What makes you think anyone will be allowed to play on the same table after John set a new record again?
You have a difficult way of pushing your point sometimes (or let's say often
) and you make funny mistakes (like writing John instead of Jayson above) but I think I get your point overall (this time) and I think you are right (this time).
If other players want to break Jayson's record they should have a fair chance meaning their table should be of exact same difficulty. Regulations are needed to know, how to set up a table so the new record can be compared with the actual one.
If John Schmidt wants to break the record, he doesn't need to get invited by The Legends of Pocket Billiards. All he needs is a table and a camcorder (better two from different angles). But he needs to know the specifications of the table. Otherwise, here I agree with you, you can always find a table mechanic to make the pockets bigger and easier.
If Legends make their pockets 5 1/4 '' (looks this way on some photos) while John's table had only 5'', who is to say next record won't be made on 5 1/2'' pockets and the one after on 6'' pockets? It probably will backfire on some pocketsize with too many scratches on the break to make bigger runs more difficult again, but I don't want to find out, what this pocket size would be.
So I totally agree with having this contest on an easy GC III with 5'' pockets. This is how Straight Pool was played for over 20 years (US Open Straight Pool 1989, 1992, 2000 (on GC IV), Maine Event 1995), Mosconi had his run on an easy table and John ran his 626 on the easiest table he could find (5'' pockets, seemingly comparable to the GC III from Legends).
But seemingly and in the same ballpark is not the same as "it was exactly the same difficulty". And if 5 1/4'' is seemingly the same as 5'' and 5 1/2'' is ok, if 5 1/4'' was, then .... you get the picture.
So Lou can keep repeating "You don't like the way we make it, make your own event" but for official World Records some official agreement on table specifications is needed. It wasn't available before. When John went for the record, he was the first in over 50 years and no one cared how he did it and from Mosconi we don't have the specifications.
But if there is more interest now and if people want to challenge the 714, we need to know the equipment without fearing some Frankenstein tables with 7'' pockets.