 All the Angles By Mason King BD's Managing Editor since 2002, King has been around the world and back covering billiards - and around long enough to have an opinion.
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IPT Dream Matchup: McCready vs. Pagulayan March 24, 2008
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| A matchup made in heaven: McCready vs. Pagulayan. |
Perhaps you know by now that the International Pool Tour is letting fans choose the players in its next online challenge match, set for April 29. And I'm here to tell you exactly who should get the nod.
The voting gimmick is ingenious (try it at internationalpooltour.com, although be warned that you must arrange for a free basic membership to the site - which in itself is a clever marketing gimmick). The drawback is that dedicated fans of a particular player can game the system, vote early and often, and create a matchup that the general pool populace has no interest in viewing.
Case in point: As of this writing, according to real-time results on the IPT site, your opponents in this titanic online tussle are Vilmos Foldes of Hungary and Gerda Hofstatter of Austria.
Yeah, you can hear a pin drop. Right into the gaping jaws of puzzled pool fans everywhere.
The 23-year-old Foldes is a real talent, potentially a world champion, but has the personality of a moonrock when he's at the table. (And, honestly, what serious player hasn't learned to go zen while playing?) Hofstatter is one of the most delightful and attractive people I've ever met, but her game doesn't have much in the way of fireworks.
Obviously, a block of voters in Central Europe - or with ties to the continent - is inundating the IPT site with votes. But is this really in the best interest of the IPT - or of pool, which is struggling to find the right platform and personality in this new multimedia age? Of course not.
Judging from the first three IPT online contests, the tour has been struggling with whether the point of these broadcasts is to entertain viewers with championship-level pool or with players boasting legitimate charisma. It first paired meltdown-risk Earl Strickland with straight-arrow Johnny Archer. Then it pitched Cory Deuel as a hot-to-trot glamour-puss versus Filipino steamroller Francisco Bustamante. And then it tried magnetic Rodney Morris with by-the-book Marlon Manalo. None of these pairings really caught fire.
You can't go halfway. We need drama. We need laughter. We need surprises. We need players with firepower to spare, and mouths that won't quit.
We need Alex Pagulayan and Keith McCready.
There are no two more entertaining players in the pool universe than Alex and Keith when they get to wisecracking and woofing. Put them together, and they're combustible.
Take this exchange I recorded from the 2004 Derby City Classic, while they were playing four-handed one-pocket in the action room. Keith kept dreaming up new ways to point out that the tiny Pagulayan was vertically challenged, and Alex tried playing the martyr:
McCready: "Hey, small fry! You termite!"
Pagulayan: "Why do you say that to me?"
McCready: "Why don't you get a job, Spike?" [Alex's hair was gelled up in a point.]
Pagulayan: "I do got a job. I'm working on your bankroll!"
It was like watching Popeye The Sailor take on Peter Pan in an R-rated cartoon short just before "The Hustler." A shouting match one second, and then uncontrollable laughter. Emasculating insults, followed by kisses on the cheek. I don't know how much money was on the rail at that point, but there were at least 100 spectators crowded into that corner of the room, hanging on every word. Really, the game was secondary.
But don't for a second think that the quality of pool would be less than captivating in their IPT broadcast. The 29-year-old Pagulayan is a former world 9-ball champion and the 2005 U.S. Open titlist, after all. McCready may be past his best days, but he's still a gutsy and imaginative player, and likely would show up with his best game if the price was right. And, well, who cares if he's in top form? Who doesn't love watching Keith rev up that sidearm stroke and let loose on a flyer?
If you want to watch championship-level pool on your computer, go to the Accu-Stats Video Productions Web site and order a DVD of any of the hundreds of top-notch matchups recorded over the last 25 years. If you want to see wild, entertaining, and unpredictable pool from two of the most capable showmen of this generation, vote for Pagulayan and McCready.
(BTW: The deadline for voting is April 11, so get to it.)
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