JCIN said:
A fact I have heard little mention made of: This is basicaly Shane's rookie year on tour. He has played pro events before of course but never a full schedule like this year. Scary.
Whatever he does and whoever he does or does not beat Shane is one of the best people I have ever met on or off the table and I am proud to call him a friend. His integrity and honor can bring as much to the game as his skills, Amercans need a guy to get behind, there are few out there already of course but one more never hurts.
This is a fact, I watched him in Vegas play one match at the BCA Pro event in the back in Aug?, anyways he made a bank shot that guys his age arnt suppost to make. period. After seeing that one shot I knew I was buying Ebay stock at the IPO when I started betting on Shane this past couple months. Handicapping his matches moving foward will be tricky, like Danny said about Efren. Both of them playing would be a dream to watch and a nightmare to handicapp. Shane if you read this I have a envlope waiting.
Since then I have come to know him and speak to him occasionally, he has keys to my house anytime he wants even if I'm not at home and a car too and a table incase he wants to play !!!, How strong is that? I dont do that for hardly anyone. It speaks volumes of how good of a person he is, and will continue to be. besides if he goes off track to many people love him and will kick his ass if did go off track
. Of course i'm just kidding Shane, would probably kick their asses look how hard he breaks.
But Chad is big, listen if asnything goes down let me know I'll post a line. PLEASE understand its 3:30 and I cant sleep, i'm just messing around.
All jokeing aside SVB will for the next 20+ years represent America in pool as one of our best players and will be well respected by everyone(those who wouldnt respect them are off my list) as long as pool is around. He isnt a one hit wonder. Hell he isnt really out of the gate yet, Scary is right. He still gets the 8 from me, i hate $$$.
The other cool thing about Shane is he hasnt and I believe will NEVER let fame go to his head. I believe he has perpaired himself for it the whole time like I did for a differnt reason. Spare me for a little about me to compair to SVB-this is about SVB not me, I'm not famous, but when I was broke 75% of my life, i said I wouldnt ever let $$$ change me(I prepaired for it long before I made it because I knew I would makss $$$ some day, like SVB knowing years ago he was going to be a world champion), All those years he knew that to be a respected ledgend its more than just pool. There are some champs who arnt respected and thats sad to me, but I look for the good in everyone.
To mention someone else in a similar situation, I spoke to Fabio(the model guy) the other night after a party for 30 minutes, We go back for 14 years(from the gym), we handnt talked for years, after a million pictures everyone took of him that night, later on we spoke about his fame and he said "If it wasnt for my fans I wouldnt be where I'm at, so I give them a picture and talk etc. I owe it to them" Shane is the same way he talks to his fans and treats them nicely and I believe he will continue to be, thats as important as playing good for the respect of the fans. As for mayself I'm not anything close to a star or Shane, but I awalys make an effort to make people smile and am nice. Shane is polite and nice. Its a amazing thing he has going and I'm damn proud of him. He will go farther in life than I have...what ever that means, and I'm honored to be a small part of that.
And Props to his support team in SD. they have alot to be proud of and Shane is living proof there is actually somrthing happining in SD, I thought everyone lived in igloos up there and ate seals.
