A couple of storys from the road with Johnny and Earl,

bfdlad

T-Wheels
Silver Member
Well We are all back at our homes now after the Texas leg of the Legends and Champions Pool Tour. We had a great time in TX and everyone we met was awesome to us and all in all the whole of TX had nice people willing to help us feel comfortable. Obviously the Hurricane situation didn't help us run as smoothly as we would have liked, but our tour running smoothly compaired to the poor people in South TX who lost everything and still don't have power means less than nothing and created shockwaves throughout TX and our hearts go out to all affected.

So we began in Dallas at Cape Buffalo and we had a great turn out for the exhibition and everyone had alot of fun. We were there for 3 nights and as some of you know we were on the hunt for good Texas BBQ. By the time we got finished with the exhibition or the pool schools it was around 9.30pm and guess what time EVERYTHING closes in that area? you are right 9.30. Everynight we were starving and drove around for half an hour to an hour hoping to catch somewhere open. One night we ended up at KFC waited in line at the drive through and when it came to getting our order The order taker went through her greeting and asked what we would like. Remember by this time we are ready to kill someone for food so we had all got our orders memorized Johnny started with A 3 piece original and the gal said "Ok, but we have no chicken" WHAT???? We went through all the possible options that could work, "You got any pot pies?" "No" "So what can we get?" "Slaw, mashed taters, beans". Anyway, on our last day in Dallas we got done early and went to a BBQ place called Dickies, this was great food and wished we had been able to get there everyday as it was just over the street from our hotel.
We left Dallas after eating heading for Austin around 9.30pm, now what we usually do and have never had a problem with is find the next pool room then find the nearest low cost hotel in the area and check in. This time it was different, after the three hour drive we arrive in Austin and head to the hotel and the guy at the counters said "sorry we are all booked up tonight". Oh well no problem we can see about 6 hotels from where we are parked but it is 12.30 and we have been working all day and just need to get our head down as we had a pool school at 11.00am the next day. So we try the next hotel same thing full and the next, full, by this time we are begining to wonder what is going on until the next hotel the lady says "you won't find a room in Austin tonight as all the people from Houston have left due to IKE. She said you should drive north 10 miles and try up there. We all looked at at each other as if to say "oh we may be in trouble here" We kept positive and drove 10 mile back toward Dallas stopping at every set of roadside hotels on the way with no luck. So we decided to go another 10 miles and another 10 miles until we are 80 miles away from Austin and it is now 2.30 am.
I was waiting for it coming and finally with eveyone at their witts end I hear Earl in a tired yet loud voice "T-Wheels why don't we have a hotel to go to?, thats your job" Johnny echoed his sentements. They are right it was my job to make sure we had somewhere to go. I explained "we have never had this problem before and it is due to a Fing hurricane and if I ever get to the point that I can forsee the future or I can control hurricanes with all due respect I won't be on the road in the middle of the night" Still It was my job and I hear about it from the guys and some of the language was not very christian lets say. Anyway I called the pool room where we were going to do the exhibition and it turned out that a friend of Jeremy Jones could put us up. These were another set of great people who were kind enough to let us use their home and he is also a AZER and I won't mention any names as I don't know if they would be ok with it but they know who they are. Jeremy also joined the group a couple of days later and attended our exhibition. So we drove all the way back to Austin, it is now around 3.30 and we had to meet the Manager at the pool room to get all the info we needed. As we walk up to the Fast Eddies there is a group of 11 or 12 pool players stood outside with their cues over their shoulder waiting for a taxi I think and the room had just closed. As we check to see if the door is open and begin to knock, one of the guys says "hey they are closed now" I told him that they were expecting us. This guy comes back with some smart asses comment about "oh you thing you are special" or something like that. Then one of them slowly says "thats Johnny Archer" and another says " And Earl Strickland". The guy with the mouth lets his cue case drop and eyes wide says "Holy F&*k" "Can I get a picture with you guys?" Earl gave him one of those looks that only Earl could give someone at 3.30 am after running 5 miles and doing 8 hours of pool schools and traveling from Dallas to Austin almost twice. I wish I could replicate that look but I am sure you can all see it in your minds eye. Just a testament to both Johnny and Earl they took the picture with him.
Now I knew that San Antonio was closer to Houston than Austin and hotels would probably be booked up. Staying at peoples homes that we don't know is not something we usually do as it can sometimes be awkward as you can imagine, but we had had a very nice offer from one of the Azers on here that his friend had lots of room and that his friend a was a good guy and this was verified by a number of people.
We ended up staying there and moving the Houston pool school students to San Antonio so we were there for about 5 days. This not only helped us out with the hotel situation but obviously saved us money. The man and his wife that we were staying with were pool fans and most of their close friends were pool fans and they had a very nice table in their game room upstairs and so Johhny Earl and myself had one day off while we were there and asked them if they would like to get their pool friends together and have a BBQ and that Johnny and Earl would do a private mini exhibition for them to try and repay them in some special way for their kindness.
Johnny has always claimed that he could give me the 5 when it comes to BBQ ing. So we went to the store and got all the meat sides etc ready for the evening. When it came time to start the grill Johnny found out that it was a charcoal grill and not a gas grill. This is when I found out that although he makes a great marinade he has NO clue on Charcoal cooking. Between us we spent about 30 mins trying to light the charcoal and ended up with someone else taking over the lighting to get it going. Once we had the fire going Johnny did do a good job with the cooking but he couldn't give me the 5. If anyone would like to attend the Legends and Champions cook off please let me know :) Anyway we all had a great time with the AZer who helped us get in touch with these guys and their friends.
So on we go to Corpus Christi, No Problems there Paradise Billiards is a great pool room and Harrison (HT) the owner was awesome and had everything under control. Before introducing Earl at the exhibition he wanted everyone to watch a quick video clip. It was an old one of Earl playing The Miz and Earl making the first ever televised Jump Shot. If you get a chance to see thise clip (*I have no idea where you can find it but ESPN owns the rights) Please check it out.
Thats where my story ends for now but I do want to thank Summer Bowen at fast Eddies in Austin and San Antonio, Justin at the Grand in Austin, Sam Holiday and the APA league operators for their support, Bill, Cathy and everyone at Cape Buffalo in Dallas, and Paradise Billiards in Corpus. Also ATEX Billiards who supplied all the balls for the events and of course Cuestix International (Scorpion Cues) Johnnys Long time sponsor, and all the people who have helped us on the way you all know who you are and we know who you are. These people have gone out of their way to support us and the pool and billiards community in general.
Finally I am working now on our next leg that will be at the beginning of November (no set dates yet) in the mid west. We hope to visit Detroit, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri and Oklahoma. Once we have these dates set I will be contaction one of the people from a different thread who suggested this area as i had promised for a free pool school I will draw the name again once we have the schedule set. Thanks again to all.
 
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Great stories, Im jealous that another azer got a private bbq and exhibition though:angry: I wouldv put yall up for a few nights.( i know its akward staying with someone you just met though) It was cool of him to put yall up for a few days though, I know how hard it can be to find hotel rooms during an evacuation. Especially a city as big as houston; thats alot of people on the move at once. Earl and johnny were great to b around. If yall ever do a level 2 class or something. be sure to swing through texas again. Youve got at least 1 student ready to go. :thumbup: thanks for the chance to meet johnny and earl. keep up the good work.


And what kinda southern boy dont know how to cook with charcoal? Hank Hill would be very disappointed:)


D

BTW how u liking the ryder cup this year? Looks like the tigerless americans are gonna bring the cup back home this year :grin:
 
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I bet that road trip brought back some memories of the road games Archer and Strickland have been through....
 
The enter key is your friend...........

So we began in Dallas at Cape Buffalo and we had a great turn out for the exhibition and everyone had alot of fun. We were there for 3 nights and as some of you know we were on the hunt for good Texas BBQ. By the time we got finished with the exhibition or the pool schools it was around 9.30pm and guess what time EVERYTHING closes in that area? you are right 9.30.

Everynight we were starving and drove around for half an hour to an hour hoping to catch somewhere open. One night we ended up at KFC waited in line at the drive through and when it came to getting our order The order taker went through her greeting and asked what we would like. Remember by this time we are ready to kill someone for food so we had all got our orders memorized Johnny started with A 3 piece original and the gal said "Ok, but we have no chicken" WHAT???? We went through all the possible options that could work, "You got any pot pies?" "No" "So what can we get?" "Slaw, mashed taters, beans".

Anyway, on our last day in Dallas we got done early and went to a BBQ place called Dickies, this was great food and wished we had been able to get there everyday as it was just over the street from our hotel.

We left Dallas after eating heading for Austin around 9.30pm, now what we usually do and have never had a problem with is find the next pool room then find the nearest low cost hotel in the area and check in. This time it was different, after the three hour drive we arrive in Austin and head to the hotel and the guy at the counters said "sorry we are all booked up tonight".

Oh well no problem we can see about 6 hotels from where we are parked but it is 12.30 and we have been working all day and just need to get our head down as we had a pool school at 11.00am the next day. So we try the next hotel same thing full and the next, full, by this time we are begining to wonder what is going on until the next hotel the lady says "you won't find a room in Austin tonight as all the people from Houston have left due to IKE.

She said you should drive north 10 miles and try up there. We all looked at at each other as if to say "oh we may be in trouble here" We kept positive and drove 10 mile back toward Dallas stopping at every set of roadside hotels on the way with no luck. So we decided to go another 10 miles and another 10 miles until we are 80 miles away from Austin and it is now 2.30 am.

I was waiting for it coming and finally with eveyone at their witts end I hear Earl in a tired yet loud voice "T-Wheels why don't we have a hotel to go to?, thats your job" Johnny echoed his sentements. They are right it was my job to make sure we had somewhere to go. I explained "we have never had this problem before and it is due to a Fing hurricane and if I ever get to the point that I can forsee the future or I can control hurricanes with all due respect I won't be on the road in the middle of the night" Still It was my job and I hear about it from the guys and some of the language was not very christian lets say.

Anyway I called the pool room where we were going to do the exhibition and it turned out that a friend of Jeremy Jones could put us up. These were another set of great people who were kind enough to let us use their home and he is also a AZER and I won't mention any names as I don't know if they would be ok with it but they know who they are. Jeremy also joined the group a couple of days later and attended our exhibition.

So we drove all the way back to Austin, it is now around 3.30 and we had to meet the Manager at the pool room to get all the info we needed. As we walk up to the Fast Eddies there is a group of 11 or 12 pool players stood outside with their cues over their shoulder waiting for a taxi I think and the room had just closed. As we check to see if the door is open and begin to knock, one of the guys says "hey they are closed now" I told him that they were expecting us.

This guy comes back with some smart asses comment about "oh you thing you are special" or something like that. Then one of them slowly says "thats Johnny Archer" and another says " And Earl Strickland". The guy with the mouth lets his cue case drop and eyes wide says "Holy F&*k" "Can I get a picture with you guys?"

Earl gave him one of those looks that only Earl could give someone at 3.30 am after running 5 miles and doing 8 hours of pool schools and traveling from Dallas to Austin almost twice. I wish I could replicate that look but I am sure you can all see it in your minds eye. Just a testament to both Johnny and Earl they took the picture with him.

Now I knew that San Antonio was closer to Houston than Austin and hotels would probably be booked up. Staying at peoples homes that we don't know is not something we usually do as it can sometimes be awkward as you can imagine, but we had had a very nice offer from one of the Azers on here that his friend had lots of room and that his friend a was a good guy and this was verified by a number of people.

We ended up staying there and moving the Houston pool school students to San Antonio so we were there for about 5 days. This not only helped us out with the hotel situation but obviously saved us money.

The man and his wife that we were staying with were pool fans and most of their close friends were pool fans and they had a very nice table in their game room upstairs and so Johhny Earl and myself had one day off while we were there and asked them if they would like to get their pool friends together and have a BBQ and that Johnny and Earl would do a private mini exhibition for them to try and repay them in some special way for their kindness.

Johnny has always claimed that he could give me the 5 when it comes to BBQ ing. So we went to the store and got all the meat sides etc ready for the evening. When it came time to start the grill Johnny found out that it was a charcoal grill and not a gas grill. This is when I found out that although he makes a great marinade he has NO clue on Charcoal cooking.

Between us we spent about 30 mins trying to light the charcoal and ended up with someone else taking over the lighting to get it going. Once we had the fire going Johnny did do a good job with the cooking but he couldn't give me the 5.

If anyone would like to attend the Legends and Champions cook off please let me know Anyway we all had a great time with the AZer who helped us get in touch with these guys and their friends.

So on we go to Corpus Christi, No Problems there Paradise Billiards is a great pool room and Harrison (HT) the owner was awesome and had everything under control. Before introducing Earl at the exhibition he wanted everyone to watch a quick video clip. It was an old one of Earl playing The Miz and Earl making the first ever televised Jump Shot. If you get a chance to see thise clip (*I have no idea where you can find it but ESPN owns the rights) Please check it out.

Thats where my story ends for now but I do want to thank Summer Bowen at fast Eddies in Austin and San Antonio, Justin at the Grand in Austin, Sam Holiday and the APA league operators for their support, Bill, Cathy and everyone at Cape Buffalo in Dallas, and Paradise Billiards in Corpus. Also ATEX Billiards who supplied all the balls for the events and of course Cuestix International (Scorpion Cues) Johnnys Long time sponsor, and all the people who have helped us on the way you all know who you are and we know who you are. These people have gone out of their way to support us and the pool and billiards community in general.

Finally I am working now on our next leg that will be at the beginning of November (no set dates yet) in the mid west. We hope to visit Detroit, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri and Oklahoma. Once we have these dates set I will be contaction one of the people from a different thread who suggested this area as i had promised for a free pool school I will draw the name again once we have the schedule set.

Thanks again to all.
 
Give me a call or send me a PM

Sorry we couldn't do everything for the TX tour. Keep me informed as you ad stops for the November tour so I can have everything ready.








Ike.... What a story...
 
Great stories! Thanks for sharing! Lucky guys to have two living legends in their house performing and cooking (!) for their friends.....
 
I know Archer lives up in North Georgia but is there any chance these two may be doing something down here in South Georgia and or Florida ... South Georgia is pretty much spread out and there are not many big towns ... But I would think that someplace like Break Time Billiards in Albany would be able and willing to support something like this ... In Coffee county there is a place called Past Time Billiards it is a small place but they have great tables and Doc the owner is a great guy who may be willing to support something like this ... It would be nice to see Archer and Earl come this way and support some of thier fans close to home ...
 
Pool stories like this are always good. It is awkward staying with someone you don't know.

Did she actually say "Slaw, mashed taters, beans"?? It brings tears to my eyes. I'm so f'n sick of rice.
 
Mark...I told you this months ago, but for some reason, you can't quite grasp the concept. USE PRICELINE online! You will have NO problems finding a hotel, in the area and price you wish to pay...and it won't be "sold out" when you get there, because you'll have a confirmation for your rooms. It costs nothing, and is very reliable. I don't blame Earl & JA for being pissed off. I would have been too. It's time to 'get smart' about this...:rolleyes: Seriously, if you need some help here...CALL me, and I'll walk you through it!

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

bfdlad said:
We left Dallas after eating heading for Austin around 9.30pm, now what we usually do and have never had a problem with is find the next pool room then find the nearest low cost hotel in the area and check in. This time it was different, after the three hour drive we arrive in Austin and head to the hotel and the guy at the counters said "sorry we are all booked up tonight". Oh well no problem we can see about 6 hotels from where we are parked but it is 12.30 and we have been working all day and just need to get our head down as we had a pool school at 11.00am the next day. So we try the next hotel same thing full and the next, full, by this time we are begining to wonder what is going on until the next hotel the lady says "you won't find a room in Austin tonight as all the people from Houston have left due to IKE. She said you should drive north 10 miles and try up there. We all looked at at each other as if to say "oh we may be in trouble here" We kept positive and drove 10 mile back toward Dallas stopping at every set of roadside hotels on the way with no luck. So we decided to go another 10 miles and another 10 miles until we are 80 miles away from Austin and it is now 2.30 am.
I was waiting for it coming and finally with eveyone at their witts end I hear Earl in a tired yet loud voice "T-Wheels why don't we have a hotel to go to?, thats your job" Johnny echoed his sentements. They are right it was my job to make sure we had somewhere to go. I explained "we have never had this problem before and it is due to a Fing hurricane and if I ever get to the point that I can forsee the future or I can control hurricanes with all due respect I won't be on the road in the middle of the night" Still It was my job and I hear about it from the guys and some of the language was not very christian lets say.
 
The King said:
I know Archer lives up in North Georgia but is there any chance these two may be doing something down here in South Georgia and or Florida ... South Georgia is pretty much spread out and there are not many big towns ... But I would think that someplace like Break Time Billiards in Albany would be able and willing to support something like this ... In Coffee county there is a place called Past Time Billiards it is a small place but they have great tables and Doc the owner is a great guy who may be willing to support something like this ... It would be nice to see Archer and Earl come this way and support some of thier fans close to home ...
We go to the mid west next and then we plan on coming to the south so hopefully you will make it. Thanks for the info and interest,
Mark,
 
Scott Lee said:
Mark...I told you this months ago, but for some reason, you can't quite grasp the concept. USE PRICELINE online! You will have NO problems finding a hotel, in the area and price you wish to pay...and it won't be "sold out" when you get there, because you'll have a confirmation for your rooms. It costs nothing, and is very reliable. I don't blame Earl & JA for being pissed off. I would have been too. It's time to 'get smart' about this...:rolleyes: Seriously, if you need some help here...CALL me, and I'll walk you through it!

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
Scott I guess the part that you can't grasp is that even with the discounts we are not in a position to put $4k up front. Now if you would like to help with the 4k please let me know. We understand the advantages of booking ahead. However on this trip would have actually lost $$ in Houston and in El Paso.
 
Mark, Tell me you tried the jalapeno poppers!!!!!!!!!!!

Sounds like you guys had some fun. Good for ya'll.

John
 
runout1961 said:
Mark, Tell me you tried the jalapeno poppers!!!!!!!!!!!

Sounds like you guys had some fun. Good for ya'll.

John
I love Poppers, I always seem to get burn blisters on the roof of my mouth from the cheese when I bite into them but yes I had some poppers :)
 
Black-Balled said:
Now we know how you stayed up to do all thaat driving.
I travel with Johnny and Earl I do ALOT of drinking. Johnny drives but the poppers are a good idea :)
 
matthew said:
Pool stories like this are always good. It is awkward staying with someone you don't know.

Did she actually say "Slaw, mashed taters, beans"?? It brings tears to my eyes. I'm so f'n sick of rice.

OMG I so feel you on that. Luckily for me there are a few western restaurants around where I can get decent potatoes.

In China - the land of rice with no gravy. :-)
 
bfdlad said:
We go to the mid west next and then we plan on coming to the south so hopefully you will make it. Thanks for the info and interest,
Mark,



Please come through kansas city! You will be welcomed in Olathe Ks. at Dan Tulls shooters. Let me know if you can do this and I will try to get the students needed to attend. Thanks
 
9ball said:
Please come through kansas city! You will be welcomed in Olathe Ks. at Dan Tulls shooters. Let me know if you can do this and I will try to get the students needed to attend. Thanks
Shoot me an email with your contact info please as I am going to be working on KS Missouri tomorrow, I would love to hear any advice you have for the area,
Mark,
 
I am the AZ'er that Mark (bfdlad) talked about that hooked them up with the place to stay and helped to host them in San Antonio. I meant to make a few comments earlier, but have been busy the last few days. Anyway, here are a few of my random thoughts from their six day stay.

Like everybody else, I am sure that Mark, and especially Johnny and Earl, like to just be able to get away from their jobs (pool) at times when they are not "at work". I am sure it is not always easy having to meet or hang out with a bunch of their host's pool buddies, or having people bugging you all the time for pool stories, or having people asking you endless pool questions, or having people requesting that you shoot games of pool with them--all of that gets would get old pretty quick I am sure, especially if you are not even in a pool room but are away from it somewhere like at a private residence. Heck, it's awkward enough to stay with people you don't know real well without having to deal with those other things too, and I am guessing that for all of these reason's they are often reluctant to stay at people's homes, and understandably so. I decided I wanted them to have to deal with as little as possible.

Not that they wouldn't be perfect gentleman and accomodate when possible, because being the professionals and gentleman that they are, I am sure that they would deal with things as best they could or find some solution. But why put them in a position of feeling obligated or pressured to begin with? I just wanted them to have a nice place to stay where they could get away from pool and even have privacy when needed, and most importantly where they could truly relax and just be themselves and feel at home. They seemed to really appreciate it.

All of them were a pleasure to have around and were great guests. I would have never guessed that Johnny, Earl and Mark are three of the funniest guys around anywhere. Johnny is slightly shy or reserved around people he doesn't know, but if he knows you forget it. He is hilarious. Earl has never been shy a day in his life but believe it or not, he can actually be quite funny and he hung in there with the joking around just like everybody else did. He gave it back as good as he got it. And Mark, well he doesn't even know the meaning of the word shy. He is very outgoing, always telling jokes or stories or trying to get a rise out of somebody, and his thick English accent and the English phrases that he uses make so many things just that much more funny. All three of them would also pick on each other unmercifully for entertainment, like the three stooges, but even better. I was in absolute stitches for the better part of six days.

Some of the stories would not be appropriate for the forums, and some I would have to keep to myself to respect privacy. But there are plenty of stories to be told, many of which that Mark has already shared and many that have probably slipped his mind. I will leave it to Mark to share them as he thinks of them because he is one funny dude and would do a much better job than I ever could. I only wish that you could hear his accent and voice inflections as well because it would have you rolling when he starts with a story. They could make a reality show just by following these three guys around, and it would be a hit. Here is a link to a few other road stories that Mark did. I hope he shares even more as I won't get tired of them.
http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=106671

The private mini exhibition and BBQ was a very nice gesture on Johnny, Earl and Mark's part. The table was a 9ft Diamond Professional with slightly tighter than pro cut pockets and plays very tough (it was set up by RealKingCobra). It got the Earl and Johnny seal of approval. As tough as the table is, Earl made every one of his shots on the first try except one, and that one went on the second try. He also made about 90% of his wing shots. It was sick. I would not have thought it was possible on this table. If you haven't seen the wing shots, he rolls the ball very fast towards the middle diamond of the far end rail and waits until it is about 8 inches away from the rail before firing it into the corner pocket at warp speed. Johnny also made a couple of trick shots on his first attempt and then he played some games and shot brilliantly as usual. It was something to see as this table is not forgiving at all.

The barbeque that Johnny cooked was extremely good. I can't compare it to T-wheels cooking because I haven't tried it, but T-wheels better really be on his game if he wants to barbeque better steaks, fish, sausage etc. I sure wouldn't mind getting to be the judge if there is ever a cook off though, that's for sure! Johnny's only BBQ weakness was getting a good fire going...lol. After watching him struggle with it for quite a while I finally took over and got it going good on the first attempt (I wouldn't have been able to cook as good though). We were home free after that.

I did not attend the pool school but from spending quite a bit of time with Johnny and Earl and hearing them talk about the pool schools, I can tell you that they both genuinely care about helping their students improve their games. They aren't just going through the motions. For anyone down the road that has a chance to attend I would highly suggest it. Spending four hours with arguably the two greatest 9 ball players that ever lived who are genuinely interested in helping you to improve your game would be a fair deal at half again the $200 that they are charging. You might even want to consider offering to buy and take them out to dinner. You are guaranteed to have a lot of laughs and a great time.
 
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