Ross
03-24-2003, 03:05 PM
Ok, here is the first part of my impressions as a first time visitor to the Hopkins extravaganza.
First and foremost, the event was was VERY well organized and run. It was amazing to me that Allen and Dawn were not running around frantically handling last minute emergencies. They even seemed fairly relaxed and appeared to enjoy schmoozing with the crowd (with Dawn taking breaks to play in the pro tourney!). I couldn't do that even for a dinner party, so I have to give them a lot of credit.
The first event I attended was the womens pro tourney. There were only two tables, the stands were about 1/3 full, and there was piped in easy-listening "wimmins" music. At first I kind of enjoyed this. I found it relaxing and I was able to sit as close as I wanted to the players. After about an hour though, I began to think I might prefer to watch paint dry. Most of the crowd looked like they were about to go to sleep as well. No crowd noise, no animation from the players, and except for Karen and Helena, a lot of very average pool. The alternating break contributed to the lack of excitement as well. When one player got a big lead you couldn't even hope for the drama of a rack-running comeback.
Story 1:
The only drama was provided when Belinda Campos effectively put on some obvious sharking moves on Karen. Karen won the first race to 6 convincingly 6-2. In the second set, after a couple of games Karen was down on a long difficult shot with the cue ball frozen to the rail. She had taken a few warm up strokes and was about to pull the trigger when suddenly Belinda jumped up out of her chair at the other end of the table and ran up to look at the cue ball. I couldn't hear what she said but I think it was something like "Sorry, I thought you touched the cue ball." Belinda sat down then and you could almost see steam coming out of Karen's ears. Karen tried to gather herself, but didn't and missed the shot.
Only a couple of games later, Karen was again down on a shot, half way though her warm up strokes when Belinda decided to jump up and run over to look at the shot. I think her story this time was that she wanted to see if the shot was going to require a close enough hit that someone should watch it. But Belinda looked at the shot and decided not to call anyone. (No surprise - the shot was not even close to being one that would need someone to watch the hit.) Karen had lost it by now, but she unwisely tried to play through it. She lost the set 6-3, the only set she lost in the tourney.
Fortunately, justice was served when Karen won the sudden death playoff game.
I was very disappointed in Belinda's actions though. And next time, Karen, as if you would ever read this - stop and take a break when you are that bothered. Go to the bathroom, take your time. Leave your opponent sitting in her seat facing the audience. Or call over the tourney director to let your opponent know you won't just allow poor sportsmanship slide. And don't let your opponent steal a victory this way, as she almost did here, or she will try it again.
More VF stories to follow, including a first hand account of the Eric-Larry confrontation! /ccboard/images/graemlins/shocked.gif Have to go back to work!
First and foremost, the event was was VERY well organized and run. It was amazing to me that Allen and Dawn were not running around frantically handling last minute emergencies. They even seemed fairly relaxed and appeared to enjoy schmoozing with the crowd (with Dawn taking breaks to play in the pro tourney!). I couldn't do that even for a dinner party, so I have to give them a lot of credit.
The first event I attended was the womens pro tourney. There were only two tables, the stands were about 1/3 full, and there was piped in easy-listening "wimmins" music. At first I kind of enjoyed this. I found it relaxing and I was able to sit as close as I wanted to the players. After about an hour though, I began to think I might prefer to watch paint dry. Most of the crowd looked like they were about to go to sleep as well. No crowd noise, no animation from the players, and except for Karen and Helena, a lot of very average pool. The alternating break contributed to the lack of excitement as well. When one player got a big lead you couldn't even hope for the drama of a rack-running comeback.
Story 1:
The only drama was provided when Belinda Campos effectively put on some obvious sharking moves on Karen. Karen won the first race to 6 convincingly 6-2. In the second set, after a couple of games Karen was down on a long difficult shot with the cue ball frozen to the rail. She had taken a few warm up strokes and was about to pull the trigger when suddenly Belinda jumped up out of her chair at the other end of the table and ran up to look at the cue ball. I couldn't hear what she said but I think it was something like "Sorry, I thought you touched the cue ball." Belinda sat down then and you could almost see steam coming out of Karen's ears. Karen tried to gather herself, but didn't and missed the shot.
Only a couple of games later, Karen was again down on a shot, half way though her warm up strokes when Belinda decided to jump up and run over to look at the shot. I think her story this time was that she wanted to see if the shot was going to require a close enough hit that someone should watch it. But Belinda looked at the shot and decided not to call anyone. (No surprise - the shot was not even close to being one that would need someone to watch the hit.) Karen had lost it by now, but she unwisely tried to play through it. She lost the set 6-3, the only set she lost in the tourney.
Fortunately, justice was served when Karen won the sudden death playoff game.
I was very disappointed in Belinda's actions though. And next time, Karen, as if you would ever read this - stop and take a break when you are that bothered. Go to the bathroom, take your time. Leave your opponent sitting in her seat facing the audience. Or call over the tourney director to let your opponent know you won't just allow poor sportsmanship slide. And don't let your opponent steal a victory this way, as she almost did here, or she will try it again.
More VF stories to follow, including a first hand account of the Eric-Larry confrontation! /ccboard/images/graemlins/shocked.gif Have to go back to work!