Open letter to earl strickland from a fan
Mr. Strickland. We are all fans of great pool, and I am sure you are too. We want our champions to be great in many ways if not every way. We cannot expect you to be great in every way and we know that. You have been faced with complaints and misunderstandings most if not all of your career. Since you are a champion competitor and are used to winning, you probably do not want to back down from the longstanding argument you have regarding playing conditions, etiquette, fan behavior, and the rest. But you have a chance to redeem yourself easily and if you surprise your detractors. By doing so it will be your greatest achievement and will top off an incredible career as possibly, probably, the greatest 9 ball player of all time. If only you would tell the fans humbly that you understand their concerns, or some such apologetic stuff that we know you find hard to say, then you will be the prodigal son, not Jack "Pal" Smurch, who was "The Greatest Man In The World." He had to be pushed out of the White House window by the President in James Thurber's story. Life is long, but it is not that long. We are hoping that this is the part in the story where the hero changes. Redeem yourself, redeem pool, friend. And P.S.: If you don't think we're ALL a bit of an Earl fan then consider two things. Every time someone begins their stint as one of your detractors, they have to say "Earl IS the greatest 9 ball player ever, BUT..." ~ there's always an IS before the BUT. The second thing is that you need to consider what a STAGGERING amount of posts and threads there are for YOUR MATCH Earl. Staggering. Now is the time, champ......