A good time was had by all this weekend. Saturday, Johnny and Earl stopped in at Rack 'Em to take pics and sign autographs. I didn't attend, but the main show was on Sunday at 7:00 at the Break Room. I was practicing by myself and didn't see them come in. I made a gorgeous 3 rail kick shot on the 9 that was about a diamond up table and the cueball was frozen to the side rail on the same side. When I looked up to see if anyone had witnessed it, I saw the crowd had moved all their chairs and were eagerly awaiting the 2 stars, LOL.
Johnny and I had a good long talk while Earl was doing his trick shots. We talked about our kids, the IPT, the benefit he did in Seattle, his elbow injury and about pool in general. Earl did some fantastic stroke shots, and then 8 people were drawn from a raffle to partner with Johnny and Earl for Scotch Troubles.
I was drawn first and got partnered with Johnny and Dave Nienow, a teammate of mine (who is complaining because he is going to have to spot me 25 balls in our upcoming straight pool match, lol) got drawn to be Earl's partner. Of course Johnny and I massacred them with our finesse and my power draw shot on 1 leg, :shocked: :shocked: as well as my 2-way shot on the 8 which forced Earl to kick which gave us the win. I could be Johnny's partner all day! He is such a super nice guy.
I don't want to ruin his action, but he did say he has an elbow that swells up about twice a year and he showed it to me and it was hot and swollen. Looked painful, but he said it wasn't, but that he was glad for the 2 days of rest he was going to be getting.
Because he didn't want to overuse it, they just did the 4 Scotch matches and signed cueballs, 9balls, posters, old billiards magazine covers, cues, and whatever anyone wanted signed. Both were very gracious and stayed as long as the fans wanted, for pictures and signings. I know now why his elbow hurt!!!
Earl has lost a lot of weight. Johnny says he has been running 4-5 miles every day. Evidently, Earl also forgot his earlier mistaken identity of me, which was nice.
Earl is a perfectionist and repeated several of his shots, saying the table was too wet, but he eventually nailed them all. He also got engaged with the crowd, laughing and joking with them. This is the Earl we all like to see, jovial and with no pressure on him. He also let it drop that he intends to open up a poolroom in L.A. in the next 4-5 years.
Anyway, it was back to the practice table for me, but it was awesome seeing the best players in the valley there enjoying 2 of the best players of all time.
This is with Paul Kinney, a good local player. He and his wife have become good friends.
Johnny and I had a good long talk while Earl was doing his trick shots. We talked about our kids, the IPT, the benefit he did in Seattle, his elbow injury and about pool in general. Earl did some fantastic stroke shots, and then 8 people were drawn from a raffle to partner with Johnny and Earl for Scotch Troubles.
I was drawn first and got partnered with Johnny and Dave Nienow, a teammate of mine (who is complaining because he is going to have to spot me 25 balls in our upcoming straight pool match, lol) got drawn to be Earl's partner. Of course Johnny and I massacred them with our finesse and my power draw shot on 1 leg, :shocked: :shocked: as well as my 2-way shot on the 8 which forced Earl to kick which gave us the win. I could be Johnny's partner all day! He is such a super nice guy.
I don't want to ruin his action, but he did say he has an elbow that swells up about twice a year and he showed it to me and it was hot and swollen. Looked painful, but he said it wasn't, but that he was glad for the 2 days of rest he was going to be getting.
Because he didn't want to overuse it, they just did the 4 Scotch matches and signed cueballs, 9balls, posters, old billiards magazine covers, cues, and whatever anyone wanted signed. Both were very gracious and stayed as long as the fans wanted, for pictures and signings. I know now why his elbow hurt!!!
Earl has lost a lot of weight. Johnny says he has been running 4-5 miles every day. Evidently, Earl also forgot his earlier mistaken identity of me, which was nice.
Earl is a perfectionist and repeated several of his shots, saying the table was too wet, but he eventually nailed them all. He also got engaged with the crowd, laughing and joking with them. This is the Earl we all like to see, jovial and with no pressure on him. He also let it drop that he intends to open up a poolroom in L.A. in the next 4-5 years.Anyway, it was back to the practice table for me, but it was awesome seeing the best players in the valley there enjoying 2 of the best players of all time.
This is with Paul Kinney, a good local player. He and his wife have become good friends.
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