Timmey said:
Welcome to the forum...Timmey.
But your links to Earl's comments/behavior ARE NOT all there is to say about him...not by a thousand miles.
HERE is what to say about him that is vastly more meaningful than snippy little remarks.
Here is waht was said when he was inducted INTO THE HALL OF FAME!
EARL STRICKLAND was a dominant player during the 1980s and 1990s, and continues to be so today. He currently holds over 100 tournament titles and has been named ?Player of the Year? five times. He won the Akron Open nine times and the US Open 9-Ball Championship five times: 1984, 1987, 1993, 1997 and 2000. He has won the World 9-Ball Championship six times: 1984, ?88, ?90, ?91, ?94 and 2002. He most recently won the World Pool Masters Trick Shot Challenge in 2003. In addition to his individual championships, he has been a team member on nine winning U.S. Mosconi Cup teams, including 2005, and was captain in two of those years. He has conducted numerous exhibitions at trade shows, Air Force bases and at the Raoping Billiard School in China. Mr. Strickland maintains an active charity schedule, donating exhibition time for programs such as Pool Aid ?95, D.A.R.E., Paralyzed Veterans of America, Brenner Children?s Hospital, Billiard Education Foundation, Children?s Burn Center and others.
I just can't BELIEVE the whiners who seem to think that the sport of pool should be conducted in church halls or Boy Scout Jamborees.
Trash talking is a rampant and accepted practice in virtually all sports with the possible exception of high school girls field hockey.
So what is all this "Be Mr. Nice Guy" stuff all about? Is it some cosmetic designed to cover up the fact that the very foundation of this sport was built on "the art of the hustle"...which means to employ every device and artifice possible to beat people out of their money...legally or otherwise.
Haven't you ever heard of a player by the name of Wonderone who took trash talking and sharking to new heights?
Haven't you read the biographies of the legends who are now revered by all present day players? Don't you know that many of them dumped and double dumped and used disguises to hide their identities ? Here...check out the definition of the word "hustle"...
"To misrepresent one's ability in order to deceive someone, especially in gambling."
Pro pool is NOT a "mainstream" sport in this day and age and when it was, back in the day, it was NOT participated in exclusively by gentlemen, Boy Scout leaders, clergy or candidates for the "Nobe Prize for Nice" and neither sir or madame, is any other sport.
Don't you know that MLB pitchers throw 90 mph fastballs at their opponent's heads....ON PURPOSE!
Don't you know that MANY sports champions are FAKERS because of taking steroids?
So let me just tell you that Earl may be a LOT of things but A) HE IS NO FAKER and B) he has never said or done ANYTHING that hasn't been said or done by LOTS of others in the world of sports...and your reducing the definition of Earl Strickland, one of the greatest CHAMPIONS this sport has ever known, to some youtube clips of him talking trash may have set an all-time record for petty naivete.
Regards,
Jim
) an excellent choice on the Mosconi cup team, his vast TV experience proving key as I thought. 
