Earl is not a good person and his playing ability doesn't make up for his awful persona.
Oh really? What a big statement there, you know him personally to say that he's not a good person, or is it just of some actions he does on TV?
personally I disagree with you 100%, he is a character on a table, TV Wants people like him to bring bigger audience to the game, With bigger audience there will be bigger investements, then bigger tournaments, then bigger money, then............you know where I'm going, pool would be better if we have more of the same persona (Which you dont like) as Earl Strickland.
look at tennis, look at snooker, look at golf, both these games has some type of same characters as Earl in the 80's, look where they are now, I can't remember names...but in snooker Alex comes to mind... and Earl is really a nice, good gentelman if you know him, he does act a little on TV because thats what our sport needs, trust me, go youtube and check for the 80's of tennis/golf you will get what I mean. there was this guy in Tennis who always fights with the referee in a funny way, people on audience tends to come and watch his matches because of this, crowd laughs alot.
Lets not forget how ESPN Loved having Earl the pearl on the TV Table alot, because of his character and the thing he does. ESPN said in an article about pool once (If only pocket billiards has more of Earl) I remember this.
just go to a tournament, and see how crowds gather up near Earls table, I remember this specially in the 90's, everybody clumb up near Earls table, why? cause its 1) beautiful play, 2) some funny comments, 3) a little show.
I remember one time i was attending a tournament where Earl was on the tv table arena, playing some guy. When Earl was shooting, this guy was sitting and grabbed the bottle of water to drink, Earl stopped his strokes and standed up, looked at his opponent and said in a funny way "Are you now thirsty to death? when I'm ready to shoot" its not as funny when i write it, but earl made it funny, people laughed.
this might be my longest post in az, I'm a big fan of Earl
