Kim Davenport's Stroke

arnaldo said:

You wouldn't love it if you had seen it. It was so bad it just about doomed any future for televised Straight Pool in TV executives' collective minds as well as product sponsors (and dented that discipline (which I love) in the viewing public's mind as well).

ABC had to film it for 4 hours. The 18 minutes of safety play had people switching to other channels. Here's a good report on the whole sad affair:

http://www.billiardsdigest.com/current_issue/aug_05/story_5.php

Sure wish it had transpired otherwise. I watched it live and there were plenty of cringe-worthy moments.

Arnaldo

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It was not as bad as the article implies. I was there. I just did not make good TV. At one point in the first game Lassiter is about to win the game and he stops and looks over at Miz and says, " Looks like I am going to beat the young whipper snapper".

After he pockets the game ball Miz jumps up and says, "Well, you are going to have to do it again". The audience loved it. One thing I am sure did not go over well with the TV people was, Lassiter was on a run of about 80 balls.

He has a perfect break shot and for some reason he aims at it for the longest time, then gets up and lays his cue on the table and says he is taking a break and leaves. Here is the strangest part.

When he comes back he gets down on the shot, a very easy side of the rack break shot and misses it. After all this time he misses it. It was inexplicable.

Also I should add, If you look closely at the picture, maybe blow it up. You can clearly see the red ferrule on Lassiters cue we were talking about a few week ago.

DTL said:

In thisOn these shots there's a noticeable slight crookedness to his stroke . On the chopped segments below are two examples of this:

http://www.tubechop.com/watch/5978158

http://www.tubechop.com/watch/5978186

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Funny, I just watched that match this weekend and noticed that on that particular shot.

Stroke is awesome!

alstl said:

I wonder if a shot clock would have helped. I'm thinking of Sigel's match with Zuglan which had a shot clock and was excellent.

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Zuglan made a hell of a lag in that match.

No one ever stayed down on a shot any better than Kim. He was solid as a rock, nothing moved except his arm!

Staying down...

jay helfert said:

No one ever stayed down on a shot any better than Kim. He was solid as a rock, nothing moved except his arm!

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^^ This^^

Kimmer stayed down on a shot TEXTBOOK. When I think I'm jumping up a little on shots, I think of Kim staying down all the way through the shot.

DTL said:

In this YouTube video Kim Davenport makes a great comeback against Johnny Archer. I remember him making a similar comeback once against JR Calvert on a tour stop in San Diego, CA around 1995. A good lesson for all........never give up!

In the filming of the match they had a cameraman with a shoulder mounted camera. He was able to get a couple good straight-on views of few shots by Kim. On these shots there's a noticeable slight crookedness to his stroke . On the chopped segments below are two examples of this:

http://www.tubechop.com/watch/5978158

http://www.tubechop.com/watch/5978186

Kim was a great champion and his accomplishments in the game speak for themselves. But perhaps this is why he played just a hair under the very best at the time.........Earl, Sigel, Buddy, etc. A slight stroke flaw like this will undoubtedly cause a miss here and there, especially pressure shots with distance.

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Kim Davenport wasn't known for missing.

jay helfert said:

No one ever stayed down on a shot any better than Kim. He was solid as a rock, nothing moved except his arm!

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Totally agree Jay. He is so rock solid and just never moves an inch. I was getting ready for the US Amateur a few years back and Kim offered to help me prepare for a few minutes after a round of golf. After watching me play for a bit, he did very little more than making sure my primary focus was staying down through the shot and hitting center ball more often. The next 3 weeks I played the best pool of my life and he busted me through what had been a very long lasting plateau. Forever grateful and just wish I had been around to see him in his prime.

If only he had taken the time to point out how to play on a streaming table for the first time.