EARL STRICKLAND Returns to TEAM USA

ChicagoRJ said:
Consider it done. Be nice if some of the hateful SOB's could tone it done on Earl, not the best way to treat a HOF, senior citizen with bonafide issues. I mean, they don't have to like the pick, but the hatefulness if fuking unbelievable.

NFL guy fights dogs and then drowns them afterward, goes to prison, but still gets to play football for millions when he got out, But, Earl gets way too emotional during a match and he's basically considered Hitler reincarnated. Damn.
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I find your comment to be particularly unimpressive:

1) In general it would appear as though you would prefer that people treat Earl better, because he is a champion, a senior citizen, and has "bonafide issues". I do not believe it is respectful place people who are known to have "bonafide issues" in a position where others can be entertained by their "bonafide issues". Matchroom is not doing Earl favors by placing him in a position for him to entertain Europeans with his issues. I find it distasteful to laugh at old handicapped people.

2) I challenge you to find a single post on here where someone was making a comparison between Earl and Michael Vick...of course, until you came.

kollegedave
 
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westcoast said:
In all seriousness, is there anybody in the pool world that can calm Earl down when he goes on tilt? If so, that person needs to be involved in some capacity on Team USA. Otherwise, odds are fairly high that he will lose it when something goes against him and then his quality of play will deteriorate.
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Michaela Tabb.

Lou Figueroa
 
skogstokig said:
so is MD. both of them would be included if the cup was only singles, but it's a team event.

some people write stuff like earl has an intimidation factor and/or euro fans hate him. neither is true. not one of the euro players will be fazed by earl.

and regarding opinions of the man i think many euro players, myself included, would confess to having earl as a favorite player when they started playing pool. atleast for my generation where VHS/DVD matches were doing the rounds in the 90's and 00's. earl is probably to thank for influencing more people to take up the game than any other pro player outside asia. to me, earl is still the best 9-ball player ever.

my gripe with this selection is the signals it sends out, with him DQ'ed for assaulting a fellow player just a week ago, at a WPA tournament. completely irrational, cringey behavior that noone wants to see even near a pro pool tournament. he is clearly, clearly, not mentally sound at the moment. he claims the players at the table nearby was talking too much, but many of us remember him completely sharking the hell out of skylar and chohan when he had his mental breakdown against atencio (or whoever it was) some year ago.

my other objection is that there are other deserving players who could fill this spot and are less prone to team conflicts. oscar, sossei, chris, roberts comes to mind. tyler is fighting like hell travelling all over the world, even if him and svb/skylar don't gel i think he is worth consideration.
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More appropriately put: the Euro fans love to hate him.

And I don't care who you are, if Earl comes out firing on all cylinders you're going to be intimidated.

Lou Figueroa
 
penguin said:
Mike's professional pool career ended the moment he outed Shane on Facebook for being with an underage girl.

But Shane is the USA's number 1 player, so we're not supposed to talk about things like that.

And don't pat yourself on the back too hard for being around professional pool players. Anyone with a free place for them to stay and some $$$ to stake them can do the same.

Many of us have "lived it" as well and know all about the sort of things that don't get posted on the internet.
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It was just more than opening his trap about SVB, he ruined his own public image with many many blunders and talking out of line and too much. Sad story, pool lost, MD lost and here we are.

Anyways have a good day,

Take care
Fatboy 😀
 
lfigueroa said:
More appropriately put: the Euro fans love to hate him.

And I don't care who you are, if Earl comes out firing on all cylinders you're going to be intimidated.

Lou Figueroa
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That's one BIG 'IF'. Last time he played, '13, he won one match in doubles. Think he's improved in the last 8yrs?
 
He didn't get the nickname 'Douche-aine' for nothing.
Fatboy said:
It was just more than opening his trap about SVB, he ruined his own public image with many many blunders and talking out of line and too much. Sad story, pool lost, MD lost and here we are.

Anyways have a good day,

Take care
Fatboy 😀
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kollegedave said:
I find your comment to be particularly unimpressive:

1) In general it would appear as though you would prefer that people treat Earl better, because he is a champion, a senior citizen, and has "bonafide issues". I do not believe it is respectful place people who are known to have "bonafide issues" in a position where others can be entertained by their "bonafide issues". Matchroom is not doing Earl favors by placing him in a position for him to entertain Europeans with his issues. I find it distasteful to laugh at old handicapped people.

2) I challenge you to find a single post on here where someone was making a comparison between Earl and Michael Vick...of course, until you came.

kollegedave
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So, you are saying that Earl is “handicapped” and, therefore, should not be allowed to play in events with people who are not handicapped?

SVB wears a hearing aid.

Should he be thrown off the team.

Maybe we can start a Special Olympics Mosconi Cup for them.
 
kollegedave said:
I find your comment to be particularly unimpressive:

1) In general it would appear as though you would prefer that people treat Earl better, because he is a champion, a senior citizen, and has "bonafide issues". I do not believe it is respectful place people who are known to have "bonafide issues" in a position where others can be entertained by their "bonafide issues". Matchroom is not doing Earl favor's by placing him in a position for him to entertain Europeans with his issues. I find it distasteful to laugh at old handicapped people.

2) I challenge you to find a single post on here where someone was making a comparison between Earl and Michael Vick...of course, until you came.

kollegedave
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I find your reading comprehensive skills equally unimpressive. I never, ever said anyone compared Earl to Vick. What I did imply was the Vick was allowed to play football after drowning dogs after participating in a horrible and inhumane manner of fighting them for sport.

And the NFL welcomed him back with open arms. But, a HOF pool player cannot come back because he gets emotional during a match like most of the biggest and richest athletes in the world. Have you seen someone take a 100mph fastball to the head. It's not pleasant.

The amount of trash talking Jordan did would make a hooker blush. He was BRUTAL and used anything and everything to get in his opponents head. Well, he only became a billionaire and now part owner of a team and makes $50M or more per year just on endorsement deals.

But, pool, being played by nuns, saints and other do gooders just can't tolerate someone like Earl. Hell, I grew up in a pool room, with cheats, hookers, mobsters, liars, felons, scammers, drug addicts, drunks, etc. If Earl is too much for these folks, then we really have a problem.
 
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ChicagoRJ said:
I find your reading comprehensive skills equally unimpressive. I never, ever said anyone compared Earl to Vick. What I did imply was the Vick was allowed to play football after drowning dogs after participating in a horrible and inhumane manner of fighting them for sport.

And the NFL welcomed him back with open arms. But, a HOF pool player cannot come back because he gets emotional during a match like most of the biggest and richest athletes in the world. Have you seen someone take a 100mph fastball to the head. It's not pleasant.

The amount of trash talking Jordan did would make a hooker blush. He was BRUTAL and used anything and everything to get in his opponents head. Well, he only became a billionaire and now part owner of a team and makes $50M or more per year just on endorsement deals.

But, pool, being played by nuns, saints and other do gooders just can't tolerate someone like Earl. Hell, I grew up in a pool room, with cheats, hookers, mobsters, liars, felons, scammers, drug addicts, drunks, etc. If Earl is too much for these folks, then we really have a problem.
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If it was 1990 and Earl was still at the top of his game, none of us would be complaining. Earl wasn't picked for his playing ability in 2021. Vick was allowed to return because people thought he could win.
 
Lol.... and people wonder why pool is not as big as Snooker for TV, sponsors etc.
Before Earl was mental, when he just played pool really well that did the talking.
 
I have played pool for longer than a lot of people on here have been alive.

Anybody who takes any game that they don’t have a stake in SERIOUSLY needs to get a life.

This is a GAME.

Not an event that ANYBODY who isn’t making a dime off of should care about…except for fun and entertainment.

Same goes for any sports.

If you are not IN THE GAME, get your beer and popcorn and watch it.

You don’t need to suit up!

You are not on the team or one of the participants!

I don’t care who wins.

I am not playing.
 
ChicagoRJ said:
Really, cherry picking that Earl is top 8 in the country? I don't know if Decahine wanted to go, or if anyone wants to play with him. If SVB didn't want to play with Earl, we'd know about it.

Now, was it a Sentimental favorite pick? Absolutely. Rewarding what many consider the best 9 ball player than ever lived and has won the most world Championships of any current playing pool player, or his record 5 US Open wins (tied with SVB).

Yes, how dare they actually reward someone for being a champion. Yes, you are correct, they should have just tossed this HOF ass aside like yesterday's garbage. One mediocre, professional baseball player, with just 10 years under his belt, makes more in his pension that all our current HOF players make combined. Sad, huh?
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Funny...last time a guy 41 fargo points below Earl made the team....no steam.
 
jasonlaus said:
How would that help?
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Guess it depends if you think fargo rates equate to player merit...

Here's the current rankings for 'North American' players.

Fargo Rankings:
2: Shane Van Boening, USA 829
15: Alex Pagulayan, CAN 815
29: Sky Woodward, USA 801
30: Mike Dechaine, USA 801 <- shunned for some reason
41: Justin Bergman, USA 794 <- won't travel
57: John Morra, CAN 786
72: Corey Deuel, USA 779
73: Oscar Dominguez, USA 779
78: Rodney Morris, USA 777
84: Earl Strickland, USA 774
87: Billy Thorpe, USA 773
93: Josh Roberts, USA 771
97: Jonathan Pinegar, USA 769
100: Jonny Archer, USA 769

So pretending that Dechaine is wanted/willing to play. That still puts John 5th on the "all North America" team. If you think the inclusion of both Alex and John wouldn't help the NA team, you're delusional.

I'd put my money on Morra over anyone on that list below him. Fargo rate advantage or not.
 
The_JV said:
Guess it depends if you think fargo rates equate to player merit...

Here's the current rankings for 'North American' players.

Fargo Rankings:
2: Shane Van Boening, USA 829
15: Alex Pagulayan, CAN 815
29: Sky Woodward, USA 801
30: Mike Dechaine, USA 801 <- shunned for some reason
41: Justin Bergman, USA 794 <- won't travel
57: John Morra, CAN 786
72: Corey Deuel, USA 779
73: Oscar Dominguez, USA 779
78: Rodney Morris, USA 777
84: Earl Strickland, USA 774
87: Billy Thorpe, USA 773
93: Josh Roberts, USA 771
97: Jonathan Pinegar, USA 769
100: Jonny Archer, USA 769

So pretending that Dechaine is wanted/willing to play. That still puts John 5th on the "all North America" team. If you think the inclusion of both Alex and John wouldn't help the NA team, you're delusional.

I'd put my money on Morra over anyone on that list below him. Fargo rate advantage or not.
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The odds of Canada ever being included are about as good as the odds of Earl not going off.
 
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