Billy Thorpe gone wild!

HawaiianEye said:
He may have not have been able to get a game.

You walk into a poolroom with a Cuetec and you can get all kind of action.

You whip out a Jackpot and people start asking for spots.

:)
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That's true, jackpot cues are so poorly assembled that a pro is rendered mortal. I'd grab a spot while I could too

Sidenote: hilarious that it only took 17 pages to become a shill's advertisement for junky cues
 
smoochie said:
I'm not giving excuses to their behaviour, but I've been saying this for years! there's a flaw in the game of pool, if there's no solution to this then it can happen to most of who play the game seriously.

The flaw is the rack and the break, fix this one issue because both of them "Rack + Break" are related to one issue, fix it and you solve the game.

Snooker players have that fixed cause you must break a safety, there's never an issue with snooker cause they fix the issue for pro-level.

Now find a solution for pool pro-level, fix the rack and break, we need a genius to fix it and still make it interesting because we know people love shooting that break shot very hard, but it really need a fix, we can't rely on an important shot and while making it a lucky shot but also some ppl rig it and make it desirable for them, I know ppl who rig racks and run 5 packs, it's crazy, fix the break and rack and we have a game.
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To fix the racking game there is only one quick fix... all balls especially in 9-ball get racked in the same position every time... then the cue ball gets spotted on the target spot on kitchen end... everyone has to break from that spot!!! That is the ONLY way to fix breaking even for all players... they also must hit the head ball to count as legal shot... NOW if you ask 10 players if this would work you will get 10 different answers... so I don't think you will get any way for ALL to agree on how to RACK & How to BREAK!!! jmho...
 
jay helfert said:
That was unpleasant to watch on many levels. Don't get me wrong, I've seen as much and worse in bars and poolrooms before, but it wasn't on the internet where it can be put on YouTube for the world to see later. When I've seen behavior like this before it was usually between low life scufflers and thieves who had bad attitudes to begin with. Often it ended up in blows being thrown and the house man or bouncer had to break it up and throw them both out. If it happened in one of my poolrooms we would 86 both players for an indefinite period of time. To see one of our representatives on the MC team acting like this is truly disappointing. There is no excuse for what I saw there. To later say it was just because he was drunk doesn't make it any better. Being drunk is not an excuse, in fact it only makes Billy look that much worse, acting like a drunken fool.

That Billy is a sore loser is another thing. He's getting beat on and this is how he reacts. If he feels he is being cheated in some way, then he should just pay off and quit. He must be desperate for a game if he gambles with someone he knows is going to put a rack on him. I'm sure he thought he had the best of it when he made the game.

No doubt this will all blow over in a few days, but it won't be totally forgotten. Once it's on YouTube it's memorialized forever. Billy should know better. IMO he needs anger management classes (and maybe AA as well), but I'm sure he won't be getting them since he probably believes it's all Rob's fault. Rob is no angel, but he is not the aggressor here.

My answer how to avoid stuff like this - neutral racker. Of course, the horse is out of the barn now and we can't unsee what we just saw.
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He needs anger management classes ? Really? Am I missing something? this is a one time incident as I can tell. He doesn’t have a habit of this. He’s not earl strickland LOL

And jay you should come down off your high horse a bit. You were a big hustler . Aka you stole from people for a living. I’m sure you have tons of altercations in bar rooms youre glad weren’t recorded.
 
sjm said:
Certainly, JAM, it's not fair to generalize here, for some of the top US players take this seriously. That said, I could write a book on the many indiscretions for which I've been present in and around American pro pool players that made American pool look bad. I also need to note that American pool players who behave badly are never called out by their fellow American pros, further evidencing that their fellow American pros just don't care enough about it.

Even restricting myself to the last few years and only events I've attended, and I'll leave the names out, we've seen: a) a top American in contention for Master of the Table at Derby City, and entering Saturday's nine ball play still undefeated, got drunk the night before and overslept his match for his first loss, and then failed to show for his next match, thereby compromising his chance at both the $16,000 first prize for the 9-ball event and the $20,000 prize for Master of the Table, b) an American refuse to shake an opponent's hand, for no discernible reason, after a Mosconi match despite being begged by coach Johan to do so, c) during the Derby City Bigfoot Ten Ball, an elite American player whose opponent was nearing the finish line uttered to his opponent "play me a long race and I'll turn you into a cab driver", and d) an elite American pro yelling at the crowd." At Steinway Billiards, I was once lashed into by an elite American player when I applauded for a shot made by his opponent that he didn't feel warranted applause. Even restricting myself to elite players, I could surely come up with many other examples. Unfortunately, in each case these infractions were by highly visible players in highly visible situations.

Some things make the present demonstrably different from the past:

1) Matchroom has increased its investment in pool and Emily Frazer's comments, reiterated in an article that appeared on AZB, that the lack of professionalism in American pool needs to be addressed if the pro pool product, over which they now have considerable control (as a result of their acquisition of both the US Open 9-ball and the WPA World 9-ball Championship) is to be optimally positioned from a marketing standpoint. Matchroom's appetite for continuing to increase its investment in pool will be greatly influenced by their perception of the attainability of that vision, and the behavior of American pros will figure in how they view things.

2) We live in the internet age. Billy's behavior would have gone unnoticed twenty five years ago. Now, matches are streamed and player behavior is more visible than ever and even when pros play unstreamed matches, they know they may be being taped on someone's phone. The internet has changed the world in which the pool player operates, and every pool player knows it.

3) As a regular Team USA member at the Mosconi, Billy Thorpe is now among the most visible American players worldwide, so his actions will have far more influence on how American pool is perceived worldwide than all but a few of his fellow American pros.

Yes, I do feel that Americans are inferior in their behavior to the Europe-based players, and this is not meant to suggest that there aren't European players that cross the line, too. I think a lot of the difference is attributable to the fact that the undeniably seedy action scene is the training ground for most top American players, and this is not so in Europe.

Unlike some others, I strongly believe that American pool can evolve past all this and don't feel that objectionable behavior is so deeply embedded in American pool culture that it's time wasted to try to improve it. Also unlike some others, I don't embrace the status quo.

Finally, it needs to be said that all I have is my own experience in making these judgements, and others may have had different experiences and can rightly see things differently. This is, undeniably, a matter of opinion, but I hope I've made mine clear.
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Yes, a matter of opinion. Thanks for sharing yours. I can list some discretions of non-American players in this thread, but what for? I'm not here to flame the fire on pool players in general, but my opinion is that it is unfair to stereotype all American pool players. I base this on my own experience as well, and I am proud to not be a pool purist. I think pool needs some emotion and not robotic tournament soldiers playing mum pool. To each their own, I guess. One thing for sure I have noticed, pool is cruel to its own, especially American pool.
 
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terryhanna said:
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This is to be expected. I won't say I endorse this kind of immidiate cancellation based on one bad incident, but it has become the norm, especially with the increased risk posed by these kinds of incidents in the current climate. I would have had more respect for Cuetec if they came out and said that they didn't endorse his behaviour, but would continue their arrangement only if the person took a class or whatever they deemed appropriate. It would have show character and class, but you really can't expect it from a company with limited funds. It takes work and time to reverse the damage from such incidents. Had they been a large company with a larger budget, I think they could have even turned this into a positive, with BT showing up at some sort of event for the people who were insulted, while promoting Cuetec and putting on a show of some sort. But in pool, the risk/reward factor just isn't good enough to justify that amount of investment. If Billy Thorpe lays low for a while, and performs well, I suspect he'll be able to pick up a new sponsor for cues, but it may take some time. If he establishes a pattern of behaving this way, it'll be a different story.
 
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sjm said:
On the one hand, I admire the fact that Billy is showing some contrition here, but only to his fans and to those that may have been offended by an insensitive slur. On the other hand, these are not the biggest victims of his behavioral outburst.

The real victims are a) his fellow pros worldwide , whose sport looks uncivilized here, b) his fellow American pros, whose insufficient professionalism, which has been explicitly cited by Matchroom as weakening the pro pool product worldwide, has been reinforced, c) those who produce the events in which Billy earns his living, d) his sponsors, whose investments in him suddenly look less wise, and e) American poolroom owners, whose establishments suddenly look less suitable for young new players. Chad Sholders, who spoke extremely well, similarly omitted all of these victims, restricting his attentions to how fans will deal with this incident. I think Chad handled the challenges of the moment with both discretion and wisdom.

Billy's introspection here is very admirable, and let's hope he takes that long look at himself that he seems committed to so that he can build a new foundation for the future. To use his words, he needs to reexamine his life choices and get himself on a better path. I think he'll do just that and we'll see a better Billy Thorpe in the future. I know I'll be rooting for him, and I still think he'll be one of America's best for years to come.

That said, I still feel that this video tends to confirm, rather than dispel, my view that the most visible American pool pros don't feel sufficiently accountable to their fellow pros or to their sport's image and future. Personally, I'd like to see that change.
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NO! The real victim is Robb! I'm sick of hearing "I apologize to my fan's, sponsor's,etc. How about "I am sorry" or at least " I told Robb i;m sorry".
 
"Just so all you Facebook warriors know me and Robb Saez have zero problem with each other and never have! You guys act like drinking and gambling can’t get out of hand every now and then. This picture was just taken 5 minutes ago and we’re still friends no matter what. Glad to call Robb my friend and I apologize too all the people that had to see 2 guys gambling 😂😂 I’ll be seeing him in the finals of more tournaments to come!" B.T.

Billy.JPG
 
trob said:
He needs anger management classes ? Really? Am I missing something? this is a one time incident as I can tell. He doesn’t have a habit of this. He’s not earl strickland LOL

And jay you should come down off your high horse a bit. You were a big hustler . Aka you stole from people for a living. I’m sure you have tons of altercations in bar rooms youre glad weren’t recorded.
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I think you did miss something Rob. How do you know this is a one time incident? Billy even acknowledged that he has a problem with self control, especially when drinking.

I'm not sure what "high horse" you are talking about. In reality I was not a pool hustler! My M.O. was to go into a room and ask for a game. I would usually go right to the counter and ask the houseman if there was anybody who liked to play for money. Typically they would ask me how I played and my stock response was that I played okay. This way I often got a game fairly quickly if there was one to be had or I just left. I was never one to hang around watching all the players and picking out the guy(s) I thought I could beat. That just wasn't my style. I wanted to play pool and not waste time looking for a game. I had confidence in my ability to protect myself on the table and that was enough. If you call that a hustler, so be it.
 
As one of those "f-----s" who Billy was targeting with his offensive and retrograde language... his insincere apology is not accepted.

Life will go on for both of us, though he appears to be a little lighter in the wallet as a result.
 
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