Earl and the SBE tournament

Tom In Cincy said:

Wow, I don't remember the last time a Professional player was DQ'd from a tournament for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Seems to me that would be significant grounds for a Pro to take legal action.
For a pro event, it should be left up to the promoter about a DQ not the TD. IMO.

If there were a Professional organization, a DQ would followed by an investigation, with peers and officials of that organizaion for further actions up to and inculding banning the player from the game.

More than likely the first offence would be just a breif 'time out' say 2-3 months off from tournament play.

NO pro org, no penalties, Earl will be in the next tournament he wants to play in and the promoters will be HAPPY to have him. Gate money will be fantastic with the fans wanting to see if Earl goes off and gets DQ'd again.

Sound like Wrestling?

Click to expand...

Tom, from what I am told Earl did contact the promoter (Hopkins) and he said "Sorry Earl, I stand by my TD's decision" So it went all the way to the top. Just saying and not that I disagree with you but some info.

Earl's antics

The tournament director was well within his power to tell Mr. Strickland to "hit the road". His antics are part of his personality and he uses these "moves" to try to rattle his opponets. He did the same thing at Turning Stone when he played Hunter Lombardo but Hunter ignored him and calmly it pissed him off even more as he ran out to beat Earl. Mr. Strickland's comments and actions around the table, while amusing, are unsportsmanlike and don't have a place in any professional tournament. I want to commend the tournament director for doing a good job. there is no place for "bullying" at the table!

Definitely no grounds for any legal action!

The TD is there to police the entire tournament and his role is to protect the players and the tournament. If ANYONE is out of line they should have full authority to prevent them from playing any further.

So you think Earl should be disqualified for questioning where his opponent was 25 mins after it was supposed to start? There's a lot Earl does that deserves to get him disqualified. To me this isn't it.

I watched the Hatch/Archer match on Ustream yesterday....the commentator and TD had a 5+ minute talk about the events that led up to his DQ. It wasn't a matter of him asking where his opponent was and why he was 25 minutes late. Did anyone else catch this? There were 630 or so viewers at the time. It was just before the match started.

bfdlad said:

Tom, from what I am told Earl did contact the promoter (Hopkins) and he said "Sorry Earl, I stand by my TD's decision" So it went all the way to the top. Just saying and not that I disagree with you but some info.

Click to expand...

Mark,

I was at SBE but not in the tournament room. After Earl was asked to leave, word spread pretty fast. I heard two sides immediately. One of support. One more like a lynching. I did find it strange people who support Earl blamed the TD for doing his job. Controlling the event. Right or wrong. Some said the TD was incompetent. Others thought the TD was on a power trip. If those people who called for the TD's head on a platter really were angry, have them contact Allen about replacing the guy. My guess is Allen has complete confidence in the TD and the decisions he made. Whether Earl was right or wrong is not part of this debate. The fact Earl keeps challenging authority seems to be. Next event I'll bet more spectators will show up hoping to see him "go off".

Lyn

(comment removed)

youngstownkid said:

i'm going to go out on a limb here and DEFEND earl, since despite his antics, he hasn't ever been kicked out of a tournament before.

Click to expand...

Surely you jest? Earl's been given the thumb on numerous occasions for similar antics. I was there in Reno for one.

Lyn

cardiac kid said:

Surely you jest? Earl's been given the thumb on numerous occasions for similar antics. I was there in Reno for one.

Lyn

Click to expand...

after reading another article, i decided to remove my comment. I really wasn't sure because I just recently started paying attention to professional pool. I figured someone would correct me if I was wrong, so thanks for doing that.

I just thought it was rediculous that Earl got tossed when his opponent wasn't even there. I guess I'm frustrated, because I want to see Earl do well. Maybe I should be frustrated with Earl, though.

youngstownkid said:

after reading another article, i decided to remove my comment. just thought it was rediculous that Earl got tossed when his opponent wasn't even there.

I guess I'm frustrated, because I want to see Earl do well. Maybe I should be frustrated with Earl, though.

Click to expand...

This time I believe you should be frustrated with Earl, not the TD, IMO.
Too bad, he is probably my favorite player to watch, play an otherwise boring game to watch.

cardiac kid said:

Mark,

I was at SBE but not in the tournament room. After Earl was asked to leave, word spread pretty fast. I heard two sides immediately. One of support. One more like a lynching. I did find it strange people who support Earl blamed the TD for doing his job. Controlling the event. Right or wrong. Some said the TD was incompetent. Others thought the TD was on a power trip. If those people who called for the TD's head on a platter really were angry, have them contact Allen about replacing the guy. My guess is Allen has complete confidence in the TD and the decisions he made. Whether Earl was right or wrong is not part of this debate. The fact Earl keeps challenging authority seems to be. Next event I'll bet more spectators will show up hoping to see him "go off".

Lyn

Click to expand...

You are right my friend on many of your points. I was not there and only have what ES told me himself and then the other side of it and then the ones in between. The TD is a bit of douche in my personal opinion and probably did what he thought he needed to do. However I think if he was going to do this he should have done it at the Alex match not reflect on it for a few hours and decide he was butt hurt about what Earl had said and go back and DQ him.

However most of what you said sounds about right.

This type of reverse discrimination against white people has to stop. It is not fair to white people in the pool community. Maybe there should be a quota on the number of prizes white people can win from a specific event, this way everyone believes they have a chance at winning, and why not have ethnicity quotes for the number of black, hispanic, asian, european and african players in the tournaments as well, this way no one can say anything bad. Everyone is equal and all numbers are equal.

There should be rules and written regulations so that no one is subject to made up policies about disqualification. How do we know the ref didn't make up his own rules on how to handle Earl?

This is the type of discrimination based on made up policies that creates hate in the pool industry. Action should be taken about disqualification, grounds for disqualification and who can disqualify someone. Also players need to be entitled to make requests about changes in the format. Don't send the crowd control police when an official about format changes is needed to mediate a discrepancy found by a player.

How can Earl get a straight answer when everyone is against him at the tourney? It is typical straight line discrimination. Players can't question authority at tournaments it will get them kicked out. Who can kick them out and why they get kicked out isn't written in stone. Sure you can say play you can say players know what poor performance is but watching one of their own disqualified gets them closer to the prize money, it is a classic bait and trade, use one guy for bait and win over everyone else.

It would have been great to see players say you know Earl should stay because it is unfair to him. But because everyone is so busy trying to push out the old guys they sell him out faster than a new item on product release day.

justnum said:

This type of reverse discrimination against white people has to stop. It is not fair to white people in the pool community. Maybe there should be a quota on the number of prizes white people can win from a specific event, this way everyone believes they have a chance at winning, and why not have ethnicity quotes for the number of black, hispanic, asian, european and african players in the tournaments as well, this way no one can say anything bad. Everyone is equal and all numbers are equal.

Click to expand...

Are you still at the SBE drinking?

justnum said:

This type of reverse discrimination against white people has to stop. It is not fair to white people in the pool community. Maybe there should be a quota on the number of prizes white people can win from a specific event, this way everyone believes they have a chance at winning, and why not have ethnicity quotes for the number of black, hispanic, asian, european and african players in the tournaments as well, this way no one can say anything bad. Everyone is equal and all numbers are equal.

Click to expand...

Say what????????

Lyn

I wasn't there, so I dunno. But I do think if these threads keep up, there will be more words about this than there are about Charlie Sheen! :grin:

bfdlad said:

You are right my friend on many of your points. I was not there and only have what ES told me himself and then the other side of it and then the ones in between. The TD is a bit of douche in my personal opinion and probably did what he thought he needed to do. However I think if he was going to do this he should have done it at the Alex match not reflect on it for a few hours and decide he was butt hurt about what Earl had said and go back and DQ him.

However most of what you said sounds about right.

Click to expand...

Mark,

Believe it or not, I'm an Earl fan. Love to watch him play. The intensity. The dedication. Even the experimentation. I'm a fan to a point though. Too much is just too much! During the time you travelled with him, my guess is you got a look deep into who Earl really is. You are probably one of the few to really know the real Earl. My hope is someone will take Earl under their wing. Slap him once or twice. Get him to the correct help. Then stand back and watch what happens. My guess he would be unbeatable!!!!!!

Lyn

Time limit?

When I play my matches in Vegas, there is a time to play te match. If a player is not at the table, the referee is told of this absence. The player is put on he clock and forfeits if he is 15 minutes late.

Why was Earl's opponent not DQ'd?

Is this not the policy in this particular Pro event?