Who Watched THE Match?

On a scale of 1 to 10, give it a 6.

That may be a little low but my fsn feed or the cable feed, don't know which was a half second off. I felt like I was watching an old Japanese movie.
Was that the case on all the West Coast?

There should be no complaints as to production and a feel for pool for the amateurs to get interested. We have to remember this first program was simply an advertisement for things to come. It was pretty hard to show a lot of pool considering the hour time slot and the tons of commercials. People are complaining about poor play etc. Well let me see you get out there in front of that crowd and for that money and the pressure to pull of a good show for t.v. It was obvious they were both real nervous but I think in the end they handled it well.
I have one question though. Who will sue first. Mike "the mouth" Sigel or Mike "the mouth" Matisow? Or can there just be a mouth in pool and another in poker?
I have a feeling pool is about to take another quantum leap.
 
I missed any "WOW"

The pool wasn't great and having folks tell us how wonderful it was didn't really fly. Neither did Trudeau's tone of voice and overemphasis on certain words as if he was explaining things to a kindergarten class.

I couldn't tell from what I saw on TV but either the pockets aren't really so narrow as to be super tough to play on or the shelves are shallow. It seemed that Trudeau spent a fair amount of time hyping his version of pool while bashing nine ball and other equipment though. All in all, I wouldn't say that this is all that auspicious a start for the tour. The level of commercials was high enough that the bits of pool squeezed in between commercials and commentary never involved this viewer in the games.

The final bit of silliness was the whispered interviews with celebrities while the pool games were going on. Just another silly seeming gimmick instead of doing normal interviews.

I don't think that the attire of either player appeared particularly professional with Mike's shirt hanging hugely around his waist and Lori's choice of clothing. The emphasis on Mike's "the Mouth" handle and the comments made by the players as they shot didn't add anything to the class of the event either.

Bottom line, it wasn't really classy, it wasn't colorful enough to justify the lack of class, it wasn't edited to appear to be a sporting event. Digging deep to find something positive, Mike and Lori both appeared to get nice paydays. I do wonder how much they paid back into the event for their own advertising though.

Hu
 
I saw good footage, a hot piece of bl@ck @$$, Sigel taking most of the shots, and Loree just lookin beat. I wish they telecast it more as a pool match rather than a "best moments of the match" kinda show. Seemed very contrived and very commercial to me, but overall very good effort.
 
I also Tivo'ed it and put it on VHS. Tried to record on my laptop (Qosmio G15 has a tv tuner and DVR inside, but the reception was too crummy and it cut off half way, must have programmed it wrong).

The show was ok, good production, but there were too many commercials and it would come back halfway through a rack. You knew Loree Jon had made most of her balls but didn't get out, but not sure what happened.

The one part I enjoyed was the shot MS shanked and jumped straight up on. I also liked the zoomed in expressions of fear on both faces. (Not sure I will like it if it is me though.:o ) The celebrity interviews were ok, they were both heartfelt; it's just that they had to whisper.

Kim used his hands too much when the camera was on him and then didn't say much once KT was in the booth. They should have focused on the money more at the end. It was very touching that both Mike and his wife cried.

Overall, I'd give the production an A- for their first effort. And getting the spots for the plug yesterday, plus 2 back to back shows tonight was great.
 
9 Ball Girl said:
So what did I think of it? All I can say is that the most memorable line was from Mike Sigal during his interview where he said:

If she wins, you'll never hear the end of it. If I win, I'm supposed to win.
Click to expand...

Was there ever any chance of him losing?
I think for a min of $75,000 they could have found M a more able opponent- ie a top current woman player, IF they had wanted a real match.

G
 
I say...

Nice Win Mike, I bet you read this some day...yeah you should have won.:D

Great job Lorie John Jones for representing the women in the opening event of the IPT. You did well, and I agree'd with your comment that you could have won if you had played better, Mike gave you a few openings. But he played tight and loose towards the end.

Fantastic Job Kevin Trudeau.

This is the first event, give IPT some time to fine tune their presentation and develop a broadcasting style! Remember this was filmed months ago before they had all the fine AZBilliards folks telling them how to run a tour.

I am digging the fact that the candid interviews with the players will really bring out the personalities in pool, similar to how Poker has with the WPT.

The only thing I'll criticize is the shortned coverage of the match due to time constraints.

Kevin Trudeau stated that 'This coverage is like the PGA" during the match tongiht. On this point, I think they should work towards coverage of the event with the airtime to be able to show the whole match, not an abridged version of it...just like ABC or CBS does with golf on T.V. At least cover the whole end as much as possible and cut the earlier rounds short if needed.

Overall, I was impressed and hopeful that this turns into a craze elevated to the level that poker has acheived. The tour coverage will result in far better entertainment than ESPN has ever been able to provide, and better insight for all of us into pool at that level of expertise.
 
Negative

I knew that when I logged on here tonight to see what people thought of the match there would be a lot of negative nellies on here telling us all how bad it sucked. You're certainly entitled to your opinions, but let's be honest here for a moment. When can you ever recall a better presentation of pocket billiards on television in the last 20 years? You can do a search for Mitch Laurence and ESPN on here and find nothing but threads saying how they are both the worst thing that's happened to pool since Rosie O' Donell was named Miss December in the Billiard Girls calendar (Just jesting of course.) But I think objectively we have to say that for being their first time out of the box the production values were good, 8-ball as a game is good, and there has certainly been comentating that was worse. I think it's unfortunate that some people in the pool world are so jaded they wouldn't think anything good was happening for the sport if everytime you played Kevin Trudeau personally gave you a pile of gold bars.
 
As far as the equipment goes, it looked like they were using the Olhausen Champion Pro's that are used by Matt Braun in his ESPN productions (Sudden Death 7-Ball, etc.). I have one of these tables and the pockets are definitely not buckets on mine. My buddies will be first in line to tell you that. So I'm wondering if they had the table set up with the highly-touted, oldschool, slow cloth, but the pockets cut to a friendlier width/depth/angle?
 
Colin Colenso said:
According to my guestimates in time travel, the broadcast should have happened by now.

So who watched it?

Please provide some reports.:D
Click to expand...

I watched it, it sucked, couldn't compare to accu-stats tapes. From what I hear about tv broadcasts of billiards/pool/snooker in the orient, you'd be ROFLAO if you saw it.
 
fendertwotwenty said:
damn, that was the best thing that's happened to pool in my life, i'm 22. So what if they treated us like idiots, most people are. it's not designed for pool players, read the ipt website. if you're a serious poker player the poker on tv sucks too, but the point is that it gets great ratings and increases the popularity of it. order some accu-stat tapes if you want to really watch some pool for pool players.
Click to expand...

For a young guy, you are pretty bright. Great post.
 
What I watched was OK at best. I remember they cut away from a rack to interview Mario Lopez. I really dont think pool players at home care about Mario Lopez and his pool playing history. They would rather see Mike Sigel run it out.

The commentators were not really that great either, their technical speak seemed kinda limited. I would expect to hear stuff from Kim saying "Now he is going to draw the ball by hitting on the low part of the cue ball" but intead it seemed like there were 2 Mitch Laurences up there instead of one.

I think I would have rather listened to Sid Waddell commentate this match rather then the ones they had talking. Then KT chimes in constantly talking about how the cloth plays slower. Just FYI Kevin, pool players at home can tell by watching if it is playing slow or not and those who arnt pool players wouldnt be able to tell anyway.

I dont know, it was cool to see that much money offered and to see Pool attempt to take a bigger crack at the national spotlight, but I think it was a it much to me. Dont get me wrong though. I will more then likely watch it when it comes on.
 
StraightPoolIU said:
I knew that when I logged on here tonight to see what people thought of the match there would be a lot of negative nellies on here telling us all how bad it sucked. You're certainly entitled to your opinions, but let's be honest here for a moment. When can you ever recall a better presentation of pocket billiards on television in the last 20 years? You can do a search for Mitch Laurence and ESPN on here and find nothing but threads saying how they are both the worst thing that's happened to pool since Rosie O' Donell was named Miss December in the Billiard Girls calendar (Just jesting of course.) But I think objectively we have to say that for being their first time out of the box the production values were good, 8-ball as a game is good, and there has certainly been comentating that was worse. I think it's unfortunate that some people in the pool world are so jaded they wouldn't think anything good was happening for the sport if everytime you played Kevin Trudeau personally gave you a pile of gold bars.
Click to expand...

Do a search on the IPT, king of the hill, battle of the sexes, siegel vs jones etc and guess what you find.
NOTHING.
The only mention of this match has been in pool sites/forums like this one. The mainstream press has totally ignored it and even the fringe press are oblivious or just dont care.
Did you know that 2 years ago the Mosconi cup was getting 3 hours of coverage throughout Europe 5 days a week?
The last WC in Taiwan reached millions of viewers with hours of play, everyday? A friend recorded some matches for me that were shown on tv and he sent me 7 dvd,s- almost 21 full matches!

That sort of coverage makes last nights 'event', [ from which I gather was sqeezed in between comercials ] pale into insignificance. Despite what the IPT/KT and blind followers say, pool is on the up all round the world and has been ever since Matchroom came with the Mosconi Cup and got some REAL airtime for the sport on tv.

How many actual minutes of play did you see?
Did you see a whole rack played from beginning to end?
If the IPT is so professional, how come KT is doing the commentary?
Gabber
 
Folks are never happy...

I do not understand why folks are bashing the first televised IPT tourney. Hell, I least you all got to see it! :mad: I was flippin' channels all night to see if I could find it! I know that everyone is entitled to how they feel and their opinion, but give the man some credit. You say it's boring, but I'm sure you love those accu-stats tapes!:rolleyes: Then again, what serious pool player wouldn't, but if I remember correctly, the idea is to target those that are not serious about pool.

Do you think someone who is a recreational player would really get all giddy about an accu-stats tape!?! As far as the commentary goes, KT said that they haven't settled on a permanent one as of yet. This was well after the tournament was finished if I remember correctly, I could be wrong. It's the first show people, KT even said that there were some things that could have been done better himself. Just because millions were put in the production of this thing, doesn't mean it was going to be perfect on the first try.:rolleyes: :confused:
 
Folks are never happy...

I do not understand why folks are bashing the first televised IPT tourney. Hell, I least you all got to see it! :mad: I was flippin' channels all night to see if I could find it! I know that everyone is entitled to how they feel and their opinion, but give the man some credit. You say it's boring, but I'm sure you love those accu-stats tapes!:rolleyes: Then again, what serious pool player wouldn't, but if I remember correctly, the idea is to target those that are not serious about pool.

Do you think someone who is a recreational player would really get all giddy about an accu-stats tape!?! As far as the commentary goes, KT said that they haven't settled on a permanent one as of yet. This was well after the tournament was finished if I remember correctly, I could be wrong. It's the first show people, KT even said that there were some things that could have been done better himself. Just because millions were put in the production of this thing, doesn't mean it was going to be perfect on the first try.:rolleyes: :confused:
 
How Many TIMES!!!!! ARRRGGGHHH

Icon of Sin said:
What I watched was OK at best. I remember they cut away from a rack to interview Mario Lopez. I really dont think pool players at home care about Mario Lopez and his pool playing history. They would rather see Mike Sigel run it out.

The commentators were not really that great either, their technical speak seemed kinda limited. I would expect to hear stuff from Kim saying "Now he is going to draw the ball by hitting on the low part of the cue ball" but intead it seemed like there were 2 Mitch Laurences up there instead of one.

I think I would have rather listened to Sid Waddell commentate this match rather then the ones they had talking. Then KT chimes in constantly talking about how the cloth plays slower. Just FYI Kevin, pool players at home can tell by watching if it is playing slow or not and those who arnt pool players wouldnt be able to tell anyway.

I dont know, it was cool to see that much money offered and to see Pool attempt to take a bigger crack at the national spotlight, but I think it was a it much to me. Dont get me wrong though. I will more then likely watch it when it comes on.
Click to expand...

Pool players at home. Pool players at home. THIS IS NOT GEARED TOWARD POOL PLAYERS!!!!!! This is geared specifically toward non pool players. I didn't get to see it because they don't have FSN in Cuba, but come on I don't want to hear any more about how this isn't any good because it's not what pool players want to see. Order accustats tapes if you want to see pool, or I'm sure that eventually, KT will provide pool oriented tapes of these matches, but the TV spots are NOT going to be geared toward POOL PLAYERS. What will it take to get it through some of your heads that pool doesn't need to garner the support of the pool community to get bigger, we'll watch it just because it's pool. It needs to garner the non pool playing community. DUH!!!!!
 
KingCarom said:
Great job Lorie John Jones for representing the women in the opening event of the IPT. You did well, and I agree'd with your comment that you could have won if you had played better, Mike gave you a few openings. But he played tight and loose towards the end.
Click to expand...

In the last set, did Mike break and run the last 5 or 6 racks? I watched like 2 minutes of it then I had to leave. I saw LJJ play some very poor patterns and miss a ball before I left. How good did Mike play?
 
I thought it was ok. They made it seem like an event which was cool. Would have been nice to see more pool, but both sets in 1 hour was too much.

I think it is a good start, but we as pool players shouldnt look at it as an accustats production. Its fine if they just show some of the exciting moments. Exciting draws in average fans.

Look at the WSOP on t.v. You only see heated moments and huge all-in hands or bluffs. As a poker player, I have the t.v. on to watch it, but am not watching it to learn. More like something I do in the back drop. I can see how the IPT show would be the same way. An avid poker player can purchase a DVD with all sessions of the WSOP if they choose, and something like that could be available with the IPT shows.

If the IPT manages to build up and have a set of characters (pool players) that end up making the show, it will increase fan popularity. There are alot of things that happen at tourneys that if they happened to get caught on camera would make for good production.
 
I Didn't Think They Were Buckets At All

pinkisntwell said:
Did anyone record this? Is it possible to find it on the net?

I don't like the bucket pockets thing one bit.
Click to expand...

They weren't buckets. Not in the least. I'm confused at other people's comments. The table was an Olhausen Pro, which already has tough pockets. The pockets looked shimmed to make the opening even smaller than out normal.

I think people are saying that the pockets were loose because some balls rattled and dropped. But on loose equipment, they wouldn't have rattled; they would have just dropped. I don't recall one ball that dropped if it hit a rail on the way in.

Fred
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top