I have to agree with Fran on her comment about Andy cloth. It is fast and slippery but you and your opponent are on the same table so whoever adjusts quicker is likely to be the winner. Combine that cloth with a Diamond Pro Cut table with deep shelves and you'd better hit the pocket if you want to make a ball. I'm not saying it's good or bad it is what it is, IMO. BTW I like Earl he is one of a kind and a world champion. It ain't easy getting old and maybe he's just frustrated at times.. JMO
Earl: "I'm better than ever".
- Thread starter kkdanamatt
- Start date
I know what you mean about both players being up against the same thing, but cloth like that removes different skills from different players. Say, for example, that player X has 50 weapons in his arsenal, and his opponent, player Y has 20. But due to the cloth, both players have been reduced down to the same 5 weapons each. I know it's not cut and dry like that, but conditions like that are a great equalizer.
They have totally destroyed the game by trying to make it "easier" for the masses.
Jump cues, super fast cloth, one-foul BIH rules, etc., etc., etc...
I'm surprised it's still called "pool".
Earl may have a difficult time hanging with some of the younger guns on these new table setups, but I think he would dust the majority of them off under old-school playing conditions and old-school rules.
Hey Fran, I agree with you. I am 63 years old and have watched pool and life itself change so much it's amazing, at least to me. I guess that's part of getting old, things change and folks like me see it, sometimes I like it sometimes not so much. I still like playing pool as much as I did the first time I walked through the shoe shine parlor into that dark, smoky, nasty, dirty old pool room with the big sign over the entrance, No Girls Allowed! (circa 1966) Things change and we roll on!!!
So he is saying that he is better than Earl that won 3 W9B
then thrashes that Earl saying there are 100 guys from today who are better than Earl meaning 100 guys from today will beat the old Earl that won 3 W9B
LOL
Makes sense to me. He's got endurance, stamina and knowledge. The world today is full of information. I can get on youtube an analyze the gameplay of the best of the world for hours.
Not exactly. He said 5 guys had a chance to beat him 25 years ago, and 100 do now -- not that they were (are) better than Earl. Would Earl say that? :smile:
Sounds fairly accurate.
I am pretty sure that ANY of the world's top players under 30 years old could adapt their skill to any cloth in a short amount of time.
The IPT was played on slow cloth and the top players adapted to it just fine.
Years ago Kelly Fisher was having a terrible time on the CPBA cloth in China. I told her to buy some of it and put it on her home table and she did and then started winning in China since she didn't have to try to get used it in less than a day while jetlagged. She arrived ready to play on the equipment being used.
Players now have more knowledge on banking, kicking, jumping, pattern play, safeties etc... Earl is 100% right in that there are simply more great players now than there were 25 years ago.
in the 90s American top players could go to Germany and dominate the tournaments and now they are lucky to place mid-field. Varner has a winning record in the Philippines and now if a foreign player shows up there is a line of 15 or more unknown players waiting to play him for everything he wants to bet.
Kelly just posted on FB that she narrowly beat a 15 year old in China 9-7 who broke and ran the first two racks. Wu Chia Ching probably best exemplifies Earl's statement as he won the World 9 Ball championships at 16 by running the last five racks after being down 16-12. Karen Corr lost a 9 Ball WC Final to a Chinese teenager who put a solid five pack on Karen in the race to nine AFTER Karen was up like five to one.
I do however agree that the speed of the cloth, especially Andy and some others is WAY too fast. Not that it's all slides but it does make for a different game than what we grew up on.
Earl trapped me in the hallway at one tournament in the 90s and went off about the cloth so I am sure he feels just like you do on that subject.
I am a huge fan of Earl! I really enjoy going into the YouTube library and digging up matches of him back in the "Glory Day's". He was fearless and very aggressive and for the most part maintained his composure. Could only imagine if we had a time machine and brought the younger Earl back today to play guys like SVB and the rest of the young US talent.
Today's Earl is a different man and has been for quite sometime. We've all seen him go through his "gadget" phase(s) and the blame game but no one can deny the exceptional player he once was.
He may be smarter but "Father Time" catches up with all of us in the end but there is always "one more" game in all of us and we marvel when we are a witness to that.
Can only wish him the best, and hope he gets some rolls...
Today's Earl is a different man and has been for quite sometime. We've all seen him go through his "gadget" phase(s) and the blame game but no one can deny the exceptional player he once was.
He may be smarter but "Father Time" catches up with all of us in the end but there is always "one more" game in all of us and we marvel when we are a witness to that.
Can only wish him the best, and hope he gets some rolls...
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I don't know about there being better players now than in the 70s and 80. I can probably name twenty guys from that period that could hold their own against the best of today's players.