Earl vs. Shane

gulyassy said:
I received calls the very next day with offers to get involved in the next match by corporate sponsors. Lets understand one thing. This is the biggest match in pool in years. There were 2,000 viewers Sunday. There will be more for the next match. We are in the process of planning the next match to be announced soon. This is not about bad behavior or hustling or anything but our future. Earl is the best living pool player and is willing to continue to preform for us. Let's give a little help to our professional players, let's support our pros, let's play some pool.
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is he the best living pool player on just the 10 ft or
the 9 ft also?
 
When Earl and Archer were in Dallas tx last year on the lesson tour with Cantrall. Mr. Archer said there was not another pro or amature that could hang with Earl on a 10 ft. table. Though he did say it tasted bad to admit it. Earl may be an ass sometimes with his antics, but during the 4 hours we were in class he never once was rude to us and took as much time on basic shots or questions we that needed.

Kennan

PS Bartrum you are a beast, love watchin you on the streams :thumbup:
 
i was on vacation with my family and only saw the last day. I heard there was alot of sharking going on, I had no idea the spectators were so involved. Why didnt the owner of the room eject some people like the drunken asshole who was there two days?

On the last day, it did appear to me both players were engaged in gamesmanship, Earl with his yapping and Shane by messing with the rack to try to get Earl on tilt. Im probably wrong on everything, seems like on TAR matches thats par for the course for me.

In any event, thanks again to Mike G for setting this up. I bought one of your Orange Crushers on that deal posted on AZ to toss some jelly your way. Then I get the cue and I am thrilled to learn the cue is the the nuts when it comes to break cues. I have my bender break cue and the xbreaker put away now.
 
Originally Posted by Snake Plisken
"If anyone wants to make an analogy between Earl's behavior during the TAR match with Shane and other professioal athlete's behavior in an attempt to defend Earl, you are functioning at about a third grade level.

It is like you got in trouble in third drade for spitballs and then point to Jimmy and said "he is doing it too"". Does that justify anything."

paksat said:
Read this chicagoRJ, maybe it'll click in about 20 years.
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The analogy is absolutely non-correlative. This isn't about the audience and Earl doing something to a third party it's about Earl, apparently, objecting to the terrible audience behavior he was being subjected to. A loud drunk in the audience crinkling his junk food bag every time Earl got down to stroke is ridiculous. And he was there TWO days in a row? The critics here who seem to have an "Earl thing" are completely one-sided in their criticism.

Has Shane made comment number one regarding any behavior of Earl's? I haven't seen any of the Earl critics come up with that yet. They just decided on their own for Shane that he was sharked. I wonder how many of the Earl critics think they could shark a pro like Shane if they tried? LOL.
 
I could not agree more Don.. Great post!

Williebetmore said:
Thanks Mike G. for making this happen.

All erratic behavior aside; I'm quite surprised that few are commenting on the fact that Earl was absolutely right about the level of play required to excel on that table. To me, it was not unfamiliarity with the equipment that did in Shane; it was that he had nowhere near enough precision to ever beat Earl on that table (unless Earl would beat himself...which of course is quite likely).

Shane's level of precision is fine for smaller tables; but not for the big one - very few players can pound the ball down those rails as accurately as Earl did. As one who has played a fair bit on shimmed 5 x 10 I could not believe how well Earl played those tough shots - I didn't really think it was possible (Shane's level of play is what I would expect from the vast majority of pro players who try such a table).

Kudo's to Earl, because he demonstrated just how great his pocketing skills really are - WAY more precise than SVB. I hope it is out on DVD because it belongs along side the Color of Money series as an example of the heights that rotation games can be played at by someone like Earl.
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Great job Mike! I was there sat. & sun. I enjoyed every minute of the tourn.
If theirs gonna be a rematch please have it at IceBreakers again. I'll be there!
Only down side was the start time.
 
rackrunner8ball said:
If Earl is so good on a 5x10 table that has weird pockets, my question is why can't he play that way on a normal tournament table, whether its a Diamond or a Brunswick? Seems a little gaffy to me.
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Uhh... He can, the problem is, so can the other players!
 
Ok I have seen numerous threads about what Earl did and this must have been the reason Shane lost... could it possibly that shane was out shot on this weekend. I mean is it Ok for an audience of shane fans to cause a disruption to make earl mis shots and get in his head, seems to me that all the shane fans who think he is the second comming of christ with a pool stick, should get a grip... Does earl act strange? Yes. is this some type of sharking maybe?. but i am sure that the fans watching and crumbling chip bags for no reason would get to the best of us especially if it happens for several years. he was obviously be tormented by A-holes in the stands... so he brought in his Headphones...and guess what? he calmed down his "sharking" as you guys like to call it.....I have watched plenty of videos where earl acted normal...


You know what I am loosing respect for alot of the shane fans because they cant accept the fact that he was outplayed on this particular weekend, maybe next time this wont be the case.

Facts is sometimes we lose composure when driven to do so... I myself would not tolerate retards doing stupid crap while watching a match for 20k on the line.... but is it OK if Shane fans shark Earl?. probably in their eyes, it is because Earl is know to act goofy
 
Earl was in amazing form, and it's a treat to see any professional at his peak under tough conditions. However, his behavior certainly detracted from the event. I find it amazing that Mike said this is the best event he's ever seen. All you have to do is watch the Shane vs Alex P race to 100 DVDs to see a top pro in his highest gear, AND behave like a professional.

I agree, a bit of controversey is good for the game. However, there is a line, and Earl was way over it in day 1. Days 2 & 3 were more enjoyable when he (for the most part) closed his mouth and focused on his game.
 
gulyassy said:
I received calls the very next day with offers to get involved in the next match by corporate sponsors. Lets understand one thing. This is the biggest match in pool in years. There were 2,000 viewers Sunday. There will be more for the next match. We are in the process of planning the next match to be announced soon. This is not about bad behavior or hustling or anything but our future. Earl is the best living pool player and is willing to continue to preform for us. Let's give a little help to our professional players, let's support our pros, let's play some pool.
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Remember, Sunday viewing was free due to an error by the PPV providers, and that's when the on-line viewer numbers got that high. On Friday and Saturday, when it was paid viewing only, the numbers were only in the 200s if I recall correctly. This should pump up the viewership for the Strickland v Archer match-up next month though. I know I can't wait. Johnny will not be as tollerant as Shane was...
 
Snake Plisken said:
I don't recall McEnroe or Daley ever calling out people in the audience who have paid money to watch them play and blame them for making a bad shot.

If anyone wants to make an analogy between Earl's behavior during the TAR match with Shane and other professioal athlete's behavior in an attempt to defend Earl, you are functioning at about a third grade level.

It is like you got in trouble in third grade for spitballs and then point to Jimmy and said "he is doing it too"". Does that justify anything?

I am a huge Earl fan. I started the match rooting for Earl. By the end of the first day I wanted nothing more than for Shane to come back and put a beating on him.

Saying "that is just Earl being Earl" is weak. Placing blame on the fans is even weaker. When someone of Earl's caliber and legendary status plays a streamed or televised match, like it or not, he is representing the sport of pool to an extent and also representing you Mike G. who both sponsor and stake him. For you to brush off his behavior as "it's just Earl being Earl" is pathetic! Take some responsibility and get some stones and control your player.

Hopefully the next match Earl plays he can shoot as well as he did against Shane minus the ridiculous, childish and embarrassing behavior. Until he can do that and you stop enabling and making excuses for him my days of rooting for Earl are behind me.

I hope Archer gets in his head and drives him crazier than he already is.

One more bit of advice. Learn to type using paragraghs. Your content is difficult enough to read as it is.
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I made some corrections to your post. JAM could possibly help a little more.
 
Hmmm

QUOTE: Snake Pilsken: "If anyone wants to make an analogy between Earl's behavior during the TAR match with Shane and other professioal athlete's behavior in an attempt to defend Earl, you are functioning at about a third grade level.


QUOTE: ChicagoRJ: Well, if you actually read the posts thoroughly, nobody, including myself mentioned his actions were justified. But certainly not the reason pool is where it is because of his behavior.

I only asked the simple question of how come those who are bad mouthing Earl, show up to NBA and NFL games when the players are so much worse, including criminal convictions for murder, rape, dog drownings, gun charges, violently attacking fans in the stands, drug usage, drug selling and drugged up hookers, etc. etc. (do I really need to go on?)

Why does everyone's moral and principled ethics only apply to the always "principled and ethical" game of billiards? No pun intended...

I only asked why don't the "haters" come on and tell me that they DO NOT watch NOR support any NFL or NBA games. Yet, nobody spoke up. The silence was quite deafening to me.

It sounds like there is a lot of moral ambiguity by some of the "haters". You can't have it both ways. Players actions in the NFL are supported by you as well as by the mega sponsors and the TV networks, etc. etc. Earl talks trash and you want him hung by his toenails, he is accused of being the problem with pool today, and the lack of sponsors is his personal undoing. Really?

So, again, I'm just asking how many of you have abandoned the NFL and NBA due to your demand for principled behavior on the field or on the table? Anyone ? Somebody?

I just thought it was the height of hypocrisy and pointed it out. And it was JMHO. You can hate Earl, but be consistent in your quest for perfect athletes in todays world.

I'll take Earl over the NBA or NFL every day and twice on Sunday. Earl is a catholic school girl compared to the trash that is allowed to play in NBA and NFL.
 
gulyassy said:
Earl is the best living pool player and is willing to continue to preform for us. Let's give a little help to our professional players, let's support our pros, let's play some pool.
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That is a pretty big statement. I have no doubt Earl is ONE of the best living (and obviously one of the best of all time). But #1 right now? I understand you have to have full and complete confidence in your horse but I'm gonna have to disagree on that one.

My thoughts from this match:

- Earl can still play, no doubt. SVB did not have his best weekend, not making excuses, just sayin.

- Earl CANNOT play straight up (but he could if he chose to). Whether its rules (requiring a shot clock for Alex? Get real.), antics or whatever. He put on a circus show with the headphones and crowd interaction. His comments to Shane were out of line. Period.

- I don't believe Earl would have acted the way he did if it had been Efren sitting in the other chair, he knows it would have gotten him zero, hence the match probably would have never even went down.

- I believe SVB should play him on it again. Since we all now know the circus sideshow to be expected from Earl it wouldn't rattle him so much, but I'm sure Earl could come up with something new to surprise us with.

- I like Alex, Ronnie Alcano or Efren in this game (SVB still too). If I had the bankroll to do it I'd put them in the box no doubt, but since I don't my post is irrelevant.
 
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