The stage is set for the USA team to win this year, I'd make them a slight favorite
It doesn't matter so much about judging a country's potential for raising champion pool players, look at the Phillipines. The import thing is how respected the game/sport is and in the USA (right now) there's not even a Pro Tour, so the game (at the Pro level) is somewhat dormant, although this would change with a weekly TV Show or Pool Movie.
The Jordan analogy was what it was "an analogy," and if you read {closer} I put "almost" just to keep people from taking it too literally - of course I've been on line enough to know that there are many that don't really "get" the function of analogies - this is a shame because it's one of the fastest ways to pass knowledge from one mind to another.
I didn't say the MC was unfair, my point specifically stated that "Team Europe" has an all star team from several different countries (many feel they are not playing their "A" team this year, especially regarding Ralph S.). Each country will tend to have at least a couple of exceptional athletes, usually in the sports or games that are popular. Obviously the issue in this country is most of the money available for endorsement has went to only a couple of players.
The downturn in the United States is due to no TV coverage. ESPN has over 100 Million viewers and in the mid 90s pool was drawing over a million viewers weekly. In the year 2000 this changed and ESPN was just used by Matt Braun with 'The Challenge of Champions' - NO OTHER promoter had the incentive, knowledge, or financial ability to broadcast Pool Shows EXCEPT for Matt Braun, and the WPBA.
The Mosconi Cup is broadcast on SKY SPORTS which is the "European ESPN" and Barry Hearn puts out several top notch shows a year. I'm told that the shows also play in Asia and goes out to many, many, many people in that part of the world. Does this contribute to pool being much more popular in Europe now? I'd have to say "YES"!
Anyone that thinks going to London and competing is a "piece of cake" is crazy. Some of their fans are very aggressive (they are soccer fans too) and where alcohol is served it can get volatile. I'm in the bar business and have witnessed nearly 100 fights in my career, some bloodier than others (the worse was seeing a guy get his throat cut in Albuquerque).
They keep it pretty safe, but didn't bring in security until the second day (when I was captain in 2012), I'd advise them to bring them on from the beginning this year with even bigger crowds.
There were times during the 2012 event that the players were getting very uneasy about what was going on. I told one of the players "at least they're not shooting balls off the table like they did in some of the places I used to play" - that made them smile and loosen up enough to play, however, they never did play up to their true potential.
I verily wish the Mosconi Cup could be on American TV, however, that's probably not going to happen (ESPN won't pay for this type broadcast currently). Anyone that's done any heavy duty marketing know how powerful TV is for popularity, the problem is it takes frequency (if your game/sport isn't on weekly it won't build viewer momentum.
The stage is set for the USA team to win this year, I'd make them a slight favorite (2 games) at this point. Anyone that has the nerve to bet on the USA team will have a chance to take off a nice score (especially with 7/4 or whatever the line levels at).
lol, this makes no sense. The Jordan analogy in particular is borderline insane.
How many active players do you think there are in Europe? Because I'd bet it's a lot less than there are in the US.
In the UK, the number of people who own their own cue and play American pool more than, say, once a fortnight, isn't even in the thousands. We probably have less than 500 "serious" players here. And yet I'd make the UK favourites over a US team in this format.
Also, you say pool's downturn in the US is due to no TV coverage, well how much TV coverage do you think there is in Europe (where it's apparently gaining popularity)?
