PROG8R said:
These were some of the best for sure, Strickland probably has the most tourney wins and top 5's of that list, but when Mike was in his prime, they could not match him or his accomplishments.
I agree, at least as it pertains to the accomplishments on the American tournament trail. There was no international tournament trail to speak of, IMHO.
PROG8R said:
I think the problem is that when he was a pool god, most people that are competitors now were either not born yet, or they were just comming out of diapers. I think that in this era; Efren is the closest thing to the type of dominance that Mike used to have. And in 25 to 30 years when there is a whole truck load of new pros they will see Efren playing and they might react the same as people are now towards Mike...
Again, I agree. It's a time warp and sometimes a regional thingie. It's like reading some of the "Who's the Best" threads. Many of the responders state the BEST is someone from their neck of the woods, a young up-and-coming player, for example, when sometimes they have not been exposed to other newbie champions, for lack of a better term.
Pool faves are cyclical in nature, and they come in waves. I have no idea how good Wimpy played. I have never seen him -- [I don't think] -- in my life. However, if you were to ask someone who had seen Wimpy play when Wimpy was hitting 'em, they could fill your ear with a lot of niceties.
And then there's the equipment change. With the advent of pool's state-of-the-art technology, to include jump cues, break cues, Simonis cloth, Aramith balls, and the pristine tables, the playing field has changed somewhat, IMHO. It is difficult to compare Willie Mosconi's caliber of play, which occurred in his era on different equipment, to a young whipper-snapper of today who's playing on fast cloth, jumping balls like a mule, and breaking with sticks called "Sledgehammers." [I like Sledgehammers, and I'm not knocking them.]
Personally, some of the BEST pool I have ever experienced, up front and close, is action games. It's amazing how some of these action game players pull a shot out of their bag of tricks and execute it successfully in the heat of the battle. Tournaments can be pressure pits as well, but action games sometimes allow one to really witness the heart of a genuine champion.
Gone are the days of action players, though. Today, players are becoming tournament soldiers, hoping they will be able to showcase their skill sets in an environment which is commensurate with their God-given talent and dedication to pool.
Some champions can't hack the lifestyle and leave. This pool is a rich man's high, and without mentioning the infamous three-letter acronym, I hope it's going to change for the better. If it happens, we may all be entering the final frontier where pool will be regarded, at least here in the United States of America, as a legitimate sport.
JAM
