I'm not so sure. I think to make that claim, you'd have to find the averages of all of John's runs in the last few years. Of course we can't do that. But didn't he run the 400 about 15 years ago, and a second 403 or so a couple years later? And he won the US Open about then also, as well as the DCC One Hole. His tournament record is better then than now.
I do believe players slow down a bit as they get older, from both an execution perspective and a determination perspective. John is at the age that is starting to happen, IMO.
I doubt he is any better now than 15 years ago. (And I'd say the same thing about pretty much any player, both pro or amateur, that there game is almost the same from about age 22 to age 45).
Yes, I heard the podcast where John said something clicked in his head when he had that high 400's run a few weeks before hitting the 626. And I read all of the threads too. But if you average his runs across all of his concerted efforts the past 2 years, did they in fact increase as time went on? I'd bet they were about the same.
Another thing you can look at, is all of his run attempts at DCC over the years. Did they increase as the years went on? Again, without knowing the data, I'd hypothesize they were in the same range every year.
Edit: Hell, I bet on John to do well at the US Open earlier this year. I felt he had been playing so well and was in dead punch because of all of the straight pool. And he ended up getting blanked in one or both of his matches. I was shocked.
Your response is a very reasonable thought process and may very well be spot on. I hope it's not in John's or for Danny's case, as far as that does.
I've always wondered why Danny didn't go further than he did in the pro ranks.
I witnessed Danny's first ever match against Mike S., and to be honest, from what I saw that day, just like others....I expected Danny to become a much greater force in the pro tour than what actually came to be.
I personally know John a lot better than I do Danny. I've only met Danny three or four times. First time was when he played so well at a very young age against Mike. I can't remember how old he was but, I know he couldn't have be over 20ish years old.
IMO, Danny had more "natural" talent as an all-around player at that age than John did.
I have no idea where Danny's 14.1 game is at today so, I would be hesitant to bet on him in a really long race. A race to 125, well, I would be scared (literally) to bet against Danny regardless of who he was playing.
At their levels of play, a 14.1 race to 125 is about like a race to 5 in 9 ball between two players that have ran 10 packs in the past......just who ever is on and happens to get the first open shot wins the match, almost a coin toss. Then, add the fact that Danny has always been known to grind with the best, well, is another factor that would make me hesitant about a short set.
I'm not so sure about John's game being the same or even lesser now compared to then. Sure, most players do play worse as they age but, 14.1 is a different animal and sometimes age/experience is an edge instead of a drawback and I believe that the sheer amount of 14.1 time on the table has given JS an edge. I would feel somewhat comfortable betting that JS has put more time into his 14.1 game than anyone else of his generation forward and that probably wont change for a long time to come.
Also, like you said, all the needed data would clear a lot up but, we'll never see it so, we'll have to speculate from what we do know. And what I know is that JS has put one Hell-of-a-lot of time in lately but, I have no idea how much time Danny has put into 14.1 in the same timeframes.
John knows that Danny is a dangerous opponent. I'm sure most anyone would feel the same way about Danny.
We can only hope a match between JS and DH will happen. Like I said before, I would be willing to pay a premium PPV price to watch it.
Their love for 14.1 coupled with their history with each other should make for a very, very exciting match.
Jeff