Let's not forget the POS ASIA. CRAWLING OUT OF THE BATHROOM TO get away from what SHE OWED to OMGWTF RIGHT HERE!!!!
Let's not forget the POS ASIA. CRAWLING OUT OF THE BATHROOM TO get away from what SHE OWED to OMGWTF RIGHT HERE!!!!
I never said it was harder to win, I said it was more prestigious.
Whilst the implication is that a World title is harder to win, in any given year theoretically the US open field could be stronger.
However it doesn't change the point, to be the best you need to beat the best (well your opponent, whatever you may think of them) when it counts, in the world final.
SVB is a very good player and may well go on to be an all time great...he's just not there yet.
If Shane beat the World Open winner in any other tournament, what difference does it make where and when he beat them? I think you might be surprised with poll results.
If drafting for a fantasy pool team, who would you pick with the number one pick?
A good question, but even if the answer is SVB its a separate question...he may be the best player right now, that doesn't still make him an all time great.
that just makes luck an even bigger factor. if they went to round-robin for the final 8 and a long set for the finals, then i'd be convinced.
As I said, if you put nation next to each vote I wouldn't be...
Its only a US-centric thing where you disregard the importance of sanctioned 'World' titles (regardless of your view of the sanctioning body).
To re-iterate once again...SVB may well be the current best US player, however that doesn't make him an all time great (In my opinion of course, to keep people happy...although again outside of this forum World titles are a universally accepted measure of a player's achievements in their particular sport.
To say that Shane isn't one of the all time greats is crazy. And to clarify I don't believe Shane is the best all around player in the world. I do believe he is the best rotation player. Best of all time? Maybe one day, but not yet.
That being said, to say that no World Title means he is not an all time great is silly. That's like saying Karl Malone isn't one of the best to ever play basketball or John Stockton isnt one of the best point guards ever. Their career stats prove they were one of the best ever. And so do Shane's. In my opinion if your career warrants a Hall Of Fame selection then you were one of the greatest at said sport, and Shane's is all ready HOF worthy.
This brings up an interesting discussion. What HOF are we talking about? Is it one based in the US who might not recognize some of the Asian players because they do not come to the US but win all of the prestigious tournaments they play in? If there is a world HOF, would it be wrong for them to not include Shane because they believe the US Open isn't as strong of an event? Say they base it on what people have done in World tournaments. Do you believe he is worthy of induction based on performance in Asian/world tournaments?
I'm talking about a general HOF. Just like the NBA hall of fame. It has players of foreign nationality. To say that Shame is not HOF worthy is nuts. To say he isn't an all time great based on his accomplishments to date is nuts as well. And keep in mind he is only 33 years of age. He still as years and years of great pool ahead of him. He will more then likely win a world championship soon enough, but even if he doesn't he will still go down as one of the all time greats. Possibly the greatest ever, but we could say that about lots of people playing the game and winning big tournaments. And Shane has won some tournaments overseas, granted not a world championship. Back to back world pool masters is impressive as well.
To say that Shane isn't one of the all time greats is crazy. And to clarify I don't believe Shane is the best all around player in the world. I do believe he is the best rotation player. Best of all time? Maybe one day, but not yet.
That being said, to say that no World Title means he is not an all time great is silly. That's like saying Karl Malone isn't one of the best to ever play basketball or John Stockton isnt one of the best point guards ever. Their career stats prove they were one of the best ever. And so do Shane's. In my opinion if your career warrants a Hall Of Fame selection then you were one of the greatest at said sport, and Shane's is all ready HOF worthy.
i sign all of your posts!
1. the US open field is great every year, but nowhere near the doha field! you americans seem to forget that even the middle east countries are about to overtake you guys!
2. shane is the best US player for sure and is great to watch, and he seems to be a very humble guy (well, the only annoying thing about him are some of his "fans")! but the best ever? cmon........ as vjmehra has said, maybe once in 2-3 decades he will be considered as the greatest, but there are still a few titles to win for him (esp outside the US)
3. someone mentioned albin was mentally fragile in mosconi...... seriously? he was the goto guy, lost only one match, and should have been MVP imo, not bad for a first timer.......and a question, how mentally fragile is shane in mosconi year for year? fact is, while shane beating everyone on homesoil, albin did it on world stage! that doesnt make albin the better player, but call him mentally fragile is almost an offense lol
As I've said, he's almost certainly the best American player currently and undoubtedly a very good player.
However that doesn't make him an all time great (currently...he may well retire as one).
He is absolutely the best at everything, if you dont include those who are better than he. So am i.Is Shane the best American ever for tournaments and for the cash. Other than
Buddy, Varner, and maybe a couple of others all the other champions seemed
to kind of duck each other except for tournaments. Seems like Shane will tee
it up for the dough with anyone.
jack
Not an answer.
Who has won more major titles than Shane in the last 10 years?
Looking at SVB's wikipedia page (I don't have an encyclopedic knowledge of his achievements, so feel free to correct if its wrong):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shane_Van_Boening
I can see a lot of US domestic titles and not much else.
Out of the US titles, I believe the US Open and Derby City Classic are internationally recognised as significant achievements. Then you have the World Pool Masters, which is short, but has a fairly strong field and the World Cup (not sure if that is considered a big achievement or not, I'd say yes, but I'm sure others may disagree).
I appreciate some of the other titles on their may be considered prestigious domestically and perhaps even internationally to aficionado's, but I don't see too much that has all time great written on it.
I think perhaps the perception gap here is over the disciplines you guys play, I can see Bar tables and One pocket, which I've only ever heard of on this forum. There is the odd bar table in Europe, but its fairly rare, the rest of the World plays on 9 footers, so perhaps to you guys Shane has won loads, whereas to non US based fans we wouldn't necessarily consider those achievements to be as prestigious.
So who has won more, well arguably Darren Appleton...less US titles of course, but more international ones (sorry thats over the last 6 years, the website doesn't go back further).
http://www.predatorcues.com/pro-team/darren-appleton/
And yet I don't see Darren or anybody else lining up to play shane