OK, so at the outset I alluded to something funny I came across that led me to ask the question.
It's from the reporting I did, at Mark's request, from the 2010 CSI 10 Ball Open. Mark invited me and put me up to write every day about the happenings. So the this a small excerpt from the stuff I wrote way back then:
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While watching the Efren -- Baraks match, I was also watching the Oliver Ortmann -- Tyler Edey match. First off, I guess I’ve never watched Ortmann play that much before. I was shocked to see that he plays with the most pronounced chicken wing stroke I’ve ever seen. I mean, it is really out there. And what makes it even more striking is that he is usually holding the cue right at the very butt, so that he looks very much the gladiator holding a sword, about to administer a kill shot.
Edey plays a very clean, precise game. It’s almost as though he is playing 14.1 instead of 10-ball. And, he ends up on the hill in no time flat. In fact, it’s something like 8-4 when Edey starts to experience some "in-flight" problems. First, he corner hooks himself in the side pocket with just four balls left on the table. Game to Ortmann. A game later, Edey fails to apply enough draw and leaves himself on the eight straight into the rail and misses a table-length bank. Game to Ortmann. He then runs down to *the match ball.*
Now this is when you knew it was time for someone to go knock on the cockpit door and ask if everything was OK, because this is a 10 ball that "the drunk Girl Scout" makes four-out-of-five. He misses. Game to Ortmann. Ortmann wins a game without assistance from Edey and then Ortmann makes a mistake in the next game. Edey is running out, but then misses a six ball. Game to Ortmann.
The Efren match is over by now and *everyone* in a very full room is watching to see if this meltdown is going to go “all the way.” Ortmann is now on the hill too. One of his safeties leaves a six-eight carom for Edey. He makes the carom but leaves the cue ball in the jaws with an ugly back cut on the six. After lengthy due diligence, Edey steps up and everyone holds their breath as they watch the six ball slooowly slide into the corner pocket, while the cue ball gracefully travels two rails and comes up perfect for the seven, with the nine and ten nearby hangers. Edey gets out and saves himself from a very, very long and sleepless night.
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Lou Figueroa