I'm not an IPT naysayer, I actually have always supported it 100%, although I do know that there are some politics involved for the first year.
I honestly believe that the Mike S. and Loree JJ KOTH match was a MASSIVE mistake in marketing. I think that Mike Sigel's greed got to him, and he convinced Trudeau to let him be mysteriously chosen to play a retired female player, who even in her prime, would have no chance against Allison or Karen.
Keven Trudeau is a marketing genious. I personally think that Kevin's original idea for the first KOTH was to choose two great current players, like Efren, Archer, Strickland, etc. to play against a top female player, either Allison or Karen. The reason why I think that was KT's first idea was because it would be a display of great pool. Although Allison or Karen would probably lose, I don't think they would lose by a huge margin. The public, who mainly plays 8-ball, would be amazed at how well these top players can play the most popular recreational pool game.
Instead, Mike proposed that he would do it, and he would get an easy opponent so it would be a guaranteed win. LJJ happened to be a great choice, because she would be out of stroke from retirement, and even in LJJ's prime, she would get destroyed by Allison or Karen. I think what they were hoping for was a close match, since both of them came out of retirement. But IIRC LJJ only won only 4 games total in both sets combined, and both of them played awful.
That is my entire reasoning for thinking that this was a huge marketing mistake. Try to imagine the first KOTH as a commercial for the IPT. In a commercial, you are supposed to show consumers why they should be interested in your product. What the viewers got was a miss-athon, an absoloutely pathetic match. Lets say you saw a commercial for toothpaste, and it says the toothpaste is guaranteed to whiten teeth. In that same commercial, it shows someone's teeth after brushing with the toothpaste they are advertising, and the teeth are brown. They advertised Mike as the greatest living male player, and LJJ as the greatest living female player. Not only did they lie to everyone, but they showed recreational players that the "best players ever" don't play 8-ball that good.
In the KOTH with Mike vs Efren, I think KT saw another possibility of a blowout, and intervened after Mike lost the first set 8-0, and told Efren to give Mike a chance to win a few games, since there was no way Efren could lose. Efren dumped a few games on purpose, which is obvious to anyone. This was KT's smartest move IMO. Although it's kind of dishonest, he did save face partially. I think the MS/LJJ match hurt the IPT's marketing abilities. They should have showed some champions putting on an amazing display, not some players who can't run 4 balls in a row after such long retirements.
I honestly believe that the Mike S. and Loree JJ KOTH match was a MASSIVE mistake in marketing. I think that Mike Sigel's greed got to him, and he convinced Trudeau to let him be mysteriously chosen to play a retired female player, who even in her prime, would have no chance against Allison or Karen.
Keven Trudeau is a marketing genious. I personally think that Kevin's original idea for the first KOTH was to choose two great current players, like Efren, Archer, Strickland, etc. to play against a top female player, either Allison or Karen. The reason why I think that was KT's first idea was because it would be a display of great pool. Although Allison or Karen would probably lose, I don't think they would lose by a huge margin. The public, who mainly plays 8-ball, would be amazed at how well these top players can play the most popular recreational pool game.
Instead, Mike proposed that he would do it, and he would get an easy opponent so it would be a guaranteed win. LJJ happened to be a great choice, because she would be out of stroke from retirement, and even in LJJ's prime, she would get destroyed by Allison or Karen. I think what they were hoping for was a close match, since both of them came out of retirement. But IIRC LJJ only won only 4 games total in both sets combined, and both of them played awful.
That is my entire reasoning for thinking that this was a huge marketing mistake. Try to imagine the first KOTH as a commercial for the IPT. In a commercial, you are supposed to show consumers why they should be interested in your product. What the viewers got was a miss-athon, an absoloutely pathetic match. Lets say you saw a commercial for toothpaste, and it says the toothpaste is guaranteed to whiten teeth. In that same commercial, it shows someone's teeth after brushing with the toothpaste they are advertising, and the teeth are brown. They advertised Mike as the greatest living male player, and LJJ as the greatest living female player. Not only did they lie to everyone, but they showed recreational players that the "best players ever" don't play 8-ball that good.
In the KOTH with Mike vs Efren, I think KT saw another possibility of a blowout, and intervened after Mike lost the first set 8-0, and told Efren to give Mike a chance to win a few games, since there was no way Efren could lose. Efren dumped a few games on purpose, which is obvious to anyone. This was KT's smartest move IMO. Although it's kind of dishonest, he did save face partially. I think the MS/LJJ match hurt the IPT's marketing abilities. They should have showed some champions putting on an amazing display, not some players who can't run 4 balls in a row after such long retirements.
