Just watched 2003 US Open McCready vs. Hall

PocketPoint said:

Great match even though both players missed a few easier shots.

Keith wins rack 20 and before the final game he announces that it's "cigarette time" and the match gets put on hold. I found it hilarious. Did he really go out for a cigarette?

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For anyone wanting to watch it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsHAG8YrXG8

skip to 44:00 for the quote

PocketPoint said:

Great match even though both players missed a few easier shots.

Keith wins rack 20 and before the final game he announces that it's "cigarette time" and the match gets put on hold. I found it hilarious. Did he really go out for a cigarette?

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Of course he did. That's why he said, "Cigarette time!"...He smokes cigarettes.

Definitely a great match to watch, though. I really like both players, and I really enjoyed Buddy's grumbling about the measle cue ball afterwards.

Here's a copy-and-paste of a post I wrote about this match-up:

The very first time this polka-dotted cueball made its debut here in the States was at the 2003 U.S. Open, and when it arrived mid tournament, they brought it up to the TV table to see how it would do. The scuttlebutt was that folks watching the TV recording could see the spin and english used better with this cueball.

As luck would have it, the first TV table match to use the red-spotted cueball was Buddy Hall versus Keith McCready. The two of them didn't seem to mind, but they both examined it very carefully before the set.

Then it was lights, camera, and action. The race to 11 was quite uneventful. Neither player seemed to catch a gear. At one point during the match, Keith fired at a ball and came with a miss. He couldn't believe his eyes and said to his opponent, "Hey, Buddy, I think I must have hit the wrong dot."

It was a fairly easy shot that Keith missed too, and the expression on his face says it all!

Photo courtesy of Diana Hoppy of Poolpics by Hoppe.

you can see mccready smoking during the 1988 match against Strickland.

The *best* match of that day, though, was when Keith defeated Jose Parica in the evening. Jose got his revenge the next day, though, and knocked Keith out of the tournament into third place. The last day, the semi-finals began at 12 noon, and Keith hadn't finished his rounds the night before until close to 4 a.m. He just lost that lightning in the jug early Sunday morning with no sleep, food poisoning from bad food in our room fridge, and, well, to be honest, there wasn't any beer for sale that early in Virginia. Keith used to enjoy a few -- uh, a lot of brewskies when he played pool.

Saturday's matches leading up to the semi-finals on Sunday were hard-fought. On Saturday night, Rob Sykora of BCn asked the spectators and fans WHO they wanted to see the next round on the TV table at 10:00 p.m., front and center, and the overwhelming majority voted for Keith. I was a little uneasy about it, just wanting Keith to keep winning. The TV table plays a little funny with the hot lights. This was the year that the new polka-dotted cue-ball was introduced.

Jose Parica vs. Keith McCready battled it out neck and neck, with Keith ending up knocking Jose in the losers' bracket. Keith got the HIGHEST score for the televised Accu-Stats matches at the 2003 U.S. Open this particular round, and he played well.

Before the match commenced, Jose and Keith stood in the wings, waiting for Billy Incardona and Jimmy Wech to announce their names. When they called out Keith's name as he emerged to enter the TV pit, the crowd cheered loudly and gave him a huge round of applause. As he walked over to his tableside chair, he was overcome with emotion and tears began to well up in his eyes. I'm thinking, "Oh, no. Now he won't be able to see the balls." Jose Parica came out of the gate first and enjoyed an initial lead, but Keith fought back and never gave up.

Accu-Stats Video Productions recorded a match when McCready defeated Filipino Champion Jose Parica at the 2003 US Open Nine-ball Championship and describes it as: "The most entertaining match that Accu-Stats has ever offered. Keith steals the show and the audience approval."

Accu-Stats link of the match: $19.95.

Well, one thing for sure, when I meet Smorgie up in heaven, at least there will be some data written about what Billiards Digest describes as the "loose cannon" a/k/a Keith McCready.

The print media in the '80s didn't cover some aspects of pool. They tended to sweep gambling and action under the rug as pool's dirty little secret. I am still miffed at how Billards Digest wrote and credited Ewa Mataya with the popularity of "The Color of Money" and how it advanced pool in 1986. There was no mention of Mike Sigel, even, who was the technical director, or any of the pool players who were in the movie. Just Ewa was given credit for it. I like Ewa a lot, but I don't think of her when I think of the movie, "The Color of Money." She was, though, and still is the darling of the the BCA and pool print media then and now. Very deserving, she is, but not for the movie.

Though the print media seemed to never write about the road warriors in the '80s, the topic of the movie, it is a fact that when Keith showed up to an event, everybody congregated around his table to watch him play pool.

Keith thinks of pool as entertainment and likes to engage the crowd. Don't get me wrong, he wants to win in every tournament match he plays in, but when the crowd is on his side, it is the fuel that ignites his pool engine. And his opponent is in deep trouble when this happens. :grin:

Here is another copy-and-paste of a post I wrote about the Buddy versus Keith match at the 2003 Open.

And the very first match that red-dotted cueball was introduced at the 2003 U.S. Open was on the TV table. The players up to bat were Veterans Buddy Hall and Keith McCready.

Upon initial inspection of this polka-dotted whitey, the two of them didn't quite know what to make of it as they practiced before the match, but it seemed to roll just like the plain-vanilla version.

At one moment during the match, Keith fired at a shot and came with a miss. With a deer-in-headlights look, he turned to Buddy and said, "Gee, Buddy, I think I must have hit the wrong dot." The audience erupted in laughter. Buddy cracked up, but couldn't get to the table fast enough for his turn, as depicted in the picture below, courtesy of PoolPics by Hoppe.

The set did end up going to the infamous double-hill. "Although the play was not stellar, the score and the personalities make this match worthwhile, says Accu-Stats."

That's my story, one which I have posted on this forum before, but I'm still sticking with it!

That's David Howard in the front row enjoying the match. In fact, everybody that saw the match was laughing and enjoying themselves. That's how Keith rolls.

Today, Keith and the road warriors like him are a dying breed, and he has just doesnt fit the stereotypical image of today's pool tournament soldiers. If a movie comes out now about pool in 2010, it will be all about tournament soldiers around the world. Action just ain't what it used to be, and neither is pool if you like action.

Photo by Diana Hoppe of Poolpics by Hoppe.

PocketPoint said:

Great review!

I still don't have the match against Jose Parica but I'll definitely get it.

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It's a great one and maybe my favorite. At one point in the match, I think Jose scratched. Keith jumped out of his chair like a Jack-in-a-Box and said, "Man overboard," as he was running to the table. :grin-square:

JAM said:

At one point during the match, Keith fired at a ball and came with a miss. He couldn't believe his eyes and said to his opponent, "Hey, Buddy, I think I must have hit the wrong dot."

It was a fairly easy shot that Keith missed too, and the expression on his face says it all![/COLOR]

Photo courtesy of Diana Hoppy of Poolpics by Hoppe.

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Hey Jennie,

If I remember right, I think Keith said "Looks like I shot the wrong pokey dot". (for some reason, that match stuck in my mind)

BTW, I'm fairly sure that is me, in the blue shirt, partially covered by Keith's left arm. I would guess that this match was either Friday or Saturday. If I remember right, this was the year that the big hurricane hit town, knocking out power, etc. This was also the year that Keith beat Parica, to face Jeremy Jones in the hot seat, lost, then (unfortunately) got knocked out by Parica in the semi final rematch.

*Edit- just saw JAM's follow up posts... Keith did shoot great against Parica, on the A side. KM shot a .943 or so, and would have been a higher number had KM not missed a couple of easy shots, one being a 9 ball. JAM was on beer supply duty, during that match and was a nervous wreck, lol.


Eric

My personal favorite was when Kieth got 1 game up on Jose he said to the crowd, "I BEAT THE LINE I GOT ONE". LOL

Another 2003 match with Keith

Keith vr the Lion,

During the Efren Reyes vr Francisco Bustamante tv table match, the cameras panned away to the Keith vr Alex Pagulyon match near the tv tables.

Keith was being Keith and doing commentary on all of his shots. Keith gets to the hill first and announces.... 'you can put this on the internet and dawgs the 9... Alex wins and makes it Hill Hill. Alex breaks and misses an eash 2 ball and Keith quietly runs out for the win.

If you get to watch the Efren Busty match, the Keith and Alex final games are also included.

BTW I was in a great position to watch both matches. Priceless.

Tom In Cincy said:

Keith vr the Lion,

During the Efren Reyes vr Francisco Bustamante tv table match, the cameras panned away to the Keith vr Alex Pagulyon match near the tv tables.

Keith was being Keith and doing commentary on all of his shots. Keith gets to the hill first and announces.... 'you can put this on the internet and dawgs the 9... Alex wins and makes it Hill Hill. Alex breaks and misses an eash 2 ball and Keith quietly runs out for the win.

If you get to watch the Efren Busty match, the Keith and Alex final games are also included.

BTW I was in a great position to watch both matches. Priceless.

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That was a priceless match. It might be the ONLY time in Accu Stat history that they actually stopped a TV table match, to film the end of another match.

If IRC, the KM/AP table was just in front of the TV table(as viewed from the boom camera). I believe you, Fred Agnir and I were sitting in the stands by the TV table and only had to look to our right, to view the other match!


Eric

Gotta catch this from home, sounds like a hoot!

Keith was just as funny when gambling in a back room somewhere. He was a non stop source of unique quotes, kind of the stand-up comic of pool. Where he came up with some of those lines I have no idea, just that he cracked people up wherever he went. And to top it off he played pretty damn good too.

Somewhere I have a picture of all of us in the stands. Thanks for the memory Eric.

Eric. said:

That was a priceless match. It might be the ONLY time in Accu Stat history that they actually stopped a TV table match, to film the end of another match.

If IRC, the KM/AP table was just in front of the TV table(as viewed from the boom camera). I believe you, Fred Agnir and I were sitting in the stands by the TV table and only had to look to our right, to view the other match!


Eric

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Eric. said:

That was a priceless match. It might be the ONLY time in Accu Stat history that they actually stopped a TV table match, to film the end of another match.
Eric

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I can think of one other instance...Johnny Archer and Efren were playing on the TV table, (I think it was at the Sands in the mid 90's)...

Rudolpho Luat and Earl Strickland were playing on the adjacent table, Luat was ahead 10-8, and shooting an easy 9 ball for the match.

He dogged it, and Strickland made the most amazing jump shot/combination ever seen in the next rack, and ran out to tie it up...Memory fails me as to who won that match, but I'm pretty sure it was Earl.

Johnny was visibly agitated that Pat was making him wait to break, so Rick could film the other match.

If I win the game before the hill game and I'm breaking on the hill--- I'd never take a break (I have the momentum).

JAM, can you ask Keith why he took a break? Maybe there's no logic. Maybe he just wanted to puff a cig before he snapped off the hill. hehehe