I have been watching Billiards Network and really enjoy Earl Strickland's comments.His describing how the shot would be done, at least how he would shoot it, has been a great learning tool, Thanks Earl
Earl has the demons of the knowledge
I wonder in the past if his anger was because his opponent was so bad and making poor decisions.
I had teachers that get mad while watching me work on stuff the wrong way.
Is Earl an overly strict teacher? He is watching the top pros play.
Would he act that way with a D player that can't stroke a cue properly?
Meaning can Earl teach the B to Pro students or can he teach the never held a cue before type people that walk in to a pool hall with lots of self important feelings.
I hope Earl can make pool fun for adults new to the game. I believe in him.
Mister Strickland, really??
I agree, the best commentator ever, good job billiard network, I dont know how they did it, but really well done.
I would not put him as the best commentator ever but he does call the shots pretty much exactly how they were played. He'd probably be in the top 10 commentators, ahead of most Matchroom people but behind the AccuStats and CSI teams (past and present). His shot calling is pretty spooky but maybe the layouts were just going from point to point, reminds me a bit of when Tony Romo was doing the NFL commentary and people were saying he was magic for calling so many plays correctly.
What? AccuStats? LOL, look I love accu-stats, old commentaries are fine but if you mean the new commentary box then I'm sorry, just wow.
Mark Wilson: probably the worst commentary of all time, he keeps repeating the same thing which doesn't help anyone, ill quote "Look at his transition from back-stroke to front-stroke, it is so smooth and straight" or he'll just keep going "Uh-hmmmmm" all day long, he is so boring its quite astonishing to me how he is coming back to the booth.
Danny D: He is way behind his years, he calls everything wrong, every angle wrong, every ball wrong.
Jimmy Wytch: He thinks it's an NFL match, he shouts after shot thinking a team scored a goal in a soccer match, he thinks shouting after a good shot is how commentary for a pool/snooker match should be, it's really really annoying.
Old commentaries like Billy Incardona and Grady Mathews were great, you learn a lot of them, just like how we learn nowadays from Earl Strickland.
Some people think good commentary is predicting what a pro is going to do, this is so wrong for so many levels, a good commentary is how a problem of a layout is explained, and telling you how to overcome this problem, also telling you options of routes on each shot, thats is how a good commentary should be. it is NOT PREDICTING what a pro is going to do, predecting has nothing to do with a good commentary.
I saw many commentaries trying to see the body language of a player then when he goes down on a shot, they tell you what they're going to do, this isnt a good commentary, anyone can do that, I see where the pro is hitting the cueball and I can tell you if he's going two rails or three rails, that is very easy, I hope the new commentaries stop doing that.
Earl's commentary is the best! I hope he and billiard network re-dub some of the older, great matches on youtube that you can't watch because of bad commentary. I'd also enjoy hearing him comment on one of his own matches.
Not the most articulate commentary, but true; at least the translatable parts.
:sorry:
Just curious as to what parts you don't find translatable? I can't think of another commentator working today whose commentary is as crystal clear (and spot on) as Earl's. I also appreciate his casual style that demonstrates experience and knowledge without a hint of arrogance. His plain and straightforward delivery is refreshing. I've not been a big Earl fan up until now, due to his frequent poor behavior during matches, but I have to say the personality that comes through in his commentary is winning me over.
Most of the other commentators I've heard over the past several years range from mediocre to awful, but since many are doing it for little or no compensation I wouldn't call them out on it individually. There are also a handful that are quite good at it and enjoyable to listen to, but from what I've heard from him so far Earl is easily my favorite.