My Thoughts on Earl and TAR 22

[BradenK]

For all those down on Earl, I don't want to get into long ordeal, but I know another side of Earl.

To be honest, in my opinion, he hates pool, hates the game he has to play to survive, hates the people around it. Very few people he likes. He would have much rather been a professional golfer or a professional tennis player. He had to get STUCK in pool, and I believe that is why he carries on the way he does.

I've played him a million times when he was in his prime. I was there to see it all and know how he plays firsthand. He used to hit everybody with packages at all times. It's hard for any player to admit they don't play as good as they used to, and Earl, as you probably know, would never do that. Earl could be struggling with that.

On the other hand, playing Earl under these kind of surroundings, having to play Shane Van Boening with all the railbirds carrying on, it's not much fun to him. And it comes out in his anger, but he is by far probably the best 9-ball player that I ever played. He still has a couple, few gears today, but nothing, nothing like he used to, and I believe some type of demons have set in for a while now.

When he was running packages all the time, he never saw nobody, never heard nobody, didn't care who was sitting on the rail. He was focused on one thing and one thing only: keeping that opponent as far away from the table as possible.

I wish Earl well, and these naysayers on these websites got nothing else better to do but to pick on somebody that is obviously very sick and very distraught. And it's like I said before, he don't like nobody in the pool world, and he never will. Everybody is a statue to him.

Earthquake out.

Mr. McCready,

I can clearly understand your post and your position, and even sympathize with Earl some. But, if you are correct in your asessment, then I still do not see how this leads your average person to want to lighten up on their attitude towards Earl.

Pool has given this man much to be proud of, whether he is at the ability level he would like to be or not, and whether he "needs" pool to survive or not. 99% of all pool players would love to accomplish half of what Earl has. And I bet most would not turn around and bash the whole pool-world after doing so. No one can argue with his talent, but everyone can with his attitude. And ilness is not an excuse either. If he is ill, then he needs help. But, he has to admit that he is ill, seek help, and WORK at getting better.

The people you accuse of "picking" on Earl have a very legitimate beef. Many people payed their hard eraned money to watch this match, and were treated with the rantings and ravings of someone they were actually hoping would do well and win. I highly doubt that more than half of those people would have spent that money if they knew exactly what was going to happen.

If Earl has had it rough, then I can sympathize, but it is not an excuse. Too many people have had it rough, and most of them still act in a civilized manner. I do not think public civility is too much to ask from anyone, especially a professional and an ambassador to a much loved game. And like many have stated, it is Earl, and everyone expects a certain amount of typical behavior from him. But, once again, he crossed the line. It is just like having a child around. If you constantly condone bad behavior, guess what? All you get from said child is bad behavior. Reward the good behavior, and punish the bad behavior. It is the only way.

And has anyone ever noticed that all of Earl's standards that he would like implemented are all things that would give him an advantage over most of his opponents? Playing faster, no jump cues, certain tips, b reaking from a certain place and speed? It's funny, really.

I seriously wish the man well, but he needs to take responsibility for his actions and try to rectify some of thes problems. If he did, almost everyone would be on his side.

Braden

 

[ironman]

I guess we differ on the point of view that anyone who pays to see Earl play should expect to be insulted. After this second prolonged period with Earl I do believe you are correct in that he can't control himself.

i appreciate what you do and can feel the pain and discomfort you feel. You have articulated that very well.
I think,,, I am safe saying that nobody blames you for the behavior of a spoiled brat. Earl has had a big mouth since he was a teenager and that poor little me attitude. he has always set himself in a victims stance and many have promoted and supported it, As they say, " a game is only a game if two people play. Maybe Earl is stressed with inner deamons. Or maybe that is just his personality. I am not sure which and could really care less. That someone has not cracked him in the jaw is amazing to me. I think he is in some weird way begging for that very thing.
I like what you have said here and believe you are taking a bit too much of the blame. When viewing Earl, everyone knows and some even enjoy his tantrums and very selfish behavior. We all have choices, we can watch or simply walk away. Simply leave him there on his pity pot and stewing in his Victims stance. He too has choices and I feel far too many make excuses for him.
You put on a great show and the shame to me is that Shane won and almost goes unnoticed because of Earls behavior. Shane came and played at about 4 of my events and was always a class act. So Shane will be remembered as a great player and a gentleman. Earl will be remembered as one of the most incredible flakes of the game. Each had a choice in that.
We as the pool audience have choices too. When we watch, in his mind, we support him. i think you got the answer you were looking for this past weekend and the audience spoke loudly.
i applaud your efforts and your passion as well as concern for your customers. i feel it quite admirable and noble. i do feel however, you should never feel responsible for his childish acts.
It is a shame that someone with so much talent was cursed with so little social skills and so little love for the game.
So, keep plugging, and please give others more credit for seeing though this and not blaming you. We feel the pain too!

 

[ironman]

Mr. McCready,

I can clearly understand your post and your position, and even sympathize with Earl some. But, if you are correct in your asessment, then I still do not see how this leads your average person to want to lighten up on their attitude towards Earl.

Pool has given this man much to be proud of, whether he is at the ability level he would like to be or not, and whether he "needs" pool to survive or not. 99% of all pool players would love to accomplish half of what Earl has. And I bet most would not turn around and bash the whole pool-world after doing so. No one can argue with his talent, but everyone can with his attitude. And ilness is not an excuse either. If he is ill, then he needs help. But, he has to admit that he is ill, seek help, and WORK at getting better.

The people you accuse of "picking" on Earl have a very legitimate beef. Many people payed their hard eraned money to watch this match, and were treated with the rantings and ravings of someone they were actually hoping would do well and win. I highly doubt that more than half of those people would have spent that money if they knew exactly what was going to happen.

If Earl has had it rough, then I can sympathize, but it is not an excuse. Too many people have had it rough, and most of them still act in a civilized manner. I do not think public civility is too much to ask from anyone, especially a professional and an ambassador to a much loved game. And like many have stated, it is Earl, and everyone expects a certain amount of typical behavior from him. But, once again, he crossed the line. It is just like having a child around. If you constantly condone bad behavior, guess what? All you get from said child is bad behavior. Reward the good behavior, and punish the bad behavior. It is the only way.

And has anyone ever noticed that all of Earl's standards that he would like implemented are all things that would give him an advantage over most of his opponents? Playing faster, no jump cues, certain tips, b reaking from a certain place and speed? It's funny, really.

I seriously wish the man well, but he needs to take responsibility for his actions and try to rectify some of thes problems. If he did, almost everyone would be on his side.

Braden

Very well said.

 

[AtLarge]

Justin -- As one of your customers, I appreciate what you have said in this thread.

 

[ironman]

For all those down on Earl, I don't want to get into long ordeal, but I know another side of Earl.

To be honest, in my opinion, he hates pool, hates the game he has to play to survive, hates the people around it. Very few people he likes. He would have much rather been a professional golfer or a professional tennis player. He had to get STUCK in pool, and I believe that is why he carries on the way he does.

I've played him a million times when he was in his prime. I was there to see it all and know how he plays firsthand. He used to hit everybody with packages at all times. It's hard for any player to admit they don't play as good as they used to, and Earl, as you probably know, would never do that. Earl could be struggling with that.

On the other hand, playing Earl under these kind of surroundings, having to play Shane Van Boening with all the railbirds carrying on, it's not much fun to him. And it comes out in his anger, but he is by far probably the best 9-ball player that I ever played. He still has a couple, few gears today, but nothing, nothing like he used to, and I believe some type of demons have set in for a while now.

When he was running packages all the time, he never saw nobody, never heard nobody, didn't care who was sitting on the rail. He was focused on one thing and one thing only: keeping that opponent as far away from the table as possible.

I wish Earl well, and these naysayers on these websites got nothing else better to do but to pick on somebody that is obviously very sick and very distraught. And it's like I said before, he don't like nobody in the pool world, and he never will. Everybody is a statue to him.

Earthquake out.

Kieth i appreciate your stance here and admire your support of Earl. i don't think anyone has ever doubted his ability or accomplishments.
Maybe you are right and he hates the game? There are hundreds of thousands in the world daily who don't really love what they do but have a life, wife, family and those who depend on them. To some degree that is sad but they have chosen what they do as a means to support their family and loved ones. If most behaved as Earl in the work place, they would most likely be unemployed or in the middle of a circle each week called Group Therapy.
I would like to pose a question to you. As a legand of the game and also viewed as one of the greatest talents of all time, did you lighten up on the game because you had grown to hate it too?
That may be a little personal and if you wish not to answer i will totally respect that!

 

[alstl]

If nobody wants to watch Earl anymore why are there more threads about Earl on this forum than any other player, and why do his matches draw the biggest crowds in tournaments? One thing about Earl, he is 100% pure and that's a little too strong for some people.

If you had money on him and lost, it's called gambling for a reason.

 

[Joe_Jaguar]

To be honest, in my opinion, he hates pool, hates the game he has to play to survive, hates the people around it. Very few people he likes. He would have much rather been a professional golfer or a professional tennis player. He had to get STUCK in pool, and I believe that is why he carries on the way he does.

And to think the excuse making for this a-hole couldn't get any worse :shakehead:

 

[BarneyCalip]

Thanks for accepting the responsibility

JCIN, Yes you are responsible for the disaster, you’re the Promoter.
You tried and that is commendable.
In your mind you failed and that builds Character and Honor.
Best wishes and I will support TAR in the future, Barney

 

[Ktown D]

JCIN, Yes you are responsible for the disaster, you’re the Promoter.
You tried and that is commendable.
In your mind you failed and that builds Character and Honor.
Best wishes and I will support TAR in the future, Barney

I think you may be a little over the top calling this match a disaster, even if it is a little tongue-in-cheek. It might not have worked out exactly like some may think it should have but I am sure there are very few that would categorize it as disastrous.

It reminds me of the scene in The Green Mile where they electrified the guy with no water on the sponge. The one guard was talking about how it was a disaster and Tom Hanks looked at him and said "He's dead isn't he? I call that a successful electricution."

 

[Hawk]

I watched all three days and enjoyed it all. All the negative stuff is a given but....I was so impressed by Earl's talent, anyone who doesn't think Earl can still play wasn't watching. He gave Shane all he could handle right up until the last hour of the match. He did this while his mind was spinning seemingly out of control. I couldn't help but think, wow imagine how great he would be "if" he could keep his emotions in-check. Justin, I appreciate business is business, but I hope you haven't totally given up on streaming Earl again. He is one of the most interesting characters in sport, period.

 

[laserbrn]

I don't think anyone should ever watch that asswad play pool anymore. When you watch, he gains. Fortunately we've been promised a ban from TAR and that's a good start. I just don't think there is room in this sport for unsportsmanlike assholes that can't keep their composure for in the name of decency and respect for their fellow competitors.

It's him and guys like him that drove me away from pool in the first place. He's just some inbred asshole that managed to develop a good game despite himself getting in the way. Might explain why he was so drawn to pool rather than golf or any other sport as the other poster claimed he would prefer. Pool tolerates nonsense.

 

[Ky Boy]

Well, with so much said after reading this entire thread...when will the DVD be out?????

I am an avid TAR fan and have watched nearly every match...I was out of town on Friday and home late on Sat. I did watch Sunday and enjoyed it very much. I don't condone Earl's actions and must be immune to them I have seen them so much. But I gain more respect for Shane when I see him just keep smiling and playing his heart out. Because I don't know too many people who would have taken that sort of abuse for 3 consecutive days. Anyone else would have told him to sit down and shut up or knocked his ass out otherwise.

Once again, it was a great show and product and nothing to apologize over. Everyone knew the meltdown would ensue at some point and Earl didn't disappoint. Looking forward to the next match and seeing you all at Derby!!


Gary

 

[uwate]

Sounds like Earl sure got a sweet deal on this match. How you ever got him staked 60/40 his way against SVB even is just flat out astounding.

 

[Jcat]

A very famous and great man once told me "Son, if you run with assholes, you'll get assholes". Good to know you won't be running with assholes anymore.

 

[Snookerd]

Earls antics...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4G0Gx8suAQs

Tisk Tisk.

 

[The Renfro]

All I can do is laugh at all of the comments about why Earl is bad for pool....

I would also like to caution Justin about listening to the guys on here saying "I didn't buy it because it was Earl"... Umm no you didn't buy it likely because you don't always buy TAR matches and after the fact it is very easy to say anything about why you didn't buy it.... The fact that it's Christmas and you have to begrudgingly buy gifts doesn't sound or feel nearly as good as Bashing Earl and Justin......

I paid for the entire weekend... Justin can look it up and see for himself... TheRenfro paid his $35.... I enjoyed the entire weekend... I was very much interested to see how well Earl and Shane played on the tight pockets and I was rewarded by getting to watch what I felt was a fantastic match....

Now come next weekend I won't be buying the product.... I just don't have interest in seeing Oscar vs Raj... I also will bet that the threads and posts on here will be a drop in the bucket compared to what was generated this weekend....

I paid for Shane/Alex.... I loved that match but there was nothing polarizing for anyone to really talk about.... None of the anonymous masses could get on a bashing wagon and feel like they were part of it because they could say their little piece......

I respect Earl for his talent on the pool table... I could care less about the antics.... I do understand some people are more concerned with talking about how he acted than the match... To quote Eleanor Roosevelt Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.

One of the things that could have been done to help the perception from the viewers would have been to have moved the player's chairs to the foot of the table. That way the players were not always visible to camera 1... I almost think that the chairs were placed where they were so we could get exactly what we saw which was some of Earl's antics....

I also think that if you want to allow the people in the room to come down and talk to a player after the match you almost have to have the timing planned and have the players prepped for that happening and have someone standing there and doing introductions.....

There were several things that could have been done a little differently that would have defused some of the things that happened.....

I also think that the commentators should have done their part... Justin needed to pull a Fleming and have instructed them to get off that horse and get back to Shane and what was going on at the table... You don't want to feed into the drama which is what Ken and Mark did... They did what all of us would have done which is to talk about exactly what was on their minds at that exact moment.... The booth should be for match commentating.. You wouldn't ever discuss a miss thru the following rack... So why would you discuss the fact that Earl hasn't banged his cue in 10racks?????

Without villains you have no heros... Without darkness there is no light..... You have to have the drama of a struggle... of a battle before people get truly emotionally vested in watching something... be it on TV, at the movies, or on the internet....

Everyone knows the good guys on a TV Western because the bad guys wear black hats... If you watch wrestling you know who the good guys and bad guys are by their names, by the theme music and with a little help from the commentators.... Now think about snooker....

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/more-...the-top-ten-snooker-bad-boys-115875-20390671/

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/article553149.ece

Earl is and will be Earl... Go ahead and root against him if you want.. We all get to chooses who to root for or against... I personally will root for him because I want to see him overcome adversity... The external which all players fight against and the internal which is his own fight..

 

[TATE]

We put this match together based on the reaction to the 10 foot table match. That was one of our top sellers ever but I swore after that match I would never put myself through that again and so did Shane. But time passing has a way of smoothing the edges and it seemed like an interesting idea for these two to get together again and Shane was down for it.

I thought "If it does similar numbers it could be worth it." Well it didnt and it really wasn't. We spent a lot of money on this match. Thanks to the die hard TAR supporters we didnt go in the tank but when I see people I know have bought everything we have done saying "Not this time" because of one reason I pay attention.

I thought the TAR Studio atmosphere would mitigate some of Earl's antics and compared to what happened in Ohio it did. Day two and three of TAR 22 were still not something I want to be remembered for. Earl is awesome right up until he isn't then it just goes from entertaining and a bit wacky to just plain hateful and mean. I really thought this match would not have that mean edge to it. He was getting a guaranteed payday and all expenses paid with a chance to make a nice score for the weekend if he won. I know he respects Shane. I honestly thought he would do all the wacky shit he always does but without the really nasty tone he displayed in Ohio and the final two days of this match. I was wrong about pretty much everything.

What I feel worst about is the people who paid a serious amount of money to be in the TAR Studio for this match. I apologize to them. Several traveled great distances at substantial cost to be there to see this match. They were not treated with the respect they deserved and that is, in the end, my fault. After the match was over one person walked up to Earl and tried to shake his hand. Earl turned his back on him. The man turned his head and saw I was watching..showing a lot of class he just kind of smiled, shrugged his shoulders and walked out the door. I felt like the biggest asshole in the world because this guy paid to come watch supposedly professional players I put together and this was the last experience he had walking out of our place that we built to represent us. It's unacceptable.

Earl is a tremendous talent and absolutely hilarious. Everyone in that studio this weekend wanted to see him do well. I even think Shane wants him to play great just so he can test himself against one of his idols from childhood. It really hurts me that such a talented and entertaining person can become so hateful and disrespectful towards people who wish him nothing but the best. I admit I probably rationalized some of Earl's past behavior because I wanted to see a great match and I wanted to produce a successful event. I gave Earl the benefit of the doubt because I know what he is capable of on the pool table and his drawing power. I did what I think many in the past have done to put pool where it is today: I did the easy thing instead of the hard thing.

People will say "Why didnt you stop the antics or say something?" To that I can only respond that several people ,who know Earl better than me, did say something to him. It had no effect. The reason I didn't say anything to Earl during the match is because if I did he would of probably quit in the middle or I would of gotten mad and threw him out. Maybe thats a cop out, I don't feel good about not standing up for the people in the studio and for Shane who I know was seething inside but wouldn't let it show to Earl. It's something I will think about for a long time. Integrity means a lot to me. Backing up what you believe in with action is important. I believe people should be treated with respect. Customers who pay your salary deserve respect. That didn't happen this weekend and I apologize to everyone who paid their money to watch a match and got a sideshow instead.

It won't ever happen again.

Hi Justin,

Well said and as usual, brutally honest.

It's obvious to me that Earl will get away with what he can. After the violent cue ball bounce off your table, I do think somebody should have pulled a timeout and told him he would forfeit with further violent outbursts. You certainly have that right as a business owner and possibly even a legal responsibility if Earl's tantrums were to injure one of your other guests or employees.

I only saw the last hour or so last night. Even though I had seen both of the other matches, this time I was really appalled. I bought the match mainly to support TAR. I had a lot going on this weekend, so I didn't see much of day 1 or 2.

TAR truly is my favorite form of entertainment. Of course I'll continue to watch the TAR matches - this weekend with the Oscar match I'm traveling but I'll watch what I can.

Chris

 

[Zbotiman]

If nobody wants to watch Earl anymore why are there more threads about Earl on this forum than any other player, and why do his matches draw the biggest crowds in tournaments?

In one day, 8 pages on this subject, Earl!!!
I admire Shane Van Boening. He's a fine man, great player, and champion, but how many pages are there about his play over the weekend?
Earl's appeal, is somehow more than, that, of a champion pool player!

 

[JCIN]

For all those down on Earl, I don't want to get into long ordeal, but I know another side of Earl.

To be honest, in my opinion, he hates pool, hates the game he has to play to survive, hates the people around it. Very few people he likes. He would have much rather been a professional golfer or a professional tennis player. He had to get STUCK in pool, and I believe that is why he carries on the way he does.

I've played him a million times when he was in his prime. I was there to see it all and know how he plays firsthand. He used to hit everybody with packages at all times. It's hard for any player to admit they don't play as good as they used to, and Earl, as you probably know, would never do that. Earl could be struggling with that.

On the other hand, playing Earl under these kind of surroundings, having to play Shane Van Boening with all the railbirds carrying on, it's not much fun to him. And it comes out in his anger, but he is by far probably the best 9-ball player that I ever played. He still has a couple, few gears today, but nothing, nothing like he used to, and I believe some type of demons have set in for a while now.

When he was running packages all the time, he never saw nobody, never heard nobody, didn't care who was sitting on the rail. He was focused on one thing and one thing only: keeping that opponent as far away from the table as possible.

I wish Earl well, and these naysayers on these websites got nothing else better to do but to pick on somebody that is obviously very sick and very distraught. And it's like I said before, he don't like nobody in the pool world, and he never will. Everybody is a statue to him.

Earthquake out.

Their were no railbirds carrying on. There were people who paid good money (that was part of the money used to pay him for being there) to watch a match between professional players. They were quiet and respectful.

I listened to Earl's bullshit golf comparison's for four days. The amusing thing is that if Earl was a pro golfer he would of never made a dime because no matter how he played they would of booted his ass out on Day 1.

Earl probably is sick I dont really know. It is interesting how he gets sicker the more games he is down.

 

[JCIN]

All I can do is laugh at all of the comments about why Earl is bad for pool....

I would also like to caution Justin about listening to the guys on here saying "I didn't buy it because it was Earl"... Umm no you didn't buy it likely because you don't always buy TAR matches and after the fact it is very easy to say anything about why you didn't buy it.... The fact that it's Christmas and you have to begrudgingly buy gifts doesn't sound or feel nearly as good as Bashing Earl and Justin......

I paid for the entire weekend... Justin can look it up and see for himself... TheRenfro paid his $35.... I enjoyed the entire weekend... I was very much interested to see how well Earl and Shane played on the tight pockets and I was rewarded by getting to watch what I felt was a fantastic match....

Now come next weekend I won't be buying the product.... I just don't have interest in seeing Oscar vs Raj... I also will bet that the threads and posts on here will be a drop in the bucket compared to what was generated this weekend....

I paid for Shane/Alex.... I loved that match but there was nothing polarizing for anyone to really talk about.... None of the anonymous masses could get on a bashing wagon and feel like they were part of it because they could say their little piece......

I respect Earl for his talent on the pool table... I could care less about the antics.... I do understand some people are more concerned with talking about how he acted than the match... To quote Eleanor Roosevelt Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.

One of the things that could have been done to help the perception from the viewers would have been to have moved the player's chairs to the foot of the table. That way the players were not always visible to camera 1... I almost think that the chairs were placed where they were so we could get exactly what we saw which was some of Earl's antics....

I also think that if you want to allow the people in the room to come down and talk to a player after the match you almost have to have the timing planned and have the players prepped for that happening and have someone standing there and doing introductions.....

There were several things that could have been done a little differently that would have defused some of the things that happened.....

I also think that the commentators should have done their part... Justin needed to pull a Fleming and have instructed them to get off that horse and get back to Shane and what was going on at the table... You don't want to feed into the drama which is what Ken and Mark did... They did what all of us would have done which is to talk about exactly what was on their minds at that exact moment.... The booth should be for match commentating.. You wouldn't ever discuss a miss thru the following rack... So why would you discuss the fact that Earl hasn't banged his cue in 10racks?????

Without villains you have no heros... Without darkness there is no light..... You have to have the drama of a struggle... of a battle before people get truly emotionally vested in watching something... be it on TV, at the movies, or on the internet....

Everyone knows the good guys on a TV Western because the bad guys wear black hats... If you watch wrestling you know who the good guys and bad guys are by their names, by the theme music and with a little help from the commentators.... Now think about snooker....

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/more-...the-top-ten-snooker-bad-boys-115875-20390671/

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/article553149.ece

Earl is and will be Earl... Go ahead and root against him if you want.. We all get to chooses who to root for or against... I personally will root for him because I want to see him overcome adversity... The external which all players fight against and the internal which is his own fight..

The chairs have been where they are since the day we set up the room and will remain there. It is common sense. As for the rest I respect what you are saying I just see most of it a bit differently now.