Had a chance to watch some of the matches and here's my personal observations:
At the end of the day, all reasons notwithstanding - the European team played better and took advantage of the US Team's mistakes. The US team made several errors that I'd consider uncharacteristic of players of their caliber.
Was it nerves, the audience, the table, the referee, jet lag? I have absolutely no idea - nor will I ever. I have the luxury of analyzing the whole thing from the comfort of my living room where I've never missed a shot in my life. I'd be willing to be bet that most of us can't and don't play good enough to find ourselves in that position now or ever.
What I do know is that no matter how hard we at AZ Billiards are reacting to this loss and dissecting it all from all angles - the players we watched from the US team are much more disappointed than we as a group could ever be.
It's my hope that Mark Wilson comes back as the coach as he has 12 months to take the lessons learned from this year (both positive and negative) and apply them to make the US team even stronger.
Whether that's the same players or new players - I'll be watching in 2015. I love the game and it's not the result that matters as much as to me as the enjoyment I get from taking a break from my normal 9-5 and watching people play the game I love at a level I'm simply not capable of.
At the end of the day, all reasons notwithstanding - the European team played better and took advantage of the US Team's mistakes. The US team made several errors that I'd consider uncharacteristic of players of their caliber.
Was it nerves, the audience, the table, the referee, jet lag? I have absolutely no idea - nor will I ever. I have the luxury of analyzing the whole thing from the comfort of my living room where I've never missed a shot in my life. I'd be willing to be bet that most of us can't and don't play good enough to find ourselves in that position now or ever.
What I do know is that no matter how hard we at AZ Billiards are reacting to this loss and dissecting it all from all angles - the players we watched from the US team are much more disappointed than we as a group could ever be.
It's my hope that Mark Wilson comes back as the coach as he has 12 months to take the lessons learned from this year (both positive and negative) and apply them to make the US team even stronger.
Whether that's the same players or new players - I'll be watching in 2015. I love the game and it's not the result that matters as much as to me as the enjoyment I get from taking a break from my normal 9-5 and watching people play the game I love at a level I'm simply not capable of.