Billiard Coach – Mike Fieldhammer

No Halloween Costume Required

Posted on 15. Oct, 2010 by Mike Fieldhammer.

If you were a private person with aspirations of becoming a professional athlete, how would you hide your identity in public?  Avoiding paparazzi, mobs of fans, and shielding family from the press are real concerns for current pro athletes. Woods and Farve know exactly what I’m talking about.  The good news for America’s best pool players is that they don’t have to worry about being well known. Even if mega-foxes Jeanette Lee and Jennifer Barretta took their toddlers trick-or-treating this year, they probably would get less attention than their tiny costumed tots.

Will any American Pool Player Ever be a Celebrity?

Ewa - Selling Racks, not running them

I doubt BCA Hall of Famer Johnny Archer gets mobbed by autograph seekers while standing at the baggage claim at O’Hare. I’d tip over out of pure shock if Jeanette Lee was to trot onto the next season of “Dancing with the Stars”. I’d desperately like to see some hustler like Chris Bartram or Danny “Kid Delicious” Basovich in a “Big Brother” house that just happened to have a pool table.

Efren "The Magician" Reyes playing "Deal or No Deal"

I have rarely seen professional players on the tube other than playing pool. Ewa and Mitch Lawrence must have made some clams hawking the Freedom Tray on an infomercial. I still have a VHS tape of Hall of Famer Loree Jon Jones on “The Price is Right” floating around in some box in my basement. Ewa and Vivian Villarreal even run up on stage to hug Loree after the showcase showdown, but that doesn’t count.  These days, the only people who non-pool players can routinely name are the deceased Willie Mosconi and Rudolph “Minnesota Fats” Wanderone. These guys made  themselves known in  America through “ABC’s Wide World of Sports”. I don’t cook or watch football, but I know who John Madden and Emeril Lagasse are.  In fact, don’t they share the same catch phase “BAM!”? This kind of pop culture fame isn’t ever going to happen again for pool players. Snooker telecasts are still very popular and the productions are exceedingly well done. Snooker star Ronnie O’Sullivan is so popular, he appeared on the world’s most popular motoring program. His “Top Gear” appearance may have been seen by more than 300 million viewers.

The Rocket - Drives as fast as he pots balls.

I dream of a day when pool in the United States of America gets high quality television production on a national network. I know it will never happen. It’s a shame that popular sports figures who happen to be professional pool players will never enjoy fame outside of the small industry.  Even serious league players who compete at least once a week struggle to name more than a few top ranked players of today. Sure they play the game, but don’t really like to watch the game.

The APA has somewhere near 250,000 players in their national league system.  Other league systems and players who frequent pool rooms hike the number of serious pool players many fold. The unpopularity of Pool and Billiard Magazines makes me cry.  Why, Willie, why do the top three magazines have such a small sliver of all players getting a monthly copy in their mailboxes?  By my crude estimates, Billiards Digest, Pool and Billiard Magazine, and Inside Pool Magazine might each print around 16,000 copies per month at best — meager readership considering the millions of players who chalk up at least once a month.

There have been other billiard publications that have come and gone. I’ve still got the full series of Snap magazines from the early ’90′s.   I’m not only a teacher of the game, I consider myself a lifelong student.  When I really went crazy trying to learn pool, there was no YouTube, AZBilliards, or easily accessible professional billiard instructors.  My years as a poor college student trying to play as much pool as possible was a difficult time. I was too poor to travel to watch professional tournaments and too young and inexperienced to get helpful tips from the Twin Cities best players. I could muster up a few dollars to subscribe to the magazines Billiards Digest and Pool and Billiards Magazine which were packed with instruction and a glimpse into the world of professional pool players and their mystical tournament circuit.

Jimmy "The Whirlwind" White, MBE

Seeing professionals in print and on the box made them stars to me.  Take away the TV appearances and remove the opportunity to flip through a billiard magazine at the pool room’s front counter and the chance for stardom fizzles. I recently watched the whole series of the U.K.’s reality series “I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!” Snooker legend Jimmy “The Whirlwind” White was a competitor. This show ousted the celeb with the least number of phone calls of support.  Over a dozen famous entertainers were on the show. White was so popular, he made it to the finals featuring the last three celebrities. Efren Reyes has appeared on the Phillipino version of “Deal or No Deal” not once, but twice. I’m told that his fame in his homeland is akin to Michael Jordan’s fame in the US — very well known, but not quite a household name like Tiger Woods. Could there ever be a day when Shane Van Boening appears on “America’s got talent?”  Not in my lifetime, or if he did may I be struck down.

I’d like to hear your thoughts on the matter of fame.  Please leave a comment here or join the discussion on the Billiard Coach Forums.

Thank you,   Mike Fieldhammer

For links and summaries of all this month’s PoolSynergy writers, visit Pool Cue News and Review.

To visit this months host site for links to all this month's articles.

Continue Reading

BCA trade show. Opens today.

Posted on 14. Jul, 2010 by Mike Fieldhammer.

Las Vegas again. I’m launching the new Samsara line, networking, and shopping. More news soon.

Continue Reading

A step in the wrong direction by the BCAPL and CSI?

Posted on 23. Jun, 2010 by Mike Fieldhammer.

Just one week after my diatribe about what’s wrong with pool and how to fix it, I’m shocked by today’s CSI press release. They are adding an ADVANCED DIVISION.  This will fall between the Open and Masters divisions.  Grand Masters is still there at the top.

I haven’t fully digested the news and impact it may have, but something in my gut just screams that more divisions equals more sandbagging, difficulty placing players accurately in divisions, and less money paid out to the winners. The money just gets spread out and it may not entice players to come to the tournament and take a shot at the big prize. I’ll write more about this development very soon.

Here’s the entire press release from the BCAPL/CSI group:

CSI Expands BCA Pool League Player Rating Categories; Adds New Division

The past two years CueSports International (CSI) analyzed the growth of player’s skill levels at the BCAPL National 8-Ball Championships and decided to create a new rating classification: the Advanced Division.

CSI has also reclassified all active Player Members to be included in the other singles divisions (based on their individual ability).
The Advanced Division was created to add a level of play that falls between the Open Division and the Master Division. The goal is to allow more players to participate and to further competitive opportunity.

The following new Advancement Criteria is effective June 1, 2010 and is retroactive to all players who have cashed in the singles divisions of the BCAPL National 8-Ball Championships since 2005 and all recognized BCAPL state and regional rankings.

New Advancement Criteria Old Policy New Policy
Top 8 from Men’s Open Master Master
Top 4 from Women’s Open Singles Master Master
9th-48th from Men’s Open Singles Master Advanced
5th-12th from Women’s Open Singles Master Advanced
Top 8 from Men’s Player Member Singles Master Advanced
Top 2 from Women’s Player Member Singles Master Advanced
Top 6 from Men’s Senior Singles Master Advanced
Top 3 from Women’s Senior Singles Master Advanced

Team Masters:
All Team Masters will be placed on the Advanced player list. The Team Master category is based on an individual’s participation on a team’s finish at the BCAPL National 8-Ball Championships.

State Masters:
Players who are currently listed in their state as a Master player (but who have not participated in the BCAPL National 8-Ball Championships) may remain as a Master or be moved down to the Advanced Division based on known ability and state and regional tournament results from 2005 – 2010.

Player Members:
All new Player Members, beginning June 1, 2010 will be required to enter the Advanced or higher Singles Divisions, ranked based on known ability. New and established Player Members (who have not cashed) may request consideration to enter the Open Division, but will be assessed individually.

Players on the Advanced list may petition the BCAPL to be removed. The Advanced category is based on individual play. If we have a tournament history of that player in singles that indicates that they are not an Advanced level player, they may be removed from the list and put back into the Open division.

Petition Procedure:

All requested to be removed from the either the Advanced, Master, Grand Master or Team Master list must be in writing. Telephone requests will not be accepted. Either email or mail your requests to:

Bill Stock
Director of Referees
Rules Administrator
CueSports International
2041 Pabco Rd
Henderson, NV, 89011

By Press Release – 2010-06-23

Continue Reading

Las Vegas National Tournaments Scatter in 2011

Posted on 31. May, 2010 by Mike Fieldhammer.

The big news from the headquarters of the (Inter)National pool tournament scene is that in 2011 all three major tournaments will be in different hotel/casino/convention centers.

BCAPL/CSI events will stay at the Riviera for the next couple of years. Tournament Director Ric Jones made an announcement over the tournament PA in the middle of the 34th annual tournament earlier this month. This announcement may have been prompted by rumors of the event relocating in 2011. I personally heard rumors of the Luxor, but believe that there are only a handful of sites that could accommodate nearly 300 pool tables. No doubt Mark Griffin’s savvy negotiating skills guarantee that the Riv is also the most affordable site in sin city.

Sometime soon before pool players descended on the Riv, competing and struggling VNEA event producers announced a southward move on the strip to Bally’s Casino and Hotel for their 2011 international tournament.

Just today, the ACS press release announced that their 2011 would be even further south at The Tropicana. They also changed their date to be the first of the three events even overlapping with the start of the BCAPL tournament up the road. I would guess that being in the third slot and catching the leftovers from the VNEA event wasn’t cutting it for the ACS. Nice move to jump to first and grab early arrivals for the biggest and best of the three.

note– I threw this post up quickly and will be doing some editing soon. More precise data and even a map will be included shortly.

Follow-Up March 2011. I’m going to be at all three events this year. Playing the singles at the Trop only adds 4 days at the beginning of the trip. BCAPL is still my favorite (and our team won it last year!) and Bally’s is expensive but I’ll check it out.

Continue Reading