Ready to Rumble

Due to the surgery, you were off the tournament circuit when other players were learning about the IPT.
Oh, no kidding. … Of course, I would have liked to play in it, and I did try to qualify in it, and I probably would have tried to qualify later if I wasn't committed to other events. I really hope for the best, because I know that women's sports do their best with a strong men's league out there and when the women have their own independent, strong women's tour. But on that note, I think the IPT might be the worst thing that's happened for women's pool, and that's a shame.

How so?
Again, I would have loved to play in the IPT. I've been known as being one of the few people who have always wanted to play in men's open tournaments. I wanted to play on the Camel tour. I've wanted to play everywhere, because I think it's great for my game. … But I was convinced by the WPBA year after year that it was not good for women's pool as a whole to be put together with the men, because women are a novelty for those open events. It's not really like they are considered strong favorites to win. They're like a side note. Meanwhile, it dilutes our strength, which is to be unified. That's one thing the women have always been - they've always been unified. And they would say that. You know - if you go to the men's tour, that's great for you, but you've gotta remember that there's a lot of other women who are playing pool right now, and there are a lot of other women who are not at the level where they can compete with the men. So, they are going to stay on this tour where they have an opportunity to win and play well and be respected. If the women play with the men, sponsors will have a choice between sponsoring just the women or sponsoring the best men and women in the world on another tour. It takes strength away from us, and it takes away from our value. And they convinced me of that. I believe that. I had many opportunities to independently do other things, and yet I didn't because I was for the WPBA.

Why didn't you apply to the IPT like many of the other top women pros?
I was having surgery, and I was not aware of the IPT being a viable tour for the women, because it is clearly a conflict for the WBPA. It's a professional league that includes women and has television coverage. So, why would I think we would be allowed to play in this?

By having to ask permission well in advance, I have been able to get a waiver from the WPBA board and been allowed to play in independent events. But they've always said, "No, not on a tour, because the tour competes with our same sponsors, our same TV hours, our same everything." And so I really stood by the WPBA when they said these things.

I understand why individual players want to go play in it, and I'm one of them. I mean, this is more money than the WPBA can offer. It's a lot of money. But if we went ahead and let our women play in it without [sanctioning requirements], then how are they going to answer to [other billiard promoters like] Matt Braun, the fees that we ask from Matt Braun, or Mr. Tu, or anyone else? And certainly, with the opportunities that I get in the future, I will bet anything that I will not be prevented from playing in anything else from now on. It puts us in a very compromised position, and I don't believe that it was the wisest choice.

But if the WPBA is going to let all of our women play in it, then we should be unified. The WPBA has always been very good about sending out e-mails immediately on short-notice information. And everyone should know, because we have made it clear in the past that no one is allowed to play on a conflicting tour. So, let us know. Hey, jingle jingle, hello - there are millions and millions of dollars out there, and now we're going to let you all go play for it.

So, there was no announcement, to your knowledge?
Right. I know from players I have spoken to that some players did know about the IPT and they didn't apply because they knew for sure they would never be allowed to. … I would be one of the main people who would probably gain something from it, and me being the person that they most had held back over the last 10 to 15 years from doing events like this, to not call me and e-mail me as they do for photo shoots and all these other things that they've stayed in touch with me for, I was really disappointed by that. I mean this is a huge, huge thing. I mean, they know how to reach someone when they want to reach someone. It's just incredible to me.

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