I just wanted to post a thread thanking all of the AZ'ers who tuned in for TAR 19 and made it our best match ever. Without all the support of the people here TAR would never have been created and certainly never made it this far. From everyone involved with TAR I say thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
Many people said this match would never happen but two people were absolutely critical to getting it done. One is Mika Immonen. He didnt need to play a TAR match and I know some people were telling him he shouldn't but at his core Mika is a competitor who seeks out challenges and he wanted to test himself in something new to him. He put a lot of his own money in on this and should be held in high regard for his heart and courage to take on another champion in an event where everything is on display. Thank you Mika.
This match would have just been another one that we all wished would happen if it wasn't for the second critical person in this deal. Caroline Pao opened her home to Shane and myself as well as gave up almost all of her time in the days before, during and after the match to drive us around an insane city getting us where we needed to be. There is absolutely no way this match would have went off without her help. I will never be able to repay her for her kindness and generosity but I will never forget it. Thank you Caroline.
The team of Shane Van Boening and John Mars is quickly carving out a legacy in the action world. Whenever someone says "Shane should play XYZ." I tell them "I can get Shane. You get the other guy and we'll do this." I can say that because all it usually takes is two phone calls. One to Shane about a date and one to John. The one to John works like this:
Me: "XYZ wants to play Shane"
John: "I'm in."
John has been involved in more TAR matches than anyone and if you like action matches then he is someone who who should be thought of when it comes time to recognize people who do things for the game. Shane is Shane. All he wants is to play the best in the world and shoot their ever loving nuts in if at all possible. Thank you to Shane and John.
Greg Hunt owns Amsterdam Billards and he took a shot on hosting this event. Amsterdam is a very busy room during the week and it is no small thing to shut down a big part of your room to do something new. Greg was a very gracious host and involved from the very beginning. His staff was outstanding in every way and went above and beyond to help us with everything they could. It was a true pleasure to work such cool and motivated people. Thank you to Greg Hunt, Foster Stevenson, Ben Soltz and all the Amsterdam staff.
Andrew "Big Tony" Cleary is a stud. One of the partners in Spot Clothing he is the man when it comes to all things video. When there were questions about the table or the room layout I would call him and he would go to the room and give me the straight answers. He acted as a liaison to everyone in NYC for TAR and when the time came he was there from beginning to end helping with set up, production and tear down. On more than one occasion leading up to the match when I would be freaking out about some detail he would say "Chill out. I'll go to the room and we'll figure it out." Thanks Big Tony.
Vincent Rochefort lives in Paris France. He works with Kozoom in Europe doing broadcasts of the Euro Tour and 3 cushion events. He contacted me on Facebook and said he would be in NYC for the Shane/Mika match if I needed any help. I took him up on his gracious offer and I am damn glad I did. Vincent, or "Frenchy" as he unavoidably was nicknamed, is simply a bad ass. He worked his ass off from beginning to end and always had a smile on his face and positive suggestion on how to make something work or to improve it. He was the guy who spent hours on a ladder hanging lights so we could have the best quality production we were able to. I am lucky to have met Vincent and to have made a new friend. Thank you Frenchy.
Linda "Pool Monkey" Cheung and Jay "Brooklyn Jay" Chiu are good friends of mine and busted their asses doing everything possible to make this match happen and when it did to do everything they could to make it go smooth. Both of them also helped me retain my sanity in the run up to the match. Thank you Monkey and Buddha.
Jennifer Barretta, Greg "GMAC" Mc Andrews and Eric Hu handled most of the heavy lifting on the commentary and did a fine job. It is a hard job and one that no matter how you do some people will not like. All of three of them have busy lives with families and jobs. They made a special effort to be a part of this match and added a lot to it with their insight and humor. Thank you to Jen, Greg and Eric.
John Bertone of Kamui Tips came on board as a sponsor as soon as I told him about the match at the Mezz booth in Vegas. It was a pleasuer to work with him on this and we hope to do more together in the future. It is always great to be involved with companies that make a superior product and I appreciate his support very much. Thanks John.
As always we have had the support of Mark Griffin and CueSports International and the entire office staff. From printing banners to help with promotion and countless other things CSI is always there to help do what they can to make any TAR event a success. Thank you to the entire CSI crew.
Jerry Tarantolo of NYC Grind helped out with the pre match show and video updates of each days action. It was a pleasure to work with Jerry and I appreciate all of his hard work and enthusiasm. Thanks Jerry.
AZ Billiards and Simonis Cloth also pitched in to help and once again being associated with the best in the business is a real pleasure. Thank you.
I am sure I am forgetting someone and for that I apologize and take full responsibility. As you can see it takes many people to make one of these matches happen. None of them do it for the money. All do it because they love the game and seeing the best in the world go head to head in a unique contest.
Honestly if this match didn't fly TAR was packing it in. The level of support we received from the industry and most important the people who watch the matches was overwhelming and made it clear that there is a market for this and there is a way forward. Speaking for me personally I can't thank everyone enough for making it possible to do something I love to do. Because of all of the support, mainly by people right here on AZ, we can keep going forward trying to create exciting and unique events. Thank you.
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IMG_1067 by JCIN, on Flickr[/IMG]
Many people said this match would never happen but two people were absolutely critical to getting it done. One is Mika Immonen. He didnt need to play a TAR match and I know some people were telling him he shouldn't but at his core Mika is a competitor who seeks out challenges and he wanted to test himself in something new to him. He put a lot of his own money in on this and should be held in high regard for his heart and courage to take on another champion in an event where everything is on display. Thank you Mika.
This match would have just been another one that we all wished would happen if it wasn't for the second critical person in this deal. Caroline Pao opened her home to Shane and myself as well as gave up almost all of her time in the days before, during and after the match to drive us around an insane city getting us where we needed to be. There is absolutely no way this match would have went off without her help. I will never be able to repay her for her kindness and generosity but I will never forget it. Thank you Caroline.
The team of Shane Van Boening and John Mars is quickly carving out a legacy in the action world. Whenever someone says "Shane should play XYZ." I tell them "I can get Shane. You get the other guy and we'll do this." I can say that because all it usually takes is two phone calls. One to Shane about a date and one to John. The one to John works like this:
Me: "XYZ wants to play Shane"
John: "I'm in."
John has been involved in more TAR matches than anyone and if you like action matches then he is someone who who should be thought of when it comes time to recognize people who do things for the game. Shane is Shane. All he wants is to play the best in the world and shoot their ever loving nuts in if at all possible. Thank you to Shane and John.
Greg Hunt owns Amsterdam Billards and he took a shot on hosting this event. Amsterdam is a very busy room during the week and it is no small thing to shut down a big part of your room to do something new. Greg was a very gracious host and involved from the very beginning. His staff was outstanding in every way and went above and beyond to help us with everything they could. It was a true pleasure to work such cool and motivated people. Thank you to Greg Hunt, Foster Stevenson, Ben Soltz and all the Amsterdam staff.
Andrew "Big Tony" Cleary is a stud. One of the partners in Spot Clothing he is the man when it comes to all things video. When there were questions about the table or the room layout I would call him and he would go to the room and give me the straight answers. He acted as a liaison to everyone in NYC for TAR and when the time came he was there from beginning to end helping with set up, production and tear down. On more than one occasion leading up to the match when I would be freaking out about some detail he would say "Chill out. I'll go to the room and we'll figure it out." Thanks Big Tony.
Vincent Rochefort lives in Paris France. He works with Kozoom in Europe doing broadcasts of the Euro Tour and 3 cushion events. He contacted me on Facebook and said he would be in NYC for the Shane/Mika match if I needed any help. I took him up on his gracious offer and I am damn glad I did. Vincent, or "Frenchy" as he unavoidably was nicknamed, is simply a bad ass. He worked his ass off from beginning to end and always had a smile on his face and positive suggestion on how to make something work or to improve it. He was the guy who spent hours on a ladder hanging lights so we could have the best quality production we were able to. I am lucky to have met Vincent and to have made a new friend. Thank you Frenchy.
Linda "Pool Monkey" Cheung and Jay "Brooklyn Jay" Chiu are good friends of mine and busted their asses doing everything possible to make this match happen and when it did to do everything they could to make it go smooth. Both of them also helped me retain my sanity in the run up to the match. Thank you Monkey and Buddha.
Jennifer Barretta, Greg "GMAC" Mc Andrews and Eric Hu handled most of the heavy lifting on the commentary and did a fine job. It is a hard job and one that no matter how you do some people will not like. All of three of them have busy lives with families and jobs. They made a special effort to be a part of this match and added a lot to it with their insight and humor. Thank you to Jen, Greg and Eric.
John Bertone of Kamui Tips came on board as a sponsor as soon as I told him about the match at the Mezz booth in Vegas. It was a pleasuer to work with him on this and we hope to do more together in the future. It is always great to be involved with companies that make a superior product and I appreciate his support very much. Thanks John.
As always we have had the support of Mark Griffin and CueSports International and the entire office staff. From printing banners to help with promotion and countless other things CSI is always there to help do what they can to make any TAR event a success. Thank you to the entire CSI crew.
Jerry Tarantolo of NYC Grind helped out with the pre match show and video updates of each days action. It was a pleasure to work with Jerry and I appreciate all of his hard work and enthusiasm. Thanks Jerry.
AZ Billiards and Simonis Cloth also pitched in to help and once again being associated with the best in the business is a real pleasure. Thank you.
I am sure I am forgetting someone and for that I apologize and take full responsibility. As you can see it takes many people to make one of these matches happen. None of them do it for the money. All do it because they love the game and seeing the best in the world go head to head in a unique contest.
Honestly if this match didn't fly TAR was packing it in. The level of support we received from the industry and most important the people who watch the matches was overwhelming and made it clear that there is a market for this and there is a way forward. Speaking for me personally I can't thank everyone enough for making it possible to do something I love to do. Because of all of the support, mainly by people right here on AZ, we can keep going forward trying to create exciting and unique events. Thank you.
IMG_1067 by JCIN, on Flickr[/IMG]
