There's been a few threads lately comparing greats from different eras. Greatest of all time, dream matches, and discussion about fargorate or accustats ratings across the decades.
I'm of the belief that such comparisons can't be made in a meaningful way. You can compare statistics. You can compare titles. You can compare prize money. You can compare opponents vanquished. You can compare high runs. But you cannot compare greatness.
For one thing they played different games. Comparing SVB's 10 ball game to Mosconi's 14.1 game isn't possible. It's a totally different game. So is two foul push out nine ball. So is nine ball played on slow cloth and big pockets. Ask any top player that competed before simonis and lightning fast rails with two foul push out and they'll confirm the game today is as different as pool and snooker.
But what gets lost in all of this is transcendence. That is the word my best friend uses when he talks about those sports heros that come along every few generations that break through barriers of what other people thought was possible and transform the game.
Mosconi did this with 14.1, running balls so smoothly it's a thing of legends. Sigel did this with tournaments, navigating through brackets and finals matches with uncanny consistency. Reyes did this with rotation and one pocket, showing what is possible with finesse, speed, and feel. SVB did this with 10 ball, showing the devastating power of perfecting the break. Each of them drove themselves beyond the level of their competition. They set out to be the best, the envisioned a level of play that had never been seen and then through sheer will they summoned it out of the universe and brought it into existence.
So let me ask- suppose one day there are dozens of 800 ball runners. Is a 600 ball runner that is ranked 13th in the world 'greater than Mosconi' because they have a technically higher run? I don't think so. Because Mosconi surpassed all of his competition, and this person is merely following in the road that he and others have paved. Mosconi was transcendent, and he elevated himself to levels beyond that of his opposition. If there were 800 ball runners in his time it's possible he might have ran 1,000. His goal wasn't to run balls, it was to win.
In many ways the levels reached by the historic greats are like unfinished runs. Who's to say they couldn't have kept going if the rest of the world hadn't run out of challenges to be overcome? If the Accustats ratings of a great player today surpasses that of Earl, who's to say that Earl wouldn't have found another gear to achieve the same dominance had that player existed during his time period?
I do think the overall level of play is increasing due to the knowledge that's out there, the superior equipment, and the natural tendency for the bar to always rise as new players test themselves against old benchmarks. I have no problem celebrating a new record or a high water mark performance from a technical standpoint. But I do think we have to have some respect for the greats of all eras and to understand that each of them possessed a will that extends beyond statistics. There is simply no way to compare their heart and they all have their place in the history of our sport.
I'm of the belief that such comparisons can't be made in a meaningful way. You can compare statistics. You can compare titles. You can compare prize money. You can compare opponents vanquished. You can compare high runs. But you cannot compare greatness.
For one thing they played different games. Comparing SVB's 10 ball game to Mosconi's 14.1 game isn't possible. It's a totally different game. So is two foul push out nine ball. So is nine ball played on slow cloth and big pockets. Ask any top player that competed before simonis and lightning fast rails with two foul push out and they'll confirm the game today is as different as pool and snooker.
But what gets lost in all of this is transcendence. That is the word my best friend uses when he talks about those sports heros that come along every few generations that break through barriers of what other people thought was possible and transform the game.
Mosconi did this with 14.1, running balls so smoothly it's a thing of legends. Sigel did this with tournaments, navigating through brackets and finals matches with uncanny consistency. Reyes did this with rotation and one pocket, showing what is possible with finesse, speed, and feel. SVB did this with 10 ball, showing the devastating power of perfecting the break. Each of them drove themselves beyond the level of their competition. They set out to be the best, the envisioned a level of play that had never been seen and then through sheer will they summoned it out of the universe and brought it into existence.
So let me ask- suppose one day there are dozens of 800 ball runners. Is a 600 ball runner that is ranked 13th in the world 'greater than Mosconi' because they have a technically higher run? I don't think so. Because Mosconi surpassed all of his competition, and this person is merely following in the road that he and others have paved. Mosconi was transcendent, and he elevated himself to levels beyond that of his opposition. If there were 800 ball runners in his time it's possible he might have ran 1,000. His goal wasn't to run balls, it was to win.
In many ways the levels reached by the historic greats are like unfinished runs. Who's to say they couldn't have kept going if the rest of the world hadn't run out of challenges to be overcome? If the Accustats ratings of a great player today surpasses that of Earl, who's to say that Earl wouldn't have found another gear to achieve the same dominance had that player existed during his time period?
I do think the overall level of play is increasing due to the knowledge that's out there, the superior equipment, and the natural tendency for the bar to always rise as new players test themselves against old benchmarks. I have no problem celebrating a new record or a high water mark performance from a technical standpoint. But I do think we have to have some respect for the greats of all eras and to understand that each of them possessed a will that extends beyond statistics. There is simply no way to compare their heart and they all have their place in the history of our sport.
