Earl imploding in the World Pool Masrers

RunoutJJ

Professional Banger
Silver Member
Not really but it goes to show you the true class of a man. It's sad because I feel Earl would be so much more respected if he lost with some grace.
 

Magyar19

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I don't respect him any less and neither should anyone else. He has a mental illness. Yeah, lets chide the guy for having a mental illness. Might as well yell and get pissed at the handicapped guy holding you up while hes crossing the crosswalk.
 

Calzican

Registered
I wanna know who made Earl the God of rolls? Guys beat his brains out in a match and because maybe they miss a ball and hook him.." Oh their just all lucky" I watched a 14yr old in Tunica a few years back shoot lights out in a match against Earl and he barely shook the kids hand..

I think that old saying "A good azz whooping would do him some good"

Did you see the interview after the match in the WPM where he's saying Kaci is a good player not a great player?
 

Joe_Jaguar

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I don't respect him any less and neither should anyone else. He has a mental illness. Yeah, lets chide the guy for having a mental illness. Might as well yell and get pissed at the handicapped guy holding you up while hes crossing the crosswalk.

Yeah being an a-hole is a mental illness :rolleyes:

:boring:
 

Maniac

2manyQ's
Silver Member
I don't respect him any less and neither should anyone else. He has a mental illness. Yeah, lets chide the guy for having a mental illness. Might as well yell and get pissed at the handicapped guy holding you up while hes crossing the crosswalk.

What mental illness does he have, and has it been diagnosed as such by a competent doctor? Does he take medication for this illness?

I once read on here that he doesn't take the meds because it screws his game up. So....he goes without the meds and screws it all up for everyone else right down to the spectators.

IMO, he needs not to play in any major tournaments if he cannot act with proper etiquette. Surely he's got to know that his actions during and after matches are unbecoming to professional pool.

That said....it WAS a Matchroom event and the interviewer seemed like his questions were aimed at Earl to get a reaction. But still...….

Maniac
 

Cuebuddy

Mini cues
Silver Member
What mental illness does he have, and has it been diagnosed as such by a competent doctor? Does he take medication for this illness?

I once read on here that he doesn't take the meds because it screws his game up. So....he goes without the meds and screws it all up for everyone else right down to the spectators.

IMO, he needs not to play in any major tournaments if he cannot act with proper etiquette. Surely he's got to know that his actions during and after matches are unbecoming to professional pool.

That said....it WAS a Matchroom event and the interviewer seemed like his questions were aimed at Earl to get a reaction. But still...….

Maniac
All good points Maniac, I will still not crap on the man because I feel bad that life has grabbed him by the short hairs.

I hate to see anyone suffer, even if you get what you deserve.

In Fact I will help him by buying a lesson from him....again.
 

midnightpulp

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Earl can be very coherent....when he wants to be. :yeah:

Was he always like this or has his increasingly bad attitude gotten worse with age? You watch old Earl videos, and while he might beat himself up for a bad play, he's well behaved. Seems like he changed for the much worse after 2000 or thereabouts.
 

sjm

Older and Wiser
Silver Member
My late father, who died eight years ago to the day, used to say "win or lose, if you conduct yourself like a loser you are a loser." Yes, Earl is an all-time great player but he is a loser of the worst kind.

In my presence, he has abused tournament organizers, producers, officials, fellow competitors and fans. The last thing pool needs is another Earl Strickland.
 

maha

from way back when
Silver Member
in all sports and events its the eccentric guys that keep the spectators coming back for more. eliminate them and you eliminate your sport.
 

jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
Gold Member
Silver Member
Was he always like this or has his increasingly bad attitude gotten worse with age? You watch old Earl videos, and while he might beat himself up for a bad play, he's well behaved. Seems like he changed for the much worse after 2000 or thereabouts.

It has definitely worsened over the last 15-20 years. At his peak in the 80's and 90's he was an intense competitor who was all business at the table. He remained focused on the match until it was over and was almost always a good sport during the course of the match. He might shake his head at a bad roll but not allow that to affect his next shot.

One story I like to tell is from a match he was playing with Shannon Daulton in Reno in the early 90's. I was the TD and sitting on a podium directly in front of his table. As usual, Earl was putting on one of his patented displays of cue wizardry, running rack after rack flawlessly. He was on his six or seventh rack and Daulton was sitting in his chair, near comatose. Earl had a tricky shot to get from the five to six ball and he hit it good but the cue ball rolled a little too fast and scratched into the side pocket.

Shannon sat there stunned. It was his turn but he wasn't sure what to do. He didn't expect to be coming back to the table...ever! Shannon slowly approached the table (I could see he was confused), looked around for maybe ten or twenty seconds and then took the five ball from the side pocket and placed it back on the table in the same spot it had been in before Earl's previous shot, close to the side pocket. He now took BIH on the five ball. People were smirking and laughing in the stands. I have to admit I was slightly amused as well but as the TD I couldn't say anything.

Shannon got down to shoot (it would have been a foul the moment he hit the ball) and Earl stretched forward in his chair and reached out with his cue across the table to stop Shannon from shooting. Shannon looked up and seemed to come to his senses. Earl said, "Put the five back in the pocket." Shannon looked around and a big grin came across his face. He was embarrassed but relieved at the same time. He now took cue ball in hand on the six ball and completed the rack.

Earl won the match something like 11-3, but what I will never forget was Earl stopping Shannon from fouling. Earl impressed all present with that simple gesture on that day. Too bad that Earl is no longer with us.
 
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midnightpulp

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
It has definitely worsened over the last 15-20 years. At his peak in the 80's and 90's he was an intense competitor who was all business at the table. He remained focused on the match until it was over and was almost always a good sport during the course of the match. He might shake his head at a bad roll but not allow that to affect his next shot.

One story I like to tell is from a match he was playing with Shannon Daulton in Reno in the early 90's. I was the TD and sitting on a podium directly in front of his table. As usual, Earl was putting on one of his patented displays of cue wizardry, running rack after rack flawlessly. He was on his six or seventh rack and Daulton was sitting in his chair near comatose. Earl had a tricky shot to get from the four to five ball and he hit it good but the cue ball rolled a little too fast and scratched off the five into the nearby side pocket.

Shannon sat there stunned. It was his turn but he wasn't sure what to do. He didn't expect to be coming back to the table...ever! Shannon slowly approached the table (I could see he was confused), looked around for maybe ten or twenty seconds and then took the five ball from the side pocket and placed it back on the table in the same spot it had been in before Earl shot. He now took BIH on the five ball, which was near the side pocket. People were smirking and laughing in the stands. I have to admit I was slightly amused as well but as the TD I couldn't say anything.

Shannon got down to shoot (it would have been a foul the moment he hit the ball) and Earl stretched forward in his chair and reached out with this cue across the table to stop Shannon from shooting. Shannon looked up and seemed to come to his senses. Earl said, "Put the five back in the pocket." Shannon looked around and a big grin came across his face. He was embarrassed but relieved. He now took cue ball in hand on the six ball and completed the rack.

Earl won the match something like 11-3, but what I will never forget was Earl stopping Shannon from fouling. Earl impressed all present with that gesture on that day. Too bad that Earl is no longer with us.

Nice story. Yeah, his mental decline or whatever you'd like to call it has been tough to watch. My earliest memory of him was of course watching him on ESPN in the famous Z-Bank match, and when Eften hit that shot, Earl applauded. Today, he'd probably have a meltdown at such a "lucky" roll.
 

highkarate

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Whether he has a mental illness or not, it just sucks to watch somebody who is considered a legend in the game of pool be a complete dick to an up and coming, super young, and humble player. Instead of congratulating this kid, he berates him and makes the entire thing interview about him and what he needs to play well and yada yada yada. I thought that Kaci showed extreme class when in his next pre-match interview, he said maybe Earl was correct in saying that Kaci wasn't a great player because he needs to win championships to be great. Earl needs to stop being invited to these kind of events. He's like pool's version of the ugly american when he travels abroad.
 

Swighey

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
90+% of competitive players will tell their opponent if they are about to play an illegal shot because they have had a temporary brain dead moment. It’s common decency or something like that. Some of those 90+% won’t do it all the time because they also have other things going through their minds. Earl was still an ass back then.
 
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