I'm sure if Earl got invited he would spend some time on a snooker table. When I was a kid in a small town in Iowa the only place to play pool was a place called Elmers and they had 3 snooker tables and a 3 cushion billiard table, nothing else. The game requires an adjustment but isn't impossible as you suggest.
I think if a pool player were to come as an invited player to play in the worlds then it cant just be anybody. They have to be able to play the game. They should hold a north American trial. Group all the players that want to come and play and play against each other. The 2 finalists get two wild cards. It at least shows they can play a little.
There are probably 6 lads at the club I play that could beat Alex P. More that could beat Earl. You don't want to get players invited purely because of their name. It will look bad on pool, and the snooker world already laughs at pool as a sport. Get someone that can put in a good show and someone that will have the public falling in love with them and won't make a mockery of pool. Efren would have been ideal. You cant help but like the guy when he plays with that smile of his all the time.
I never suggested the game was impossible just that Earls chances were impossible of making himself look good at the game. Around the country every club has a snooker player capable of competing against Earl now. With 3 weeks practice do you really think he could go from a decent amateur level to competing against the best the world has to offer? I've played snooker since the age of 6 and I can appreciate how bloody hard it is. Sure Earl can pot balls for fun, but does he have a snooker brain? The snooker brain and the pool brain couldn't be further apart. The tactical side of the game is what takes the longest to learn. And based on that, Earl doesn't stand a chance playing against guys who have been playing it their entire lives.
I agree with Alsti it is not a rocket science it is a cue sport. When I was young the only tables in the pool hall were snooker tables. No one told us how hard snooker was, how big the tables were or how tight the pockets were so we just enjoyed playing.
However, I would not take away from the valid points made by Pidge. Snooker provides a different set of challenges from Pool. I do think that some of Pidge’s comments are based in opinion and hyperbole that many would not share.
Pidge, it must be a real competitive snooker club that you play out of if there are 6 guys in the club that could beat Alex P. at snooker (are you included in the 6?). I had occasion to watch Alex P. play snooker when he won the Canadian Snooker Championship a couple of years ago and he was not too shabby, beating past champions and full time snooker players in the process. He came close to making it through Q school last year. I talked with him several weeks before he was leaving to go to Q school and he had not started to seriously prepare for it yet.
I make a point of organizing my time so that I can watch the World Snooker Championships each year as I enjoy it as a spectator sport. Clearly to play at that level takes a safety touch that I can only dream off. Although as a spectator, with the help of good commentary, I can appreciate the strategy I also know that it is not something someone can put in practice without a lot of game experience.
That said, I’m not Earl, he would be a quicker study and approach it quite seriously. Would he acquit himself well? You say that’s impossible, I might say improbable but I think (hope) he might surprise. As for, how did you put it, the snooker world already laughing at pool; in your snooker world I am sure that is correct and if it comes to pass that Earl is asked to play I am sure that you and maybe your 6 talented lads will wax on ad nauseam at how outrageous it is for a mere pool player to think they could play snooker.
Real cue sport aficionados do not, however, differentiate between the two disciplines and the different games involved in each; they have respect for the talent that it takes in all cue sports and, more so, appreciate the opportunity to watch talent that is brave enough to step outside their comfort zone for our viewing pleasure.
