Shaw vs. Doung Quoc Hoang

I see your point as he’s had achievements, just not what he had the potential to have. It’s almost like after a few milestones were achieved, he just drifted in the prime years of his career and has now just become fat and surly.

Some of us are far and surly and never had any milestones.
 
Wasted talent seems a bit much, but more than a grain of truth there.
I see your point as he’s had achievements, just not what he had the potential to have. It’s almost like after a few milestones were achieved, he just drifted in the prime years of his career and has now just become fat and surly.

For me, wasted talent or achievements are not the issue with this guy. It's his arrogance and lack of respect for the game, his opponents and fans of pool.
 
I did not predict a "large contingent" of world champion players who would dominate our sport. What I do predict is a few top speed players who can compete with the other champions in a similar way as Hoang. From this group perhaps one or two will emerge as special, like the Ko brothers.
If Vietnam produced five of the Fargo Top 100 by 2030, that would be statement enough for me.
 
I remember the first time I saw Shaw about 12 years ago. I thought that he might become one of the true greats in time. Turns out to be just another example of there being nothing sadder than wasted talent, what a shame.

His pure shotmaking ability is genuinely insane, if only he had better table discipline.
 
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If Vietnam produced five of the Fargo Top 100 by 2030, that would be statement enough for me.
That's only four years. Kids starting at 8-10 years old (perhaps the oldest one can start and reach world class) would need longer to get there, even if they started a few years ago. And pool keeps booming. Give it ten years, 2036, and I suspect they'll be there, or close.
 
That's only four years. Kids starting at 8-10 years old (perhaps the oldest one can start and reach world class) would need longer to get there, even if they started a few years ago. And pool keeps booming. Give it ten years, 2036, and I suspect they'll be there, or close.

it's almost a certainty. population 100 million, pool halls left and right, huge focus on their idols on the pro circuit..
 
That's only four years. Kids starting at 8-10 years old (perhaps the oldest one can start and reach world class) would need longer to get there, even if they started a few years ago. And pool keeps booming. Give it ten years, 2036, and I suspect they'll be there, or close.
I'm going on 69. It's hard to give anything ten years at this point in life.
 
What are you guys smoking Shaw is a wasted talent? He goes to about every event possible. He's won about everything in pool at one time or another. He might be an ass, but so what? That makes watching pool fun.

It’s always a question of what you expect of a player. Jayson has one US Open title and one WNT major (Hanoi). No world titles (I’m not counting blackball).

Of course he’s won a ton of tournaments (including a million Turning Stone) and been great in the MC.

If people saw him as a grinding touring pro then they’d say he’s done great. But if you think he’s got SVB/Filler/Gorst/FSR/Ko level talent, he has underperformed.
 
I'm going on 69. It's hard to give anything ten years at this point in life.
I'm 82 and seen 100 champion players come and go. Twenty years at or near the top is a very long and succesful career. Dennis had 15 good years, enough to get him in the HOF.
 
I'm 82 and seen 100 champion players come and go. Twenty years at or near the top is a very long and succesful career. Dennis had 15 good years, enough to get him in the HOF.
You are to be envied, my friend. The memories are for keeps! Thinking way back like you, I remember when, in the mid-1970s. Irving Crane told me that Mike Sigel was one to watch ... so I watched him and he became my favorite player in the 1980s.

As you know, Dennis Orcullo was one of my favorites, too. What I liked most about Dennis was that, like Efren and Alex, he managed to excel in every discipline. Dennis was best known for rotation pool, but he was also elite at banks and one pocket, and also very capable at straight pool.

I was delighted to be there for the BCA Hall of Fame dinner in which you introduced Dennis and during which he was inducted. For me, the BCA Hall of Fame dinner encapsulates my life around pool. I cry every year when they show footage of deceased, but not forgotten, legends of the game, and in all but a few cases, they were people I knew and with whom I had spent at least some time.

PS By the way, speaking of having a long run at the top, how cool is it that Niels Feijen, now in his thirtieth year of competition, still carries a Fargo 824 and just beat SVB at the World 10ball.
 
Neils is an exception, as are Efren and Bustie. Rempe and David Howard also had long careers.
Of course, the longest career of them all in the 9ball era was that of Ralf Souquet, who is at it for nearly 40 years and is still competing at a high level.
 
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