Pool Cue News and Review

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”.