Yeah, and if they arm wrestled before each rack for the break, Strong Arm John would be World Champion. Why on earth would we change our sport, which has never had anything to do with long races, for the sake of a single player who is the only one that trains for long races?
If Shane is the best, let him prove it by beating champion after champion in a WPA quality field with a referee racking the balls. The greats before him have all been up to the challenge. If he wans to counted among them, he'll have to match their feats in world championship events.
As for your "variance stats," the biggest difference from eight years ago is that there are at least twice as many great players today than then. Winning twice is a very tall order now and only the superstars can dare to dream of such a feat. As properly noted prior to this event by a few AZB posters, there are dozens of guys good enough to win this event. Nobody would have ever made such a claim in 2006, when the number of guys capable of winning would have been reckoned as ten or twelve.
Who cares about player endurance? Champions are the ones able to produce sustained excellence against all comers one at a time and in any order. Shane has been able to wear down some very good fields, but WPA Championships offer the toughest fields that he ever faces, and he'll have to step it up a notch.
FYI, 11 is not a short race. It is a long race. FYI, Shane had no trouble winning the Derby City 9-ball event back when it was a race to seven format. He doesn't need a format change at WPA events. He just needs to play better. Maybe this is his week.
Have a little faith rather than rallying the Shane apologists as if his elimination is a sure thing.