Efren: Is it Time?

ENGLISH! said:
Sometimes things mean more than others. Emotion can be a good thing at times. I would never want a team mate that simply was playing to play & did not CARE about the outcome.

Some shots mean a lot in a match & a miss of a shot that you know was important can cause a reaction on the outside instead of the usual cloaking of it on the outside while the burn is on the inside.

Sometimes one does not really know why a miss happens & it makes one smile & 'scratch' their head.

Other times one knows exactly why they miss a shot & it was the failure to execute it properly & hence one appropriately feels the responsibility & hence the blame & true competitors do NOT like that & hence the slamming down of the cue butt on the floor.

That can spur one to be more focused & cut down on that feeling & rise to playing to a win.

Truly competing & winning can at times be a bit of a complex thing & sometimes it is as easy as pie.

Jack Nicklaus is the most 'proud' of the tournaments that he won when he did NOT have his "A" game, but still got it done.
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Like a few others that have replied I don't think you get it.

This is Efren Reyes we are talking about. How often (if ever) did you see him slam his cue against the floor or show any signs of frustration when he made mistakes in his prime?

I don't think he sucks now.

It was just disheartening to see him so visibly upset at times during his match with Appleton.
 
How True.........

" it made me really sad watching him play last night. Not because of the misses and unforced errors. That's to be expected when you reach his age"



QUESTION: How much does age enter into any player's skills, i.e., performance, diminishing?



One would think it assumes some role since it obviously does for most sports......but again, pool isn't really a sport but rather more of a game that requires dexterity. Nonetheless, the aging process is inevitable and eventually everyone succumbs to it.

My stepdad taught me to play pool.......he played on the Bowery in the back in the 30's......he was an old hustler and played pool with the greats of that era hustling pool right up until WWII enlistment......I was never able to beat him and I tried so hard.......eventually one day I did........I started when I was 14 yrs old and I was 28 when I beat him for the first time.......by my early 30's, I was beating him consistently.

I recall one day he was showing my son how to play pool......my son was only 6 at the time and I was watching the two of them closely recalling how I started out and how Eddie taught me so much along the way.......and then it dawned on me.........it made me sad..........I realized that I really never did beat Eddie........sure the score attested to my winning the game but I didn't really win........

You see it truly was "Father Time" that beat Eddie, not me.........in his day, he could shoot one handed bank pool and destroy me......He told me his high run in 14:1 was 88 and I never saw him accomplish that. The best he ever did against me was 57 and that was when I was only 18.......when I finally did win my 1st match against Eddie, he struggled to run 3 racks in straight pool..........


Time....the chronological process of getting older........no matter how hard, how strong, how smart, how wealthy, how religious.......nothing matters because time always marches on and face it, our pool games suffer because of it..........but in my way of thinking, a bad day of pool is still better than a good day of something else.



Matt B.
 
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PoolBum said:
Efren is 61. If he's still playing when he's 91 I'll still be watching.
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I love this post....he may have to invent a few more tricks as his reflexes start to fail.....
....but he's the MAGICIAN
 
Why do the try hard posters on here always seem to downgrade the top pros. I enjoy good pool and Efren at 90 will be playing better than those haters!


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That was awesome seeing him win tonight. He seemed a little more at ease. Maybe he was just having a rough night against Appleton.


I do wish more people on these forums knew how to read properly.
 
It doesn't happen often but I've seen him visibly upset before. I remember at the World Championship in Vegas back in the 90's where the players' chairs were in the center facing the crowd. He played so poorly he was shaking his head, banging his cue, and then finally turned his chair around so he sat with his back to the table and the audience.

He was also notorious for staying up all night and showing up for his match with no sleep.
 
I, along with others, who watched him over the years at Hard Times have seen the very gradual erosion of his 1 Hole game and his overall skills. But he is still Efren and I will always root for him against whoever he is playing because he has given me more "what the hell just happened?" moments than I ever dreamed were possible.[/QUOTE]

Agreed... Efren will have a few 'off ' days, who wouldn't at 60? And then there he is at Hard Times, running 8 and out, "WTF" shots no one else would try in a game. In one 1P game, he back cut a ball in his hole, sent whitey three rails around, back under the stack for perfect shape on three balls... the Magician smiled.
 
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Efren should retire whenever HE feels like it! I can't think of anyone more deserving of praise and admiration in the pool world, not to mention that he is still a threat in any pool event he enters. He is a humble man who loves pool, not some self obsessed ego-maniac like certain other pool players. I hope to see his smile and amazing shots in a lot of tournaments in the years to come, and if he chooses to retire, then that is his perogative. He does not owe us anything.

He will have to deal with his skills fading as the years go by, as will all of us. It probably won't be easy, but I think Efren will handle it better than just about anyone.
 
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The Magician will always have a special place in my heart... Even if he's old and can't pocket a darn ball, I'll be just as glad to see him holding a cue and shoot. When I was a college kid mesmerized by pool, saw him live at a tournament once where during practice he played 15-ball rotation against the ghost. Beat the ghost with ease, even playfully pocketed the last 15 ball by performing a 3-rail kick. I knew then there'd be no one like him.


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BeiberLvr said:
Like a few others that have replied I don't think you get it.

This is Efren Reyes we are talking about. How often (if ever) did you see him slam his cue against the floor or show any signs of frustration when he made mistakes in his prime?

I don't think he sucks now.

It was just disheartening to see him so visibly upset at times during his match with Appleton.
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Maybe when you're a mature old man you'll realize that nothing stays the same.

Perhaps Efren knows that his time is coming to an 'end' & hence every opportunity is more precious to him & that the losing of those opportunities will take a bigger toll on him than when he was 25 or 35 or even 55.

I'm basically Efren's age & would take being even older if I could feel like I did when I was 55.

It's not easy knowing that you're losing something that you took so much joy in, that being competing... & winning.

Some Pro golfers played the Senior tour until they could no longer bend over to put the tee into the ground or mark their ball on the green.

Jack Nicklaus, however, only wanted to play if he had a reasonable chance to win & never wanted to be a Ceremonial Golfer.

I just hope it is not as someone brought up & that Efren needs the money. I hope that is not the cause for any possible change in attitude.
 
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Some people so idolize others that they can't bear to see them diminished (as we all will be) by time. But if they truly respect them, they should allow them to continue to do what they love, for as long as (though only as long as) they wish to.

Thank you kindly.
 
I too have been a big fan of Efren. I did notice what you were talking about as well in terms of his demeanor. Even when he was playing Busty, he kept stretching his arms and slammed the pool cue a couple of times. I did not see him do this in the past as much as he did this past couple of days. Maybe he is still jetlagged? I know this gets worst as you get older especially with the time difference in the Phil to USA. But I think he was just having a bad day like we all do sometimes.
 
BeiberLvr said:
Watched a little bit of the Efren/Darren match last night.

It was because of his attitude when they happened. No longer was he smiling and scratching his head when he missed. Instead, he would hang his head in sorrow and "slam" the butt of his cue against the floor.
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Allow me to tell you why my friend, back in the days he wasn't missing as much, and when he misses once or twice in a whole set, he would smile and scratch his head because he would already know why he missed back in the 90s he miss alot less, he was a super-good player that when he misses its fine, he just smile about it.

But now he misses awhole alot and sometimes he doesnt even know why because of his age as you said and his game is a little worst than what it was which is expected, but mentally it will be heavier on one's mind, where he misses so many times, then the person does what efren is doing (which you didn't like).

Thats exactly what happened to other people when they miss alot, first miss would be ok, second miss they will get a little sad, third miss they will be angry, the more often it happen, the worst one personality and deminer would be at the table.
 
I to have enjoyed watching Efren play over the years & if I had 1/10 of his pool ability, I would be happier then a pig in $hit. The man can flat out play with the best of them.
 
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