I think most of you are just blowing smoke without having any idea what you are commenting about.
I talked with Bill Stroud today...yes I talked with him in person...something none of you have done...not that you would if you could. He feels bad about what has happen...but has no plan to comment...so I'll comment for him. He fully intended to fullfill his promised "free" cue build...remember no one paid anything...no one put any money down...and it didn't cost anyone anything to enter the contest. Since then Bill decided to retire do to very personal circumstances...that are none of your business. In addition his eyes had become and still are a problem in doing the kind of eye intensive work he had done for 40+ years...building quality cues. So he has stopped building cues...period!
So most of you need to get a life. Maybe...if you feel so strongly about this...you can build or buy a cue for the guy who won the contest...sort of putting "your" skill or money where your mouth is...thou I'm sure you have neither skill nor money...only opinions. Let Bill get on with his retirement...he has earned it over the many years of building top notch cues for the rest of us to play with.
Talk about blowing smoke and commenting without knowledge. hello kiwis.
Did Bill's eye problems begin the day after he declared his contest winner? Or should he not have run the contest in the first place because he wasn't seeing well enough to make a cue?
Think hard before answering these -
I saw Bill on a bigtruck stream about a year later in Oklahoma City, beating Joey Gray, making some real nice cut shots. I think his eyes were working well then.
The man made a promise and thus far, he's broken it. All without letting either the contest winner or all of those who jumped through hoops as contestants, know what's up.
Well, he did give the one update in January 2012 where he said he was gonna be working on his pool game and doing a little here and there on the cue when he could work it in. And to tell you the truth, that was a real bullshit move, to make such a declaration after the winner was patiently waiting for a year. The winner of DYD should have been treated as good, if not better, than any paying customer Bill ever had.
You said "no one paid a thing" and frankly, I've heard this from a few others, as well. Just to set the record straight on this, I am aware of a number of contestants, including myself, who did put up some money. Some were buying graphics apps, art supplies, etc. As an example, I paid an art teacher to help me lay out my complicated design and I made approx 5 trips to office max for large copies to be made. People were taking this contest very seriously.
So you are wrong in your statement that "no one paid a thing".
And as far as no one talking to Bill, I know of two az'ers who did. Bill told JoeyA via phone call that the cue was going to be built. And then more recently, Bill blew off Jay Helfert when Jay asked about the DYD cue when they saw each other at a tournament.
Your comment that "I talked with Bill Stroud today...something none of you have done" is therefore also inaccurate -
You should do some fact-checking before making such bold statements.
Then you went on to say we should put our money or skill where our mouths are and have a cue built for the winner and you added that you're "sure" we "have neither skill nor money".
This is both condescending and inaccurate.
Az'ers made a very generous offer to contest-winner, mhaimi, to get the money necessary together to have a replacement cue made for him by a top cuemaker so as to make up for Bill's failure to deliver. mhaimi, very politely and graciously declined that nice offer.
Kiwis, I think you had a chance to go sniff Bill's behind and got all excited to come on here with your earthshattering update. Sorry to say that even aside from all of the inaccuracy you provided, it still wasn't very earthshattering.
If Bill truly does have any kind of a health problem that has prevented him from completing the cue, I would
*sincerely* be sorry to know this. However, even that would not excuse his decision to ignore everyone who put faith in him. A simple 'Sorry guys, I can't build the cue and here's why' would have gone a very long way.
best,
brian kc