Pool Cue News and Review

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.

So I poke fun at Shane Van Boening quite a bit, mostly because the guy doesn’t generate any heat. He seems to be really well liked and just puts his thing down when it comes to pool. While I’ll continue to tease, I did want to give a shout out for the guy.

See, the other day he and Melissa Little went down to the Rocky Mountain Deaf School and hung with the kids there. Right on Shane! I have tons of respect for people who use their celebrity to raise hope and awareness, which is one of the reasons I also dig Sarah Rousey so much.  Well done Shane.  Hopefully others in this pseudo-sport will follow your lead.

Well, there’s finally something of an official ranking for male pro pool players, but it doesn’t cover up what a sorry state men’s pool is in here in the United States. To really understand how bad it is, you need look no further than the Billiards Digest power rankings. Here’s a ranking system that has to go back to 2006 in order to get a full slate of rolling tournaments in. Even with the new system, there are only five events. Hell, the ladies tour has seven full events plus the Generation Pool championships. Of course, the ladies actually have an organized tour, not a mish-mash of men’s events.

At any rate, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the robot formally known as Shane Van Boening is sitting on the top of the leader board. What was a bit more surprising though was the number of events those in the Top 10 have skipped.

As you can imagine, the UPA players are all ripshit about it, although I really don’t understand why. The UPA “tour” is a joke. Its not like they shell out much dough for these events, considering that two of the tour stops are the BCA/Gen Pool 9 Ball Tournament and the US Open. They’re planning on having their players boycott the Qatar World Championships since they’re all pissy with the WPA, but apparently even though they’re “shocked and disappointed” with the BCA, they won’t be skipping the event next month in Charlotte.

It is a nice coup for AZ Billiards that they’ve been asked to manage and assist with the point system. It’d just be nice if the players being ranked cared enough about their own rankings to actually show up to all the events. I know making it to five whole events is a lot to ask, but I’m pretty sure most of them can make it, especially the ones that don’t live in the Philippines.

In a move that continues to send shockwaves through the industry, this morning Shane Van Boening announced his retirement from professional pool. As one of the hot up and coming players on the pro circuit, Van Boening was simply steamrolling everyone. His latest victory came during last month’s Super Billiards Expo where he defeated Shaun Wilkie 13-7 to take home a cash prize of $10,000.

Van Boening didn’t give a reason for this decision leaving his fans and pool players everywhere scratching their collective heads at this move. As the heir apparent to the billiards throne, Van Boening appears to be walking away from a career that could net him millions in prize money and endorsements…

April Fools!!!!!!!!!!!!

Another event, another title for Shane “The North Dakota Destroyer” Van Boening. Shane took down Shaun “Cool Shirt” Wilkie 13-7 after losing to him earlier in the tournament at the 2008 Super Billiards Expo. Wilkie simply couldn’t stay awake as Shane lulled him to sleep with his solid game and complete lack of life drama. No drunken outbursts, no getting caught behind the Riv buying an 8 ball, nothing I tell ya. He just goes out, does his thing and leaves with a plaque and a big novelty check (or a fistful of fanned 20s depending on how classy the event is).

Come on man… give me something to write about! I can’t stand all this humble, nice guy crap. Where’s the drunken, or better yet, coked out smack talk? I need material. Damn you Van Boening!! By the way, congrats on another solid win kid.