Archer vs. Sigel 1993 Accu Stats
- Thread starter westcoast
- Start date
L.S. Dennis
Well-known member
Agreed, I find this match far more interesting than today's pro nine ball matches with all the extensions constantly being called. These guys played at an interesting pace, never boring!
I watch these old matches all the time too. I totally understand how and why the game has evolved into what it is now. The template rack, 9 on the spot, tight pocketed table game makes sense. BUT....these old matches just are more interesting to me. The racks just played out so much more uniquely than today's game.
Time marches on and things change. I get it.
Still...
There's a vintage Sigel vs Varner match I've watched at least a dozen times and it's funny listening to Buddy Hall commentating and going on and on about the wing ball going in on every break. There just has always been problems with 9 ball. Still, I'll always fondly look back on the 90's era. Maybe everything hadn't been perfectly figured out back then, but thankfully that worked to the benefit of the spectators.
Time marches on and things change. I get it.
Still...
There's a vintage Sigel vs Varner match I've watched at least a dozen times and it's funny listening to Buddy Hall commentating and going on and on about the wing ball going in on every break. There just has always been problems with 9 ball. Still, I'll always fondly look back on the 90's era. Maybe everything hadn't been perfectly figured out back then, but thankfully that worked to the benefit of the spectators.
Good match, Grady was the best.
A lot of people liked Grady with Billy, but my favorite combo was Grady with Buddy. I loved Buddy's baritone voice and his genuine laugh, which you would always hear at least once. You could tell he really loved pool.
L.S. Dennis
Well-known member
I enjoyed the commentary with Nick, Buddy and Billy. The banter back and forth between Nick (with his thick Kentucky drawl) and Buddy was priceless! Billy would occasionally get a word in edgewise but mainly it was Nick and Buddy when they got together. Miss those times!
L.S. Dennis
Well-known member
The games back then had a fluidity about them that today's game sorely lacks. They were very fast and easy to watch unlike today's modern day nine ball matches. There was no getting up and down 14 times and looking at the shot from every possible angle only to get up and down again on the shot and then call an extension! I appreciate what Matchroom has and is doing for pool but if they want to get more viewership, something needs to be done about this. Just an opinion,,,
His financial dealings required full time attention.
what business pursuits did Sigel have post-pool?
L.S. Dennis
Well-known member
Grady during this match alluded to something that was absolutely correct, and that was that Sigel knew how to win! If I'm not mistaken, I think that Sigel had more than 100 major tournament wins in his career! And that is when he retired still playing at close to his best. In terms of total tournament wins, he is probably the winningest player of all times, Stu could probably corroborate this but I think it may be accurate.
I know lots about this match.
I’ve talked to both about it several times each and at the same time(I shut up and let them talk-I wish that would have been recorded). Being a fly on the wall for that was amazing
Johnny said he was “nervous as hell” as it was his first big TV appearance. Mike, was Mike zooming around and “I got a little lucky at the end, but wtf that’s how it goes”.
Those 2 quotes sum it up as they are what they said. I can’t add to it. Direct quotes. I didn’t change what they both said. So no arguments!
Just to hear them talk about it 30 years later was beyond cool. And it’s memorable for both of them and how many matches have they played? To remember this one validates just how special this match is when the players remember it. Usually they can’t recall who they played last week.
Fatboy<———luckiest guy in pool, except Efren
I’ve talked to both about it several times each and at the same time(I shut up and let them talk-I wish that would have been recorded). Being a fly on the wall for that was amazing
Johnny said he was “nervous as hell” as it was his first big TV appearance. Mike, was Mike zooming around and “I got a little lucky at the end, but wtf that’s how it goes”.
Those 2 quotes sum it up as they are what they said. I can’t add to it. Direct quotes. I didn’t change what they both said. So no arguments!
Just to hear them talk about it 30 years later was beyond cool. And it’s memorable for both of them and how many matches have they played? To remember this one validates just how special this match is when the players remember it. Usually they can’t recall who they played last week.
Fatboy<———luckiest guy in pool, except Efren
just shows two of the best ever, played and never missed really any shots. maybe a total of 2 in the whole match.
dispels the notion that today's players are so much better. better than what?
and how did they play so well with those shafts that squirted the cue ball around. simple, it isn't an issue.
never seen a miss from not having the right chalk or a layered tip.
dispels the notion that today's players are so much better. better than what?
and how did they play so well with those shafts that squirted the cue ball around. simple, it isn't an issue.
never seen a miss from not having the right chalk or a layered tip.
squirt or high vs low deflection is a question of familiarity. the ko brothers play solid maple, as does lee van corteza. ko ping chung played a TPA 1.000 with his maple shaft in the US open he won, on diamond tables with 4" pockets. carbon fiber may have many benefits, especially in terms of durability, but it doesn't play better than wood
For me this was a golden era for pool. And matches like this were the norm. Even playing winner breaks! We heard the names of the remaining players, Tony Ellin and Earl in the hot seat. That means Varner, Hopkins, Rempe, Hall, Mizerak, Efren and all the other luminaries of the pool world had already been eliminated. Back then the U.S. Open had a stuffed board of 64 players, all of them strong players. I was not there that year, busy getting ready for my L.A. Open.
Notice Johnny wasted no time picking lint off the table. He just picked balls off one at a time. Sigel always had a designated yes man in the audience he would chirp with. When you saw him walking around the table, smiling, shrugging and shaking his head you could bet the next ball was going in. He played great under pressure, seemed to enjoy being on the spot and in the limelight. He was forty then and near retirement. He had won the Classic Cup a few years back and I ran into him at the Chicago airport before we both headed home. He showed me the check for $6,000 which I thought was great. He said if he was a golfer it would be ten or twenty times this amount. He had won the tournament and was depressed about it. I think the U.S. Open may have been 15K on top the year shown here. That was a really big one in the pool world back then. There were always one or two big money events each year like Willards Classic and Atlantic city, but that's about it. The rest usually paid maybe $5,000 to $7,500 to the winner.
Anyway, a good match and yes the pockets were standard four and five eighths back then set up by Al Conte, the top Brunswick mechanic. But everything was going in the heart of the pocket. Thanks for the memories.
Notice Johnny wasted no time picking lint off the table. He just picked balls off one at a time. Sigel always had a designated yes man in the audience he would chirp with. When you saw him walking around the table, smiling, shrugging and shaking his head you could bet the next ball was going in. He played great under pressure, seemed to enjoy being on the spot and in the limelight. He was forty then and near retirement. He had won the Classic Cup a few years back and I ran into him at the Chicago airport before we both headed home. He showed me the check for $6,000 which I thought was great. He said if he was a golfer it would be ten or twenty times this amount. He had won the tournament and was depressed about it. I think the U.S. Open may have been 15K on top the year shown here. That was a really big one in the pool world back then. There were always one or two big money events each year like Willards Classic and Atlantic city, but that's about it. The rest usually paid maybe $5,000 to $7,500 to the winner.
Anyway, a good match and yes the pockets were standard four and five eighths back then set up by Al Conte, the top Brunswick mechanic. But everything was going in the heart of the pocket. Thanks for the memories.
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I'm not at liberty to say.
Apologies. Probably shouldn't have opened that can.
bass fishin and blo will keep you broke.
That title count sounds about right and yes, he knew how to win more than anyone of his era. His record in finals was absolutely mind blowing and he was triple tough at the majors. If I had to guess, I'd suggest that Ralf Souquet, inclusive of his many wins at the European Championships, has more titles than Mike.
Sigel was the most impressive player I've ever watched. I have noted my opinion on this forum before that, had he not retired from competition in his prime, he, not Efren, would be considered the best player of all time. To me, however, he's still in the conversation, and Mosconi, Efren and Sigel are the clear three best players that ever lived.
I've always placed great meaning in the fact that two of Mike's peers called him "the greatest pool player I have ever faced." Those peers, by the way, were Efren Reyes and Earl Strickland.
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