Grady Mathews vs Billy Incardonna

DD:

Thats a shot that you better have a strong backer...

He just shot at his wallet...

This is his last chance to not get out...

He shooting amphibious (Hopkins knocked DD over this comment to ESPN i think, claiming he was illiterate)

<2ft shot straight in and close to the cueball> My favorite shot...
 
uwate said:
DD:
He shooting amphibious (Hopkins knocked DD over this comment to ESPN i think, claiming he was illiterate)
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Any halfway intelligent pool player would see that DD is intentionally mispronouncing ambidextrous for humorous effect.

So does that mean that Hopkins is no halfway intelligent?

Uh oh.. Did I open up a can o' worms?

Russ
 
Johnny Ervolino:

"Gargle gargle gargle.. Gargle!"

"Gargle garrrgllle.. Gargle garle?"

"Gargle gargle gargle *cough* gargle gargle, Billy"

(All meant in jest, of course..)

Russ
 
I really enjoyed hearing Weenie Beenie and Grady together. There always seemed to be alot of good stories told when they were in the booth together.

Too bad Bill has passed on. He seemed like a truly good guy.
 
I watched Grady and Billy play quite a few years ago in Olathe. Mark Betor wanted to see some action so he told them to play for $2000/3000. They were on the hill with Billy up 6-2 in balls. He tried a long bank with the object ball almost frozen to the rail, double kissed it and sold out. Grady won.

scott
 
my favorite

Russ Chewning said:
I thought it would fun to quote a few conversations between Grady and Billy, as they were always immensely entertaining to listen to while in the Accu-Stats booth. FWIW, I do think Grady baited Billy a lot in a good natured way, and Billy didn't take it well often. Also, Billy doesn't like getting proven wrong.

Grady: Billy, do you think it is within the bounds of propriety, when you are getting drummed on as Jose it at the moment, to move the rack a quarter of an inch to one side or the other?

Billy: Well, I don't know anything about that.... I know it has everything to do with survival.

Grady: You don't know anthing about that? I'd hate to break your racks for a living, Billy.



Same match:

Billy: I don't think he will hit the one ball. I don't see any accessible route to the one ball..

Grady: I'd like to bet everything I own I can hit this one ball. I would shorten it up with low left english.. One rail. Just above the nine. A billiard shot shown to me by my friend.

Billy: He cannot hit that part of the rail.

Grady: Billy, can you remember how these balls are laying?

Billy: He cannot hit that part of the rail.

Grady: Well, when we are done, I will bet you all day long I can hit this ball.

(Efren kicks and hits the one ball using technique Grady stated)

Billy: Well, he can hit that part of the rail.

(Grady says nothing, but I could hear him smiling on the tape...)

I'll include some more over the next few days. I thought a lot of the members who don't have these matches would enjoy the banter.

Feel free to include your own Billy/Grady matches..

Russ
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Russ, my favorite is one I mentioned before on another post, but here it is again: It was a match on Accu-stats where they were sharing the mike with Buddy Hall...and somehow the conversation got around to how Grady once beat Buddy in a 9-ball match in a tournament 11-0 (?)...and Billy said that after that, Grady told Billy how he was probably the best 9-ball player in the world ...Buddy starts to chuckle and Grady objects, saying he doesn't want Billy telling people THAT...(Buddy laughing)...and Billy (laughing too) then says..."then he proceeds to lose his next 2 matches.." It was hilarious....sorry I can't remember what match that was......
 
uwate said:
He shooting amphibious (Hopkins knocked DD over this comment to ESPN i think, claiming he was illiterate)
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DD is illiterate?? Huh? Hopkins is the one who is illiterate (and boring)! All he ever says is "I think I can go out on a limb here and say he's going to get out" and "The cueball is froze to the rail." How about "frozen" Allen?? Sheesh! And that's just one example. And I never even watch pool when he is on, so the Lord only knows how many gaffs he's made that I've never heard.
 
I'm from Pittsburgh and we used to play Billy when we were about 20 at an all night place on route 30 with one bar box. He was the best around then and used to take our dollars and laugh. But that was o.k. because he was a good guy to be around. Always had a smile on his face. Met up with him one night in a bowling alley pool hall in Penn Hills that also had a ping pong table, He wanted to play pool but I said no way but I would play pingpong against him for a buck. He smeared me and laughed . How could he be that good at table tennis? We knew him as Billy Cardon then but everyone called him Bubbles Cardon because of his personality.
 
One of my favorite Accu-Stats quotes was from Howard Vickery. ( Not my favorite commentator ) The players had taken a break and the cameraman was scanning the crowd and Billy and Howard were pointing out various players, girl friends, minor celebrities, etc. in the stands. Howard made him back up with the camera because he noticed a goofy looking guy wearing a Confederate cap. Howard pointed out that the guy was wearing a belt AND suspenders... They laughed and Howard said, " Boy, I sure wouldn't want to match up with a guy that doesn't trust his own pants."
 
smurf said:
One of my favorite Accu-Stats quotes was from Howard Vickery. Howard pointed out that the guy was wearing a belt AND suspenders... They laughed and Howard said, " Boy, I sure wouldn't want to match up with a guy that doesn't trust his own pants."
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Hah Hah!! True! SO True!

Russ
 
this is a great topic, and one I don't remember reading about before. My thoughts on the commentary....

Grady...I wish He did EVERY match. Knowledge, humor, and very well spoken.

Billy I...I like the info He puts out, but his delivery can be negative, confrontational, and a little harsh at times.

Weenie Beenie...Should be with Grady on EVERY match.

Johnny Ervolino...Should have made MANY 14.1 instructional vids, if you can get past the raspy voice, his knowledge is unmatched.

Varner and Hall...Both have that "country" charm, but I wish they could unleash and say whatever they want. I feel they are holding back saying what they feel because it's PC or whatever.

Allen Hopkins...He is by far the most knowledgeable person I have ever spoken to about the game, gambling, matching up, and how to run a couple GIANT pool events per year!

Gerry
 
Allen Hopkins is by far the WORST commentator I've ever heard. I have watched some really good matches, and had to turn the volume off because I just couldn't stand Hopkin's commentary. It was so lame it drove me crazy. You learn absoloutely nothing from it. One other commentator I don't particularly care for is Jerry Forsythe. He is wrong on average about 50% of the time when he tries to guess what a player is going to do in advance. The way he talks annoys me too. Mark Wilson is OK as a commentator, but he sounds like such a nerd it can get annoying also. However, sometimes you do learn from Wilson when he commentates. He has a ton of knowledge.

The best commentators out there are:

Grady Matthews (probably the best commentator out there)
Billy Incardona (Almost always correct)
Danny DiLiberto (great sense of humor, tons of knowledge)
Steve Davis (lots of knowledge and shows alot of respect for the players)
Freddy the Beard (down to earth and you learn alot)
Jay Helfert (very entertaining to listen to)
Nick Varner (the most knowledgeable player, especially on kicks and safety shots)
Buddy hall (pretty much the same as Nick)

I can't think of anyone else, but these are my favorites. They need to get rid of Allen Hopkins. Sure he has tons of knowledge, but he doesn't apply it to his commentating. It's like he's commentating for beginners that can barely hold a cue.
 
My favorite Incardona/Matthews debate came from the 1993 Sands Regency Tourney. The match was Archer vs. Strickland and they started arguing over whether or not Archer went rail-first or ball-first to spin a ball in the corner. After about 10 mins of "i'll betcha....." they finally stop. If you go back and look in slow motion, Archer does actually go rail-first with a little inside english.....Incardona called this one correctly.

Southpaw
 
I'm from Pittsburgh, Pa. We used to play against Billy when we were about 20. That would be about 40 years ago. We would play in an all night joint with one barbox on route 30. He would take us for our quarters or dollars and then laugh but you couldn't help liking him. I met up wth him in a bowling alley pool hall one night and he wanted to play but by this time I had learned my lesson and said no thanks. But the place also had a pingpong table and I said I would take him on at table tennis for a buck. Well, he took more than a buck from me. Who knew he could play ping pong as well as he played pool? He was a pretty cool guy to be around. Always laughing about something. His name then was Billy Cardon but because of his personality everybody called him "Bubbles" Cardon. He was the best around on the east side of Pittsburgh.
 
I was looking at some old Camel series videos I have (taped from Prime Sports) and Nick, Kim, & Archer were commentating for most (with Tom "Combo" Kelly). Nick was great and I would laugh each time someone would kick and Nick would let out a "OOOOHHH, missed by a whisker!" or Johhny wouldn't know what to say so he'd go "Whaddya think, Nick?". Kim did his best Madden with "Here's what I think he'll do....He'll go...BOOM...BOOM...BOOM...three rails and make contact with the ball."

Don't forget the Miz. He did a great job in front of the camera for Prime.

FWIW, I think Allen does well, but Mitch has to GO!!!! Since he has no real pool knowledge, he reverts to inane discussions of the "mental game".
 
LowRight said:
Oh yeah? Then you haven't seen the Strickland vs. Ervolino straight pool match from Grady's Maine Event back in 1995. This is one of my favorite Accu-Stats tapes for the following reasons:

1) Strickland playing straight pool for the first time in a tourny.

2) Ervolino starts with a beautiful 80-ball run, then proceeds to run out of gas.

3) DiLiberto and Incardona (and even CJ) in the booth -- simply hilarious!
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DON'T FORGET Earl accusing the referee of moving either the cue ball or the break ball while racking. Earl said he knew that he had a better angle.

Also Earl was interviewed afterwards and was rather rude and obnoxious.
 
Besides their commentating together, I've watched them playing each other periodically for the last 30 years or so. The bickering/ego-one upsmanship that you see between them in the booth is nothing new - they have a history of doing this with each other going back 30 or 40 years. And Russ, it's funny to me that you mention Grady baiting Billy.....Because over the years when I've watched them gambling, it was usually Billy who would subtly start the banter/semi-friendly needling/gamesmanship - imo, Billy would do it, because world class player/hustler that he was, he knew this would get Grady mad/on tilt and off his game a little.

As far as being accustats commentators...I think they're both excellent.
 
Southpaw said:
My favorite Incardona/Matthews debate came from the 1993 Sands Regency Tourney. The match was Archer vs. Strickland and they started arguing over whether or not Archer went rail-first or ball-first to spin a ball in the corner. After about 10 mins of "i'll betcha....." they finally stop. If you go back and look in slow motion, Archer does actually go rail-first with a little inside english.....Incardona called this one correctly.

Southpaw
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Actually,I think Grady was right on that one--as he was saying, you can't go rail first and have the cueball get to the other rail that quickly.
 
PoolBum said:
Actually,I think Grady was right on that one--as he was saying, you can't go rail first and have the cueball get to the other rail that quickly.
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So your saying that inside english when struck rail first will not go in the direction it is spinning? C'mon how many times have u had a ball frozen to the end rail and spun it in using inside english? That shot comes up quite a bit in 9 ball. If you hit ball first, it will still spin that way, but physics tells you that it has to slow down some after striking another object (ball in this case). The rail in this case will give allowing the cue ball to transfer more energy when coming off than it would an object ball.

Southpaw
 
A real classic is the McCready/Gary Nolan match from I think the 1989Louisville Allstars tourny. Grady and Keithers stakehorse at the time do an uncensored, unedited and XXX rated commentary. HILARIOUS. Grady sure lets it run wild with that commentary.


Another funny moment comes at the same tournament when Dennis Hatch puts the El Sluggo rack on Larry Hubbart. Hubbart breaks and its like the rack is made out of concrete. LMAO the commentary at the time (I think Buddy and maybe Billy) is priceless.
 
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