Great Interview with Keith McCready!
- Thread starter RobertaAgnor
- Start date
It was very gracious of AzBilliards to publish the interview.
And a big thank-you goes out to Geoff Conway for devoting his time and effort to make this happen. :smile:
For Keith, it means a great deal to him that he is remembered in the pool world, the only world he has known for the majority of his life. He misses pool terribly, but he hopes to be in the thick of it, come this spring. Appointments are lining up already, which is something he can look forward to. Local area pool rooms will be the first stop on his pool journey. Then it's on to Jersey and all throughout New England. Where it goes from there, who knows!
Our lives seem to center around our Mickey Boy now, and Keith absolutely adores Mickey. The two of them are best buddies. :smiling-heart:
Sounds like a pre book-launch tour to me JAM. :smile:
Good luck.
J
It was very gracious of AzBilliards to publish the interview.
And a big thank-you goes out to Geoff Conway for devoting his time and effort to make this happen. :smile:
For Keith, it means a great deal to him that he is remembered in the pool world, the only world he has known for the majority of his life. He misses pool terribly, but he hopes to be in the thick of it, come this spring. Appointments are lining up already, which is something he can look forward to. Local area pool rooms will be the first stop on his pool journey. Then it's on to Jersey and all throughout New England. Where it goes from there, who knows!
Our lives seem to center around our Mickey Boy now, and Keith absolutely adores Mickey. The two of them are best buddies. :smiling-heart:
I can only hope so, Jennie.
First round is on me next time you're in the area.
We were taking Mickey for a walk on the trails in the Rock Creek Park, right where this photo was taken, and these two joggers ran past us and suddenly stopped. One turns and says, "Hey, is that Keith? Keith McCready?" It was shocking that we'd run into anybody from the pool world, deep into that forest on a dirt path, but there it was. We were all members of the Tribal Nation of Pool.
It's a smaller world than we might imagine sometimes.
To me the remarkable part of that story isn't that some pool player saw Keith in the middle of nowhere and recognized him, but that there was a pool player jogging!
Gideon<---not jogging
Very nice interview. I think one of the more interesting comments was,
Keith quote:
"I don't really feel that I have to go out there and bust my butt in the pool world anymore, especially when every Tom, Dick, and Harry don't miss a ball."
I think that's true, there may be more good players today then ever before.
Years ago you could go on the road and beat anybody they called. Today there are world beaters you never heard of everywhere.
Keith quote:
"I don't really feel that I have to go out there and bust my butt in the pool world anymore, especially when every Tom, Dick, and Harry don't miss a ball."
I think that's true, there may be more good players today then ever before.
Years ago you could go on the road and beat anybody they called. Today there are world beaters you never heard of everywhere.
id like to see keith back in the spotlight again! epic player who is one of a kind!
I also find the "every Tom, Dick, and Harry don't miss a ball" quote to be quite interesting. He seems to imply that more of today's amateur players are run-out players than the amateurs of a generation ago. I've only been playing and following pool for about a decade, but I'm curious whether other players of Keith's generation or older would make the same observation, regarding the improvement of the Toms, Dicks, and Harrys.
-Andrew
-Andrew
I think the honest ones would. Johnnyt
Keith McCready
Pro Player
Thanks for everybody's comments on the interview article.
About the Tom, Dick, and Harry, I think you might be taking it out of context a little bit. "Tom, Dick, and Harry" has always been a slang. I don't mean any harm or meanness when I say that or converting to the players of the past or talking about the players of the future.
I'll put it in a little bit better perspective. In the past, for me, I had to be in combat to be able to compete with all the great players back then and certainly today. I'm not going to go out there just to shake people's hands, take pictures, and sign autographs. I would rather be able to beat somebody and then shake peope's hands, take pictures, and sign autographs.
I've always been a competitor, and if I can't compete at a high level, I'd rather not complete at all. That is what I meant about playing every Tom, Dick, and Harry. Believe me, we had plenty of world beaters when I was playing in my prime.
Back then, we played everything on Gold Crowns with slow cloth. Some tables were tight; some tables weren't. When these Diamond tables came to the game, I think it changed it a little bit, and I believe that a lot of people can't play on Diamonds like they can Gold Crowns.
Scott Frost is a perfect example playing Alex Pagulayan on a tough gold Crown where the tables were wet, and Scott Frost is used to playing on a Diamond. As it turned out, it seems as if it was a mismatch, and from what I saw, he got his nuts shot in. I'm just saying. I love you, Scott, but it is what it is. :grin-square:
As far as the players today and the players of yesterday, I have respect for them all. There are some of them today that I haven't had a chance to play that I wish I could have played back when I was playing just to see where we were at, but it was a different time, different equipment, and the people were different. I think with the equipment and the rules in my time, which back then we played two-shot/roll-out, you might see a different character of players. Everything has changed. Sticks are different, made with different materials. They had no jump cues back then. Well, you get my drift.
Hope everybody does well in all their pool endeavors. Eaerthquake Out.
About the Tom, Dick, and Harry, I think you might be taking it out of context a little bit. "Tom, Dick, and Harry" has always been a slang. I don't mean any harm or meanness when I say that or converting to the players of the past or talking about the players of the future.
I'll put it in a little bit better perspective. In the past, for me, I had to be in combat to be able to compete with all the great players back then and certainly today. I'm not going to go out there just to shake people's hands, take pictures, and sign autographs. I would rather be able to beat somebody and then shake peope's hands, take pictures, and sign autographs.
I've always been a competitor, and if I can't compete at a high level, I'd rather not complete at all. That is what I meant about playing every Tom, Dick, and Harry. Believe me, we had plenty of world beaters when I was playing in my prime.
Back then, we played everything on Gold Crowns with slow cloth. Some tables were tight; some tables weren't. When these Diamond tables came to the game, I think it changed it a little bit, and I believe that a lot of people can't play on Diamonds like they can Gold Crowns.
Scott Frost is a perfect example playing Alex Pagulayan on a tough gold Crown where the tables were wet, and Scott Frost is used to playing on a Diamond. As it turned out, it seems as if it was a mismatch, and from what I saw, he got his nuts shot in. I'm just saying. I love you, Scott, but it is what it is. :grin-square:
As far as the players today and the players of yesterday, I have respect for them all. There are some of them today that I haven't had a chance to play that I wish I could have played back when I was playing just to see where we were at, but it was a different time, different equipment, and the people were different. I think with the equipment and the rules in my time, which back then we played two-shot/roll-out, you might see a different character of players. Everything has changed. Sticks are different, made with different materials. They had no jump cues back then. Well, you get my drift.
Hope everybody does well in all their pool endeavors. Eaerthquake Out.
Keith, when you do come back, will the Earthquake shake So Cal again?
Keith, when you do come back, will the Earthquake shake So Cal again?
Is this where Linbrook Family billiards was located?
I love watching Keith play pool. He's got showmanship. He'll get up and one-stroke a backward eight foot cut on the nine, and make it, instead of standing there picking lint for two minutes.
His "other half" hates it when he one-strokes a shot, and that messes with his game, I think.
There's some tough one-pocket action at Triple Nines during the afternoon. Bo Newport is a long-time gambleholic. Reggie might gamble but he's not a good loser.
His "other half" hates it when he one-strokes a shot, and that messes with his game, I think.
There's some tough one-pocket action at Triple Nines during the afternoon. Bo Newport is a long-time gambleholic. Reggie might gamble but he's not a good loser.
2-favorites
Two of my favorite people in Pool are Keith and Jennie . In all the tears traveling with my good friend John to the US Open and Derby City our favorite matches always were the ones Keith was Playing in, the whole room would awaken and there would be a buzz . Those were were the best times especially at the Executive West. Here on AZ I love reading JAM's post she has a wealth of knowledge on the games and the players. I hope we get to hear and see more of both of them " and that's what I'm talkin about"
Two of my favorite people in Pool are Keith and Jennie . In all the tears traveling with my good friend John to the US Open and Derby City our favorite matches always were the ones Keith was Playing in, the whole room would awaken and there would be a buzz . Those were were the best times especially at the Executive West. Here on AZ I love reading JAM's post she has a wealth of knowledge on the games and the players. I hope we get to hear and see more of both of them " and that's what I'm talkin about"
I passed through home recently & saw these 2 in that spot, I understand they run together now. Are you saying these 2 can play with him? I think if he wants to get back in shape he ought to hook up with Bobby Hawk. I ran into him also when I was in town, he says he doesn't play much anymore but we played some one pocket and Banks & Bobby still hits them pretty good, I understand they were running together before Keith stopped playing. He'd be a far better tune up than the other two.
Keith, when you do come back, will the Earthquake shake So Cal again?
Keith loved seeing that photo. He pointed to right where Bob's Billiards was. :grin:
His thoughts on returning to So Cal are these ---> HERE.
One of my brothers lives in Palm Springs, and I may have to drive out there and bring him back to the East Coast to get some medical treatment at the VA. He needs two hip replacements, and Loma Linda VA Medical Center is giving him the stall. He has bone-on-bone and cannot stand the pain anymore. Keith will love seeing California again. He truly is a California kind of guy.
I love Bobby Hawk. Great gentleman gambler and will bet is as high as you can stack it. One of the good guys in D.C. area pool.
For those of us who are a part of the local pool scene here, nobody will ever forget the Dynamic Duo of Bobby Hawk and Quick Vic.
Thank you so kindly, Franko, for sharing those generous thoughts.
I hope we run into you the coming year on our pool journey. That will be fun.
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