Earl came with some new equipment, some ear protectors. He wore them most of the night and also had ear plugs in, in addition to the ear muffs. This really helped out in the ranting at the crowd issue, that was prevalent in Day 1.
The worst of the antics that went on tonight, were the involving the cueball once again and the break. Almost every time Shane would break, Earl would wait until he was down in his stance and then fly out of his chair and check that Shane had the cueball behind the line. You could really tell Shane was getting upset about this. Sometimes he would get out of his stance, sometimes he would wait until Earl checked it, then pick up the cueball and put it back down after Earl had checked it. But you could really see the disgust in Shane at this shark move by Earl. Towards the middle of the match, Shane went out in the crowd and found Mike Gulassy (sp) and had a discussion with him, then Mike talked to Earl and Earl had a fit about that. That stopped it for a little while.
The other antic was that Shane would inspect every rack that Earl made and that ticked off Earl. Apparently it was ok for Earl to check Shane's cueball was NOT ok for Shane to check the rack.
It also ticked off Earl when Shane would lightly touch the outsides of the rack to make them tighter. As you might have read in other threads, during a break, Earl went to this Gallagher equipment bag and pulled out the Sherlock Holmes edition of a magnifying glass and inspected the rack. He would do this several times thruout the night.
As far as the playing, Earl came out swinging in the beginning and won many of the first 20 games or so. At one point, Shane was down 18 games. Shane was having the same problem as last night, many balls close to the rail were giving him problems. He was also getting out of line again on many shots.
When Earl is shooting, he is very loose and very confident. He takes maybe 2 practice strokes and shoots. All shots are the same, no indecision or doubt in him making the ball. It is a little hard to explain, but someone watching can see the difference between the two players. I'm trying to find the right word to describe this and will use "doubt" for lack of a better term. When Earl shoots, all shots are shot without any doubt they are going in. When Shane shoots, there is doubt, especially on most balls along the rail.
I watched the entire Morra/Dominguez match, and it has the same feeling to it, with Shane. There is doubt in his demeanor when shooting a lot of the shots along the rail. And he does miss a lot of them. The pocket is rejecting the balls much more for Shane, then Earl. Shane shoots a lot of the shots along the rail softly, and misses them. Earl almost never shoots them softly. The ones that Shane shoots with some speed, same problem. Some of Shane's misses are because they are not in the heart of the pocket, but others seem like they are, and still come out.
Now I fell asleep for 2 hours about 10:45 - 12:45. Shane was behind by about 14 or so then and when I woke up, he was only down by about 6. Without even seeing the score, it was very apparent by watching Shane's demeanor at the table, that he was shooting like normal Shane. There was no doubt in his shots, his stroke was confident. It was night and day between what I had seen the last 2 days, and what I was watching then. Over the next couple of hours, I watched Shane get back down again by 11 or so, but there was still some confidence in his stroke.
In the pre-match interviews, when Justin asked what he was going to do differently tonight, Shane said "slow the game down". He was going to play more safes. Which has been a factor in why Earl is so much ahead. Shane will run 5 or 6 balls, get out of line and still shoot a difficult shot. A difficult shot is defined much differently on this 10 ft with the way the pockets are, then on normal 9 ft'ers. He would miss and Earl would clean up the last 4 balls.
Shane did not stick to that game plan very well. There were moments where he did do that, but for the most part, it is very hard for him to play safe when he has made those shots thousands of times before. If Shane was confident and not "scared" at those pockets, he would make the shots, but it's tough when you see Shane really bear down on a easy shot and then miss it. That will make you "scared" of the shots.
So to summarize.... Earl plays like he's playing on any other table, fast and loose. He is playing run out pool and shooting with a high degree of confidence. Earl is also playing excellent shape and rarely gets out of line. Shane on the other hand, is really struggling with the table. He played like regular Shane only for a few hours. He is gun shy of the pockets. He also gets out of line a lot.
If Shane can get that confidence again tonight, then he could make up those 10 or 11 games. It's going to be tough, but it could happen. If he stlll has that "am I going to miss this one" demeanor, then there will be no way he can win. I see Earl once again playing at a high level, so Shane's only chance is to run the balls and play safe if it's a tough shot. Tough shot is defined by this table, not his past history with the thousands of other tables he's played on, but THIS table.
Props to Earl for displaying supreme confidence and mastery of the 10 ft table. Props to Shane for not giving up and continuing to fight this table to try and master it. Also props to Shane for fading all the Earl antics. That is almost a full time job doing that.
Some various pics....
Pics 1 and 2, are examples of tough shots that have Shane gun shy. Any shot involving the object ball within being froze to 4 inches or so out from the rail, is giving Shane fits.
Pic 3 is the tension that happens when Earl is racking and Shane comes over to inspect it after he's done
Pic 4 is a rare moment of levity, after they got done for the night. Earl came over and shook Shane's hand. Shane doesn't say anything, just smiles. That smile could very well be fake, IMHO
Pic 5 is what happens when you get home field advantage. Kinda like you might expect Bruce's dressing room looks like in Jersey, and the opening act The Streaming MuffDaddys looks like.:wink:
The worst of the antics that went on tonight, were the involving the cueball once again and the break. Almost every time Shane would break, Earl would wait until he was down in his stance and then fly out of his chair and check that Shane had the cueball behind the line. You could really tell Shane was getting upset about this. Sometimes he would get out of his stance, sometimes he would wait until Earl checked it, then pick up the cueball and put it back down after Earl had checked it. But you could really see the disgust in Shane at this shark move by Earl. Towards the middle of the match, Shane went out in the crowd and found Mike Gulassy (sp) and had a discussion with him, then Mike talked to Earl and Earl had a fit about that. That stopped it for a little while.
The other antic was that Shane would inspect every rack that Earl made and that ticked off Earl. Apparently it was ok for Earl to check Shane's cueball was NOT ok for Shane to check the rack.
It also ticked off Earl when Shane would lightly touch the outsides of the rack to make them tighter. As you might have read in other threads, during a break, Earl went to this Gallagher equipment bag and pulled out the Sherlock Holmes edition of a magnifying glass and inspected the rack. He would do this several times thruout the night.As far as the playing, Earl came out swinging in the beginning and won many of the first 20 games or so. At one point, Shane was down 18 games. Shane was having the same problem as last night, many balls close to the rail were giving him problems. He was also getting out of line again on many shots.
When Earl is shooting, he is very loose and very confident. He takes maybe 2 practice strokes and shoots. All shots are the same, no indecision or doubt in him making the ball. It is a little hard to explain, but someone watching can see the difference between the two players. I'm trying to find the right word to describe this and will use "doubt" for lack of a better term. When Earl shoots, all shots are shot without any doubt they are going in. When Shane shoots, there is doubt, especially on most balls along the rail.
I watched the entire Morra/Dominguez match, and it has the same feeling to it, with Shane. There is doubt in his demeanor when shooting a lot of the shots along the rail. And he does miss a lot of them. The pocket is rejecting the balls much more for Shane, then Earl. Shane shoots a lot of the shots along the rail softly, and misses them. Earl almost never shoots them softly. The ones that Shane shoots with some speed, same problem. Some of Shane's misses are because they are not in the heart of the pocket, but others seem like they are, and still come out.
Now I fell asleep for 2 hours about 10:45 - 12:45. Shane was behind by about 14 or so then and when I woke up, he was only down by about 6. Without even seeing the score, it was very apparent by watching Shane's demeanor at the table, that he was shooting like normal Shane. There was no doubt in his shots, his stroke was confident. It was night and day between what I had seen the last 2 days, and what I was watching then. Over the next couple of hours, I watched Shane get back down again by 11 or so, but there was still some confidence in his stroke.
In the pre-match interviews, when Justin asked what he was going to do differently tonight, Shane said "slow the game down". He was going to play more safes. Which has been a factor in why Earl is so much ahead. Shane will run 5 or 6 balls, get out of line and still shoot a difficult shot. A difficult shot is defined much differently on this 10 ft with the way the pockets are, then on normal 9 ft'ers. He would miss and Earl would clean up the last 4 balls.
Shane did not stick to that game plan very well. There were moments where he did do that, but for the most part, it is very hard for him to play safe when he has made those shots thousands of times before. If Shane was confident and not "scared" at those pockets, he would make the shots, but it's tough when you see Shane really bear down on a easy shot and then miss it. That will make you "scared" of the shots.
So to summarize.... Earl plays like he's playing on any other table, fast and loose. He is playing run out pool and shooting with a high degree of confidence. Earl is also playing excellent shape and rarely gets out of line. Shane on the other hand, is really struggling with the table. He played like regular Shane only for a few hours. He is gun shy of the pockets. He also gets out of line a lot.
If Shane can get that confidence again tonight, then he could make up those 10 or 11 games. It's going to be tough, but it could happen. If he stlll has that "am I going to miss this one" demeanor, then there will be no way he can win. I see Earl once again playing at a high level, so Shane's only chance is to run the balls and play safe if it's a tough shot. Tough shot is defined by this table, not his past history with the thousands of other tables he's played on, but THIS table.
Props to Earl for displaying supreme confidence and mastery of the 10 ft table. Props to Shane for not giving up and continuing to fight this table to try and master it. Also props to Shane for fading all the Earl antics. That is almost a full time job doing that.
Some various pics....
Pics 1 and 2, are examples of tough shots that have Shane gun shy. Any shot involving the object ball within being froze to 4 inches or so out from the rail, is giving Shane fits.
Pic 3 is the tension that happens when Earl is racking and Shane comes over to inspect it after he's done
Pic 4 is a rare moment of levity, after they got done for the night. Earl came over and shook Shane's hand. Shane doesn't say anything, just smiles. That smile could very well be fake, IMHO
Pic 5 is what happens when you get home field advantage. Kinda like you might expect Bruce's dressing room looks like in Jersey, and the opening act The Streaming MuffDaddys looks like.:wink:
