Haters! How can you joke about people's financial status? Especially those with talent? I swear there are nothing but dicks on this site. With a few exceptions.
These are not rappers. These are people and players with REAL talent that do not get paid anywhere near what they deserve.
I'll have that jap slap now, please, and I couldn't care less about that
And yes, I'll join the Strickland "haters" - only I would like to call it a unclouded view.
While this is off topic now - this is something that we can and should objectively argue about.
In comes down to this sentence:
In the end we must accept and believe than pool is not important, not for our lives and not for mankind. Nothing about pool actively contributes to a better life, on absolutely no level. It's pasttime, a hobby, something we do for fun.
(This is also true for Snooker, but they managed to develop the sport into something.)
Hitting balls with a stick... and you really talk about it like it is about curing cancer.
I will also gladly say the same about dancers and the like, and most musicians, with really a few exceptions.
While I strongly believe that work needs to pay well and in a way that you can sustain a normal life I also strongly do not believe that athletes (no matter which sport) should be payed huge sums.
After all, they are not really contributing to the advancement of mankind, they are largely there for entertainment only.
I say largely, because once in a while something tried in sports (for example, motorsports) is brought back for the betterment of daily life. But this is much rarer than one might expect.
Nowadays entertainment is valued quite highly - but the you gotta be entertaining which Strickland currently is not. He just comes off as arrogant, violent and mean, and childish!
Also talent is something that is not objectively quantifyable - and in Strickland's case it no longer is evident for a spectator RIGHT NOW.
It was evident, until around 15 years ago. This is probably something we can all agree.
It might still be evident in lessons for kids or some trick shot shows, but it's not in tournaments.
Now, as somebody already wrote: they knew what was coming, and they chose this route anyway. They had fun, but when you get older competing is harder.
It's better to start building a successful business out of your experience in the sport, for example pool room + lessons, cue and table repair, coaching teams, professional commenting, etc.
I'm not sure if Strickland did this actively. He did lessions in some billard cafe for 1 year or so? I also heard somewhere he has nice real estate in some good area.
But he also made sure Cuetec didn't like him anymore, which really is an extreme dumb move instead of actively developing this partnership into a longrunning one.
So in the end it's about sleeping in the bed you made yourself.
Strickland did a lot in the past 15 years or so to have his perfect bed ruined.
While I give him a certain excuse due to his mental condition this is also something he could've worked on.
Cheers,
M