Here is Jerry Stuckarts response to this all.
http://mypoolscene.com/BreakingNews/tabid/146/EntryId/180/To-the-Arizona-Pool-Community.aspx
To the Arizona Pool Community:
I wanted to send this press release out in response to many allegation rumors that have been swirling around the state the past few weeks. I thought it was best to wait until the BCAPL had had enough time to gather any information they needed before responding. Below you will see responses to many of the ridiculous allegations that were made by members of a competing pool room/league to the league I have created. I will also inform you all of my decision to step down as co-chair of the Arizona Rating Committee and the conversations between Bill Vanderweyst and I the past few weeks. I will not be responding to any further rhetoric on any of the social media sites.
I stepped up to become the chairman of the rating committee earlier this year to help right the ship on many of the issues that have plagued the rating system for a number of years. I honestly believe that we, as a committee, have made many strides in the right direction. It is far from perfect, but many issues have been addressed and I wish the committee luck and support as they move on without me. In a letter I wrote to Bill V. this past weekend, I noted that my plate is just too full to give the committee the attention it needs. I have a full time and part time job on top of being a single dad to two elementary school aged kids, coaching soccer, cub scouts, running the pool league and promoting pool tournaments and synergy between rooms and their tournament scheduling. I have removed myself from the committee effective immediately and have already transferred over all the files to Bill earlier this week.
Next, let’s give a little background to the one-way pool politics that have stemmed from the Bullshooter’s Camp, which is not limited to Tres Kane (who lives there, has his own table, runs tournaments, etc.), Roger Long (who owns the pool repair shop inside Bullshooter’s, cleans the tables, gives lessons, etc.), Larry Eans (who runs the AZ Hot Shots League and moved his headquarters to Bullshooter’s after his bar the Northern Lounge closed), the Owner and his ongoing spat with the Owner of Stinger’s Bar, Mike Howerton (runs azbilliards.com, local newspaper that competes with AZPoolScene, longtime Bullshooter’s and Hot shots supporter), etc. etc.
Roger Long has made some pretty outlandish comments about me personally and has continued to make up and lie about a situation from 2009 (4 years ago). In my league system, every single session, the first night of play a packet of rules is handed out to the captains of each team. In these rules it states on how subs can be used any week of the season until the final 4 weeks of play. On those final 4 weeks, you are not allowed to bring in any new players to the league. You can use anyone that has already played for the league this session, regardless of which team they subbed for. On the last night of play, position night, my team was set to play his team to decide between 2nd and 3rd place. One of our players was off playing in a pro tournament that she had qualified for so we needed a sub. Steve Blackburn had been identified as having played 9 weeks in the league in an 18 week session. Steve is the same rating as the person he was replacing, which has no effect in this handicapped system. In Leaguesys, once a player has played on a team the first time, it shows all of their statistics for the season under every team they played on. He finished with 10 weeks of play, but only played 1 on my team. My team won the match 13-10 to secure 2nd place. Earlier in the day Roger’s team had posted friendly banter on social media about the match and we had friendly smack talk back. After the win, there was a follow up social media post about the victory. Roger’s team protested the match and continues to say that I somehow changed online records. Steve did play in the league; the rules have never been posted online and only existed in hard copy and were handed out before the league. There was no illegal player on any team, the league agreed and the ruling made. He has continued to slam me and my league for 4 years because of his bitterness in the situation. This is the same Roger Long that petitioned the rating committee years ago to be raised to a 10 rated player, with the only supporting evidence being that as a 10 he would have more credibility to give pool lessons, aka benefit financially. He also illegally copied the entire Arizona Rating List of players and created a website that was unauthorized by the Committee that listed these players, but with one difference. Roger took it solely on himself to adjust players up and down on a daily/weekly basis depending on how he thought they were playing that week. He is currently not on the Arizona Ratings Sheet because he petitioned for the committee to remove him and wouldn’t be supporting Arizona Rated handicap tournaments in the State.
Larry Eans is the owner of the AZ Hot Shots league. We are direct competitors in the same area where many players call home. His league could benefit greatly and Bullshooters beneficially if my league would not be allowed to exist. Although many players would choose not to play in a league that takes so much of the players money, whereas my league pays out 100% of the players money every season and has done so for 9 seasons.
Mike Howerton has claimed that I had playoff matches added to my total but not to other people, which is a complete lie. If anyone uses Leaguesys, you will know that all matches need to be scheduled. In my league a playoff only happens if 2 teams are tied AFTER all scheduled league matches are played. Zero stat’s are entered for those matches and it’s only used to decide with place each team gets. In addition, I just triple checked all 9 seasons and I have never been the top shooter in my league. I did finish runner up to Mike Williams in the Fall 2012 season by a couple wins. None of my team members ever left Vegas to go home early as Mike states and John Smith has never filled in for anyone’s teams. Where do you guys come up with this crap? Mike also stated online: “On a personal note, I played a season together with Jerry on a team a few years back and none of this stuff was going on back then. In the past couple of years though, Jerry seems to have developed a reputation as someone who will bend the rules if it is for his own advantage. As he has taken on more of a role in the local pool scene (league operator, tournament director, president of the ratings committee), his reputation for shenanigans has grown.” My reputation has grown based on the pool politics and rumors spread from this camp. I run the league and pay out 100% of players monies to have the most competitive league in the state. I headed up the rating committee to help guide Arizona Pool and make it possible for more tournaments to run fair pool tournaments in the state. These are thankless positions and are done for the pool community because I love this game and want to see it grow. It’s very sad that as a Journalist, Mike, along with everyone else throwing stones, that you didn’t ask me one single question about any of the accusations you had built up and just talked behind my back. You had plenty of time to do so.
I know that Tres has a reputation for being very fair and I would agree with that in the most part. With that said, it’s puzzling to me that he would post up a thread about something he had no facts about and even noted several times that “this is what I heard from friends”. These same friends that have opposed my league and have publicly bashed me and Stinger’s for way too long. There are many incorrect statements in his out of line post, including that my team had beaten another of my in-house teams. The brackets are on ctsondemand for anyone to check (Stinger’s Venom). The only Arizona Team that my team did play against was none other than Larry Eans’ team and they play out of Bullshooter’s. No records were forged for ill intent and statistics were input the same week they were played. I also have text message correspondence between Tres and Myself and also between Bobby and Myself, from May 28th to see if he wanted to form an Advanced Team with Tres Kane, Bobby Emmons, Nick De Leon and Myself. In which Tres declined and said he would no longer participate in Team play.
“There will be blood?” – Tres Kane
I would suggest in the future that it’s probably not the smartest move to write on a public forum that what you are about to rant on about is going to lead to Violence against another person.
As far as the situation with the unqualified player playing in Vegas, there were mistakes made and I completely owned up to them in my letter to the BCAPL weeks ago. In numerous discussions we have come to solutions to rectify the issues and move forward with better record keeping. I’m sorry that this player was not qualified with the minimum number of weeks required to play at nationals, it will never happen again. The BCA Champions League will continue to move forward and field the toughest competition in the State, and also continue to pay out 100% of the player dues to the players every season. I have worked extremely hard to make this the best league for the Players the past 9 seasons and will continue to work for the players. Although I disagree with the BCAPL’s ruling as to my eligibility to compete individually in future events, we know exactly how they got to those decisions, and I will respect their decision. I will continue to grow and learn personally and strive to be the better person in every situation.
Jerry Stuckart
AZPoolScene@hotmail.com
