TAR 39 The Last Waltz

[CreeDo]

NNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooOOOoOOoooo!!!!

 

[Jack Justis]

Tar

Hate to hear this Justin,but knowing how you roll I feel confident that you and Mark must have something better up your sleeves.

Best of luck

 

[decent dennis]

I love the comparision to the last waltz. Hope you stay in the biz in other endeavors for many years, and we'll all wait for "Tar Baby".

 

[sjm]

Efren, Shane, and Justin -- three legends that brought their high standards to American pool and made it better. May all of them thrive.

 

[Nanuk]

Sad News

Truly sad news for the pool world. Thank you Justin and Mark for everything you have done.

One question: Any plans on uploading past TAR matches to the website? I hope that the website will continue to operate and offer many previous matches as an On Demand service.

 

[ICue71]

It was a good run, thanks for some great pool.

 

[corvette1340]

This is sad news because TAR represented what I enjoy most about pool these days. With kids and more responsibilities, the days of going to the pool hall or tournaments and gambling or matching up are all but over. Not to mention that pool halls and action in general are all but dead.

TAR matches allowed us degenerates the forum to experience and take part in the action if only a few times a year. It will be missed. Thanks for all of your hard work and tireless dedication over the years that made this endeavor one of a kind. I wish you nothing but the greatest of success in the future. I know the other big guy is reading this from somewhere too so I'll close by saying goodbye for now to Justin and Chad and I hope I get to see you both someday down the road.

 

[JB Cases]

I have gotten a bunch of questions and just wanted to tell people what the deal is.

For months Mark and I have been talking about what we wanted to do going forward with TAR. 2013 was a rough year. The studio lease is up in July and we needed to decide what we both wanted to do. After many conversations today it was decided to wrap it up but no firm plans on exactly how it was going to be done. Just that it was over. Mark has put a good amount of money into TAR and I have sank the last seven years of my life into it. Neither of us like to give up but I believe its the right decision for both of us.

A lot of thoughts and emotions were going through me and I knew it was the right answer but I hate to give up. As I was thinking about all of this I was looking at the TAR 39 banner and thought "How can you ever do better than this match?" Then I started thinking about Chad and what he would of thought. He would of said "Thats how we do it."

Whenever I make decisions I try to think of things in the past I have experienced, read about or heard about that are relevant to the situation and try to take lessons from those. What popped into my head was The Band and their last concert which was filmed by Martin Scorsese and titled "The Last Waltz". They decided to go out with a fantastic last performance. Proud of what they had done and ending it on their terms.

I thought to myself "This is the best possible match we could have. How do you not end with this one even if there is a few months to cobble something else together that may or may not make a few bucks?" So I made my personal decision that this is the last TAR match for me. I am the type of person that is either on or off. You either do something or you don't. So if we are ending this thing lets end it the right way. Thats why TAR 39 is the end of the run.

Efren and Shane are what Chad and I wanted TAR to be about from the beginning. The best going heads up. In the beginning it was in action. As things progressed it morphed into something more structured and better on the players but the core of it was the same. Two champions. One winner. Billy Incardona once said "I feel lucky to have been here when Efren was here to see him play." I feel that way about both Efren and Shane so thats why to me this is the only way to end TAR's run.

TAR is not going disappear on Monday. I have some commitments over the next few months and I will honor them. One is the US Bar Table Championships in Reno. I will be there with Andy Chen and Tim Wampler like last year to cover the events for CSI. Some decisions will be made about different things and I plan for the TAR archives to be around for people to see what we did but TAR 39 is the last one on one match I plan on ever doing under a TAR banner because it simply doesnt get any better. If you are going to go out then you should go out in style.

Thank you to everyone who has supported TAR through the years. Without all of you none of the great matches and moments we were able to capture would have happened. I can't begin to list everyone as it would take pages. Just know that I deeply appreciate the fact you have allowed me to do things and live a life that has been great for the last seven years. I hope everyone who can will join us this weekend for the last one.

I swear I feel like crying. When I saw you haul your equipment to the ICCS and you said that's only a small set up I understood what type of commitment you made to this. I understand what it means to pour everything you are into something and have to let it go. Your legacy though will live forever. As I said on Facebook you have preserved pool in a format that is legendary. Only The Color of Money Hong Kong Challenge preceded you and you took it to new levels and heights with dream matches that everyone wanted to see.

Anyway, as you said, what better match to go out on. Efren playing the young champion, the young champion challenging Efren at the games Efren is best at. I hope to see it on demand some time in the future because this one may end up being one of the best that you've done.

Kudos to you, to Chad, and to Mark for what you've done so far. And I don't think you're all the way done. But whatever you do I am sure it will be great!

 

[Gunn_Slinger]

Thank you for all the great action you and Nasty brought into our home.
It was great, sitting at the computer for hours watching non stop action at the Derby, laughing about the gomers from the USopen, all the great matches.
It was indeed super.
Thank you
Huge hugs
mrs.g

 

[dawgcpa]

Tar

Thanks for all you guys have done. Running across a TAR stream advertisement last year is what got me back into pool after a long(>10 year) layoff. I bought that one and all the ones since. I hate to see it go but I am a business man and I know sometimes you have to throw in the towel.

I just want you to know that you and the other streamers do have an impact on the game and got more people involved.

Good luck with your next endeavor and I hope it involves pool in some way.

Lonnie

 

[vagabond]

In my book, the concept of TAR has elevated the prestige of pool to a higher level.
I hope Mark and Justin will come up with another concept to entertain the pool enthusiasts,players, and fans.
Good luck,Justin.

 

[BigDeal52]

Great job guys.
Best of luck in your future endeavors.

 

[shanesinnott]

Sorry to hear it's over Justin but happy to have been around to see many of the TAR matches take place. Everyone at OB is proud to have helped sponsor many of the TAR matches and we hope that this will be the biggest one you have ever done (that would be only fitting)

I just did a post on the OB facebook page to encourage people to buy the PPV and I encourage other AZBers to do the same on their own facebook page: www.facebook.com/obcues

Thanks again Justin for all of the hard work from you and Mark and the rest of the TAR crew and I know that Chad will be watching this one from up above!

 

[stljohnny]

This makes me so sad - but your explanation is sound. And you're right ... this will be one helluva match and is quite a highlight to end on.

Thank you for all you've done (and sadly I've only been around for the last 3 years of it).

I hope the VOD solution is around for a while.

Is there any chance of adding more of the past matches to that library so us late-comers can get future TAR fixes?? (if this was addressed already, I must have scrolled by it, sorry)

 

[doctorhvac]

Very sad news, Thanks for all you and tar have done for the pool world!!!!!!!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[JCIN]

Thank you to everyone for all of the kind words. The community here on AZ is as much a part of everything TAR as ever done as myself, Chad or Mark. This place was the catalyst to start it and supported it through out the years. Thank you all.

My goal is to get the past content up and available. Some on VOD some on Youtube. I have the Reno gig then I will start making some personal decisions on where I go next. I may do something in pool but its hard to see what that would be right now.

Today I'm focused on TAR 39 and doing the best I can to make it a great match.

Thank you to everyone.

 

[Lynch]

Thanks Justin, I've purchased many TAR streams over the years and you always find 2 heavy hitters to go at it for a few days one on one. I've enjoyed nearly all the matchups and the streaming quality has always been top notch. I was able to see one of the TAR matches in person and it was very cool to say the least.....Best of luck in the future!

 

[jmelvin23]

Thanks for Everything

Justin,

I've never posted on AZ before but I just wanted to say thanks for everything and I wish the best for you and Mark. I've really enjoyed the TAR matches over the years and especially the Podcasts where you can get an idea of a player's personality - I must have watched the one with Efren and Shane 3 times. I hate to see you go but I guess the numbers just don't add up. You're going out with a lot of class by showing the best 2 players on the planet and who knows when Efren will be back in the USA, I wouldn't miss this one for the world.

 

[mikeyfrost]

I feel like the little asian dude after his heart stopped on Hangover 2 from blowing rails. "But did you die???"

It's a celebration of your journey and everyone hits the point where it's time to do something else. Good luck in whatever you are choosing to do and you'll be "aight" son. I'm going to buy this last event one time and try to sweat the parts of it that I can. There is no better way to end than with the player that started it and the guy he was gunning for way back then.

 

[yally]

Thank you for having the guts to follow your passion to have started TAR. I remember the first streamed Deuel vs Svb match. Didn't matter it was low res, I was glued to my chair for days. Also, some props to us on AZ for taking the risk to shell out for these matches over the years. We had no idea what it was going to be like at the beginning, and we were rewarded with some amazing play to enjoy for years to come.

I recently just ended my career after 15 years. Took it where I could, and now am taking some time to look at next steps. It was the hardest decision I made, but surprisingly I feel like there is a whole new world of opportunity. I hope you feel the same way. Thanks to Clearly's generosity, my friend and I can enjoy one last match!

JCIN, please stay a part of the AZ community. Your posts are always witty, thoughtful and to the point. And, please keep TAR alive through VOD!

Nothing but the best to you and your future endeavors!