john schmidt said:
i think i have my next all around opponent in mind.my sponsor called me and said jon kucharo walked up to the ob booth in vegas and asked what would you pay efren to play with your cues.royce said basically something to the effect of ,we have a player already and we are happy with him.kucharo replies and im not going to put words in his mouth but basically yeah john schmidt is your sponsored player , ha, i can beat him.well players bad mouthing me behind my back is nothing new.the thing is kucharo saw me 4-5 times while i was there in vegas for the bca tourney even coming up to me in the ob booth and saying hi and asking how things have been going.what i cant stand is someone acting nice to me and then as soon as i go 3000 miles away he comes up and basically tells my sponsor i suck and he would beat me gambling.now just to make sure im not being two faced or misunderstood, here goes.now john kucharo is a great player.i say that so people dont think im picking on some bplayer or something like that.im simply saying if jon kucharo wants to play me the next action all around for 20,000 ill play.also ill say that to your face jon the next time i see you and not wait until you are 3000 miles away. now the next 10 replies are probably going to be something to the effect of jon kucharo is so great and has more talent than anybody etc etc.i know he plays great but if anybody likes his end of a all around match with me for 20,000 i am not hard to find.14.1 ,1hole,10ball on 9ft.
John,
I think you can sleep good tonight. Kucharo on his best day couldn't beat you. Only the highly respected Mark Wilson was the only person that I can recall thinking Kucharo had a chance at big time pool.
I'm not a Jon Kucharo hater at all....(here comes the "but")....but, when I think of Jon Kucharo, I think of a player who was an above average safety player and a decent shotmaker. Nothing special stands out in his game.
What else comes to mind is a lasting image from the 2001 Master's 9 Ball Championship. Kucharo is playing Efren Reyes on the TV table. Whenever Efren racks, Kucharo goes up and inspects every rack from every possible angle. And not quickly either. After this scene repeats itself several times, Grady, who was doing the commentary with Howard Vickery, lets out what his opinion is of people who inspect the racks in an overly exaggerated manner, as Kucharo was doing that match.
When has anyone ever given anything other than a cursory glance at an Efren rack? Nobody has ever accused him of sharking or slugging a rack. Efren's reputation is as sterling as his pool skills.
Anyway, Grady suggested that that type of behavior from a young upstart against a legend disturbed him. (My paraphrasing).
Kucharo has quit pool and came back almost as many times as Roger Clemons retires.
Me thinks he smells a paycheck if he plays his cards right. That's all. Getting lucky enough to be selected as your opponent or Shanes opponent in one of the Action Challenges is the closest thing players have to hitting a mini-lottery.
If Kucharo really thought he was such a force in pooldom, he'd be mixing it up with the pros on a regular basis.
Instead, he indulges in other things to pass his time....
