2002 US Open Earl vs Alex

[jjinfla]

After watching this match for the 5th time I have to admit that it is the worst exhibition of professional play that I have ever seen. And Alex made a bunch of errors too.

It is no wonder that Earl only scored a .768 by Accu-Stats. I wonder how he got that high? Must have done better in the racks that were not shown. But I counted 8 errors by Earl.

But besides the obvious misses and atrocious safes his shot on the 8 ball in game 16 just defies logic. Anybody and everybody that I show that shot to says shoot the 8 in the corner, stop the CB, shoot the 9 in the side. But Earl tried to follow it around and came up way short. Even Sigel was amazed saying he had a lot of possibilities other than what he did.

I guess that when a pro like Earl, whom the announcers kept falling over themselves in complimenting him on how great he is playing at this time of his career, falls down and plays like a rank amateur, it is no wonder that people are not interested in watching pool.

One does not expect the pros, the elite of the professional game, to play like us mere mortals.

Alex now is 4 and 1 in competition with Earl.

Jake---doesn't like it when the mighty Casey strikes out at the plate.

 

[pro-player]

Bravo!

I must commend you on what tremendous courage it took for you to anonymously mock the performances of two players who can give you the 5-ball and half-heartedly send you to the cleaners.

It's called pressure. Try playing with someone capable of running out the entire match if you miss a ball. Try playing against that person, with a few hundred spectators watching, under the hot TV lights, and with the lingering thought in the back of your head that this match will be watched by hundreds of thousands on TV. Put all that in the back of your head so that you get reminded of it on every single shot. If you want to see the best from both of these players, watch them gamble. When you see a player make many blunders on TV, you've got to realize that the pressure got to him. It doesn't happen all the time, but it does happen more often then you may think. Go watch some of Earl's or Alex's matches at the World Pool Championship, they played amazing. Give them some credit as two of the world's best, don't knock them because of one or two bad performances.