I have fond memories of SVB vs. Donny Mills.
That surprises me a little. I didn't get to see it live, and I got the ending spoiled
for me despite my best efforts, so I thought I wouldn't enjoy it as much.
A lot of references were made to how Shane was once the unknown kid,
but after wrecking Corey, everyone knew about him.
To me, Donny was the new unknown while Shane was the monster favorite.
Here's a guy who maybe didn't get famous because he almost never left his home state,
didn't fly anywhere. He might have been one of the best in the country, for all I knew.
I liked the idea that 'Carlot' could reach that level with an actual day job.
At first Shane jumped out to a pretty good lead, like 9-10 racks.
But Mills didn't fall off and get scared. For a long time it was 7 racks down,
then 4, then back to 7... and finally, at 32-32, Donny caught up.
Oh shit, we have a match.
Then it was donny's turn to hold a small lead for a long time, like 4 games.
And he kept it for just as long as shane kept his.
At some point Shane said "fuсk it" and stopped trying to imitate Donny's soft break.
He went with a hard smash from the box, not unlike his 10b break.
It seemed to work for him and at 70-70, they tied again.
After that, Shane's trademark break helped him coast across the finish line.
But there were so many small 3-packs that even when Donny got down like 12 games,
I never felt like it was completely impossible. Not until Shane reached the hill.
There were a variety of good commentators, young guys, I'm pretty sure Corey
was in the booth. Plus JCIN and at least one other guy.
The atmosphere was great and looking back, I wish more TAR matches could have
this vibe. The camera showed a large crowd who applauded frequently, and of course
a lot of them were rooting for their local boy. It was an after-hours packed pool hall vibe,
instead of a darkened corner of a quiet room. The whole thing was bright and you could just
tell it was in Florida.. lots of hawaiian shirts and neon. Music in the background was good,
and I think this was the one where someone played Eye of the Tiger like 5 times in a row.
This was also the first time I saw the full power of the 9b soft break.
Standard diamond, no magic rack, just a Delta-13.
But Donny made something like 73 out of 74 wing balls on the break.
I was in awe. I was thinking "this guy has beat 9-ball. He beat the game of 9b
like a rented nintendo game."
I learned a lot watching this match.
