I was looking through the past tournaments of the 1980's on this site to see how many tournaments Buddy Hall and Sigel were winning back in those days and seriously I was shocked to see how dominant Earl really was back in the Mid 1980's, from about 1984 till 1988 the guy won a ton of tournaments, his list looses nothing to Sigel, who really only tops Earl in 1986 when it seems Sigel must have been at his peak.
Earl is NOT a old guy even today, what the heck happend to him? He must have been a phenomenal "competitor" back in his youth, I dont say "player" because I think we all still know he has game and can play with the best when he is in the right mindset. Where is that mindset? What happend to him where he seemed to have a massive amount of killer instinct and confidence in the 1980's to today where he seems to have alot more trouble winning. Dont try telling me it is a more powerful pool scene today because Hall in his prime, Sigel, Efren was around then, Mathews, Parica, Varner, Rempe there was no shortage of top players back then.
I am quite a fan of Earl, The guy is really cool with his fans and has been good for the sport. I wish he was able to recapture the mindset of the past he had when he was alot more dominant. The guy still looses nothing to anyone in the world with regards to natural skill, it seems to all be mental problems I can only guess. I wonder if hypnosis regressing him back to the time when he had the RIGHT mindset going into matches and tournaments would help, sports psychology is a pretty common thing for atheletes and Earl is a premier enough player to justify this sort of thing.
I am not sure if Earl lurks, I know it may be intruding on his own private stuff and it is cool if he does not want to answer but if he did not mind I would love to hear a honest opinion on what he had then going on in his head from now? Was it the "young gun" feeling of shooting down the old guys he thrived on? I know the guy used to gamble and was pretty fearless, is the lack of that gambling spirit and edge to blame these days? The killer instinct it bestows? Whatever it is if you are reading this Earl whatever you lack from then to now please get it back, this sport needs the old you that seems to have had alot more confidence and killer instinct at the table.
Earl is NOT a old guy even today, what the heck happend to him? He must have been a phenomenal "competitor" back in his youth, I dont say "player" because I think we all still know he has game and can play with the best when he is in the right mindset. Where is that mindset? What happend to him where he seemed to have a massive amount of killer instinct and confidence in the 1980's to today where he seems to have alot more trouble winning. Dont try telling me it is a more powerful pool scene today because Hall in his prime, Sigel, Efren was around then, Mathews, Parica, Varner, Rempe there was no shortage of top players back then.
I am quite a fan of Earl, The guy is really cool with his fans and has been good for the sport. I wish he was able to recapture the mindset of the past he had when he was alot more dominant. The guy still looses nothing to anyone in the world with regards to natural skill, it seems to all be mental problems I can only guess. I wonder if hypnosis regressing him back to the time when he had the RIGHT mindset going into matches and tournaments would help, sports psychology is a pretty common thing for atheletes and Earl is a premier enough player to justify this sort of thing.
I am not sure if Earl lurks, I know it may be intruding on his own private stuff and it is cool if he does not want to answer but if he did not mind I would love to hear a honest opinion on what he had then going on in his head from now? Was it the "young gun" feeling of shooting down the old guys he thrived on? I know the guy used to gamble and was pretty fearless, is the lack of that gambling spirit and edge to blame these days? The killer instinct it bestows? Whatever it is if you are reading this Earl whatever you lack from then to now please get it back, this sport needs the old you that seems to have had alot more confidence and killer instinct at the table.
