Yeah I agree. No way she pocketed balls better then Allison.
Allison vs Jean?
- Thread starter L.S. Dennis
- Start date
bbb asked Fran Crimi about this - here’s her reply from the Ask The Instructor forum.
pj
chgo
Fran Crimi:
“Yes. I've played both and watched many of their matches.They're both fantastic players but I would give Jean the edge for a few reasons. First was Jean's desire to win. She fought and fought and fought until the last ball was pocketed. It didn't matter if she had a big lead or was behind. She played with the same ferocity. She never let an opponent's mistake go by unpunished. As far as Jean was concerned, she either won the tournament or lost the tournament. Any finishing place but first was meaningless to her.
As for her playing style, she was more of a feel or rhythm player than a mechanical player. Once she fell into her rhythm, all you could do was sit and watch. I think her natural style of play helped her in adapting to changing playing conditions, so if suddenly the humidity kicked in in the middle of a tournament, Jean adapted pretty quickly.
However, having said all that about Jean, either one of those two great players could beat the other on any given day. I bet their win/loss record against each other would have been close. But I would give Jean the overall win.”
pj
chgo
Fran Crimi:
“Yes. I've played both and watched many of their matches.They're both fantastic players but I would give Jean the edge for a few reasons. First was Jean's desire to win. She fought and fought and fought until the last ball was pocketed. It didn't matter if she had a big lead or was behind. She played with the same ferocity. She never let an opponent's mistake go by unpunished. As far as Jean was concerned, she either won the tournament or lost the tournament. Any finishing place but first was meaningless to her.
As for her playing style, she was more of a feel or rhythm player than a mechanical player. Once she fell into her rhythm, all you could do was sit and watch. I think her natural style of play helped her in adapting to changing playing conditions, so if suddenly the humidity kicked in in the middle of a tournament, Jean adapted pretty quickly.
However, having said all that about Jean, either one of those two great players could beat the other on any given day. I bet their win/loss record against each other would have been close. But I would give Jean the overall win.”
You made some good points about conditions and rules and I would agree with your conclusions.
Jean didn’t quit because someone pissed her off. She was head and shoulders above the other women, so those tournaments were easy pay days. She was getting tired of it all and was already onto other challenges. The WPBA fining her gave her an out.
What did they fine her for?
Unsportsmanlike conduct (apparently). Wiki's version of the situation is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Balukas
Over the past 20 years, Allison and Jean have become good friends. I’m curious if they ever talked about doing any kind of a exhibition / challenge tour together? My hunch is that Jean may have realized she had lost just enough of her game to not be able to compete with Allison at the level she would like to, or perhaps more likely, as friends, they may just have no interest in competing against each other.
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If they think they can make some money they would do it.
If they came to Denver I would pay pretty good to see them.
Agreed, with a good promoter, I would think there would be considerable interest for such a tour.
Somebody has to know them and make a call.
It’s apparent they have no interest, or it would have already happened.
Yes, they are good friends and already were good friends twenty years ago, but you're wrong about why an exhibition tour wasn't an option.
As Cornerman correctly points out in post #64, Jean had burned out and had no desire to compete. He is also right that the fine was not why she quit. Plain and simple, she had tired of competitive pool. She made this abundantly clear when she passed up a guaranteed payday at the IPT Las Vegas event of 2006, in which all living Hall-of-Famers were invited and every one of them was guaranteed a minimum prize of $30,000 just for showing up.
You don’t have to be that competitive to go on an exhibition tour with another Hall of Fame player, particularly if you get along well with that player. Didn’t Mosconi do it for decades after he gave up competing in tournaments?
Obviously, both Jean and Allison are financially comfortable enough that they simply don’t need to. Although there is only a 9 year age difference, Jean retired from competition over 30 years ago whereas Allison is still actively competing in tournaments. That is a huge difference.
It would be like Earl going on an exhibition / challenge tour with Mike Sigel. Even though Sigel is only 8 years older, he’s been out of competition for way too long.
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Jean had tired of playing pool.
Also, the Mosconi comparison doesn't work. After retirement, Willie remained under contract with Brunswick for years, and his contract required that he tour the country playing challenge matches. When Jean retired, she did not remain under contract with Brunswick for long. I believe it was Ewa Mataya that replaced Jean as Brunswick's female player rep after Jean's retirement.
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Just one additional comment: if you watch the videos, JB payed like she had a pair, and I mean that in the most complimentary way possible.
She was a total natural that put the balls away and played position like a *really great* male pro. I think AF would not have been able to fade an onslaught of racks run by JB.
Lou Figueroa
She was a total natural that put the balls away and played position like a *really great* male pro. I think AF would not have been able to fade an onslaught of racks run by JB.
Lou Figueroa
Thanks for that. I was not aware of this, but even if true, I still feel it evidences that she had little desire to play pool.
Jean could only go down instead of up if she returned to play. She won something like 16 tournaments in a row so her record stands head and shoulders above all others. I knew someone who played in her room several years after her retirement. He asked her to play him some straight pool to kill time. She got an open shot and ran a hundred balls and out. He told me he asked her why don't she go back on tour since she could still play so good and they had offered to drop the fine. She simply replied, "What for?"