Recent content by FranCrimi

Bon Jovi, It's My Life.

My friend Gene Nagy, the best at that style I'd ever seen, named that process, drop and shoot. It doesn't hold up under pressure though, because it requires basically blind trust. That's hard when you're competing. However, in practice, it is very informative. Here are two possibilities based...

No. They lost. They can't be happy.

With footwear and pool, in addition to comfort, height is key. Keep it consistent, whether you're at your home table or in a tournament, the shoe style can change but the height should be the same or your stance and possibly balance will feel off.

Definitely!

This is true. In China they have clubs with strict training schedules for their players. They practice 8 to 12 hours a day, every day, and are tested. Then the clubs compete against each other. The clubs receive subsidy money from the Chinese communist gov't, depending on their performance. Of...

Ray schooled me on his opinion of the benefits of a sharper taper, so I started experimenting with them. I switched to an open bridge for about a year, which was a pretty bold move for me to make on tour, and I played with the carom shaft for a while, and then switched to an American shaft...

Freddie, I think it's understandable for people to think that he made cues mostly for the carom players. When I first met him in the early-mid 90s, it was at an international championship carom tournament at Sang Lee's room in NY. At that time --- correct me if I'm wrong --- the two main carom...

I was going to mention your name because I had a vague memory of your having one of his low deflection shafts. I played with a few of them, I guess at varying stages of development. It started when I told Ray I had a Predator shaft made to fit his cue. That didn't go over well with him at all...

I heard the same. Ray probably worked out a deal with Predator to use the hole.

Not laminated but the top of the shaft past the ferrule was hollowed out. I recall that he said he had a conversation with the guys at Predator to make sure he wasn't infringing on their patent.

A lot of people don't know this, but during the last years of Schuler Cues under Ray, he was experimenting with low deflection shafts. He would send me prototypes to give him feedback. They were actually very good and played just as well as the early Predator shafts. I think he had them on the...

I couldn't say 100% for sure, but from what I understood, neither father nor son were cue-makers. I think the son was learning and the father was the investor. Noel would know for sure.

Ray actually sold the shop to Terry Trim before he passed away. Ivan and Noel offered to buy the business, but for some reason, Ray refused. I don't know why --- maybe Trim made him a better offer --- but we all felt it was a mistake to sell it to Trim, who's main reason was for his son to have...

I think you were in good company playing the way you described. Wasn't that Allison Fisher's way of approaching her shots?