If you thought that was bad, this is worse

9 ball

9 ball

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I understand how people feel about Shane Van Boening being moved to table 2 allbeit still a tv table is pretty poor seeing as he is the U.S Open champion but I was just looking at mondays schedule and Thorsten has been uncerimoniously bumped from the main tv table in onto table 2 in favour of Earl "what am I gonna do next that's embarassing" Strickland.

I personaly find this quite embarassing as Earl only gets this treatment because of his outbursts and not his quality pool playing unlike Hohmann.

A travisty.
 
I can't blame the TV people really. I assume they're doing it for ratings. This is what draws the advertising dollars. Unfortunately more people (us) talk about Earls antics than Hohmanns precision. And probably more people will watch tonights match just because they might be witness to an anuerism.:D
 
TX Poolnut said:
I can't blame the TV people really. I assume they're doing it for ratings. This is what draws the advertising dollars. Unfortunately more people (us) talk about Earls antics than Hohmanns precision. And probably more people will watch tonights match just because they might be witness to an anuerism.:D
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I agree as well. Earl has both precision as well as entertainment for the audience to watch.
 
I understand that but in all honesty Earl needs to grow up, I mean he is a 46yr old man not a 5yr old child just play the game and get on with it stop playing to the crowd and turn on the style ala 2001.

As for all the "he's fighting inner demons" stuff the only demon he is fighting is himself and no-one else, he needs no get a grip in IMO ratings or no ratings.
 
I think we would all do well to at least consider the fact that Earl may have a mental condition, such as manic/depression, etc.. He almost certainly is obsessive/compulsive.

The man may actually find it extremely hard to control himself. At least he is still able to function in society to some degree, which is more than a lot of people with mental illness can say.

As evidenced by Howard Hughes, Steve Nash, et. al., you can be completely nuts and still be successful. I say as long as he isn't stabbing players with his pool cue, we might give him the benefit of the doubt.

If the promotor/tournament officials warn Earl before the tournament on what is acceptable behavior, and Earl violates the rules, then by all means, throw him out.

Let's keep in mind, though.. There are a LOT of fans who like watching Earl, win or lose, and I would bet that a lot of people are watching his matches hoping to catch the leding edge of an Earl comeback to the level we all know he could still play.

Earl still has the talent to dominate like he did in the 90's.. He just doesn't have the mental game. I feel bad for Earl, because it looks like he might be starting that downward slde into serious mental illness.

If Earl becomes incapable of playing high level pool, what is he going to do? It's been his all consuming passion since he was a teen. It's not good when a manic/depressive, obsessive/compulsive loses his or her reason for living....

Russ

Russ
 
Russ Chewning said:
I think we would all do well to at least consider the fact that Earl may have a mental condition, such as manic/depression, etc.. He almost certainly is obsessive/compulsive.

The man may actually find it extremely hard to control himself. At least he is still able to function in society to some degree, which is more than a lot of people with mental illness can say.

As evidenced by Howard Hughes, Steve Nash, et. al., you can be completely nuts and still be successful. I say as long as he isn't stabbing players with his pool cue, we might give him the benefit of the doubt.

If the promotor/tournament officials warn Earl before the tournament on what is acceptable behavior, and Earl violates the rules, then by all means, throw him out.

Let's keep in mind, though.. There are a LOT of fans who like watching Earl, win or lose, and I would bet that a lot of people are watching his matches hoping to catch the leding edge of an Earl comeback to the level we all know he could still play.

Earl still has the talent to dominate like he did in the 90's.. He just doesn't have the mental game. I feel bad for Earl, because it looks like he might be starting that downward slde into serious mental illness.

If Earl becomes incapable of playing high level pool, what is he going to do? It's been his all consuming passion since he was a teen. It's not good when a mdepressive, obsessive/compulsive/ loses his or her reason for living....

Russ

Russ
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Let me just go on record and say that not once did I say earl was or is in any way manic depressive, obsessive/compulsive all I said was he needs to stop playing to the crowd and focus on the game and only the game his outbursts don't help him.
 
9 ball said:
I understand how people feel about Shane Van Boening being moved to table 2 allbeit still a tv table is pretty poor seeing as he is the U.S Open champion but I was just looking at mondays schedule and Thorsten has been uncerimoniously bumped from the main tv table in onto table 2 in favour of Earl "what am I gonna do next that's embarassing" Strickland.

I personaly find this quite embarassing as Earl only gets this treatment because of his outbursts and not his quality pool playing unlike Hohmann.

A travisty.
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Not comparable. Thorsten has been in a slump for over a year now and he is not MR Excitement to begin with, Good decision MS.
 
I wouldn't call winning $500,000 in the ipt world open a slump, add to that his run in the U.S Open being unfortunately beaten by ramil gallego, oh and by the way I never said he was mr excellent all I said was that I felt both he and svb are more deserving of the main tv table than earl strickland is.
 
I think Hohmann was in a recent 14.1 tourney and ran 2 150 ball runouts IN A ROW. I wish I could be in a slump like that.
 
9 ball said:
I understand how people feel about Shane Van Boening being moved to table 2 allbeit still a tv table is pretty poor seeing as he is the U.S Open champion but I was just looking at mondays schedule and Thorsten has been uncerimoniously bumped from the main tv table in onto table 2 in favour of Earl "what am I gonna do next that's embarassing" Strickland.

I personaly find this quite embarassing as Earl only gets this treatment because of his outbursts and not his quality pool playing unlike Hohmann.

A travisty.
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I'm OK with this. Yes, Thorsten is the better player right now. Earl is a multiple time World Champion and living legend of nine ball, so this is no big deal. In addition, Earl's participation in the "Color of Money" race to 120 against Efren in 1999 makes him an even bigger draw in Asia.
 
Earl might be a couple bricks short of a load these days, but if the game had more characters like him maybe it would be a little more popular with mainstream audiences. You must admit some of the top players out there are EXTREMELY boring to watch.

earl.jpg
 
9 ball said:
I wouldn't call winning $500,000 in the ipt world open a slump, add to that his run in the U.S Open being unfortunately beaten by ramil gallego, oh and by the way I never said he was mr excellent all I said was that I felt both he and svb are more deserving of the main tv table than earl strickland is.
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I don't agree here. I enjoy watching Strickland in the main table more than Shane.

Okay shane won one US Open. alot of people won an only one us open. but how many people in the world have won 5 times us open, and 6 times world champion?

maybe shane is just one of them who will win it only one time:) and now he might not even pass the first stage, don't be suprised.
 
Earl brings controversy, which in turns brings in the crowd, which brings in ratings and higher ad revenue rates for next year's tourney- I'd put him on the TV table every match if I worked for ESPN.
 
Tim5000 said:
Earl might be a couple bricks short of a load these days, but if the game had more characters like him maybe it would be a little more popular with mainstream audiences. You must admit some of the top players out there are EXTREMELY boring to watch.

View attachment 53260
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Those Hershey's Kisses look delicious!!!

Earl "The Hershey's Kiss" Strickland. Clearly a hit with the kids!

Thanks Tim, that made me laugh out loud.:)
 
After watching Earls game with Tan I canno't in all honesty say his antics were at all entertaining in fact they were just embarassing and I feel he brought the game even more into disrepute.

Popular in asia or not the WPA need to do something about him as he is ruining and tarnishing the games legacy.
 
Russ Chewning said:
I think we would all do well to at least consider the fact that Earl may have a mental condition, such as manic/depression, etc.. He almost certainly is obsessive/compulsive.

The man may actually find it extremely hard to control himself. At least he is still able to function in society to some degree, which is more than a lot of people with mental illness can say.

As evidenced by Howard Hughes, Steve Nash, et. al., you can be completely nuts and still be successful. I say as long as he isn't stabbing players with his pool cue, we might give him the benefit of the doubt.

If the promotor/tournament officials warn Earl before the tournament on what is acceptable behavior, and Earl violates the rules, then by all means, throw him out.

Let's keep in mind, though.. There are a LOT of fans who like watching Earl, win or lose, and I would bet that a lot of people are watching his matches hoping to catch the leding edge of an Earl comeback to the level we all know he could still play.

Earl still has the talent to dominate like he did in the 90's.. He just doesn't have the mental game. I feel bad for Earl, because it looks like he might be starting that downward slde into serious mental illness.

If Earl becomes incapable of playing high level pool, what is he going to do? It's been his all consuming passion since he was a teen. It's not good when a manic/depressive, obsessive/compulsive loses his or her reason for living....

Russ

Russ
Click to expand...


Actually it has been theorized that most highly successful people are mentally ill or have personality disorders. Most great artists are thought to have been clinically insane. Don't ask me where I got that - someplace on the net.
 
John Barton said:
Actually it has been theorized that most highly successful people are mentally ill or have personality disorders. Most great artists are thought to have been clinically insane. Don't ask me where I got that - someplace on the net.
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That's correct John, I've heard that myself. Every greatly successful figure throughout history has exhibited some sort of disorder, i.e., political leaders, musicians, artists, etc... It's as if some sort of mental defect gives them the drive to attain greatness. But in the end it is often the cause of their downfall. I just hope Earl can avoid a total breakdown.
 
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