So suspect that Fedor spent a minute checking for gaps and alignment from both ends of the table. He still thought it was good enough to hit....lol
The comical bias on this forum is what keeps me coming back....lmao
Turning Stone Classic XXXVI
- Thread starter azhousepro
- Start date
The comical bias on this forum is what keeps me coming back....lmao
Ok, so this jumped out at me and I had the stream open so I thought I'd dig.Jayson seems to be a great individual. However, I think he was putting unnecessary pressure on his opponents to get a perfect rack with a wooden rack. Oi, Gorst, Sossei and Syklar seemed frustrated at times having to re-rack over and over. Oi seemed like his back was hurting couple times with the amount of re-rack he had to doSyklar at one point walked away and said I "think" this is a good rack ... fortunately, Jayson accepted it
With luck, supernatural skills and "asking for re-racks, Turning Stone might be the Jayson event
In the Gorst match there was only 1 requested rerack. It was on rack 16 and requested by Jayson. Gorst spent less time racking and more time checking racks then Jayson did for the match.
In the first Sky match there were 2 rerack requests. One by both players. Shaw reracked the first rack on his own accord.
I was going to dig into the Oi match but got side tracked with the stuff I get paid to do.
I'm not sure anyone said anything about Earl. Unlike practically every other player I've ever watched in my 47 years around pro pool, Earl has often shown disrespect toward tournament directors, sponsors, referees, opponents and even fans. There's really no similarity between him and Shaw.
Good to see the prize money up this year after entry fees were raised (added money of $25,000 was not changed).. First prize was $8,000 for the previous 30 events in a row. But they have a long way to go to get to Bustamante's first-place prize of $15,500 at TSII in 2001. Added money for that one was $50,000.
Gorst spent a lot of time getting the rack done and checking it himself so Gorst match was not not much of an issue. Check the Sossei, Oi and the match where Syklar said he thought his rack was good ...I can't remember if it was the first match of the day or the final. Anyway, I spoke to 3 people at my homeroom who were there and all said they thought Jayson was asking for too many re-racks - much more than other players. Also, I am not sure how you are quantifying a re-rack ... if someone had to re-rack the same game 3 times before it was acceptable was that 1 request or 3?
That was NOT an easy shot. Not even relatively. On no planet is that easy.
Of course for us mortals it wasn't an easy shot at all, but I only meant that it was "relatively easy" compared to many of the other shots that Jayson had already made during his comeback. He was on such a roll at that point that most of us were surprised that he missed if, even if for us cushion beaters it was a shot that we may have ducked. But the way Jayson was shooting at that point, he was in such a "zone" that he was definitely more than an even money favorite to make it. You could see by Chang's almost comically relieved reaction that he was also expecting Jayson to finish it out, especially after his similar comeback against Ko-Pin Yi, and I'm sure Jayson was, too.
Well, someone got into Jayson's ear at the Mosconi because in one of the post match interviews he said, 'I hope everyone knows that it is all in fun and I really don't mean anything seriously'. SOMEONE, wife, sponsor, etc must have said. Jayson, you are coming across really bad. Even though you're on team Europe, you do remember where you live...right! Watch the pre-event press conf. The look on Jeremy Jones face said it all.
I did not know that. I have a feeling the cost of setting-up and delivery of the Diamond tables might have increased since 2001, like everything else.
Zuglan's Turning Stone event was the first pool happening that always sold out ahead of time. Now it is happening more and more, which speaks to the quality of pool tournaments in 2023, thank goodness.
I attended the pre-event press conference at the Mosconi live.
Actually, Jayson and Earl are friends who lived together in Queens, NY for a year. I'm sure that the tussle between them during the press conference was 100% staged and that they were busting each other's chops to generate enthusiasm for the event, which they did successfully. It's what we all expected going into the press conference.
Yes, Jayson playing the bad boy at the Mosconi has been going on for a few years now and I really wouldn't expect it to change in Mosconi Cups to come, as it intensifies the rivalry. As you correctly note, it shows up during the play and sometimes even during the interviews, occasionally in the form of trash talk.
Yes, as he says, it is all in fun, and how some people choose to interpret it doesn't change that, but the players on both Team Europe and Team USA aren't fooled by his act.
Well calling SVB a snake couple years ago was way overboard, I would think. Anyway, you are correct, the Mosconi Cup is really an entertainment show ... how else can you explain picking Earl? That's why I feel that there is no reason to be upset by players celebrating their victories during the Mosconi like Jayson and Josh do.
I noticed a couple small changes that may have helped redirect some additional funds to the prize money. In prior years, the floor of the venue was carpeted. I remember seeing most of the top pros break down their cues after a match, and wipe off their tips on the carpet before putting them into the cases. No carpet this year. I'd imagine that alone could account for a couple grand going towards prize money. I did overhear that Earl's trip was comped last time, travel, room, meals, everything; and when he left like he did it was not well received. Not sure if that expense was part of the "$25K added", but if it was then that could have gone towards the purse too this time. Earl was prominently pictured on the poster last time, but this years poster didn't have anyone pictured on it, not sure if that saves anything though.
Beauty of streamed matches is you generally can vet the opinions of others against actual fact. So far in two of the matches you called out as examples, there is zero video evidence that backs it up. I watched the second set (final) between Shaw/Sky and didn't see any abuse of Sky with being asked to fix racks.
A "re-rack" is anytime a player (in this case Shaw) does not accept the rack as it is and the racker must doctor the rack in any fashion.
Sossei: Sossei had a hard time with the very first rack. Both he and Shaw attempted to get the rack solid. A third party wiped down the cloth in an effort to help with the racking. Eventually both were satisfied. The second rack Sossei wasn't happy with what he was giving Shaw, but Shaw accept it regardless. The rest of the set went without any complaints or finger pointing. So, again..., this Shaw complaint about racking pressure is without merit.
Final: There were 3 requests to fix the rack throughout the 25 games played. First by Sky in the 9th rack. The next 2 by Shaw, both in rack 13. Otherwise there were zero complaints or finger pointing. If anything the effort Shaw put forth ensuring solid racks for Sky during his comeback should be praised.
Oi: This was a hair more difficult as it wasn't the focus table on the stream, but I caught all of Oi's 8 racking efforts. He was asked to touch up racks 2, 4 and 5. Rack 2 he had to address 3 times. In each case Shaw pointed to the issue and there appeared to be no complaint by Oi once the flaw was shown. So this is the worst example by leaps and bounds and is only note worthy because of how inconsequential the other matches were in this regard.
So out of the Gorst, Sossei, Oi, and 2 sets with Sky. Shaw broke roughly 48 racks (not checking lags). Out of those 48, he asked 10 times for a rack to be cleaned up in 7 games. Out of all those, no one appeared to complain about what Shaw was pointing to as an issue. 20% could seem like a high number to some. However consider that the only person to have a consistent problem was Oi. Asking for a rack to be touched up once in a race to 9 (Gorst, Sky, Sossei <-no request actually made) and twice in a race to 13 (Sky and same rack) isn't sharking or placing undue pressure on anyone. The only outliner is Oi with 5 requests made to him.
Could it possibly be an issue with the effort Oi was making..? Is it possible that Shaw was in the right and Oi needed to put more effort into racking...? I think I hear the sky falling....lol
Is it possible there's an unfair bias against Shaw in the US and anti-fans are dreaming shit up...?
Jayson said in the interview after the match that they were having trouble freezing the back 3 balls which would allow the nine ball to head toward the corner pocket. He said him and Sky talked about it before the match and we’re just trying to give each other a good rack where the 9 didn’t end up in front of the corner pocket after every break.
It would have helped to be there and see for yourself. Not everything including face expressions can be caught on video. Just listen to Upstate AL commentary on the re-racking in the first Jason - Sky match on Sunday and you will get the picture. One spectator even shouted out to Jayson to just go ahead and break the rack. Question is why other matches where Jayson was not involved did not require as much re-racking?? I don't have anything personal against Jayson, I just hope he was not trying to get into his opponents heads when the scores were tight as some of my friends suggested. I'll leave it at that.
Understood. I'll always opt to side with what's shown on video evidence over opinion derived from hear say.
Based on what I saw on the hours of video from Turning Stone, versus the endless bile I see tossed at Shaw on this forum. It has me thinking this "problem" of Shaw's is merely fabricated crap with those with an axe to grind. At the very least there's zero evidence to suggest otherwise.
I don't believe it.... Like Shaw and Sky would want to be professionals and not take an unfair advantage. Simply crazy talk...lol