Here is the difference. Earl "made" a million for his 10 racks. I bet you a dozen pros do that every month in practice but I've never seen anyone run out a set in a tourney except Kaci. How and when matters. Documentation or better yet video (this is a come lately thing) matters.
JS record is now the high water mark. Mosconi's record is one for the ages. It stood for a long time for a reason. Both accomplishments don't diminish the other.
My comments about practice vs exhibition were leading, and you kinda fed right into my yet to be made argument.
The JS run wasn't in competition like Earl's 10pack for a million. It wasn't in any level of competition at all. He simply announced that at some point he may trip into a high run attempt and people were more than welcome to watch. He may have capped out at 50 a dozen times, but it was what it could be.
Earl was under performance pressure because of the tournament, and he had only this tournament to manage the 10 pk. Which also had to land within the length of a set. If he, or any other didn't pull it off over the course of that single tourney, then no million. How many attempts "in exhibition" did JS take before reaching his 626..? Did the BCA or any other organizing body limit his attempts...? "You get only a block of 2 days to attempt the record once a year" or anything like such...?
The only performance pressure placed on JS was what he placed on himself.
On the flip side of that argument. What 14.1 competitions have a match length that exceeds 526 points..? I know next to nothing of this game, and I'm willing to bet there isn't a single one. That means there could be no "in competition" attempt at the 562 record, (akin to Earl's 10pk). Lets pretend that the TD would be willing to allow a player(s) to delay his tournament by several hours to attempt the record. Once you got passed the tournament finish line (150?) then where's this in competition pressure coming from...?
Thus far, the only difference between practice and exhibition is open viewing. As long as all the rules are followed and documented proof can be brought forth. I struggle with why a properly executed and video'd practice run isn't accepted as a record.
Despite the fact that I'm arguing the JS run was nothing more then partially witnessed practice run. As far as I'm concerned, I believe his 626 is as valid as any other. Once of course it has been proven that the rules were strictly followed and his video proof has passed the smell test.
If other "practice" (aka: not publicly announced and viewable in real time) attempts can be proven to have followed the games rules, and also have video footage, they should be just as valid as Mosconi's or JS's.
To paraphrase someone else on the forum:
700 balls is 700 balls....
In "within" competition is an impossibility. ...and the difference between exhibition and practice boils down to amount of subscribers to you YouTube account