Is Earl Strickland in semi-retirement?

[Texdance]

Can Earl retire now and live comfortably?
Did he save any money?

I posted a public inquiry asking my next door neighbor how much money he had saved for retirement, and if he had spent his adult life foolishly working as a [insert job here].

When my nose heals, and my concussion gets better, and my eyes un-cross, I'll let you know what he replied.
If I can remember...

Meanwhile, I discovered Chen holds the AZB Money Leaderboard #1 spot with winnings of $92,671 year to date. The PGA Tour Money Leader winnings year to date is $6,355,725, which computes to 68 times the pool leader's winnings year to date. If you look all the way down to the PGA #245, his $93k YTD winnings are about equivalent to pool's #1 Chen at $92k plus. The person at pool's #245 is actually about two hundred bucks in the hole for the year - so far.

Winnings do not tell the whole story, though. It does not tell the net income after expenses. With pool players living in their cars, jumping out of second story windows to walk the motel bill, staying with friends, GFs, moms, and frenemies, and occasionally begging for a bite, their expenses could be much lower than golfers, who can afford to stay in a Motel Six or better, and eat almost every day.

Then there is the equipment expense. Golfers have to wear funny expensive sansa-belt slacks, and spikey shoes, and two-fers or whatever those schoolboy knickers are called, and goofy Scottish hats, or hats with paid sponsor advertising on them just like their shirts and shoes and socks and sweat band and wrist bands.

Pool players can wear just about what ever they want to wear, and they do. Blue jeans, with and without holes, make a fashion statement, as do their Black Sabbath t-shirts, or, for national and international events, baggy black slacks and un-ironed white shirts, with collars and a borrowed clip-on tie set the pool players' Salvation Army-like sartorial tone. For a real expense-saving idea, pool players can choose to wear those comfy plastic shower shoes, or rubber flip-flops. The chance of getting an ugly, incurable green toenail fungus is really very small, right?

Unlike golf, pool offers the income equalizers called 'savers'. That is where the final two players collude to split the top pot according a secret agreement between themselves, rather than following the payout schedule set by the promoter. The 'saver' concept can even be extended to whole groups of players, thus negating the accuracy of a sports betting pool, and eliminating for all time pool's ability to get a TV contract or big-money sponsors.

Yes, Virginia, there is big money to be made in pool and billiard sports, just be sure to invest in certain ball manufacturers, and cloth and pool table manufacturers, and avoid depending on tournament winnings for your retirement savings - because no matter what, a player's entry fee of a thousand dollars that *might* win five thousand - or might win nothing - is not good investment - unless it's someone else's money, then go for it.

 

[Nine ... corner]

Pretty hard to compare Nicklaus with Earl in any way. Jack conducted himself with class throughout his career, even when people screamed at him and called him names when he played against Palmer. He always took the high road and never complained. Jack and his wife Barbara always had concern for children and early on created a foundation to help sick kids. They lived a good honorable life and were rewarded for it. I have a lot of respect for Jack Nicklaus.

On the other hand I watched Earl throw away one opportunity after another with his bad behavior. He had by far the best sponsorship deals in all of pool in the 90's and it was all gone within ten years. Likewise he had opportunities to do some good with his money and he spent it on selfish pursuits. He also has the life he created for himself.

Life is not just about how much talent someone has. More importantly it is about how you conduct your life and how you treat others, particularly those less fortunate than you. This is why I have little sympathy for the highly paid athletes and entertainers who blow all their money and have to resort to bankruptcy.

The greatest lesson I learned long ago was that the more you give, the more you receive! :smile:

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup: Great post Jay. I could not agree more. Maybe this post will inspire some who were not quite on this path to alter course. One can hope.

 

[actionplayer]

I haven't heard much about Earl recently. Last news I heard involved him beating Shane in an exhibition. He doesn't seem to be signed up for any of the west coast swing events or Vegas. I thought he would return to playing in Vegas now that the pro events are back on the 9 footers. I'm planning on attending the us open 8 ball of in late July and was hoping he would sign up.

we can only hope he stays away from our popular events

 

[Black-Balled]

You cant have jeans with and without holes.

Thats all i got.

I posted a public inquiry asking my next door neighbor how much money he had saved for retirement, and if he had spent his adult life foolishly working as a [insert job here].

When my nose heals, and my concussion gets better, and my eyes un-cross, I'll let you know what he replied.
If I can remember...

Meanwhile, I discovered Chen holds the AZB Money Leaderboard #1 spot with winnings of $92,671 year to date. The PGA Tour Money Leader winnings year to date is $6,355,725, which computes to 68 times the pool leader's winnings year to date. If you look all the way down to the PGA #245, his $93k YTD winnings are about equivalent to pool's #1 Chen at $92k plus. The person at pool's #245 is actually about two hundred bucks in the hole for the year - so far.

Winnings do not tell the whole story, though. It does not tell the net income after expenses. With pool players living in their cars, jumping out of second story windows to walk the motel bill, staying with friends, GFs, moms, and frenemies, and occasionally begging for a bite, their expenses could be much lower than golfers, who can afford to stay in a Motel Six or better, and eat almost every day.

Then there is the equipment expense. Golfers have to wear funny expensive sansa-belt slacks, and spikey shoes, and two-fers or whatever those schoolboy knickers are called, and goofy Scottish hats, or hats with paid sponsor advertising on them just like their shirts and shoes and socks and sweat band and wrist bands.

Pool players can wear just about what ever they want to wear, and they do. Blue jeans, with and without holes, make a fashion statement, as do their Black Sabbath t-shirts, or, for national and international events, baggy black slacks and un-ironed white shirts, with collars and a borrowed clip-on tie set the pool players' Salvation Army-like sartorial tone. For a real expense-saving idea, pool players can choose to wear those comfy plastic shower shoes, or rubber flip-flops. The chance of getting an ugly, incurable green toenail fungus is really very small, right?

Unlike golf, pool offers the income equalizers called 'savers'. That is where the final two players collude to split the top pot according a secret agreement between themselves, rather than following the payout schedule set by the promoter. The 'saver' concept can even be extended to whole groups of players, thus negating the accuracy of a sports betting pool, and eliminating for all time pool's ability to get a TV contract or big-money sponsors.

Yes, Virginia, there is big money to be made in pool and billiard sports, just be sure to invest in certain ball manufacturers, and cloth and pool table manufacturers, and avoid depending on tournament winnings for your retirement savings - because no matter what, a player's entry fee of a thousand dollars that *might* win five thousand - or might win nothing - is not good investment - unless it's someone else's money, then go for it.

 

[wimpy]

Earl has paid his entry into our event in Luther Lassiter's hometown of Elizabeth City Nc. His check came in the mail yesterday and we are very excited about having him come here.The locals in our area absolutely love him and he can't get here soon enough

 

[westcoast]

Earl has paid his entry into our event in Luther Lassiter's hometown of Elizabeth City Nc. His check came in the mail yesterday and we are very excited about having him come here.The locals in our area absolutely love him and he can't get here soon enough

I'm happy to hear that. Maybe he just doesn't come west any more

 

[KRJ]

Earl has paid his entry into our event in Luther Lassiter's hometown of Elizabeth City Nc. His check came in the mail yesterday and we are very excited about having him come here.The locals in our area absolutely love him and he can't get here soon enough ����

Love him or hate him, he's good for business. Nobody complains about that part

Yes, he's not perfect, but he's a pool player, was someone expecting him to sip tea with the Queen and discuss international politics

Gonna try and bring him to Chicago for an exhibition. No worries about selling that one out

 

[wimpy]

Love him or hate him, he's good for business. Nobody complains about that part

Yes, he's not perfect, but he's a pool player, was someone expecting him to sip tea with the Queen and discuss international politics

Gonna try and bring him to Chicago for an exhibition. No worries about selling that one out

Couldn't of said it better myself Since we announced that Earl was in the field the seats inside our small venue have been selling out fast. Earl is one of the greatest players of all time and we are thrilled to have him come to our small town

 

[justinb386]

CJ Wiley........

Yeah, I was thinking of CJ Wiley too. He seems to have done pretty good with his life.

 

[justinb386]

Haters! How can you joke about people's financial status? Especially those with talent? I swear there are nothing but dicks on this site. With a few exceptions.

These are not rappers. These are people and players with REAL talent that do not get paid anywhere near what they deserve.

I want to give half a jap slap to half the idiots on this site.


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Great post. Yeah, I do not get it. I thought that people signed up to this forum, because they have a great love for the game of pool. Why talk trash about the financial status of players that have far greater talent (in the sport of pool) that you could only dream of having? I hope that a billion dollar corporation will someday see some value in the sport of pool, and start sponsoring some events, so that these great players can have a chance to make some money to save back for their retirement. They are playing the game that they love. If they are not making a good enough living, then I am sure they will at least have to get a part time job.

 

[justinb386]

I'll have that jap slap now, please, and I couldn't care less about that
And yes, I'll join the Strickland "haters" - only I would like to call it a unclouded view.

While this is off topic now - this is something that we can and should objectively argue about.

In comes down to this sentence:
In the end we must accept and believe than pool is not important, not for our lives and not for mankind. Nothing about pool actively contributes to a better life, on absolutely no level. It's pasttime, a hobby, something we do for fun.
(This is also true for Snooker, but they managed to develop the sport into something.)
Hitting balls with a stick... and you really talk about it like it is about curing cancer.
I will also gladly say the same about dancers and the like, and most musicians, with really a few exceptions.

While I strongly believe that work needs to pay well and in a way that you can sustain a normal life I also strongly do not believe that athletes (no matter which sport) should be payed huge sums.
After all, they are not really contributing to the advancement of mankind, they are largely there for entertainment only.
I say largely, because once in a while something tried in sports (for example, motorsports) is brought back for the betterment of daily life. But this is much rarer than one might expect.
Nowadays entertainment is valued quite highly - but the you gotta be entertaining which Strickland currently is not. He just comes off as arrogant, violent and mean, and childish!


Also talent is something that is not objectively quantifyable - and in Strickland's case it no longer is evident for a spectator RIGHT NOW.
It was evident, until around 15 years ago. This is probably something we can all agree.
It might still be evident in lessons for kids or some trick shot shows, but it's not in tournaments.

Now, as somebody already wrote: they knew what was coming, and they chose this route anyway. They had fun, but when you get older competing is harder.
It's better to start building a successful business out of your experience in the sport, for example pool room + lessons, cue and table repair, coaching teams, professional commenting, etc.

I'm not sure if Strickland did this actively. He did lessions in some billard cafe for 1 year or so? I also heard somewhere he has nice real estate in some good area.
But he also made sure Cuetec didn't like him anymore, which really is an extreme dumb move instead of actively developing this partnership into a longrunning one.

So in the end it's about sleeping in the bed you made yourself.
Strickland did a lot in the past 15 years or so to have his perfect bed ruined.

While I give him a certain excuse due to his mental condition this is also something he could've worked on.

Cheers,
M

What about the jobs that do nothing but hurt mankind, and kill people quicker (due to the unhealthy stuff that the industry is putting into our food). Maybe they should quit pool, and get a job at a factory farm, or a slaughterhouse (that kills 30,000 pigs per day). My point is that there are far worse things that a person could be doing (to try and make a living) then playing pool. At least they are not working for the devil (the industries that only care about money / profit, and not the peoples health that they are selling their poisonous shit too).

 

[jeffj2h]

Johnny Archer appears to have done very well. If you follow him on FB, he has a very nice home, beautiful wife, and a pool hall business. I'd say he knew how to keep his head on straight and make good investments.



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[arcstats]

Earl has paid his entry into our event in Luther Lassiter's hometown of Elizabeth City Nc. His check came in the mail yesterday and we are very excited about having him come here.The locals in our area absolutely love him and he can't get here soon enough

I see on your poster the $50 VIP package. What are the general admission fees?

 

[Daryle]

The old guard(s) of the game deserving respect for what they have done for the game. While the young guns are so impressive, all the game needs is good administration and the game we all enjoy will rise to new heights.


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[wimpy]

I see on your poster the $50 VIP package. What are the general admission fees?

Our poolroom is very small and only has seating for 50 people. All the seats on the inside are $50, you can easily see the matches on the 4 tables. The rest of the spectators stand outside and look thru the glass. It may sound a lil crazy but it actually works out well. The outside will be packed with people all trying to get up close to the glass and look in. The seats on the inside sell out very fast,and with this years paid player list they wont last long. Johnny,Earl,Rodney,Shane,Billy,Alex,Sky,Chua,Oscar,Ignacio,LoreeJon,and Corr are just a handful of the players who have already paid. Its gonna be a good one.

 

[Bigtruck]

Here's the poster:

Our poolroom is very small and only has seating for 50 people. All the seats on the inside are $50, you can easily see the matches on the 4 tables. The rest of the spectators stand outside and look thru the glass. It may sound a lil crazy but it actually works out well. The outside will be packed with people all trying to get up close to the glass and look in. The seats on the inside sell out very fast,and with this years paid player list they wont last long. Johnny,Earl,Rodney,Shane,Billy,Alex,Sky,Chua,Oscar,Ignacio,LoreeJon,and Corr are just a handful of the players who have already paid. Its gonna be a good one.