Tailgators Summer Shootout this Weekend

By: Markus Noé

The Tailgators Summer Shootout is only a few short days away and promises to be a very entertaining event. There will be two division, one being a 64 player max amateur and a talent packed 8 player max pro division. With top Canadian players like John Morra and Erik Hjorleifson attending this $300 entry and $1600 added event. Tailgators is located in the Merivale Mall in Ottawa and will be the place to be for pool fans this weekend.

Both tournaments begin at 7:00PM this Friday; the pro event will only play one round on this night. This means that all spectators who cannot make it the first night have nothing to fear as no one will be eliminated until Saturday. According to the last update from Curtis Houlden, the promoter of this event there are 7 out of the 8 spots filled. This spot is reserved in the hopes one of the local bar box legends, which Ottawa boasts a few, will step up to represent the area.

My hometown of Cornwall, Ontario will be represented in this event by Jody Roy. He is a high ranked amateur player and one of the top action players in the area.  Last fall in a similar event held at Tailgators,  he actually knocked Hjorleifson to the losers side early on. For Roy this is far from a donation and should be a lot of fun for Cornwall supporters to sweat his matches.

Hjoleifson & Morra at this years World Championships

The amateur event has changed slightly since I posted the original announcement. As you can see above, according to the poster the handicaps were only from 5-7. Houlden has changed this as he has noticed a need to include spots for lower caliber players. Thus there are two new handicaps for beginners and intermediate players which will be 3 and 4. For this handicap you are given a number and that is the amount of games needed to win. In this event the last update from Houlden which came on Monday, 50 spots are already taken in the 64 player max field. To find out if there are anymore places available please call Curtis Houlden at (613)852-6550.

Cue Sport Nation Brand Launch (C.S.N)/Team London Fundraiser

For people who are familiar with this blog you already know that Erik Hjorleifson and myself have formed a business partnership. We have decided to start a billiards media company which we are calling Cue Sport Nation. Our goal is to promote all cue sports and while doing so talk about the game beyond generic tournament updates. As well as to discuss in detail the current state of the game and what needs to be done to improve it. Our brand is that we are about the players, professional and amateur. Because to us without the competitive players pushing this game forward, pool will always be looked upon as nothing but a parlor game.

There are organizations and promoters who are stagnant to the extent that it is detrimental to the progression of cue sports. On our website, along with all the standard billiard news, will be a platform to hold these organizations and promoters accountable. In order for there to be significant change, which the industry needs, barriers have to be broken down and discussions need to be begin.

The owners of Tailgators have been gracious enough to reserve us a section where we will set up a booth so we can promote ourselves. At this booth we will have some "Hustlin Clothing" t-shirts for sale as well as our own Cue Sport Nation merchandise. Along with promoting our brand we will also be fundraising for Team London.  This will be for the group of junior players who have all earned spots at the upcoming World Junior Championships in China. Steve Gelinas from the Winning Stroke has donated a Delta Rack to be raffled off and we will be adding our own merchandise as well. ALL proceeds from this raffle will go to Team London.

For more details about our upcoming website or if you are interested in donating something to raffle off for Team London. I can be contacted through Facebook or by email at markus.noe@live.com.