The Mighty Earl
midnightpulp said:
In light of all this discussions of how Earl has lost his top gear, I'm wondering just how good he was at 9 ball in his prime.
Strickland has always been my favorite player, since he was the winner of the first match I ever saw on TV. The '91 World Championship against Nick Varner.
But those truncated telecasts hardly do his game justice. McCready said if you didn't put at least a 5 pack on him in those days, you had little chance.
Would love to hear some stories.
That match was my first as well and, just like you, I became an Earl fan instantly. Been to 14 US Opens since then and have seen Earl play many times (including his wins in 1997 and 2000). I have two stories -- one positive, the other negative -- and both involve Efren Reyes.
Just before the finals in 1997, Earl was warming up and entertaining the crowd. He was loose as a goose and itching to play Efren. He began shooting wing shots (standing at the foot of the table, throwing an object ball toward the head spot, and shooting it into a corner pocket at the head end with the cueball while the object ball is still moving). The cueball would come two rails out of the corner and back down to the foot end for Earl to grab it for the next shot. He made 8 in a row much faster than I've ever seen it done before (including the velocity of the object balls as he threw them). He then proceeded to shoot the final wing shot behind his back and made it look like a hanger. The crowd erupted in appreciation. That's when I knew Efren didn't stand a chance that day. Earl won 11-3.
Does anyone else remember this feat? Am I exaggerating? It's been so long, it's hard to tell anymore. ;-)
In 1995, Earl was playing Efren a midnight tournament match in the old Holiday Inn ballroom. There were a few other matches in progress, but everyone -- somewhere between 200 and 400 people -- was gathered around the Earl/Efren table. My friends and I arrived a bit late and had to stand at the very top of the stands quite far away from the table. Efren was playing beautifully, leading something like 6-1. He was also using a very soft break and getting very good results. Earl, as you can imagine, was becoming more and more perturbed and shouted out, "Break like a man!" He continued the banter from there as Efren completely ignored his antics and continued to break and run. The crowd, which was leaning toward Earl a bit when we arrived, slowly turned against him, and began to vociferously acknowledge Efren's stellar play. That was simply too much for Earl, who stood up, pointed to the American flag and shouted, "We might as well burn the flag." I knew what he meant -- right or wrong. He was saying that if Americans are going to root for a foreigner over an American at the US Open, then..... Anyway, I think half of the crowd didn't hear the whole thing, or didn't understand what Earl said. They just hear him say "burn the flag." With that, from my vantage point, it seemed that the entire crowd began to surge forward. It looked like there might be a malay or even a riot. My friends and I started noting the exits. Nothing actually happened, but it sure felt like something really bad was brewing. As this was going on, Efren continued to play as if nothing was out of the ordinary. He went on to win by a score of something like 11-2. I have no idea how he could even play with all that going on. It reminded me of those old Colt 45 Malt Liquor ads where a guy would sit down at a table with his beer and would proceed to drink it calmly while all Hell was breaking out around him. What poise Efren has!!
Does anyone remember being at this match? It's a bit hazy as well. Man I wish I had all this on video!
