Earl refused to be interviewed after the match.

[JoeyA]

Well, I can tell you first hand a few things. I was Earl's "cornerman" for the weekend, walked him in and out of the room, smoke breaks, drive him to his hotel, etc.

He was worked up already because of the easy pockets and soft rails. And sitting there for over an hour watching Johnny run over 100 balls. Mabye I'll do a thread later about my Weekend at Earl's !!

But I will say that the fans were routing for both, and Earl signed autographs for everyone and anyone who wanted one, and was truly being cool after matches signing cases, cues, balls, posters, etc. etc.

Folks were saying hi, congratulating him, etc. It's hard to imagine that there was any fans that "hated" Earl, or if they did they still wanted to meet him and get his autograph. He had the crowd in stitches before the matches began and that would have been worth the price of admisson for anyone. Too bad that didn't make it on the stream.

And folks brought their kids afterwards because this pool hall has a junior league,and Earl lit up like a christmas tree around the kids, signing their little cues and cases, and asking them about their game. Shaking their hands and really enjoying the fact that kids are into the pool. That was a hoot. It was nice meeting Johnny, Nick and Shawn as well. I got some other stories I really would like to share, but I got back home at 2am today and I'm gonna go take a nap......

Thank you for " The rest of the story".

JoeyA

 

[PoolSharkAllen]

Well, I can tell you first hand a few things. I was Earl's "cornerman" for the weekend, walked him in and out of the room, smoke breaks, drive him to his hotel, etc.

But I will say that the fans were routing for both, and Earl signed autographs for everyone and anyone who wanted one, and was truly being cool after matches signing cases, cues, balls, posters, etc. etc.

Folks were saying hi, congratulating him, etc. It's hard to imagine that there was any fans that "hated" Earl, or if they did they still wanted to meet him and get his autograph. He had the crowd in stitches before the matches began and that would have been worth the price of admisson for anyone. Too bad that didn't make it on the stream.

And folks brought their kids afterwards because this pool hall has a junior league,and Earl lit up like a christmas tree around the kids, signing their little cues and cases, and asking them about their game. Shaking their hands and really enjoying the fact that kids are into the pool. That was a hoot. It was nice meeting Johnny, Nick and Shawn as well.

Thanks for portraying the better side of Earl.

Now that things have calmed down a bit, do you think Earl would be open to doing a post-game interview, in a format TBD?

 

[mohrt]

If you have some time to waste, here is some random video from the match. This is a camera phone, so it's a bit shaky.

The first one is 10 mins of warmup between 8-ball and 10-ball. Johnny has fun with the earphones and arm weights. Earl seems fine with the fun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFpYhrs1Ehg

The second one is Johnny trying out the arm weight for a break during the match. Earl isn't so amused about it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow8_ojLNhc0

 

[JoeyA]

If you have some time to waste, here is some random video from the match. This is a camera phone, so it's a bit shaky.

The first one is 10 mins of warmup between 8-ball and 10-ball. Johnny has fun with the earphones and arm weights. Earl seems fine with the fun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFpYhrs1Ehg

The second one is Johnny trying out the arm weight for a break during the match. Earl isn't so amused about it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow8_ojLNhc0

Very nice video. Thanks,
JoeyA

 

[CocoboloCowboy]

Earl refused to be interviewed by Nick Varner after the match was over.

I heard Johnny saying, "I was only kidding".

What was it that he said that ticked Earl off?

The interview with Johnny was interesting and Johnny spoke well of Earl during the post interview.

A side note: NIck Varner was outstanding with his commentary as class, as usual.

I'd be curious to hear what it was that Johnny said and what the forum members think about it.

JoeyA

Many Professional Athletes hate the process of being interviewed. I recall the Great Joe Montana, SF 49ers Quarterback avoided contact with the Press, and Fans alike. It was Earl's right & choice to grant the interview or not.

Basketball Great Bill Russel would almost NEVER Sign an Autograph, again it the man right not to sign Autographs.

 

[markgw]

Putnam is jealous

I happen to like Johnny, Earl and Putnam. I thought it was a little unprofessional of Shawn to voice his opinons on Earl from the commentary box however. Quote; " If I acted like Earl I would hang myself." I didn't really dig comments like that, but man were we treated to some amazing pool last weekend. When Earl came with that 138 ball run after being hit with a 144 that was a real highlight and will be the most exciting 14.1 match in my collection now!!

 

[bboxgrinder]

Here is a heads up, that jag-off Earl will act the same just like a little d-bag during the next big 10 Ball tournament in Dallas. Just the same old story, over and over. Then there will be another 20 threads filled with his nut huggers, excuse makers, star struck morons, apologists, and clowns that want to compare pool to golf :rotflmao1:

Nice to see Big Bubba Putnam tell it like it is and how the players have to resort to policing themselves by finally having enough of this clown.

Maybe you'd like to put Big Bubba in the box against Earl. If you can get him to buy a set of nuts to put in his sack by all means shoot me a pvt and I'll be happy to accomondate you.

 

[JAM]

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[Bigtruck]

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Jenny......did Keith hack your account? :shocked: lol

I know it's a squirrel but I'm not sure I like the precedent it sets if it gets to stay! :sorry:

 

[punter]

Earl may have some strange ways but to get up and run over 100 balls when losing badly showed what kind of talent & heart Earl Strickland has.
He is a true champion but he is high strung and sometimes overreacts. This was a great pool match by both guys, and Johnny really did show a ton of class in his losing effort. I enjoyed Nick's commentary but Big Bubba was way out of line with his continued jabs at Earl, he should not have accepted to do the commentary if he hates Earl as he obviously does.

Very good post !!