Is the level of play at a all time high

BmoreMoney said:
All good bro, just my opinion there is a HUGE jump between intermediate and short stop levels that's all. But I will absolutely agree Efren is KING!!!
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And he will stay the King because the use of jump sticks have eliminated a lot of kicking
With that being said theirs no question in my mind the Asians own the samurai sword in that department

Back to the meaning of the thread what I'm particularly talking about is not play of one player here or there I'm talking about the amount of high level play in matches through out these world class event you don't have to wait to the final 8 or 4 they almost start right off the bat but surly once inside the single elimination rounds you can get epic matches all the way to the end ,


1
 
one stroke said:
And he will stay the King because the use of jump sticks have eliminated a lot of kicking
With that being said theirs no question in my mind the Asians own the samurai sword in that department

Back to the meaning of the thread what I'm particularly talking about is not play of one player here or there I'm talking about the amount of high level play in matches through out these world class event you don't have to wait to the final 8 or 4 they almost start right off the bat but surly once inside the single elimination rounds you can get epic matches all the way to the end ,


1
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K, as to your original question - I do believe there is now more higher level players than ever before ( at least we are now being introduced to the, here in the us. People have different theories as to why - some same better access to information with the internet ( videos, training aids, etc ). I don't really know about all of that but for sure I think we have bigger fields with higher level players. As far as the elite players, I'd say the level of play is about the same. With the different equipment , rules etc it is extremely hard if not impossible to compare objectively but I'd stand by my opinion that the elite players of yesterday and today are on par.
 
Black-Balled said:
I am. I saw me kick in at least 3 balls in the last week/ 10d.

How many did I see Efren kick in? Zero. ZERO.

Say something now!
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I thought it was obvious that I meant who's a better kicker than Efren, besides Black-Balled!

The question is, did Efren see you kick in the 3 balls and, if so, did he learn anything about how to kick?
 
PoolBum said:
I don't know about the 70's, but Earl and Busty go back to the 80's and nobody broke the balls better than those guys.

Just because the technology improves and the game evolves doesn't mean the best players are always the players of today.

There is no running back in the NFL today as good as Jim Brown.

There is no wide receiver in the NFL today as good as Jerry Rice.

There is no basketball player in the NBA today as good as Michael Jordan.

There is no hockey player in the NHL today as good as Wayne Gretzky.

And those are sports where strength, speed, and size matter. Being stronger, or faster, or bigger doesn't make you a better pool player.
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I think you're mistaking something. The best individual, most talented individual, (one person or two people out of the thousands to ever compete in something) can happen to have been born in any era. I don't know anything about football or basketball, but I agree that Wayne Gretzky is the most talented/best hockey player in history. (That being said, we will never know what kind of number Crosby could have put up in the 80s, so it's a difficult comparison to make.) The fact that the single greatest talent ever was in the 80s/90s does not change the fact that a given team today would SMASH a given team from 1986. The level of play today is simply higher, in addition to the guys being much better conditioned.

The question is, is the level of play higher today? Not, who was the most talented individual ever. These are separate questions, and I think you may be answering the latter of the two. I think the top 10 or 20 players today would beat the top 10 or 20 players of the 70s or 80s. Individual phenom's like Strickland are one thing. But we're talking about the group, the sport, the whole.

(And Shane breaks better than Earl or Busty ever did. Just saying.)
 
MuchoBurrito said:
I think you're mistaking something. The best individual, most talented individual, (one person or two people out of the thousands to ever compete in something) can happen to have been born in any era. I don't know anything about football or basketball, but I agree that Wayne Gretzky is the most talented/best hockey player in history. (That being said, we will never know what kind of number Crosby could have put up in the 80s, so it's a difficult comparison to make.) The fact that the single greatest talent ever was in the 80s/90s does not change the fact that a given team today would SMASH a given team from 1986. The level of play today is simply higher, in addition to the guys being much better conditioned.

The question is, is the level of play higher today? Not, who was the most talented individual ever. These are separate questions, and I think you may be answering the latter of the two. I think the top 10 or 20 players today would beat the top 10 or 20 players of the 70s or 80s. Individual phenom's like Strickland are one thing. But we're talking about the group, the sport, the whole.

(And Shane breaks better than Earl or Busty ever did. Just saying.)
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Are you talking about the top 10-20 players in the US vs the top 10-20 from 30 years ago?

I am not so sure we even know who the top 10 pool players were in the Philippines, China, Taiwan or Europe in the 70s and 80s. There wasn't any real exposure to us unless they came to the states. I bet there are guys even now that nobody has ever heard of here who can beat anyone in the world when playing well.
 
As Finnish player I can answer somewhat. Finland level of play before 1990 was trash. After that it skyrocketed! Same goes all European countries i believe. Only Germany and Holland probably had some monsters. Could be some also in U.K because Snooker.
 
MuchoBurrito said:
I think you're mistaking something. The best individual, most talented individual, (one person or two people out of the thousands to ever compete in something) can happen to have been born in any era. I don't know anything about football or basketball, but I agree that Wayne Gretzky is the most talented/best hockey player in history. (That being said, we will never know what kind of number Crosby could have put up in the 80s, so it's a difficult comparison to make.) The fact that the single greatest talent ever was in the 80s/90s does not change the fact that a given team today would SMASH a given team from 1986. The level of play today is simply higher, in addition to the guys being much better conditioned.

The question is, is the level of play higher today? Not, who was the most talented individual ever. These are separate questions, and I think you may be answering the latter of the two. I think the top 10 or 20 players today would beat the top 10 or 20 players of the 70s or 80s. Individual phenom's like Strickland are one thing. But we're talking about the group, the sport, the whole.

(And Shane breaks better than Earl or Busty ever did. Just saying.)
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It sounds like you're just talking about something different when you talk about the "highest level of play" than I am. When I talk about the highest level of play I'm talking about the very best players and their level of play, not the average level of play.

I agree that the average level of play today (if we're talking about, say, the biggest tournaments in the world) is higher today than it's ever been.

But pool is not a team sport, and the highest level of play in my sense (not the average level of play, but the level of play by the very best players) is determined by how well the very best individual players play. If the best individual players are not playing today, then the highest level of pool is not being played today.
 
one stroke said:
I think the break knowledge has a lot to do with it players today like Shane are rack masters , back in the day I'm dating myself you put the balls in the rack and hit it with everything you had , hardly the case today
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There's no doubt there are far more better players today than years ago.

And, at the risk of dating myself .... back in the day, you broke soft with outside english, hit the corner ball, two balls hit rails and went back in the rack while the CB went 3 rails and rested on the 4th head string rail. ;) Oh yeah, and crazy as it sounds, they played with 15 balls .... go figure.
 
Meanwhile, back on planet earth for a second, usain bolt is halfway through his celebratory cigar before Jesse owens has crossed the finish line.
 
Pathetic Shark said:
Meanwhile, back on planet earth for a second, usain bolt is halfway through his celebratory cigar before Jesse owens has crossed the finish line.
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Well, that settles it then. Usain Bolt is obviously a better pool player than Efren Reyes.
 
Straightpool_99 said:
The speed control that Efren has...I don't think it will ever be matched. I think that this is his greatest strength along with his knowledge of rails.
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I agree, his speed on that shot is far and away the most impressive aspect of the shot.
 
PoolBum said:
Love the little shake of the head by Boyes as he comes to the table, as if to say, "Holy crap, this guy really is a magician!"
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as its boyes im pretty sure it was more like "wtf that lucky bastard" :grin:
but what a shot........only to try it that way is insane, 99.99% of the players would have played a hitnhoper lol
 
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