Pool Cue News and Review

I’m sure people will think I’m out of line with this (what else is new), but I’m gonna say it anyway because dammit, I feel like it! Plus, no one really reads this infantile little blog anyway, do they?

So, I’m watching the Putnam/Jones match and before the start, the announcer points out Anna Kostanian in the stands. Yes, I know that I was singing her praises mere hours ago, but no more! Apparently Brit-Anna forgot that there is a dress code with the WPBA because there she is, snapping her gum while wearing a white t-shirt with black sweat pants (yes, you read right… f’n sweat pants) and flip flops. On the plus side, at least she wasn’t wearing a black bra with her white shirt and she did have some sort of shoe on instead of running around barefoot to make her pajama-fashion statement complete. Honestly, I can’t believe they even let her into the arena dressed like that.

Wonder why pool isn’t taken seriously by anyone? Well, if the players have no respect for the game why should anyone else? Its sad really. The girl clearly has some chops when it comes to pool. Maybe one of the more experienced players will take her under their wing and teach little Brit-Anna that showing up to a televised event looking like she just stepped out of her double-wide is not the way to win fans and influence people. Every other pool player in attendance for the most part was dressed appropriately. Some of them looked downright hot (queue Ms. Paglia who was looking divine and the always foxy Jasmin Ouschan)! I’m just glad that Ms. Pan and Ms. Kim will be representing the WPBA in the finals instead of a kid who doesn’t know her role.

The front half of the final four in the GenerationPool.com 9 Ball Championships is done and so are my picks. Johnny Archer got bounced, falling behind 6-3 only to come back and ultimately lose 7-6 in a somewhat contentious match to Ronnie Wiseman. The Archer/Wiseman match seemed pretty sloppy, but what do I know.

The second match saw a visibly nervous Anna Kostanian get worked by Xiao Ting Pan. Anna made a number of mistakes and Pan was like a machine, taking her down 7-4. Hopefully we’ll see more of Anna and she won’t turn into another Pam Treadway who made a splash at this event a couple years ago and then proceeded to get knocked up and fall completely off everyone’s radar.

Tonight Jasmin plays Ga Young Kim and Shawn Putnam plays Jeremy Jones. I’ll be pulling for Jasmin and Shawn, but maybe I shouldn’t since all my picks seem to be going down in flames. I do dig that cat Shawn Putnam. Don’t know about Jeremy Jones, since I honestly hadn’t ever heard of him before this event, but that could be due to the fact that I’m too busy crushing on WPBA hotties to pay any attention to the men’s tour.

Can I tell you how much I dig the women’s final four this year! No Allison, no Karen, just four of the hottest, young pool players on the WPBA tour. On one side we’ve got that little pixie Anna Kostainian going up against Xiao Ting Pan and on the other side we’ve got Jasmin Ouschan up against Ga Young Kim. This is the future of women’s pool and could very well represent a passing of the torch from the old guard to the new kids.

On the men’s side, I don’t think there’s much doubt that Johnny Archer is back and should roll to a championship title here. Johnny plays Ronnie Wiseman and Shawn Putnam plays Jeremy Jones for an All American Final Four.

This is the first time in a while that I’ve been seriously pumped about a tournament. If Anna and Jasmin can make it to the finals, it should pull a pretty strong number when it airs next month on ESPN.