1990s 9-ball McCready vs. Paez
- By patmoran
- Main Forum
- 66 Replies
I posted in this thread last night to address some untruths about Keith, but ended up deleting my comments. I guess that’s part of the thicker skin I’m still working on when it comes to anything about Keith McCready.
On a brighter note, this thread has actually sparked some fuel and food for thought for me on a pool project I’ve been meaning to finish. I hadn’t realized until recently just how different the game was back in the ’70s, during Keith’s prime, compared to today. The rule change with the two-shot/push-out really impacted 9-ball, and Keith always said it completely changed his game. By the ’90s, tournament pool had taken more of a back seat in his life. During that time he worked at Tanya Tucker’s quarter horse ranch, got to know horse trainers, and even matched up with a few celebrities like Red Foxx, Kiefer Sutherland, one of the stars from Mission Impossible, and Willie Nelson, to name a few.
Throughout his career, Keith still notched wins over legends like Alex Pagulayan, Niels Feijen, Larry Hubbard, Kid Delicious, Shane VanBoening, Santos Sambajon, Mike Sigel, Francisco Bustamante, Efren Reyes, Earl Strickland, Buddy Hall, Ronnie Alcano, Kim Davenport, Jose Parica, and others. But pool was never quite the same for him after the changes. As we all know, short races in 9-ball add an element of luck, and the equipment today is worlds apart from the ’70s, with jump cues, break cues, carbon shafts, faster cloth, and different rules.
When I met Keith in the early 2000s, he still had a little “lightning in the jug” and those flashes of brilliance that made him so exciting to watch. It was a thrill for me, though I never saw him in his true prime, which by all accounts was the ’70s, not the ’90s, when his Accu-Stats match with Paez was filmed.
For me, AzBilliards has been such a great resource, packed with history and stories you won’t find anywhere else. While I follow today’s international pool superstars much more closely than Keith does, I’ve also grown to love snooker in recent years.
In the autumn of our lives, we're just trying to stay healthy and enjoy life to the fullest, outside of pool.
View attachment 849980
Keith remained in prime form through the 80s. Color of Money in 85 fueled more drive and confidence to wear the World gets the ,8. The pool world was much smaller then and started to change with the Filipino invasion followed by Europeans, Orientals and others.I posted in this thread last night to address some untruths about Keith, but ended up deleting my comments. I guess that’s part of the thicker skin I’m still working on when it comes to anything about Keith McCready.
On a brighter note, this thread has actually sparked some fuel and food for thought for me on a pool project I’ve been meaning to finish. I hadn’t realized until recently just how different the game was back in the ’70s, during Keith’s prime, compared to today. The rule change with the two-shot/push-out really impacted 9-ball, and Keith always said it completely changed his game. By the ’90s, tournament pool had taken more of a back seat in his life. During that time he worked at Tanya Tucker’s quarter horse ranch, got to know horse trainers, and even matched up with a few celebrities like Red Foxx, Kiefer Sutherland, one of the stars from Mission Impossible, and Willie Nelson, to name a few.
Throughout his career, Keith still notched wins over legends like Alex Pagulayan, Niels Feijen, Larry Hubbard, Kid Delicious, Shane VanBoening, Santos Sambajon, Mike Sigel, Francisco Bustamante, Efren Reyes, Earl Strickland, Buddy Hall, Ronnie Alcano, Kim Davenport, Jose Parica, and others. But pool was never quite the same for him after the changes. As we all know, short races in 9-ball add an element of luck, and the equipment today is worlds apart from the ’70s, with jump cues, break cues, carbon shafts, faster cloth, and different rules.
When I met Keith in the early 2000s, he still had a little “lightning in the jug” and those flashes of brilliance that made him so exciting to watch. It was a thrill for me, though I never saw him in his true prime, which by all accounts was the ’70s, not the ’90s, when his Accu-Stats match with Paez was filmed.
For me, AzBilliards has been such a great resource, packed with history and stories you won’t find anywhere else. While I follow today’s international pool superstars much more closely than Keith does, I’ve also grown to love snooker in recent years.
In the autumn of our lives, we're just trying to stay healthy and enjoy life to the fullest, outside of pool.
R yView attachment 849980
In watching hundreds of tournaments at HT in the nineties and speaking with those in the know I heard often Keith was past his prime and a half ball behind the world class players which is nothing to be ashamed of because you are capable of beating anyone on a given day.
Keith was a money player foremost and I am sure if you compared his tournament winnings to his net earnings gambling it wouldn't be close. He could have negotiated out of those rule changes in arranging a gambling match. And he played all games where these rule changes don't matter.
I love this generation of players and how the globalization has raised the level of play, popularity and prize money. The prize money in the U.S. Open went from $8500 in 1980 to $41000 in 1990 to ,$211,000.in 2000 to half million today. The World 9 ball this year had a million dollar purse. Of course you have to be an elite player to cash in, cover expenses and make a profit. There are so many stone cold killers today, many unknown. They don't miss often and on much tighter pockets than the buckets of the early years. Players in the UK who grew up.playing snooker found nine ball easy and after learning the nuances like safety play were able to compete at the highest levels.
Hats off to SVB for all the success he has had and money won during his career during the toughest era in pool.
Do you think he wishes he played during the ,"glory years," of the 70s and 80s considering the paltry payouts,?
The American players in the 80s shot themselves in the foot when they refused to join forces with the women to form one tour that would have raised the profile and prize money in pool. Some resented foreign.players thinking this is a tour for Americans.
I realize how nostalgic and reminiscent of the past people can be. Think Springsteen's Glory Days. Let's be real though this era of pool is played at a higher level.
