All stars in Lexington
John Brumback, a consistent finisher on the Viking 9-Ball Tour, came up with an All-Star performance, holding off Alex Pagulayan, 11-5, in the final of the Lexington All-Stars Championship, in Lexington, Ky., Nov. 15-19. The victory earned Brumback $7,000, while Pagulayan left with $4,400.
Without a tournament victory to speak of this year, Brumback took down Troy Frank and George “Ginky” SanSouci before suffering his first loss of the tournament to Dee Adkins. On the one-loss side, Brumback defeated Jon Kucharo, SanSouci again and Adkins for a date with Pagulayan in the final. Two weeks after finishing second to Nick Varner in Grady Mathews’ “One Pocket Championship of the World,” Pagulayan once again fell in a championship match. Adkins finished third, worth $3,300, followed by SanSouci, who collected $2,300.
ESPN Delays Mosconi Cup Airing
Pool fans who tuned in to ESPN2 Sunday afternoon, Dec. 28, expecting to see six consecutive hours of the 2003 Mosconi Cup instead found a string of Trick Shot Magic reruns.
Blame it on Eminem.
ESPN public relations spokesman Nate Smeltz said that the 2003 Mosconi Cup, staged Dec. 18-21 at the MGM Grand Hotel/Casino in Las Vegas, had “production problems” that prevented it from airing in its assigned time slot. Smeltz went on to say that the Mosconi Cup would, indeed, air on ESPN2 in the near future, but that definitive dates have not been established.
According to Matchroom Sports, producers of the Mosconi Cup, the crux of the problem was music (including rapper Eminem’s “Lose Yourself”) that Matchroom’s United Kingdom television partner Sky Sport uses during player introductions and taped promotional segments.
“Sky Sports has copyright to run whatever music they want in the U.K.,” said Matchroom’s Luke Riches. “In the U.S., ESPN has to clear the rights to the music, or edit songs out of the program and replace them with music that they hold rights to.”
According to Riches, Sky Sport edited and produced four hours of programming from the 2002 Mosconi Cup, which aired on ESPN2 Dec. 29, 2002. In 2003, however, ESPN assumed the task of editing the footage into six one-hour shows. (All 20 matches of Team USA’s 11-9 win over Team Europe were aired live in the U.K. on Sky Sport.)
“Apparently,” said Riches, “ESPN couldn’t clear the music or re-edit the tapes in time.
“I guess this kind of thing can happen,” Riches added. “But it’s something of a disaster for our sponsors who bought commercial time and expected the commercials to air on Dec. 28.”
U.S. Surge, Regain Mosconi Cup
Unleashing its arsenal of high-powered talend, Team USA rebounded from an 8-6 deficit to win four of five matches on Sunday at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas to win the 2003 Mosconi Cup over Team Europe, 11-9. Cup-clinching 9 ball honors went to U.S. Open winner Jeremy Jones, whose 5-3 win over Sweden’s Marcus Chamat allowed the U.S. squad to recapture the Cup it had lost to the Euros in London last December.
After suffering through a five-match drought on Saturday, Team USA opened the final day’s action with four consecutive match wins. Cup debutante Rodney Morris opened the floodgates with a energizing 5-3 win over reigning world 9-ball champion Thorsten Hohmann of Germany. Johnny Archer then tied the contest with a 5-2 thumping of Steve Davis, and Earl Strickland gave the U.S. a lead it would never relinquish with a thrilling, 5-4, win over 23-year-old Dutchman Nick Van den Berg.
The U.S. squad got perhaps its biggest boost in the next match, when Mosconi rookie Tony Robles, who had not played well through the four-day event, put together a near-perfect performance against Europe’s top player, Mika Immonen of Finland. Immonen had been unbeaten in three matches going into Sunday, and earned the MVP award as the player who scored the most match points. But Robles scored a 5-2 win to put the Americans on the hill, 10-8.
Germany’s Ralf Souquet kept Europe’s hopes alive with a 5-3 win over Charlie Williams, but Jones closed the door on Europe’s hopes against Chamat. It marks the eighth time in the 10-year history of the event that the U.S. squad came out on top.
For more Mosconi Cup highlights and photos, log on to www.mosconicup.com.
Team Europe Blitzes to Mosconi Lead
In a stunning turnaround that had members of the U.S. squad befuddled and bitter, Team Europe rolled through five straight match wins Saturday afternoon to take an 8-6 lead in the 2004 Mosconi Cup at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Trailing, 6-3, as the third day of the Ryder Cup-styled team 9-ball tournament kicked off, the Euros earned a much-needed boost when 23-year-old Nick Van den Berg scored a 5-3 win over mistake-prone Mosconi rookie Tony Robles. Then, in what may be looked back on as the event’s critical match, Germans Ralf Souquet and Thorsten Hohmann edged the U.S. duo of Johnny Archer and Rodney Morris, 5-4, to trim the overall score to 6-5 in the race-to-11.
With European fans becoming more boisterous by the game, snooker legend Steve Davis pitched an unlikely 5-0 shutout against Earl Strickland. Strickland was livid before and after the match, as Mosconi producers Sky Sports aired a pre-match promo that centered on the volatile Strickland’s actions during a match against Davis at the World Pool Championships in Cardiff in July. At that event, Strickland battled the pro-Davis crowd, the match referee, and Davis himself.
Scandanavians Mika Immonen and Marcus Chamat then topped Charlie Williams and Jeremy Jones, 5-3, in the final doubles match to give Europe its first lead of the event at 7-6. The day finished with Souquet pocketing a table-length kick at the 8 ball in the case game for a 5-4 triumph over Jones.
For more match highlights and photos from the 2004 Mosconi Cup, log on to www.mosconicup.com.
U.S. Assumes Command
On the heels of spirited and nearly flawless play from Mosconi Cup debutante Rodney Morris, Team USA won three of four matches Friday afternoon at the MGM Grand Hotel/Casino in Las Vegas to take a 6-3 lead over Team Europe in the annual Matchroom Sport-promoted team tournament.
Morris, unbeaten in his two matches thus far (one doubles win and one singles victory), made the most of every shooting opportunity and worked the capacity crowd into near hysteria while teamming with Johnny Archer in a 5-1 stomping of the German duo of Ralf Souquet and Thorsten Hohmann. Morris continually urged the pro-U..S. crowd for support during the match.
Day Two of the Ryder Cup-style event began with Jeremy Jones, who learned he would be leading off in singles competition just 20 minutes prior to the opening lag, beating Sweden’s Marcus Chamat, 5-3. Earl Strickland and Tony Robles then paired to topple Steve Davis and Nick Van den Berg by the same score. The only thing that kept Europe from squandering all four opportunities on Friday was Mika Immonen’s thrilling 5-4 win over Charlie Williams. Williams had fought back from a 4-1 deficit to tie the match, and had the break in the case game. Not only did Williams fail to make a ball on the break, but he left Immonen a 1-9 combination that sealed his doom. Because of the U.S.’s three-game lead, the promoters decided not to stage a fifth match on Friday, for fear that another U.S. win might lead to an early end to the race-to-11 tournament. In 2001, the U.S. ended the event on Saturday with a 12-1 thrashing, leaving Matchroom and TV partner Sky Sports with no Sunday programming.
For more information on the 2004 Mosconi Cup, log onto www.mosconicup.com.
U.S. Takes Early Mosconi Cup Lead
A surprisingly large and boisterous turn-out greeted Team USA and Team Europe on Thursday when the Mosconi Cup team tournament made its U.S. debut at the MGM Grand Hotel/Casino in Las Vegas, and the players didn’t disappoint. In a five-match mix of singles and doubles play, the U.S. squad closed out the opening day with a 3-2 advantage in the race-to-11 tournament.
Uncertain of how the Mosconi Cup, wildly successful for nine years in London, would fare in America, promoter Barry Hearn of Matchroom Sport was overwhelmed by the 300-plus fans that filled the arena for the 11 a.m. opening lag. “This is absolutely fantastic,” said Hearn, who hopes to switch the Cup to a home-and-home series from this point on. Bouyed by nearly 100 Euros who made the pre-Christmas trek to Las Vegas, the first day featured raucous cheering for the two sides.
The opening match featured Johnny Archer, pool’s hotest player, against reigning World Pool Champion Thorsten Hohmann of Germany. Archer jumped to an early lead, and held on for a nerve-wracking 5-4 win in a match that lasted some 90 minutes.
Europe tied the match when the Scandanavian duo of Marcus Chamat and Mika Immonen rolled to a 5-1 win over Tony Robles and Charlie Williams.
The U.S. took a 3-1 lead after Rodney Morris made an impressive Mosconi Cup debut with a 5-3 pasting of Ralf Souquet, and the team of Earl Strickland and Jeremy Jones squandered a 4-0 lead, but outlasted Steve Davis and Nick Van den Berg, 5-4.
Europe stayed within striking distance of the Americans when Immonen topped Archer, 5-3, in the day’s final match.
For more information and photos from the 2004 Mosconi Cup, and match-by-match updates, go to www.mosconicup.com.
Loree Jon Jones Appearance Moved
WPBA Pro Loree Jon Jones’ appearance on ESPN2’s morning show “Cold Pizza” has been moved back one day. She will appear Friday, Dec. 19. The show runs live from 7-9am and then is re-aired directly after, from 9am to 11am.
Mike Davis Takes Reno Open
Mike Davis has taken this most recent Reno Open. He took the hotseat with a 9-7 win over Cliff Joyner, securing himself a change to battle feisty Filipino Santos Sambajon for the title Davis took an early lead in the final, but Sambajon fought back and pulled ahead, before a missed combination in the 13th rack turned the tides.
Davis clinched the victory on the hill, 9-8. His win earned him $12,000; Sambajon settled for $6,500.
Reno Open Underway
The 2003 Reno Open is down to 48 players as of 7PM EST on Friday.
The winner from last June, John Schmidt, is still undefeated and will play Jimmy Mendoza from Phoenix Arizona on Friday night. Other top seeds who are still undefeated include Rodney Morris, Jose Parica, Santos Sambajon, Jeremy Jones and Max Eberle.
The final winner crowned on Sunday will pocket $12,000 for the win.
Cold Pizza: Breakfast With Loree Jon Jones
Women’s Professional Billiard Association player Loree Jon Jones will appear on ESPN2’s morning show “Cold Pizza” on Thursday, Dec. 18. Jones will be performing trick shots and talking about the women’s pro tour.
“Cold Pizza” is ESPN2’s new morning show which airs live weekdays from 7-9 a.m. ET and repeats from 9-11 a.m. Featuring co-hosts Jay Crawford and Kit Hoover, news anchor Leslie Maxie and national correspondent Thea Andrews, the program combines sports with pop-culture, lifestyle features and consumer advice.
Cold Pizza appearance – Dec. 18 at 7 a.m. ET on ESPN2