Over thirty witnesses
In years past and still accepted on some documents, two witnesses carry the same weight as a notary. Here we have over thirty witnesses.
While it has been believed that there have been higher runs, Willie's went down as the highest official run due to the numerous witnesses and exhibition setting. Because this is accepted as the official high run, for another run to beat it, the run would have to be set under similar conditions.
I won over 160 games of eight ball in a row one night. I had a motley bunch of witnesses that overlap to have seen the whole thing, maybe even a few that saw it all. Never heard of the equal, never heard of anyone claiming any number of wins in a row as a record. I won when I challenged that old nine foot table and retired undefeated when the last of my challengers quit so there were also no losses that night. I could claim a record, not even I would care since it has no official standing. Out of twenty to thirty challengers, only four to six could have made a ball in an ocean so the accomplishment isn't what it seems anyway. The most amazing thing was to have never made an early eight or scratched on the eight in those bucket pockets, standard on those tables.
If they were to declare john's record to be the video record I would be much more willing to accept it. To call it the exhibition record when it wasn't set in an exhibition is ridiculous. One thing more, the number of Willie's witnesses didn't change from day one. john's went from four to five to six to eight in the days following the run. Had eight people witnessed it from start to finish in a closed business that would have been the claim to begin with, or so I believe.
When we start questioning credibility of his witnesses, he is left with one that might have been focused on every shot, his racker. Even he might have wandered off during a rack for coffee or a whiz. (Incidentally, I am skeptical that all thirty-six or thirty-eight of Willie's witnesses saw every shot. However with that many witnesses it is easy to believe that some did and that there was overlap so that several dozen witnesses saw any shot.)
My point is few would accept the conditions john's attempt was made in as acceptable to set a record in any sport or event. If it is valid everyone with a video camera or cell phone can set it up and start going for world records at pretty much anything. I wonder if anyone caught my great pass of thirteen cars before the green flag on video? Got to be at least a track record! Got away with it too in front of several thousand witnesses. It was even legal under current standards. :thumbup:
Hu
