JoeyA said:
Jennie,
I seldom disagree with your posts and while 9 ball does have a bit of luck in it, it has always had a bit of luck in it.
Saying today's fierce competitors could have been yesterday's wimps because of jump cues is not fair. It's just another tool and everyone has it at their disposal. Jump cues and fast cloth aren't what's keeping some of our favorite players out of the winner's circle.
It is the same game for all players.
Players have to adjust no matter what era they are from.
The change of the guard happens in every sport and you can vilify the equipment, the rules, the era and even the players but the truth is that it is the same game for all players.
JoeyA (feels the frustration too)
I used the word "wimp" in jest.
I am of the opinion, a very strong opinion from speaking with others who were players in the '80s era, that when they changed the rules of the game of 9-ball, the game that was played in almost 100 percent of all competitions in the United States, the luck factor in pool competitions grew immensely. 9-ball is a game of luck with today's rules, and they are much different than the two-shot/push-out rules of the '80s when a player had to shoot his way to the finish line, not rig a rack and not break like a bird.
Most of the champions in the '80s were champions because they shot their way to the winner's circle in an event with excellent shot-making skills. They played the game the way it is supposed to be played with real rules that allowed them to showcase their skills set on a table, which did not include, by the way, rigging racks and bird-breaking.
The same holds true for players in earlier eras. Do you think Willie Mosconi would rig a rack and break like a bird? Today's 9-ball rules, the way they are currently written, allow a luck factor into the game, all in the name of speed pool for TV purposes. The irony is nobody watches it on TV anyway. They can speed it up all they want. I am of the opinion that nobody cares in the United States about pool on TV.
Soon the existing lot of professional players will emigrate overseas to compete in lucrative events. Pool as we know it today is dying. No sponsors are forthcoming, and the industry sponsors in America are hurting from today's economy. Things aren't getting any better for American professional pool.
Today's players would not fare as well as they do today if they were playing pool in the '80s with the rules that were in play in the '80s. If they played on the equipment from the '80s, knocking in a couple thousand balls every single day on that equipment, some would excel, but there were no jump cues. The Tony Watsons of today wouldn't be able to jump his way to first place, as an example.
Personally, I think it is assine to compare players of any era considering the equipment, the rules, and the game itself was quite different, but I am not going to sit back and and read ignorant words that claim the players of the '80s weren't as good as today's players. Hogwash, I say.
I'm not sure how Irving Crane would have fared in the game of 9-ball on a Diamond with fast cloth, break cues and jump cues. By the same token, I'm not sure how well Larry Nevel would have fared on a 5-by-10 playing 14.1 on slow cloth.
I will continue to believe that the players of the '80s are just as good, if not better, than today's players, as do others on this thread. Most of the people making these assumptions and opinions that players from the '80s are not as good as players today were either toddlers or still an itch in their fathers' pants in the '80s era. How in the hell do they know how good the players were in the '80s? Did they see them up front and close? How can they come to these conclusions?
And that is my story, JoeyA, and I am sticking with it. Thanks for your kind reply.
JAM
we are opening flood gates to tame the river a bit and are keeping our fingers crossed. 
