Defending Mike Sigel!

I'll only say good things about mike in this post,

1. he was a great player.
2. for a while he was a respectable guy.
3. thats all i can think of.

He was a top player and thats never a bad thing for pool, the more better players the better the sport.
 
Fast Davie NC said:
First off, I started a thread about Mike's Pool Lession Boot Camp's and Private Lessons in Florida and maybe got 2 true replies! All the others were ridiculous, rude, obnoxious towards mike and twords me! I merely was asking questions because I thought most people on this forum were generally pretty nice, knowledgable, and may be able to answer my questions before the original topic got destroyed and the thread turned into a bashing session to Kevin Trudeau-Mike Sigel, Cocaine abuse, etc, etc!

If everyone would stop being inmature and judging people in the wrong way, I think that most of us would realize truly (if you have a memory) that Mike was a great player in the 70"s and 80"s... Bar None! His Stroke, Form, Strategies, Knowledge- He was truly a winner! (The stats speak for itself!).

I do not know about Mike's cocaine or prison past and do not care to know it! I do not judge people and people do make mistakes and learn from them (I guess everyone who is bashing him have a perfect past and have always lived as Angels!).

Mike had and has a true passion for the game. I have had conversations with him and he always has been a gentleman to me. He signed whatever I wanted and always thanked me for inspiring him for comments I would make about his game!

I grew up watching Mike play and he always inspired me! He is a LEGEND! Anyone who doesn't respect his game, Knowledge and what he has done for pool in general should reconsider or watch their mouth! Efren may have beet him in the "King of the Hill", Efren is a great player! Other players may have beat mike in the IPT, They too are great players!, But for all the people in this forum who bashed him...Would you match up with him? Even now? Where any of you Bashers qualifiers for the IPT? I rest my Case!

PS, Oh By The Way...The person that replied to this thread and told me to bring KY jelly with me if I go to Mike's Bootcamp...I thought that was insulting! You can tell what's on your mind! It is people Like YOU who ruin great forums like AZ! Get Lost Pal!


Mr. KY is totally discusting! Oh I get it JEALOUS?

I agree with you. And for the record Mike has never been in PRISON! Since these people have so much time on their hands they would search the net and find nothing. They managed to find court records on Trudeau! You see most have no respect for themselves much less a pool player or probably no athlete. And too much time on their hands. Why don't they get an education! You can't post on any forum without getting bashed!AND my we wonder WHY NO BIG CORPORATION wants to sponsor POOL even if Kevin Trudeau was not involved! Never has happened and never will. You will find the same ol' posters with the same ol' crap! Bashing, name calling, anything to get them noticed. And let me add in a negitive way! You guys should go to the book store and find something intelligent to read for a change! And learn to turn your negitive into something positive so you too can have good in your life! Feel sorry for some of you on judgement day!
 
tap tap tap

CreeDo said:
I've tried some searches, but I can't figure out where all the sigel bashing comes from. I'll admit I'm kind of a fan of him (as a player, never met him), but I'll get over it if he really is a total jerk. But can anyone give an actual concrete example of him being a total jerk? It's not enough to say 'everyone knows' it, because clearly everyone DOESN'T know it, and a lot of people are debating it.

Do I understand the scandal with MS and KT correctly?
- Mike and KT happen to be good friends (or KT approaches and befriends mike, I dunno).
- They start a pro tour.
- Despite having a known sleaze like KT, many pros sign up for it and pay entry fees. Maybe mike helps assure them it's gonna be great?
- KT fails to make payouts. Despite being a millionaire he says there are cash flow problems. After huge delays he makes some partial payouts and refunds some entry fees, paying a bit under half of what's owed.

By all accounts, it sounds like it's 100% KT's fault. I'm not gonna defend KT, he sounds like scum. It looks like he decided he could safely take the money and run. I dunno if he went into it with that intention or just decided midway through it "hey, I can screw over these pool players and get away with it."

Yet people talk with such hatred of SIGEL, like he's the devil in all of it. Like he literally was trying to scam people in some deranged criminal partnership with KT. If mike IS trying to scam people, how's the scam supposed to work? He goes to the time and trouble of setting up an elaborate con with his buddy kevin, where they create a fake tour with fake promotional materials and websites, and they spend all sorts of time and money to finding venues and tricking dozens of top players into playing meaningless matches for pretend money, with the hopes that sigel's friend KT can pocket a bunch of entry fees and sponsorship money, then give a chunk of it to sigel? With a few fake partial payments to guys like efren just to convince people it's not a con?

Does anyone honestly believe that this is what's happened?

I agree with what you say....I don't understand how people can say Mike S. was responsible for what KT did....If anything, he was looking to help the state of professional pool by getting some money into it...obviously, he would be looking to help himself to some of that money as well....I don't necessarily like his arrogance, or the way he seems so egotistical....but the man is a true champion; one of the greatest ever in pool....I once saw the way he was instructing Ewa Mataya-Laurance when they were competing in a scotch-doubles match, and I thought he was a very good teacher....I would not mind paying him for lessons if I had lots of money.....
 
I normally don't post to this stuff

Fast Davie NC said:
First off, I started a thread about Mike's Pool Lession Boot Camp's and Private Lessons in Florida and maybe got 2 true replies! All the others were ridiculous, rude, obnoxious towards mike and twords me! I merely was asking questions because I thought most people on this forum were generally pretty nice, knowledgable, and may be able to answer my questions before the original topic got destroyed and the thread turned into a bashing session to Kevin Trudeau-Mike Sigel, Cocaine abuse, etc, etc!

If everyone would stop being inmature and judging people in the wrong way, I think that most of us would realize truly (if you have a memory) that Mike was a great player in the 70"s and 80"s... Bar None! His Stroke, Form, Strategies, Knowledge- He was truly a winner! (The stats speak for itself!).

I do not know about Mike's cocaine or prison past and do not care to know it! I do not judge people and people do make mistakes and learn from them (I guess everyone who is bashing him have a perfect past and have always lived as Angels!).

Mike had and has a true passion for the game. I have had conversations with him and he always has been a gentleman to me. He signed whatever I wanted and always thanked me for inspiring him for comments I would make about his game!

I grew up watching Mike play and he always inspired me! He is a LEGEND! Anyone who doesn't respect his game, Knowledge and what he has done for pool in general should reconsider or watch their mouth! Efren may have beet him in the "King of the Hill", Efren is a great player! Other players may have beat mike in the IPT, They too are great players!, But for all the people in this forum who bashed him...Would you match up with him? Even now? Where any of you Bashers qualifiers for the IPT? I rest my Case!

PS, Oh By The Way...The person that replied to this thread and told me to bring KY jelly with me if I go to Mike's Bootcamp...I thought that was insulting! You can tell what's on your mind! It is people Like YOU who ruin great forums like AZ! Get Lost Pal!

But in this case, I will. Each person in life is entitled to their opinion. Everyone don't see people the same way. My opinion of Mike, and whether I would EVER intentionally pay him anything, no matter how much better it may make me play is this. NEVER WILL IT HAPPEN. I realize he may have changed his opinions a little since 1985, but it will always stick with me. I was at Starchers playing in $125 entry fee tourney against guys like Strickland, Sigel, Buddy Hall, Reyes, Parica, and most of the other touring pro's at the time. Mike and 3 other pro players are sitting in front of me and he's bad-mouthing the guys like me at the tournament. I was a young, very good player who could string a few together and wanted to learn and move my game up by playing all the tournaments I could. Here he was saying Me and the other 40 or 50 unranked players had no right to be there competing with them. At that time there was very little added monies and the entry fees of us unranked players were paying their way. A small argument with him ensued about my right to play in ANY OPEN event I wanted to if I paid my entry. Does he have a LOVE for the game, Yes. You can't play at that level without loving it. Did he want better for the players, of course. I understand he felt players should have to qualify to play in MAJOR events. But for him to blatantly bad mouth me and others for being there to play, left a very bad taste in my mouth and I WILL NEVER FORGET IT.
That was as bad as the guy I went to the tourney with saying Reyes, Parica and Luat had no right to play there and take a shot at the money because they were Philipino. That was the last tourney I went to with him.
I'm not trying to bash Mike, and I'm sure he may be a very good instructor, but thats my opinion. After 20 years, I think it will stay the same.
 
Well, I guess I can see why satman has a legit reason to think he's a POS.

It sounds like he ran his mouth and said negative crap about people a lot. I don't mind so much if someone talks about themselves in an arrogant way but there's no reason to put down others. Why would he have a problem with having to play some high level lightweights in 125 buck tournament?
 
CreeDo,

1. Past accomplishments don't matter. OJ Simpson was one of the greatest football players to ever live, but I don't see many people gushing over him.

2. Mike Sigel brought Kevin Trudeau to the players and helped KT persuade them to play. In doing so Mike was "vouching" for KT.

3. NO player has been actually paid more money by the IPT than Mike Sigel. Mike made a cool quarter million. He did so by playing fewer matches than ANY IPT participant, going 1 for 2 with his ONLY win coming from beating a past-her-prime female player. (No offense to Lori Jon Jones - she was a phenomenal champion) IMO this shows that Mike Sigel "hedged" his bets on the IPT and made sure HE got paid first.

3. Do not mistake winning tournaments and being a champion as "doing alot for pool". Talk to the people on this forum who've had personal dealings with Mike Sigel and they'll tell you about what kind of a person he is.

4. The people on this forum call it like they see it. As much as they bash Mike Sigel and Earl, they'll also praise those who've really been pleasures to watch and deal with like Allen Hopkins, Grady, John Schmidt, Danny Basovich, etc.

5. Mike Sigel could have saved his reputation and retained the respect of the pool community if he would have spoken out about what's going on with the IPT. He hasn't done that.
 
there are also some who feel that Sigel actually was more than just a little complacent in the IPT fiasco

I personally feel he was conned like the rest of em
 
smashmouth said:
there are also some who feel that Sigel actually was more than just a little complacent in the IPT fiasco

I personally feel he was conned like the rest of em

I wholeheartedly disagree. Sigel was much more involved in this than being the one who introduced KT to pool. Furthermore, he was at the top of the "pyramid" after signing his performance contract with felon mark trainor. He spent months trying to convince every pro to sign a similar contract.

Sigel sold himself to the devil, dvd's and all, and at the same time, sold out his peers.

rg
 
NYC cue dude said:
I wholeheartedly disagree. Sigel was much more involved in this than being the one who introduced KT to pool. Furthermore, he was at the top of the "pyramid" after signing his performance contract with felon mark trainor. He spent months trying to convince every pro to sign a similar contract.

Sigel sold himself to the devil, dvd's and all, and at the same time, sold out his peers.

rg

NYC,

Give it up, man.. Those who choose to blindly support Sigel have chosen not to educate themselves as to what actually happened, who introduced who, Trainor's contracts, Sigels involvement, etc...

Those of us who actually bothered to track what was happening know that Mike ****ed up royally, and is now remaining silent. That's all there really is to say on the matter.

Russ
 
Fast Davie NC said:
First off, I started a thread about Mike's Pool Lession Boot Camp's and Private Lessons in Florida and maybe got 2 true replies! All the others were ridiculous, rude, obnoxious

Fast-man,
Well, this thread didn't work out any better - just badmouthing Mike - you might as well have started a thread on Earl (sounds like Mike is well on the way to a similar reputation).

I am not aware of any "boot camp" offered by Mike. Where did you hear about it??

I spoke with Mike about 2 years ago regarding lessons. He was not in any way anxious to give them; but thought that for a $1000 we could work together for a weekend. As the IPT was starting, I did not follow up on his offer.

I am also not aware that he has a significant history of teaching; maybe this is changing if you have heard that he is actively seeking students.

I DO know that he learned from one of the all-time greats, Irving Crane. Any player who is interested at all in straight pool could probably get some invaluable insight into the old school way of play. Such sources are few; but I can tell you that Danny DiLiberto and Grady Mathews have such knowledge, are very willing to share (and for less cash than Mike), and are in all probability more entertaining to be around than Mike. I have also heard very good things about Ray Martin, and know that he also actively teaches.

If you are looking for a "stroke guru", you would be better off seeking a top instructor who specializes in such teaching (ie. Jerry Briesath, Mark Wilson, Randy G., Scott Lee). There is no way that Mike could be better than those guys on the mechanics of the stroke. Good luck.
 
Is Sigel owed money like the rest of the pool players? If yes, then that right there is a good reason for him to keep silent and wait this out. You can't really blame him for being silent if he too is sitting there hoping KT will make good eventually.
 
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