No respect for Mike Siegel?

F

fxskater

Ryan The Salmon Arm Lynn
Silver Member
As a fairly new pool player (3 years in) i had never seen Mike Siegel Playa pool match. So i aqquired a 1989 Us Open Straight Pool match with Mike Siegel against King James Jim Rempe. There is no commentary but you can here Mike Siegel talking and some people in the background. It seems to me that he wasnt very well liked. He made a few incredible shots, 3 ball combos and a few tough Cut combos, and nobody seemed to be cheering after his shots. Also i noticed that he was a bit blunt with the Referee a few times. My question is, Is this connsistent with most of Mike Siegels matches? Was he more of an Earl Strickland (not well liked) type figure when he played?

(I have nothing against Earl i am just recognize the fact that alot of people don't like or respect the way he acts.)
 
Sigel liked talking to the audience. That was probably his tension-release technique. Mike, however, from what I've seen did not show disrespect to his opponents.
 
Mike Sigel was a champion of such a caliber during his active years that I've heard Bill Incardona and Buddy Hall to name a few, say there is no one else they would rather watch play 9 ball or any game. He just gets perfect on everything, and when he doesn't get perfect shape he comes with every hard shot to get out. Mike Sigel loved talking to the crowds, has a good personality, but he shows NO mercy to opponents. I heard Bill Incardona say that he saw Sigel playing a young player in a match and just dogged him..wouldn't let him win a game, and Mike said that he doesn't like any of his opponents winning ANY games. He doesn't care what caliber of player they are. If you want to be a champion the caliber of Sigel or Strickland, you have to HATE losing, and put in the effort it requires to play at the caliber where you won't lose very often. It's a drive and passion that few possess.
 
I have to agree that Mike never showed any disrepect to his opponents or refs. But Mike was always looking for a "Yes" man in the crowd. I've never seen him be rude, he just wanted someone to vent to. For instance, if he missed a shot, he liked to look to his "Yes" man and say, "Did you see that? That ball skid!!". Of course, a good "Yes" man would always agree. If they didn't, Mike was known to change "Yes" men in mid-match.

That match of Sigel against Rempe is awsome and at the time is set a US Open record of least number of innings in a match - 3. A few years later, I believe 1992 Sigel played a match against one the most underrated 14.1 players, Mike Zuglan. This is a way better match. Zuglan breaks and Sigel runs 150 and out. He broke his own US Open record to a 2 inning match. Not only that, but it was the best 150 and out I've ever seen, better than the Rempe match where he gets into trouble a fews times.

Interesting note: After that Sigel vs Zuglan match, Zuglan had to play, I believe Dallas West or Ray Martin, Zuglan's opponent broke and Zuglan went on to run 148 balls. He missed a makable combo to repeat Sigel's feat in the previous match.

If you ever get a chance, check out the Zuglan matches they are great.

One last thing to mention about that 150 and out match against Rempe. I love the move when Sigel was in trouble with only a cluster of balls in the rack. He walked around the table a couple of times looking real disappointed. Than all of sudden he sees a dead ball in the rack and nails it and the crowd loves it. I believe that Sigel knew that dead ball was there all the time, but he played it up to excite the crowd.
 
No Respect

Hi fxskater,

Your understanding of Mr. Sigel is correct. Mike was so good, so dominating during his years at the top that he truely believed he was (is) "the man". Today, many young people look at and listen to, Earl as being a one off. He follows in Mikes footsteps. Mike continually talked to the crowd during his matches. The more pressure placed on him, the better he played. I'm sure that a check of the old records would show he won a greater percentage of the tournaments from the B side of the board after losing an early match. Whether he was as disruptive during his matches as Earl would have to come from his fellow competitors.

When Mike returned to Rochester during the early 90's for the Classic Billiards 14.1 Invitational Championships, he expected to win. The first year, he led Jim Rempe 195 - 5 in the finals. Jim came back to win 200 - 195. It was amazing to hear Mike. The next year, Mike was playing local favorite Ron (Julio) Casanzio in one of the semifinals. Ron was leading about 90 to minus 17. Mike finally ran a rack. He sat down next to me and asked why no one cheered for him. He did finally defeat Julio in that match. In the finals against Nick Varner, Mike got off to an early lead only to see it disappear. During a quick trip to the mens room, Mike was commenting on how he could not believe he could lose like that two years in a row. Mike did win as Nick simply could not keep up with him. The local crowd was very vocal. We tried to explain to Mike that most people root for the underdog as a matter of habit. It was not personal. Yeah right!

I have been very vocal on this forum regarding my conviction that Mike was the best all around player. Winning the recent senior masters only meant he beat everyone he used to beat years ago. Nothing would make me happier to see Earl and Mike face off for some real money (no business can be done here). Can you imagine that? Got ear plugs? How many videos could be sold? How many seats filled? Pay per view? What do you think Pat Fleming? How about it Mr. Oceola?
 
I have watched alot of taped matches of both Sigel and Reyes and I must say Sigel in his prime was better then Reyes in his prime when it comes to winning. He had such a complete game, the great break, the unreal potting ability, the dead on shape play, and he had miracle shots just like Reyes plays. Get the guy into the finals of a tournament and he is a 90% favorite to win that last match no matter who it is against when he was at his best.

In all the matches I have watched Sigel was totally respectful of his opponents, the ref (although a match vs CJ Wiley he sends a ball racker to the looney bin trying to rack the balls good), and the fans (true about the yes man thing, he wanted positive crowd interaction much like Strickland). I met the guy last year in Vegas and he was pretty cool. He got a little choked when I asked him when he was going to be back beating all the pros on the tables and stated bluntly he was now a cue maker. He ended up playing in that tourney a while back beating Hall in the final so I can only chuckle at that now, if I see him again I will congradulate him on the victory with a smug grin on my face. The guy is more then a little cocky or sure of himself but from what I have seen he is as good as he thinks he is and his style of play and his attitude at the table are a requirement for him to shoot like he does. He needs that intensity and confidence to do what he does. He reminds me of stories I have heard of Mosconi when it comes to attitude.
 
There is no doubt that Sigel was/is a great player. When I met him at the BCA Expo in New Orleans I came away with the impression that he has an ego as big as all outdoors.
 
I have to agree with pelican. Mike's ego is as big as the world.......head is to big for his body.......nuff said..............................................mike
 
fxskater said:
As a fairly new pool player (3 years in) i had never seen Mike Siegel Playa pool match. So i aqquired a 1989 Us Open Straight Pool match with Mike Siegel against King James Jim Rempe. There is no commentary but you can here Mike Siegel talking and some people i,,,,, of people don't like or respect the way he acts.)
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you write you saw a tape from 1989. the crowds back then were probably not as vocal as they are today. at the very least, crowds today are egged on by the announcers for TV.
 
Re: Re: No respect for Mike Siegel?

bruin70 said:
you write you saw a tape from 1989. the crowds back then were probably not as vocal as they are today. at the very least, crowds today are egged on by the announcers for TV.
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I would just like to chirp in to say this, the writing that several posted was out standing. This is one of the most intelligent and well put together threads I have ever seen. They did the same thread on ccb and it went right into the sewer and never got out of it. I was rigtht there in the middle of that one defending Mike. Yes, I am a mike DYM, DESIGNATED YES MEN, yES I am a mike fan and admirer. `Like Mosconi, I over look the ego and assume that is the price one pays to be greater than everyone else and know it. My compliments on the writing in this thread, it shows the higher class of poster az has compared to other chat boards.:cool:
 
Mike Sigel was one of the most feared players of all time, there is no question about that. He possessed so much talent in every sense of the word, his thought process was on the money when he had to make a decision on how to play a certain shot, I have many tapes of him going way back, a big ego, no question about that, but why knock the man because of his ego, it goes with being extremely self confident in his ability to perform at a high level. He was fortunate that he had the great Irving Crane to tutor him along the way, in his critical younger years, when he talks about Irving Crane he does it with affection for the man that recognized the talent that he had, and went out of his way to help him along. This was extremely important in his early years that he had a person of Irving's caliber and reputation to instill in him that confidence that he could someday be one of the greatest players ever.
 
Did you get that 1989 US Open Straight pool match from Accu-stats? I can't seem to find it there.
 
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