Tim Smith
Wow, it’s been a minute since I posted here. We’ve actually been pretty busy and every time I came to write a post, I’d get distracted.
So after we visited Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon, we kind of laid low for a while. Just kicking around southwestern Arizona until we were due in Las Vegas for the Mosconi Cup. If you don’t know what the Mosconi Cup is, it’s a pool (9 ball) tournament featuring the United States vs. Europe. Think of it like the Ryder Cup if you watch golf. Same concept.
Forget everything you’ve ever seen if you’ve ever watched pool on TV or streamed any tournaments. This ain’t like that at all. The audience is not asked or required to be quiet. In fact, the audience is encouraged to be as loud as possible. My ears rang for a while after each day’s session.
Here’s a short video that kind of gives you an idea what the atmosphere is like.
There were a few of us that all got seats together and sat together every day. Max and I went to the Mosconi Cup the last time it was in Vegas in 2019 and one of the guys from the UK that we became friends with was there as well! He didn’t get to sit next to us, but we went out several times to play pool.
It’s a 4 day event and the first day a few of us got matching outfits. Click on the thumbnail to enlarge.
This is Billy. Billy has played on several Mosconi Teams over the years. He wasn’t allowed to play last year due to some unfortunate circumstances, but he was there giving his full support. He wore this outfit all 4 days of the event! LOL! I asked Tyler Styer a while back how bad that outfit smelled on day 4. He said he didn’t remember, but probably pretty bad. If he didn’t remember, it couldn’t have been that bad, right? Right?? 🤪
Max and I had matching outfits the 2nd day. We were unable to talk anyone else into wearing these with us. I don’t know why. They were awesome! This is Dennis Hatch. He was a beast of a player back in the day. Man, he was so nice. Great guy to talk to.
Morgan and I got a picture with the leader of the U.S Team! The Captain! The best commentator in all of Pool! The one and only Double J! Jeremy Jones!
I was looking through our pictures and I don’t think we ever got one of everyone together. I think Carl and Jon were probably embarrassed to be seen with us. I think this is as close as we got.
Morgan got a picture with her favorite pool player. Albin Ouschan. I think I’m a little surprised she didn’t run off with him. 🤪
We did get a picture of everybody that was there from Texas. I’ll post that a little later.
Since we’re pretty much pool junkies, every evening after the Mosconi session was over, we would go grab a bite to eat and then went to a pool hall nearby and played until the wee hours of the morning. One evening, some of us went to Fremont Street and hung out. I guess that was our “break” from pool for the week.
Sadly, the European Team pulled out the victory but the U.S. Team put up a hell of a fight! They actually did way better than anybody anticipated, so it was pretty exciting.
Here’s a picture of probably almost everyone from Texas. I’m sure we missed rounding up a few, but still quite a showing.
Morgan and I actually have tickets for the Mosconi this year in London! We had tickets to the London one in 2020 but the world fell apart and our flights got cancelled. We’re super excited for this year’s! It’s held in Alexandra Palace in London and we cannot wait!!!
We’re going to be in London for a little over 2 weeks. We’re going to stay within walking distance of Alexandra Palace the first week. The second week, we’re moving into the London city center. We’ll be staying not too far from Waterloo station. We do have an AirBnB booked one night in Brussels, Belgium. We’ll be taking the train under the channel and spending a night there. I’ve always wanted to stay in one of those cool little apartments over a bar and that’s exactly what the one in Brussels is. Can’t wait!
To say we’ve been looking forward to this trip is an understatement. We booked our AirBnBs on March 17th! As soon as we found out the dates the Mosconi was being held. We got tickets to the Mosconi the day they went on sale. Actually, the week before general sales opened. I signed up for the special pre-sale.
Here are some pictures taken throughout the week, if you’re interested. All of us that sat together, we eventually got everybody in a picture, just not in the same picture. These pics are from the Mosconi, Fremont Street, and pool halls. Maybe even a couple just hanging out in the hotel lobby. Click on the image to enlarge.