Pool Cue News and Review

So I finally got around to seeing Juno and all I can say is I have a new obsession that goes by the name of Diablo Cody. Diablo Freakin’ Cody. She works as a stripper, writes the Juno script in the Target food court and scores a dumptruck full of awards and honors. Plus, she’s found a way to be snarky and sincere. Ah Diablo, my tattooed, foul mouthed muse… Anyway, all this movie watching and hero worship got me thinking about the Holy Grail of pool: the next Color of Money.

About every 25 years, a movie about pool makes it to the mainstream and the industry rejoices. First we had The Hustler in 1961. Then 25 years later we had The Color of Money in 1986. So the 3rd coming of the mainstream pool movie is just around the corner. There have been pretenders to be sure. Pool Hall Junkies is a favorite among pool players but never made it to the mainstream. A few years ago there was a big buzz about Mr. Sarah Michelle Gellar starring in a pool movie. Sadly, “Shooting Gallery” never made it to the theaters and quietly died in the DVD hospice.

So what do we have to look forward to? First is the 9 Ball “project”. The producers clearly know how much this flick is worth, since they’re selling DVDs with tickets for the bargain price of two bucks. Hmm… a movie starring a pool player with no acting experience, an awful script and no financing? Next!

The other ray of hope is the Kid Delicious flick. Now this one actually has a real studio behind it, but the problem is that its been 3 years and there’s still no movement on the deal. The author did finish the book so in theory he’s working on a script, but you could fill a ball park with the number of scripts that have been optioned by a studio that never got made into a movie.

So, will our savior be in theaters by 2011? Will a screenwriter the caliber of Diablo Cody or a director the caliber of Martin Scorsese make a movie about pool? Hell, I’d even take a Will Ferrellesque spoof. If a spoof about the ultimate underground ping pong tournament can get a wide theatrical release, can’t we get the same for pool?

Even in this darkest hour, there is hope. Chris Eigeman, a real life Johnny Drama, wrote and directed Turn the River which <gasp> stars real actors! Famke Janssen plays the lead Rip Torn costars.

Interestingly, Variety actually gave the flick a pretty nice write-up back in November. Unfortunately, the flick doesn’t have a distribution deal yet and since its an indie, I’m guessing its headed straight to Netflix or at best, a limited release in arthouse theaters.

People never learn. If you’re going to exaggerate, don’t do it in front of a camera where people can call bullshit on you. Danny’s a nice enough guy, but give credit where credit is due. So here’s the story… Basavich is at the expo hawking his DVDs and the book that was written about him. He gets interviewed by Rachael Abbink and proceeds to tell her about “his” book Running the Table.

Just to be clear, Basavich didn’t write the book. The book was written by L. Jon Wertheim, a senior editor for SI. The book is based on Basavich’s life, but that would make it a biography, not an autobiography. There’s a big difference between spinning a yarn and writing a novel. Why not give some credit to the guy who took your life story and turned it into something entertaining instead of telling the camera that its “your book”. Look, I hope that they make a movie out of Danny’s story. Done right it could be very entertaining and would be a very nice boost for the industry. I haven’t heard anything since Lions Gate bought the rights a couple years ago, but you never know. All I’m saying is the book wouldn’t exist if Wertheim didn’t write it, so the least he can do is give a shout out to the guy who wrote the book. Anyway, you can watch the interview and judge for yourself.

Well, there are all of two events being broadcast on ESPN/ESPN2 this month. The rest has been pushed over to ESPN FILLER …err CLASSIC. Not surprisingly, the only events on the big stations are trick shot shows. Here’s what we’ve got for professional pool on ESPN for the rest of March 2008:

03/17/08
MON 10:00A 11:00A WPBA CLASSIC TOUR
ESPN CLASSIC
HOLLYWOOD, FL USA
MELISSA HERNDON vs. JULIE KELLY
QUARTERFINAL #2
TAPE: 09/12/04

03/18/08
TUE 10:00A 11:00A WPBA CLASSIC TOUR
ESPN CLASSIC
HOLLYWOOD, FL USA
JEANETTE LEE vs. DAWN HOPKINS
QUARTERFINAL #3
TAPE: 09/12/04

03/19/08
WED 03:30A 04:00A 2007 MEN’S TRICK SHOT MAGIC BILLIARDS
ESPN2

03/19/08
WED 10:00A 11:00A WPBA CLASSIC TOUR
ESPN CLASSIC
HOLLYWOOD, FL USA
JEANNIE SEAVER vs. ALLISON FISHER
QUARTERFINAL #4
TAPE: 09/12/04

03/19/08
WED 03:30P 04:30P 2007 MEN’S TRICK SHOT MAGIC BILLIARDS
ESPN2

03/20/08
THU 10:00A 11:00A WPBA CLASSIC TOUR
ESPN CLASSIC
HOLLYWOOD, FL USA
JENNIFER BARRETTA vs. JULIE KELLY
SEMIFINAL #1
TAPE: 09/12/04

03/21/08
FRI 10:00A 11:00A WPBA CLASSIC TOUR
ESPN CLASSIC
HOLLYWOOD, FL USA
JEANETTE LEE vs. ALLISON FISHER
SEMIFINAL #2
TAPE: 09/12/04

03/22/08
SAT 11:00A 12:00P WPBA CLASSIC TOUR
ESPN CLASSIC
HOLLYWOOD, FL USA
JULIE KELLY vs. JEANETTE LEE
FINALS
TAPE: 09/12/04

03/24/08
MON 10:00A 11:00A WPBA CLASSIC TOUR
ESPN CLASSIC
9-BALL CHAMPIONSHIP
LINCOLN CITY, OR USA
GERDA HOFSTATTER vs. KELLY FISHER
SEMIFINAL #1

03/25/08
TUE 10:00A 11:00A WPBA CLASSIC TOUR
ESPN CLASSIC
9-BALL CHAMPIONSHIP
LINCOLN CITY, OR USA
GERDA HOFSTATTER vs. ALLISON FISHER
SEMIFINAL #2

03/26/08
WED 10:00A 11:00A WPBA CLASSIC TOUR
ESPN CLASSIC
9-BALL CHAMPIONSHIP
LINCOLN CITY, OR USA
GERDA HOFSTATTER vs. KAREN CORR
CHAMPIONSHIP

03/27/08
THU 10:00A 11:00A WPBA CAROLINA CLASSIC
ESPN CLASSIC
ROCKY MOUNT, NC USA
KAREN CORR vs. MONICA WEBB
SEMIFINAL #1

03/28/08 FRI 10:00A 11:00A WPBA CAROLINA CLASSIC
ESPN CLASSIC
ROCKY MOUNT, NC USA
KAREN CORR vs. HELENA THORNFELDT
SEMIFINAL #2

03/29/08 SAT 11:00A 12:00P T 2005 WPBA CAROLINA CLASSIC
ESPN CLASSIC
ROCKY MOUNT, NC USA
ALLISON FISHER vs. HELENA THORNFELDT
CHAMPIONSHIP

Another year, another interview from Inside Pool with Blair Thein and his bizarre quest to bring pool, poker and MMA to TV. For those not familiar, Blair has an idea to get a bunch of pool players together to play some pool and poker, then beat the crap out of each other MMA style.

Props to the guy for trying to come up with something creative and devoting 4 years of your life to it, but I just can’t see a few weeks of training turning into entertaining fighting. What’s more likely is that once they’re done playing pool, they’ll get into the cage and have a fight that looks something like this:

I’ve seen pool players fight and it really isn’t pretty. I do wish Blair the best though. It could work on a channel like Spike or G4. Plus, Blair scares me and I don’t want him to mess up my beautiful face.