort to do anything other than be the figure head and sometimes cheer leader.
Mark has the power to make more of an impact, and more importantly, he has the desire and ethic to actually work hard to try to make a difference--you know, to actually be a coach, and not just hold the title of one. I can't think of a better choice. As others have mentioned, Tony Robles would also be a good future candidate, as would Tommy Kennedy IMO. But the last thing we need is another Queen Elizabeth leading the team who has no desire to be anything other than the meaningless figure head. We already had plenty of those.
Great post that explains the process well. Mark picked the best eight that met his selection criteria. After that, those eight had all of 2014 to round themselves into their best form.
Some of the eight have played much better in 2014 than others of the "Mosconi 8" but each of them has an opportunity to make a final statement in Virginia, and it will make a nice subplot during the Open. Good luck to all of the "Mosconi 8" in Virginia.
Well said. I would add, after reading Mark Wilson's text book from end to end, I was impressed at his devotion and reverence to the military (particularly special forces) and the training it takes to make regular men into super men soldiers. He is incorporating that into building this team. Take a core of talented pool players and train like they are in hell week of navy seal pool bootcamp. They will discover themselves as a team unit in doing so. It's brilliant and I can't wait to watch them play. The sport is blessed to have Mark Wilson involved like he is.