abbassi said:
Easier for the 5 footers to aim.
There is some truth to that!
A few years ago, I was at a Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour event in Syracuse, New York. Salt City Billiards, I think was the name of the joint. I will never forget they had homemade Tortellini soup. Oh, my was it good.
Anyway, there were a lot of first-class champs in attedance. The finals ended up being Jim Rempe versus Karen Corr. Corr defeated Rempe the weekend before in the finals, and so this was a little revenge match between the two of them, a friendly revenge but a revenge altogether.
To this day, no male player I know likes getting beat by a female pro. In fact, most don't even like to compete against them, but that is the topic for another thread. :grin-square:
So during a break, I'm wolfing down some of this homemade Italian Tortellini soup, and much to my delight, Jim Rempe sits down at my table with me. I have heard many stories about Rempe, and in fact, in the '70s, Rempe's name was in all the headlines of the pool media. He was 'da man, as they say. He traveled the world in an era when pool wasn't quite so mainstream elsewhere, and he even won a brand-new car playing pool. Those were the days, as they say! Rempe was on top of his game when pool was cool here in the States. Heck, pool was even on TV quite often, the Wide World of Sports as one example, with the great Howard Cosell.
Rempe told me he suffered from lower back pain, which is one reason he does not compete as often anymore. He said that when he was hitting 'em in his prime that the Gold Crowns and other pool tables were 2 inches higher than they are today, and when the table manufacturing companies tried to increase their profit margin, they decided to lower the height of pool tables by 2 inches, so they could fit one more table in the truck for deliveries. Rempe said when that happened, his back troubles began. He was dead serious, and I believe him.
Oh, meanwhile, back at the tournament, Jim Rempe got his revenge and beat Karen Corr! My boyfriend came in fourth place. He was happy to have a little extra jingle in his pockets, and I was elated to have experienced the ambrosial Italian cuisine of Salt City Billiards. All's well that ends well! :wink2:
At any rate, this is just a little urban legend about a tall player that I thought I would add to the thread. :nanner:
Here's Jim Rempe in his prime, picture courtesy of Joss Cues website.
JAM