U.S Team Message To The Public

[youngstownkid]

i see nothing wrong with what Mike D said. To me, he came across very thankful for the system in place with allowed him to be apart of it. He is probably correct in that if it were up to fans or a board, he probably would have been overlooked for a big name.

with that said, i like what shane had to say better. i want to think that he was contacted to give a statement and he didn't even want to be apart of it. the more i learn about shane the more i like what he stands for.

 

[Black-Balled]

My thoughts
...2.) Where is Shane's endorsement? I would hold his comments in the highest regard.....

Some things never change....

...Shane was the only smart one by not saying anything....What is there to say after you lose?? How about, "Team Europe beat us this time because they played better" "

...think excuses and whining helps you ? Maybe a little growing up would help the team...:slap:

I really hope that Shane continues to hold his head above the silly head games. He is a Player of the highest magnitude and should let himself get lumped in with all the squirrels.

In fact, I am somewhat of the opinion that he should preclude himself from participating in organized events with the gang...if only he could do so without the appearance of betraying the USA.

 

[Itsnotme]

I wonder what will happen if CW is the captian again next year?

 

[justadub]

I wonder what will happen if CW is the captian again next year?

"If"???

Does anyone really think that genie is gonna get put back into the bottle?

 

[itsfroze]

Well done!!

In all the time that I have been reading threads on AZ Billiards, I have never seen such a coming together of so many. That is to say almost unanimously people are speaking with one voice against CW, DP and this continued political crap. The fans do have a voice and if he isn't already Barry Hearn should be taking note of what the US fans are saying,that is if he's concerned about the continued growth of his Mosconi Cup . I must also say to the gentleman (I can't remember your tag ) that wrote the players that now stand with CW are going to start to be viewed like him is sadly right. It hurts me to see this happen because these are some great players whom I have always admired.I also hope that somebody they trust talks to them to let them see the light and I say this with the most respect, THANK YOU

 

[Houstoer]

think the mods would put up some kind of voting thing; list about 10 people who could be captain based on input from the az members and leave it up for voting for the az crowd for six months? Let's see who the overall favorite for captain would be

 

[krupa]

In all the time that I have been reading threads on AZ Billiards, I have never seen such a coming together of so many. That is to say almost unanimously people are speaking with one voice against CW, DP and this continued political crap. The fans do have a voice and if he isn't already Barry Hearn should be taking note of what the US fans are saying,that is if he's concerned about the continued growth of his Mosconi Cup . I must also say to the gentleman (I can't remember your tag ) that wrote the players that now stand with CW are going to start to be viewed like him is sadly right. It hurts me to see this happen because these are some great players whom I have always admired.I also hope that somebody they trust talks to them to let them see the light and I say this with the most respect, THANK YOU

I've been reading statements from Barry Hearn (regarding snooker, not the MC) on the BBC sports page and I think it's safe to say that he doesn't care what anyone thinks about anything.

 

[ribdoner]

I wonder what will happen if CW is the captian again next year?

American gals will sleep better for a week or so knowing he's 3000+ miles away.

On a serious note:

i'm not sure what his role is. i don't think he makes the majority of decisions with regards to matchups because, imo, players the ilk of JA, SVB, RM, etc., know who they're most comfortable playing with and against. i also can't see the competitors needing motivation in an event of this magnitude. Perhaps his primary responsibility is making sure our guys show up on time and then providing positive reinforcement or leading cheers which would be better performed by those scantily clad gals from Dallas.

JA and RM are the defacto leaders of our team while CW is relegated to a figurehead function, he also needs more training before making public statements without a telepromter.

What our guys need is a vet of competion at the highest level (tourney, action, etc.,) to handle the pressure of short races against top shelf competition who can also keep the event in perspective and i'd take a long, serious look at Kieth McCready.

Think about it...

 

[Island Drive]

Only have a living HOF member as team captain.

 

[ribdoner]

Only have a living HOF member as team captain.

It's a travesty if Kieth isn't a HOF member (i don't know if he is or isn't)

i agree that most any HOF'r would be more palatable than CW

 

[pro9dg]

Team USA

Hypothetically speaking, how many people on this Forum would like to own a piece of Team USA if the team became a Franchise.

Hypothetically again if Team USA were to have a market value of $1,000,000 would you invest $1000 for a share in the Business. Would another 999 people follow suit.


Then the owners could get a level playing field on par with the European setup. The European squad including fringe players are exposed to Johan's presence throughout the year. This allows him to command the respect of the players.

Right now, Team USA has nobody to whom they have to answer - except Matchroom or AZB posters. As a result poor performances are going unchecked.

A fan based ownership would surely create a sense of patriotism. Maybe it's the way to secure a halt to what could be a diminishing interest in One Horse Races

 

[oldzilla]

Well said Justin.Here is a piece of my knowledge and opinions.

1)charlie coached usa to its first ever mosconi cup loss on usa soil.

2)The comments that Rodney and Shaun made were terrible if they really made them especially after their poor performance they should quit pool all together or at least apologize to all the fans.

3)The only player that hasnt commended Charlie is Shane,mainly because Shane has plenty of money in the bank and the other players have to put up with and kiss Charlies butt because there finacially broke.

4)Charlie is only out for himself and dont give a shit about any of the players.

5) Im willing to bet Charlie wouldnt be the Captain for free.btw he got paid $10,000

6)Its a proven fact that Charlie sets up all the tourneys he runs to benefit himself and all his players so they advance easier and make it to the money rounds.

7)It has been said Charlie collected $100,000 from Michael Fedak to sponsor the world 14.1 tourney and only gave 20k towards the prize money to the players and kept the rest for himself.(still waiting to get exact details of the info.on the transactions.)
Why do you think Accu-Stats did not do the 14.1 event ? He would have had to pay Pat a little to get his entire crew and equipment. So he got someone to pay him to do it ! Lotsa stuff musta been discussed in that LA event just before the 14.1.
IMO the event took a giant step backwards ! DP owns that though, so what can you do. CW calls the shots and he made a bad choice to throw class under the bus for a bigger profit !

8) there is nothing wrong with making a profit as a promotor or anything else in business but dont be greety and take advantage of situations.

9) no one ever should be a promotor and also play in their own tourney.

10) all brackets in tourneys should never be done before a tourney starts behind closed doors.They should eliminate ranking systems and blind draw in front of everybody so it puts and end to setting up crooked brackets to benefit Charlie and his players.

11) if I could be allowed to buy the usa side of the mosconi cup I would pay the players if I could choose the players and the captain.

I will be contacting Barry Hearn and I only hope that all the pool fans that support the Mosconi cup will also and threatin to boycott their support if Charlie is involved in anyway again with team america unless he earns his way onto the team by being a player and winning tourneys on the square.
12) the players are taking shots at the fans now and they only have themselves to blame.they lost and we as fans did also.

sorry about the long quotes but im pissed off.

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i think your right about shane not totally being in it. But lets remember he did get half of the 7 points usa did have so he did play his ass off. I think shane knew going in they didnt have the right team to win the cup. Earl even said it in 1 of the interviews given at the tar match.

Shane is very smart and I think he knew it was time to not say anything at all !
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Matchroom owns the event and thats that.

BUT, I think it would be nice if we could pick our own captain.
Let the top 2 in the points on the team.
Let us here pick 2 players.
Let the captain pick 1.

Probably never happen though.

Maybe Matchroom figured Dennis doesnt travel enough to get the points and changed it to screw us up.

Also why cant we use our entire continent ?
ALEX= N American

 

[JCIN]

Hypothetically speaking, how many people on this Forum would like to own a piece of Team USA if the team became a Franchise.

Hypothetically again if Team USA were to have a market value of $1,000,000 would you invest $1000 for a share in the Business. Would another 999 people follow suit.


Then the owners could get a level playing field on par with the European setup. The European squad including fringe players are exposed to Johan's presence throughout the year. This allows him to command the respect of the players.

Right now, Team USA has nobody to whom they have to answer - except Matchroom or AZB posters. As a result poor performances are going unchecked.

A fan based ownership would surely create a sense of patriotism. Maybe it's the way to secure a halt to what could be a diminishing interest in One Horse Races

Why should the fans have to fix the game?

The disconnect between some pro players and the general fan in the US is growing at a pretty alarming rate. I suspect the fans will find something else to be interested in but what will the players do?

A few people better get their head out of their ass or its going to be pretty ugly in this country for anyone trying to make a living playing, promoting or selling pool.

 

[BrooklynJay]

how can you take Charlie Williams seriously when, the week before, he was representing Korea in another event?

 

[JC]

Charlie is going a good job

It's those other boys and the mean fans who are to blame.

Signed,

Charlie's Mom

 

[blah blah]

can't post pictures from here. So I'll just link to the one who posted my feelings here.

 

[Hungarian]

I just want to know what in the hell has happened in the last 10 years to where CW has become so relevant? What did he do to get into this position of power? I mean it feels like all of the sudden but maybe I haven't been paying attention.

I feel the real problem is lack of participation in billiards. Not enough base to draw from. So our sport will continue to dwindle and become even more of a niche with an ever-decreasing cult following.

Some will argue that pool and billiards is very high on SGMA's individual participation list...see key highlight below:

Individual Sports: Since 2000, the top growth sport for overall participation is bowling (up 12.9% to 58.7 million). The top three activities for overall participation are bowling, billiards/pool (49.0 million), and golf (27.6 million).

But what people need to be aware of is how these numbers are arrived at. The numbers are based on those who played once or more during the year. This means that everyone who was surveyed that played one rack of pool at a bar counts to wards the numbers. I would venture to say that the die hard player level in pool is exponentially lower than that of golf or tennis.

What's the answer? I haven't a clue...

 

[oldzilla]

how can you take Charlie Williams seriously when, the week before, he was representing Korea in another event?

IMO Cw follows the trail of the dollar. Thats not a totally bad thing but it may bite him in the ass when he throws things under the bus to maintain his pursuit !

 

[jay helfert]

Why should the fans have to fix the game?

The disconnect between some pro players and the general fan in the US is growing at a pretty alarming rate. I suspect the fans will find something else to be interested in but what will the players do?

A few people better get their head out of their ass or its going to be pretty ugly in this country for anyone trying to make a living playing, promoting or selling pool.

Not the first time pool players have shot themselves in the foot. In fact some of them may not have any toes left by the time they retire!

 

[J.W.]

I think most of the AZ posters here are missing the point with this whole MC thing and Charlie Williams as captain.

Lets back up a couple months or so.

This all started when Charlie was announced as Team USA captain. Upon hearing this all the fans (who in my opinion, are very knowledgeable with the underground aspects of the sport), voiced their displeasure. The amount of negativity that came afterwards was eye opening to say the least. This backlash immediately put Charlie and team USA under heat. Its not rocket science that he had been nominated for this post by his pals, who happened to be the senior statesmen on team USA.

Now the only way to justify their actions was to win the cup back – otherwise they would all have to look at themselves in the mirror and accept responsibility for their actions. This was a form of pressure, coupled with the firepower and heat that team Europe put on them right from the beginning, that they had not taken into account.
This is where it all went sideways. The brain trust with team USA did not expect the backlash from their actions and did not handle the added pressure well at all. I saw their faces close up and all of them looked like they were playing for their lives out there. We all know the most successful approach in professional caliber pool is to play like it means nothing when it means everything. Just follow Shane’s example of success, he is the best player right now to epitomize that philosophy – when he plays for himself.

I believe that team USA has all the ammunition it needs they just need to believe in each other and have a guiding light that takes pressure off them as opposed to placing it squarely on their shoulders. The key is to go out and have fun with the event again, like they used to when they dominated it. In team play you have to embrace the moments and the highs and lows together, that’s where the bonding takes place.

Just another opinion you understand……..