Billy Thorpe gone wild!

[iusedtoberich]

I'm glad pool is not big enough that a little spat between two players is not going to cause national media drama. I actually think its ridiculous other sports players have to be on their best behavior at all times. Pool is good in that regard, you can be yourself. And on the rare occasion you go on tilt, it won't be the end of your career or social status.

 

[jay helfert]

That was unpleasant to watch on many levels. Don't get me wrong, I've seen as much and worse in bars and poolrooms before, but it wasn't on the internet where it can be put on YouTube for the world to see later. When I've seen behavior like this before it was usually between low life scufflers and thieves who had bad attitudes to begin with. Often it ended up in blows being thrown and the house man or bouncer had to break it up and throw them both out. If it happened in one of my poolrooms we would 86 both players for an indefinite period of time. To see one of our representatives on the MC team acting like this is truly disappointing. There is no excuse for what I saw there. To later say it was just because he was drunk doesn't make it any better. Being drunk is not an excuse, in fact it only makes Billy look that much worse, acting like a drunken fool.

That Billy is a sore loser is another thing. He's getting beat on and this is how he reacts. If he feels he is being cheated in some way, then he should just pay off and quit. He must be desperate for a game if he gambles with someone he knows is going to put a rack on him. I'm sure he thought he had the best of it when he made the game.

No doubt this will all blow over in a few days, but it won't be totally forgotten. Once it's on YouTube it's memorialized forever. Billy should know better. IMO he needs anger management classes (and maybe AA as well), but I'm sure he won't be getting them since he probably believes it's all Rob's fault. Rob is no angel, but he is not the aggressor here.

My answer how to avoid stuff like this - neutral racker. Of course, the horse is out of the barn now and we can't unsee what we just saw.

 

[RingKing]

So is it “cancel culture” when Matchroom is sinking a bunch of money into US pool and having a guy with a rage drinking problem on the US team makes them look bad?

If you had a “professional” in any other sport acting like a clown, they’d be getting sat down by their team and/or the league.

Removal from the team after a single instance yes that would be cancel culture imo. If this was happening all the time...a pattern of bad behavior then there should be negative consequences.

Nearly every professional sport in US has shoving, fighting, bench clearing brawls. Hell pro football has a number of felons and murders still lacing up every week. Maybe billiards needs a couple bad boys.

So the incident I just watch imo does not come close to making Matchroom look bad. I will likely tune into the next Thorpe match just to see how he does.

 

[ideologist]

Removal from the team after a single instance yes that would be cancel culture imo. If this was happening all the time...a pattern of bad behavior then there should be negative consequences.

Nearly every professional sport in US has shoving, fighting, bench clearing brawls. Hell pro football has a number of felons and murders still lacing up every week. Maybe billiards needs a couple bad boys.

So the incident I just watch imo does not come close to making Matchroom look bad. I will likely tune into the next Thorpe match just to see how he does.

"Accountability for your actions" is not "Cancel Culture"

 

[straightline]

Hypocrite Culture then.

 

[evergruven]

Robb Saez's birthday is tomorrow, and he will be 47 years old. He and his significant other just had a baby girl. Robb used to be a macho man on the Joss Tour, and I've seen his temperament elevate at competition events in the past. He seemed to have mellowed, however, as he aged. But if anybody was screaming at me the way Billy was, as loud as Billy was, and I was Robb, I'd be inclined to fight fire with fire. Robb was barred for spitting on somebody at a Joss event, if I remember correctly.
I don't know Billy well, but I do know Robb. I am very disappointed that Robb couldn't defuse the situation with his seasoning. He's been around and knows better. But Billy was in full throttle with his mouth. Not too many people can take that kind of abuse without retaliating.

hey JAM, nice to hear from somebody that knows robb
I don't, but got to meet him randomly one time and he was friendly
I actually had brought my copy of "playing off the rail" to the 'hall to show a pal
robb happened to be at the same place! he signed the book, and was nice about it

anyway, we all have the capacity to give in to our inner angels, and devils
sorry to see it in that vid, especially over a dang pool ball rack
as is mentioned in thread, maybe it wasn't just the rack that was the issue
but that such an integral part of the game can't be worked out in a way
to prevent blow-ups like this from occurring seems hard to believe

I'd like to see honor in the game upheld by good sportsmanship
but maybe rack your own should be the thing, at least
and if you got the knowledge, use it- would that really be cheating?
I don't have the answers. and I know thanks to rack mechanics, etc.
tournas are trying to figure out ways to keep things on the level
neutral racker is good, but unrealistic in most circumstances
we need to do better..fighting over a rack is just silly

 

[trob]

Who cares. it Happened at some little tournament. Maybe he had some other stress that has him on edge you know it all’s don’t know about. He has no history of this as I’m aware of. hes human and he lost his head. The two of them have made up and our fine. By the time the mosconi cup comes around this will long be forgotten about.

 

[Jason Robichaud]

Who cares. it Happened at some little tournament. Maybe he had some other stress that has him on edge you know it all’s don’t know about. He has no history of this as I’m aware of. hes human and he lost his head. The two of them have made up and our fine. By the time the mosconi cup comes around this will long be forgotten about.

His actions and definitely words used during the entire video are horrible for the sport. The people caring will be sponsors and anyone trying to market an event. Unless they want a 'Trailer Trash Open', it's tough to sell this as a "professional" sport or the face of a product. Personally I prefer to witness a Mosconi Cup player at a free pool clinic for kids or something positive on the sport and sponsors, but probably never will. Instead we see two guys probably playing with someone else's money fighting cause they need to win.

 

[Biloxi Boy]

Avarice and ego are two of mankind's less endearing traits. What these cats have lost is pride, not false pride, but the real pride of doing the right thing -- like giving someone a good rack or backing away when someone else is disintegrating or descending into an abyss. What they also forgot is that such behavior brings one dangerously close to, only an instant away from, assault and jail.

As a matter of pride and self satisfaction, when I lift the rack off the felt, I have done everything I can to give a perfect rack. If I miss, it is not because I did not try. Anyone who questions my rack is welcome, because he is not, can not be, questioning me or my integrity. This is what I give my opponents, and I expect the same in return. It is what we owe each other and ourselves. I want no part of a game in which an opponent seeks to best me through some sniveling, scuffling, tactic such as a rigged rack -- or any other bullshit. No thank you, break down my cue, sit down.

If you want to know why pool cannot rise up to its rightful place, look no further than this incident, because it is not isolated. We have allowed too much bad behavior to persist. Such behavior should not be tolerated. I do not care what other idiots do in their sport -- this is my sport, our sport. We, and our sport, deserve better.

 

[lfigueroa]

I'm glad pool is not big enough that a little spat between two players is not going to cause national media drama. I actually think its ridiculous other sports players have to be on their best behavior at all times. Pool is good in that regard, you can be yourself. And on the rare occasion you go on tilt, it won't be the end of your career or social status.

Career? Social status?

What career or social status? There is neither when it comes to pool and this kind of behavior (and its general acceptance by many) is one of the reasons pool is a big fat zero on the scale of marketable sports.

Lou Figueroa

 

[lfigueroa]

Who cares. it Happened at some little tournament. Maybe he had some other stress that has him on edge you know it all’s don’t know about. He has no history of this as I’m aware of. hes human and he lost his head. The two of them have made up and our fine. By the time the mosconi cup comes around this will long be forgotten about.

Until MC selection time and someone re-posts the video

Lou Figueroa
the interweb is forever

 

[alstl]

Moral of the story:

Never play a drunk redneck with a mullet.

Thorpe is from Dayton Ohio a city of 800,000 people. I'm from Missouri. I know rednecks. Rednecks are friends of mine. Thorpe ain't no redneck. He is fortunate he pulled that move on Saez and not a local. He could have ended up being hog food and that's not a lie.

I'd advise him to avoid a place named Skidmore.

 

[garczar]

Thorpe is from Dayton Ohio a city of 800,000 people. I'm from Missouri. I know rednecks. Rednecks are friends of mine. Thorpe ain't no redneck. He is fortunate he pulled that move on Saez and not a local. He could have ended up being hog food and that's not a lie.

I'd advise him to avoid a place named Skidmore.

That where the town bully got capped and no one saw a thing?? 'City Confidential'(great A&E series btw) covered that.

 

[jay helfert]

Avarice and ego are two of mankind's less endearing traits. What these cats have lost is pride, not false pride, but the real pride of doing the right thing -- like giving someone a good rack or backing away when someone else is disintegrating or descending into an abyss. What they also forgot is that such behavior brings one dangerously close to, only an instant away from, assault and jail.

As a matter of pride and self satisfaction, when I lift the rack off the felt, I have done everything I can to give a perfect rack. If I miss, it is not because I did not try. Anyone who questions my rack is welcome, because he is not, can not be, questioning me or my integrity. This is what I give my opponents, and I expect the same in return. It is what we owe each other and ourselves. I want no part of a game in which an opponent seeks to best me through some sniveling, scuffling, tactic such as a rigged rack -- or any other bullshit. No thank you, break down my cue, sit down.

If you want to know why pool cannot rise up to its rightful place, look no further than this incident, because it is not isolated. We have allowed too much bad behavior to persist. Such behavior should not be tolerated. I do not care what other idiots do in their sport -- this is my sport, our sport. We, and our sport, deserve better.

Just because someone is being an asshole doesn't mean you have to be one too!

 

[garczar]

Seriously??? Why all the hoopla?? Two guys gambling in a bar-b-q joint/bar in bumf^&k Missouri. These guys are grinding out a living for one and two they're not in church. It got caught on video, big deal. Don't think pros in the major sports don't go off like this???? Please. Happens ALL the time. Just the other night that colossal tool Lebron went off on some spectator. What happened to him?? Nothing. These guys will be laughing about this in less than a week. One last thing, Earl's been acting like a total douchebag for well over 20yrs yet it seems like everyone on here gives the guy a pass. Double-standard possibly??????

 

[chitownnorth]

Thorpe is from Dayton Ohio a city of 800,000 people. I'm from Missouri. I know rednecks. Rednecks are friends of mine. Thorpe ain't no redneck. He is fortunate he pulled that move on Saez and not a local. He could have ended up being hog food and that's not a lie.

I'd advise him to avoid a place named Skidmore.

Dayton has less than 150,000 people.

 

[The_JV]

Career? Social status?

What career or social status? There is neither when it comes to pool and this kind of behavior (and its general acceptance by many) is one of the reasons pool is a big fat zero on the scale of marketable sports.

Lou Figueroa

Couldn't have said it better.... You want to make pool stronger...? Send a message to the other pros on the circuit that this is not how a professional should conduct themselves, and disallow Billy as a possible Mosconi Cup player for next year. It would be better to make that public well beforehand, but just keeping it quiet and let the rumour mill do the work for you.

Ya ya, cancel culture..., whatever. Pros in any other game would be fined heavily for just the aggressive behaviour. Not even to mention the actual physical altercation. Seeing as we don't have an organized body that can levy such a penality. Matchroom can take it upon themselves to better the sport.

I've been recently attacked for having a preceived negative view on professionals lately, so before the torches get aimed my way again. I have zero issue with Billy Thorpe. I don't know the man from a hole in the wall. However I do see an opportunity to potentially clean up the NA game a little, and Billy has served it up. My stance would be the same regardless of the person cursing and shoving.

 

[Cuebuddy]

Thorpe is from Dayton Ohio a city of 800,000 people. I'm from Missouri. I know rednecks. Rednecks are friends of mine. Thorpe ain't no redneck. He is fortunate he pulled that move on Saez and not a local. He could have ended up being hog food and that's not a lie.

I'd advise him to avoid a place named Skidmore.

Good old Nodaway County. Its been years since I was through there.

 

[garczar]

Dayton has less than 150,000 people.

City itself yes but metro area is over 700,000.

 

[garczar]

If i was BT i'd hire a good PR firm and milk this for everything i could. "Playing tonight is BadassBilly Thorpe. What's he gonna do this time??" Seriously, in this day-n-age there is no such thing as bad pr in sports. Guy got pissed and went off. Yawn. Move on.