SVB is the best player on earth
- Thread starter Muttonchops
- Start date
You can't really say that. The "top contenders" are also capable of playing that good too.
Like I've said, the top 10 or so players in the world...on any given day....it's a coin-toss.
Maniac
Can you show me somewhere that someone played poorly for a long stretch in a TAR match and still won?
Before you say Alex/Shane in 2008 go watch the match. Alex didnt play bad. Shane played like god to build a lead then Alex played like god to pull it back.
If you believe that someone who wins short races to 11 is a better player than someone who wins races to 100 then we have different definitions of what makes a great player.
Shane beat the consensus best rotation player in the world by 19 games. No european player will even consider playing him a long race of ten ball. There is no one on earth who would be an even money bet in a long race of ten ball.
He has won more US opens than anyone but Earl. He is not yet 30 years old.
But none of that means anything I guess.
To quote fast eddie felson....
To quote Paul Newman as Fast Eddie Felson... The best is the guy with the most...
Just look at the money leaders the last five or so years and average it out, Shane is probably twice as much as the next highest person.
Jaden
To quote Paul Newman as Fast Eddie Felson... The best is the guy with the most...
Just look at the money leaders the last five or so years and average it out, Shane is probably twice as much as the next highest person.
Jaden
He said he considers Shane one of the big 3 (post #9), along with Appleton and Orcullo. That ain't bad company!
How about Bustamante ? didn't he beat Shane recently in a TAR match ? I do think SVB is one of the best in the world; winning a world championship would push me over big-time. But I'm already a fan of his fearless stepping up to the plate to play anyone.
Well, all of us better remember that Keith McCready beat Dave Matlock, so that makes him the best player in the world, in my book. 
These "Who's the best?" threads are really something else. I sometimes think the players don't give 2 cents about what anybody else thinks, as most professional players have a lot of self-respect *and* a strong self-confidence. It is funny how we all get worked up over these threads from time to time.
And I don't care what anybody says, as long as they know Keith McCready is the best. Carry on. :grin-square:
These "Who's the best?" threads are really something else. I sometimes think the players don't give 2 cents about what anybody else thinks, as most professional players have a lot of self-respect *and* a strong self-confidence. It is funny how we all get worked up over these threads from time to time.
And I don't care what anybody says, as long as they know Keith McCready is the best. Carry on. :grin-square:
My wife, who doesn't play or normally watch pool made an observation about Shane during the TAR match in Tampa against Mills.
"It's not just how he shoots, It's the way he walks up to the table and the way he walks around the table, It's like watching poetry".
Well....
Well Jenny, tell him to get back out there and play again...We'd ALL love to see that...
:thumbup:
Jaden
Well, all of us better remember that Keith McCready beat Dave Matlock, so that makes him the best player in the world, in my book.
These "Who's the best?" threads are really something else. I sometimes think the players don't give 2 cents about what anybody else thinks, as most professional players have a lot of self-respect *and* a strong self-confidence. It is funny how we all get worked up over these threads from time to time.
And I don't care what anybody says, as long as they know Keith McCready is the best. Carry on. :grin-square:
Well Jenny, tell him to get back out there and play again...We'd ALL love to see that...
:thumbup:Jaden
How can anyone consider Shane not being the best all around pocket billiards player. He has demonstrated in the past as an all around player. Where do I start, an animal on the bar box. How many players from other countries want some of that. Shane has won Master of the tables 2 years in a row at Derby. The only other foreign players to win Master of the table are the Filipinos. Dont recall seeing the Taiwanese, European, or Chinese taken down the all around. All these players are great but not as great as Shane in all around pocket billiards. Shane hasnt won a World Title yet but some of these world titles get canceled in the last minute. I have seen some of these Taiwanese players play in the BCA tournaments on the bar box and winning. Dont think you will see these boys step up and play Shane anytime soon. Nothing to do with could have or should have just facts.
Maybe, but then again, he missed the eight ball twice with a chance to close out the final. Not really a great idea against the most elite.
Shane turned 30 this past summer.
Yes, we have a difference of opinion, and that's OK. I admire you and respect and appreciate what you've done for pool. Yours is a highly informed opinion and I greatly value it, but .....
For at least my 37 years around the pro pool scene, a pro pool match has been a contest of about one and a half hours. Players practice and prepare for excellence in a match of this length and some can play longer and others cannot. Players grow accustomed to matches of this length, and the schedules and rest periods that come with tournaments having matches of this length. I recall that when Appleton played Hatch a race to 100 in Vegas (don't think it was a TAR match, but maybe it was), he noted that he didn't enjoy it. Similarly, a baseball team might not enjoy a 36 inning game.
Sports is about how many short matches you win. In a four game series with a single opponent, a team can lose three baseball games by a score of 1-0 and then win the next by 6-0. Yes, they outscored their opponent in aggregate, but excellence in baseball and in every other major sport I can think of is about how many matches you win, not your total score.
And yes, races to 11 do mean something when you play thousands of them as the top guys have all done in competition. The great ones get their share of those matches and win their share of the biggest titles and Shane is certainly one of those. As I noted earlier in this thread, I only reject the proposition that Shane is a cut above all his peers. I accept the proposition that there is nobody who plays above him and that Shane, Dennis and Darren share the top rung of pool's ladder.
Shane may sit alone on the top rung of pool's ladder one day, but I don't feel he's there now.
Thanks again for sharing your opinion and for what you and TAR have done for our sport.
If you had to pick one player, from anywhere in the world, and put up $100K of your money to play a race to 50 ten ball. Who would you pick? I know it's close, but I would pick Shane now, over all of the Pinoys. (not familiar enough with the other Asians to say that)
He did. Two out of three races to 25.
Only person to ever win over Shane in a race to 100 is Alex in 2008.
Shane won the rematch. So maybe a rubber match at some point is in order.
NOBODY IN THE WORLD will beat Shane in a race to 100 10-ball.
Round up all of the pinoys, all of the wangs, all of the changs, all of the woos, all of the euros, and anyone else that can carry a stick. Shane gets the money in that format, PERIOD.
I'm inclined to say that he would be the favorite over any of them in a race to 100 9-ball as well.
He can be beat in short races and there are a handful that are the favorite in one-pocket, 8-ball (perhaps), and straight pool.
If TAR ever has a snooker challenge then he probably won't get there and he may not be the favorite in a bonus ball match, but I probably wouldn't bet against him.
Round up all of the pinoys, all of the wangs, all of the changs, all of the woos, all of the euros, and anyone else that can carry a stick. Shane gets the money in that format, PERIOD.
I'm inclined to say that he would be the favorite over any of them in a race to 100 9-ball as well.
He can be beat in short races and there are a handful that are the favorite in one-pocket, 8-ball (perhaps), and straight pool.
If TAR ever has a snooker challenge then he probably won't get there and he may not be the favorite in a bonus ball match, but I probably wouldn't bet against him.