Here's the Matchroom website with all the announcements. No Earl (yet).
http://www.matchroompool.com/mosconi-cup
http://www.matchroompool.com/mosconi-cup
Earl Strickland - Great Player OR the Greatest Player?
- Thread starter CJ Wiley
- Start date
puressence
New member
Hi all, new to AZB 
Put simply (please excuse my forthright opinion). For Earl Strickland to not be in the Mosconi Cup team in any year is a national disgrace and an amazing, frankly stupid decision by who ever is in charge.
The guy is sheer class and an unbelievable talent, hall of famer...the works! The fact that his personality can be flawed and controversial in nature is neither here nor there.
I believe ok watching from afar that his omission recently is for the wrong reasons.
I remember travelling to Cardiff in 2002 to watch the 9ball WPC, and to watch Earl is to watch a genius. Yeah sure Effren and Bustamante were all the buzz at the venue and played well, concentrating on their games with their commendable and unassuming dispositions.
Earl however, was bigging it up with the audience, the referee and even Steve the nugget Davis on route to defeating Bustamante and winning the title. How any player can focus on his game and see off his peers, out play them and interact with who ever gets in his way on or off the table is a sheer natural talent. A talent that I don't believe any other player possesses. Earl a complex and amazing pool legend.
Put simply (please excuse my forthright opinion). For Earl Strickland to not be in the Mosconi Cup team in any year is a national disgrace and an amazing, frankly stupid decision by who ever is in charge.
The guy is sheer class and an unbelievable talent, hall of famer...the works! The fact that his personality can be flawed and controversial in nature is neither here nor there.
I believe ok watching from afar that his omission recently is for the wrong reasons.
I remember travelling to Cardiff in 2002 to watch the 9ball WPC, and to watch Earl is to watch a genius. Yeah sure Effren and Bustamante were all the buzz at the venue and played well, concentrating on their games with their commendable and unassuming dispositions.
Earl however, was bigging it up with the audience, the referee and even Steve the nugget Davis on route to defeating Bustamante and winning the title. How any player can focus on his game and see off his peers, out play them and interact with who ever gets in his way on or off the table is a sheer natural talent. A talent that I don't believe any other player possesses. Earl a complex and amazing pool legend.
Earl
Earl indeed is a great player.
Is he the greatest, IMO, No.
Efren is the greatest I have ever seen. How can you not put Mosconi in there somewhere is beyond me as well.
The saddest thing about Earl is his crazy behavior really shows no class and takes away from a stellar career.
I dont know if its drugs, life or something else that has taken him over the edge but its terrible. He is an embarassment, and he has embarassed the US Mosconi team before. I would never allow him on the Mosconi Cup team again.
Earl drove the final nail in the coffin at a key time on Mens Professional Tour at Romines playing Corey Dual. Id like to forgive him but I still cant.
I guess my standards are higher than most here, but when you look at Nick Varner, and Johnny Archer (and others) and see how they present the sport in the most positive light they can verses Earl and his demons.
So CJ, I guess you see things differently than me.
Best of rolls to all,
Ken
Earl indeed is a great player.
Is he the greatest, IMO, No.
Efren is the greatest I have ever seen. How can you not put Mosconi in there somewhere is beyond me as well.
The saddest thing about Earl is his crazy behavior really shows no class and takes away from a stellar career.
I dont know if its drugs, life or something else that has taken him over the edge but its terrible. He is an embarassment, and he has embarassed the US Mosconi team before. I would never allow him on the Mosconi Cup team again.
Earl drove the final nail in the coffin at a key time on Mens Professional Tour at Romines playing Corey Dual. Id like to forgive him but I still cant.
I guess my standards are higher than most here, but when you look at Nick Varner, and Johnny Archer (and others) and see how they present the sport in the most positive light they can verses Earl and his demons.
So CJ, I guess you see things differently than me.
Best of rolls to all,
Ken
I refer to pool players in pool performance terms
The Truth of the matter is "We All See Things Differently".....that's 100% accurate.
It's just above my "Pay Scale" to judge Earl or anyone else, we all have made mistakes and acted in ways we didn't' mean to.......none of is perfect, no, not even one.
I refer to pool players in pool performance terms, not in integrity, behavioural, or morally implications.....I would like to see everyone act perfectly, however, my idea of "perfect" is probably different than anyone else's idea of "perfect," and it's not possible anyway, so what's the point.
Earl is a great pool player and the biggest draw for whatever reason...maybe people "love to hate him" or "like to like him" or simply want to see a wreck like in NASCAR.
The Truth of the matter is "We All See Things Differently".....that's 100% accurate.
It's just above my "Pay Scale" to judge Earl or anyone else, we all have made mistakes and acted in ways we didn't' mean to.......none of is perfect, no, not even one.
I refer to pool players in pool performance terms, not in integrity, behavioural, or morally implications.....I would like to see everyone act perfectly, however, my idea of "perfect" is probably different than anyone else's idea of "perfect," and it's not possible anyway, so what's the point.
Earl is a great pool player and the biggest draw for whatever reason...maybe people "love to hate him" or "like to like him" or simply want to see a wreck like in NASCAR.
I was thinking the same thing.
The man beat Normanding in 32 mnutes score 9-2. He was literaly running while running the table. He makes it look too easy, for thise that know it isn't.
All this petty hatred of Earl, Dechaine and others is just forum fuel... it doesn't add up to anything when it's time to matchup man to man on the table. The petty racking wars are no excuse for bad play.
Sossei is a great regional player no doubt. He got through undefeated with a couple hill hill wins against other top regional players. Earl showed him the difference when playing top world class talent. From a guy who has been at it for 30 years. He did nothing to shark Dechaine or Sossei who both got beat down.
Pretty hard to accept any words surrounding this bizarre inference.
PS: I am a huge Earl fan and enjoy watching any match he plays in, even when he loses it. But that comment takes the cake.
Earl is a one-of-a-kind player. I always enjoy watching his matches. On eof the best for sure.
Even now, Earl is very dedicated to his game. He's just waiting on the side line for the game to come back and he'll be ready. The day that Earl won the Turning stone, he ran over 6 miles for his warm up and then he beats Karen. That man is probably one of the most dedicated player to his craft. Just wishing him the best and hoping he'll get the reward he well deserve for his life dedication to this game/sport!!
As to why he attract the crowd, well...he just play the game like no one else.
BR,
Duc.
As to why he attract the crowd, well...he just play the game like no one else.
BR,
Duc.
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Hi all, new to AZB
Put simply (please excuse my forthright opinion). For Earl Strickland to not be in the Mosconi Cup team in any year is a national disgrace and an amazing, frankly stupid decision by who ever is in charge.
The guy is sheer class and an unbelievable talent, hall of famer...the works! The fact that his personality can be flawed and controversial in nature is neither here nor there.
I believe ok watching from afar that his omission recently is for the wrong reasons.
I remember travelling to Cardiff in 2002 to watch the 9ball WPC, and to watch Earl is to watch a genius. Yeah sure Effren and Bustamante were all the buzz at the venue and played well, concentrating on their games with their commendable and unassuming dispositions.
Earl however, was bigging it up with the audience, the referee and even Steve the nugget Davis on route to defeating Bustamante and winning the title. How any player can focus on his game and see off his peers, out play them and interact with who ever gets in his way on or off the table is a sheer natural talent. A talent that I don't believe any other player possesses. Earl a complex and amazing pool legend.
There is many words that could describe Earl , class is certainly not on that list ,, however there is no denying his talent ,, and IMHO he's one of the very very few that actually add some entertainment to the game that's otherwise boring
1
rayjay,
after my brother Country Calvin won the North Carolina State 9-Ball Championship in 1978 or 79 beating Nick Varner in the final at Raleigh, Earl ask Calvin to take him on the road and show him the ropes, Earl was just a teenager but after six months of the road Earl told Calvin that he didn't want to be a road player but wanted to go Pro and be the World Champion, so the rest is history.
I guess from the late 70's till 2013 that is five different decades that Earl has played top shelf pool.
David Harcrow
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In a heartbeat
Nice story David, your brother not only played with the best, he beat the best!
Strickland has done it better and done it longer then any pool player that ever lived!
How many players can say they ran over 400 balls, you can count them on 1 hand!
Strickland can also play 1 pocket at a good speed .
How many players can say they ran over 400 balls, you can count them on 1 hand!
Strickland can also play 1 pocket at a good speed .
when I was 17 running around on the road I would hear of "Lil Earl" jumping his ball
Tell Calvin "Hi" for me, we've had many LONG battles on the bar table over the years. I have a mini book full of "Country Calvin" stories.
Yeah, Earl has won tournaments in the 70's, 80's, 90's, 2000's,2012's - that's 5 Decades of winning tournaments and high dollar matches.
I remember when I was 17 running around on the road I would hear of "Lil Earl" jumping his ball with a Meucci. I ran out and bought a Meucci and within a week I could jump a full ball too.....but Earl was the one that started the "tradition" playing '2 Shot Shoot Out'. He's extremely tough to beat playing that style of game.
We've played many times for a LOT of money, once ended up being for $80,000. And he won a Million Dollar Annuity in my pool room, of course that's a whole other story.
Tell Calvin "Hi" for me, we've had many LONG battles on the bar table over the years. I have a mini book full of "Country Calvin" stories.
Yeah, Earl has won tournaments in the 70's, 80's, 90's, 2000's,2012's - that's 5 Decades of winning tournaments and high dollar matches.
I remember when I was 17 running around on the road I would hear of "Lil Earl" jumping his ball with a Meucci. I ran out and bought a Meucci and within a week I could jump a full ball too.....but Earl was the one that started the "tradition" playing '2 Shot Shoot Out'. He's extremely tough to beat playing that style of game.
We've played many times for a LOT of money, once ended up being for $80,000. And he won a Million Dollar Annuity in my pool room, of course that's a whole other story.
I love watching Earl play. Now if only he were mute.
I really enjoyed watching him play on the turning stone stream, the opponent racked the balls, Earl NEVER checked the rack, broke them and ran the balls. All the other players i saw on stream whined about the racks for 5 minutes while Earl just f'ing played.
I really enjoyed watching him play on the turning stone stream, the opponent racked the balls, Earl NEVER checked the rack, broke them and ran the balls. All the other players i saw on stream whined about the racks for 5 minutes while Earl just f'ing played.
That's just it. Earl's "lights out" has to be the best speed of all-time. It is also the most fascinating to watch.
38 minutes, 9-3