Pool Cue News and Review

Last week, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee released a study that links the ban on smoking in bars to an increase in drunk driving fatalities. The idea is that people need to drink and smoke so badly that they’ll drive to a city that doesn’t have a smoking ban to get their drink on and suck down a few lung bullets. Ultimately, the goal of this paper is to push the need for a statewide smoking ban in Wisconsin, but the way its being reported is pretty damn irresponsible.

I get it. People dig a smoke with their beer. They go together like peanut butter and chocolate. Even so, is it really worth it to risk destroying your life and the lives of others? I still find it shocking that people who want a bullet with their beer don’t just stay at home. From what I’ve seen, most bars are ignoring the smoking ban anyway. They’re finding that it makes more sense for them to eat the fine, as they make more money off of the extra business to more than cover the cost of the fine.

If you want to read the article, you can find it here, but the whole thing can be summed up in this statement: “It still appears that the positive health effects of smoking bans outweigh the negative, he says, but the real conclusion is that a universal smoking ban would eliminate the danger of people trying to avoid the individual bans.”

Another major Pro and Amateur showcase, another “success” from the BEF. According to various reports, the Billiards Education Foundation brought in about four grand at their fundraiser. While this is quite a bit higher than the $2,300 they raised at the Super Billiards Expo, the fact remains that this is far, far below what they should be able to raise. With over 7,000 players competing at the BCAPL championships along with their friends and family that came along for the Vegas trip, you’ve gotta figure there were close to 10,000 people at the Riv throughout the week. It seems like you could average a buck a person in your sleep. Hell, just partner up with some of the booths and ask them to upsell a BEF donation of a buck or two with purchase. That alone would get you more jack than the $4,000 they raised.

No matter how you slice it, the BEF is just not getting it done from a fundraising perspective. Especially when you have a captive audience of 7,000+ people. On a more positive note, foxy Samm Diep does a nice interview with Allison Fisher, who does an absolute shitton of stuff for the BEF. People like Jeanette Lee should take note of how Allison continually pays back the industry that has given her so much.

As I’m sure you’re all aware, recently the men’s “association” The UPA sanctioned an event without making sure the promoter could actually pay the prize money. The players got their checks and sure enough, they bounced. Johnny Archer, Mika, John Schmidt and a few other names you probably know got rooked out of $36,000.

Enter billiards svengali Mark Griffin. The guy works out a deal with the promoter to buy a bunch of his tables so the promoter can take the proceeds and pay the players. So the reality is that if it wasn’t good for Mark Griffin, he wouldn’t be doing it, but I doubt the net result of this from a financial standpoint was much more than a wash. Of course he wins a shitton of good will from the players and the community for doing this, which more than makes up for the fact he’s probably not making a profit on the deal.

Generally speaking, I’m a bit of a skeptical ass, but in this case, color me impressed. The guy’s a smart businessman and has some long-term vision, which you see about as often as a komodo dragon running through a mall when it comes to this industry. As a result, I’ve moved the PCN Threat-o-Meter down to a cautiously optimistic “yellow”.

So I’m killing time ripping through my news feeds looking for something to riff on and I come across this article from the Modesto Bee. The article is about Noel Campos, the gal who won the BCAPL Women’s Open division championships. The story isn’t so much about her winning the title (and some serious jack to boot) as much as it is about her putting some mouthy player in her place. Ok, I know its not hard to believe that some trash talker got put in her place. What is hard to believe though is that she was talkin’ smack to someone who is in a wheelchair and legally blind to boot.

As the story goes, Campos’ opponent sees who she’s up against and then says “Oh, great. I get to play a gimp”. Campos then proceeds to drill her en route to winning the open division. I get talking smack. Its part of playing at a high, competitive level. What I don’t get is why people feel the need to take it “there”. Tell someone they’ve got no game, talk about how you’re gonna put them in a hurt locker, that’s all fine. What isn’t fine is getting personal or prejudicial on someone.

You all of course know the end of the story. The only thing that could have made the story even better was if Campos would have gone over to her after the game and in the best Southie accent she could muster up, said “How do ya like THEM apples??”

If you have a few minutes, hit the Modesto Bee and check out the article. Better yet, after you’re done reading the article, drop an email to jjardine@modbee.com and give Jeff a shout out for giving some positive juice to our happy little industry.

Our pals over at AZ Billiards have updated the BCA men’s player rankings. The new rankings include results from the recently completed Predator 10 Ball event. Shane-o is still leading the pack, comfortably ahead of new #2 Mika Immonen. Here’s the Top 10 as the BCA and AZ see it:

2008 BCA Points List
Current as of 2008 International 10-Ball Championship

Event 1: 2007 UPA World Summit of Pool
Event 2: 2007 US Open 9-Ball Championship
Event 3: 2008 UPA Pro Player Championship
Event 4: 2008 UPA Desert Shootout
Event 5: 2008 International 10-Ball Championship

The all important PCN leaderboard however has not been updated as of yet. We re-rank at the beginning of every month. The WPBA rankings won’t change until they complete their second tour event, so there’s no need to update that either.

Oh Earl, I feel your pain.  In a recent interview with the Wilmington Star, Earl Strickland does what he does best: cry, cry, cry.  It seems that nobody’s inviting old Earl to their events anymore, so he’s moaning about being blackballed from the men’s circuit.  This is the same guy who blamed his sponsor Cuetec Cues for his sub-par performance (even though the same company sponsors the most dominant woman to ever play pro pool) and pretty much refuses to take responsibility for anything.

Call me unreasonable, but if I’m putting up dough for an event, the last person I want there is Earl.  Yes, I know he’s still one of the top pool players, but his antics are old and tired.  Temper tantrums went out in the 80’s with Johnny Mac and they weren’t even that entertaining back then.  Sure, the train wreck is impossible to look away from, but does an event host or sponsor really want or need the “theatrics” that come with the so-called “pearl”?

The best part of the article though?  Its gotta be when Strickland lets his humility shine through with the following quote: “No living, breathing, soul on earth, no human being can play me on a four-inch pocket. … There’s only 10 people in the world that can really play this game. The rest are hitting the rails.”

And he wonders why no one will invite him up to their treehouse…

In the past few years, pool players have been teased and burned by the IPT, the mythical million dollar event from that Super Billiards Expo guy that will likely never happen and of course the April Fool’s Joke on the industry otherwise known as the NACPBA. The latest news comes from Diamond Billiards founder and owner of the BCA Players League Mark Griffin, who is going to throw $200,000 in prize money at some events in 2009.

Its really tough to get excited about something like this since we’ve all been burned so many times, but Mark does have the lettuce to do this and he has a real passion for the game, so I sincerely doubt he will do a headfake on this promise.  While this is good news, there is little doubt that his involvement won’t carry some very heavy strings.

With the new Mark Griffin pro league, prepare to be doused with nonstop Shane Van Boening.  Griffin has not exactly made it a secret that he sees Van Boening as the future of pool, so I fully expect to have him turn Van Boening into his own personal Mike Tyson, keeping him exclusively for his league, setting him up to play Boxcar Willie and Tomato Can Harry, you get the idea.

Unfortunately, it seems impossible for this industry to have a tour or an association without the “I’m in it for me” factor.  Griffin makes no bones about the fact that he’s all about making it work for him.  Said Griffin in his press release, “I will welcome player input, but no entity will tell me what I have to do. We are spending considerable time, and money, on pro player behalf. To protect our investment, and the pros, we will probably have to initiate a new association where player’s ideas and concerns can be addressed.”  Its funny, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard any other sports association build a tour around the Cartmenesque “what eva, what eva, I do what I want” theory of business.  Well, maybe they do, but they aren’t so in your face about it.

At any rate, it looks like we’ve got a new league coming for 2009.  Whether it helps or hurts the industry, that remains to be seen.