I spoke way too soon there. Earl tanked it there at the end. I'm happy to see he was able to keep his composure and stick it out though. Shane might be just enough of a calming factor to keep Earl from exploding.
Shane and Earl up at World Cup of Pool
- Thread starter hang-the-9
- Start date
this team should of have had Ko Pin Ye playing imo
ESPN doesn't give anything away for free. But it was probably a "add-in" to a bigger buy that Nike made with ESPN.
"Buy the $40 million sports sponsorship package and we'll throw in World Cup of Pool, Celebrity Bowling and the World Tiddly Winks Championship and no extra charge."
i think Shane really thinks Earl gives him the best chance to win they have the same style and speed of play
when Earl is on he can come with those hard shots and i can assure you Shane plays to win that is why Earl is playing imo
when Earl is on he can come with those hard shots and i can assure you Shane plays to win that is why Earl is playing imo
Last edited:
They played about the weakest team there. Shane played good. Earl on the other hand let the other team back to the table 3 or 4 times. Do that with a better team and you go home quick. Even one poor shot or safety with the top seeded teams and it could be over for America with this short format...+ winner breaks. Earl better get it together. Johnnyt
Earl doesn't have the right attitude, composure, and patience for a world-class tournament.
The only reason he appeared to have "all that" back in the day is because the talent was mainly in the U.S. and he was "one of our best."
If I were SVB I would be going nuts. In fact, just wait for the day when SVB "goes off" on Earl and tells him exactly "where to go."
Just wait and see because it will happen.
Again I ask, why the hell is Earl representing the U.S.?
Last edited:
Couple thoughts 1. How did they find 2 pool players from Croatia? Are they the only 2? And 2. Where do I get my own team usa polo with "Brent 0 Team USA" on the back?
It's close between them and the Aussies.
No one draws a crowd like Earl. Who do you want there? Hunter Lombardo? Who has Earl NOT beat in his career besides players who have came up the last 5-6 years? He is a five time US Open champion in three different decades & won a WPA world title as recently as 2002 which anyone who is anyone was present at. Earl's probably at 70% of what his game once was & that is still good enough to beat most of the world on a given day.
Shane is probably the one who pushed to have him there. Earl is his idol & who his game is patterned after. How cool to partner with his idol on the world pool scene.
Today! Now! At this World Cup! I'm talking about the match he played today. If he plays like that tomorrow he along with SVB can get on the plane. I do want to see America win it, but it won't happen if Earl don't cool his jets for the rest of the tournament. Johnnyt
I agree. I was responding to the question of WHY? was Earl representing us (USA).
Again his game as is today is still better that most on a given day. Depending on where Earl's mind is at. Earl has character & is fun to watch. Sometimes it is bad too.
I love to watch pool & love the game but sometimes without some character or a little something else it is boring for me as well.
Earl scratched and missed a super tough shot jacked up on the rail the length of the table. Apart from that they both played almost perfect. Whether or not this was the weakest team or not didn't really matter they spend most of the time watching earl and Shane play pool so I'm not really sure what the point of that was.
I noticed that also. Shane played pretty solid from start to finish and Earl made a few errors early and toward the end of the match. They actually should have won 7-0, except for Earl's mistakes. And yet he chooses to focus on one loose position shot by Shane. But hey, that's Earl. I'm glad to see them win, but I don't foresee them going that far, unless they get very fortunate.
By far the best match of the first round was England vs. Spain. Two excellent teams playing almost perfect pool, until the last rack when Alcaide missed a relatively easy shot that would have won the match for them. The pressure of the situation got to him.
Last edited:
That's how I saw it. They made a big deal when he scratched on the kick almost like he had missed something straight in. The 5 he missed was missable by anyone. Other than table speed which affected both players on one shot or another I thought it was well played
He also blew a simple safety in rack 1, a virtual stop shot for a snooker and the result was that Shane faced a difficult kick moments later. Shane bailed Earl out of that one with a phenomenal kick --- or the US would have been playing from behind.
That's how it's likely to go. Shane will have to cover for Earl's mistakes, and perhaps he'll be good enough to do so. Russia should be nearly as easy to beat as Croatia if they play like they did against Japan. Once Shane and Earl get to the quarters, they'll have to play a strong team for the first time. Perhaps by then, they'll find the kind of form they'll need to win.
Certainly, as the #5 seed, they'll reckon that anything less than the semis is a failure.
jmarcum1984
Registered
I just watched to USA match and was expecting to see Earl stink it up based on the posts. Here is what I saw:
Game 1 - * bad safety (but they still won)
Game 2 - Croatia made a mistake to let USA win
Game 3 - # Earl made a great long rail shot for the B and R
Game 4 - B and R
Game 5 - # Shane mad great jumb shot for the B and R
Game 6 - Croatia made great jump shot, but missed later
# Shane makes great cross bank to get out
Game 7 - Earl scratches trying to break out the 6-7 (too aggressive?) USA lost
Game 8 - *SVB leaves tough position, # Earl makes great slice on 1 ball
*SVB leaves him tough again, Earl makes another solid slice, but leaves SVB bad
#SVB makes a great masse and gets safe
* Earl leaves SVB short on the 6 ball, Shane misses bank
Earl is hooked on 8, tries to kick safe and scratches (too aggressive again?)
Game 9 - Earl misses a full table jacked up draw shot for position. USA still wins
So, I score it a bad safe, and a bad position (*) for Earl and 2 bad position shots for Shane (*)
And, 2 superb shots for Earl (#), and 3 superb shots for Shane.
I see it as they played about the same level in this match. I will agree that against a different team, those mistakes would probably cost them the match. But to say Earl was playing terribly is just not a fair assessment in my opinion. (Full disclosure - I am a long time Earl fan). I am hoping Earl can hold it together for the entire week. When he melts down, it is not pretty.
Game 1 - * bad safety (but they still won)
Game 2 - Croatia made a mistake to let USA win
Game 3 - # Earl made a great long rail shot for the B and R
Game 4 - B and R
Game 5 - # Shane mad great jumb shot for the B and R
Game 6 - Croatia made great jump shot, but missed later
# Shane makes great cross bank to get out
Game 7 - Earl scratches trying to break out the 6-7 (too aggressive?) USA lost
Game 8 - *SVB leaves tough position, # Earl makes great slice on 1 ball
*SVB leaves him tough again, Earl makes another solid slice, but leaves SVB bad
#SVB makes a great masse and gets safe
* Earl leaves SVB short on the 6 ball, Shane misses bank
Earl is hooked on 8, tries to kick safe and scratches (too aggressive again?)
Game 9 - Earl misses a full table jacked up draw shot for position. USA still wins
So, I score it a bad safe, and a bad position (*) for Earl and 2 bad position shots for Shane (*)
And, 2 superb shots for Earl (#), and 3 superb shots for Shane.
I see it as they played about the same level in this match. I will agree that against a different team, those mistakes would probably cost them the match. But to say Earl was playing terribly is just not a fair assessment in my opinion. (Full disclosure - I am a long time Earl fan). I am hoping Earl can hold it together for the entire week. When he melts down, it is not pretty.
I agree with this assessment, except you've oddly not counted Earls' scratch in rack 7 as an error. As you say, though, Earl wasn't bad, he just wasn't good enough. He and Shane must step it up. Shane was also quite fortunate when on one of his breaks, the cue ball went up onto the rail and returned to the table, leaving a perfect look at a run-out. They'll surely beat the off-form Russia to reach the quarterfinals, but after that they need to play better than this to contend for the title.
Last edited:
If nothing else, Shane is probably living out a boyhood dream, which is something most us can't say. I can't hate on either one of them for that. It's no secret that Earl was his hero growing up.
I doubt if ESPN is getting paid by Nike for anything in the WCoP because ESPN is simply streaming footage from Sky Sports (Sky Sports is the U.K.'s version of ESPN, but I don't think that they are owned by the same corporation (Disney owns ESPN)).