I enjoyed Jay's commentary very much.
I grew up with Accu-stats and my favorites were Billy Incardona and Grady Matthews. I really miss the pair of them, they did a tremendous job and I learned much of what I know from them. Nick Varner and Buddy Hall and Jim Rempe were strong as well from a knowledge perspective.
I've heard Jay's commentary for years and while I always liked it when he was in the booths, my appreciation has grown and grown. I think he was up against it because when I was 15-17 I was hanging on every word of BI/GM, whereas these days I know most of what there is to point out about the situation already. I became a tougher audience. But little by little I noticed that I felt a deep sense of relief every time Jay got into the booth.
I play pretty well and usually have a good feel for the shots that the players are considering, the strategies they are using, what the priorities are, things they should be careful of, etc. When other people commentate one pocket they often get critical of shot selection, berating players for not shooting shots that clearly don't lay right or make no sense. Worse yet they start talking about themselves too much, or name dropping, etc.
When Jay gets into the booth that all stops. He calls the shots as well as anyone can with two world class players. He is passionate about the game. He doesn't name drop, but does have a lot of behind the scenes knowledge that add even more flavor and help develop the personalities and color the contest we are watching. I find him entertaining and he makes me feel like I'm sweating the match with a friend.
BI/GM were like my first commentator love so it's hard to compete with, but Jay is taking their place in my eyes. He would be my first pick for any future matches and I appreciate what he contributes to the sport.
My only disappointment was that I bet the 'under' against him, and I was hoping to hear one comment about "I don't have a horse in this race, I just want to see a GOOD WELL PLAYED CLOSE MATCH"

:smile: But he was too professional for that.
I have no idea how his commentary lands with non-pool players, what the demographics are in various settings, or anything like that. I'm a commentary fish. All I can do is share what I enjoy.