Agree 100% with this- and I am still trying to understand how one guy holing himself up for weeks and months at at time to run 527 balls in ANY WAY does ANYTHING to promote pocket billiards - to me - it is an attempt soley to promote himself. I'll give him credit if he does it- but those on here who say this is good for pool, please tell me how?
I've always been a vocal defender on here of Mosconi, even though I never saw the man play, the records and stats speak for themselves.
Even so, I think this was an excellent idea for the game. It got people watching, and excited for the game of 14.1. And maybe we can now finally see the end of people claiming that any top pro can beat the record at will...People have NO idea what goes into these long runs. NO IDEA. This attempt by JS will at least show some of the difficulties. He played phenomenal pool and shot shots that were simply astounding, and yet he failed, if you can call it that. This record has stood all this time for a reason. Personally I got tremendous enjoyment from watching John Schmidts brilliant play.
The reason why he couldn't break the record, was IMO his patterns, which is also the problem with most other pros as far as straight pool is concerned. They simply don't play it enough, and this game takes time. John Schmidt is perhaps one of the best shotmakers that ever lived, he's certainly the best I've seen. Yet he couldn't break through, he had to work too hard and it wore him down. Don't take this as disrespect for his game. He's a truely great player and his pattern play is very good. It just lacks the final polish to break through. The best run by a current player is held by Engert for a VERY good reason. Engert is also a shot maker, but he's also a marvelllous, technical player, who plays 14.1 RIGHT, with protection balls etc and he has the right perfectionist mindset. The tiny difference in maybe taking a slightly less risky shot at key points in the run makes all the difference in this game, especially in long runs like this. The percentages will get you, in the end and it's usually stupid stuff that gets the player. Just letting up that tiny little bit on a routine shot. According to legends this was not in Mosconis nature... This record will not stand forever. No record ever does, but it will take a lot more than people give it credit for to break it.