Todays Pros....

[Cdryden]

I was thinking today about the way pro's are compared to what they used to be. It just seems like the pros today are not as colorful as the older generation. They are all business. Obviously they are extremely talented and successful but overall it seems like the generations past were more lively.
With the exceptions like Alex and a few others.

Guys like Jimmy Mataya, Keith McCready, Cornbread Red, Winnie Bennie, Titanic Tompson, Fats, Louie Roberts, Whitey etc.

When I think of those guys and compare them to todays crowd I just wonder what the heck happened. I'm not saying that the pros today are dull, it's just I wonder what the future books of pool stories are going to be like.

What are the stories going to be like on the top players of the 21 century? I'm sure there will be great stories about the amazing matches, but what about the stuff that happens between the major tournament? I doubt I am going to hear about Ralf Soquet (sp) pulling any of Whitey's old stunts for cash!

Maybe 40 years from now someone will write a story about the wild and crazy players of the early 21 century but I just don't see it having the same flair. I hope I am wrong.

 

[ShootingArts]

Living on the Edge

I was thinking today about the way pro's are compared to what they used to be. It just seems like the pros today are not as colorful as the older generation. They are all business. Obviously they are extremely talented and successful but overall it seems like the generations past were more lively.
With the exceptions like Alex and a few others.

Guys like Jimmy Mataya, Keith McCready, Cornbread Red, Winnie Bennie, Titanic Tompson, Fats, Louie Roberts, Whitey etc.

When I think of those guys and compare them to todays crowd I just wonder what the heck happened. I'm not saying that the pros today are dull, it's just I wonder what the future books of pool stories are going to be like.

What are the stories going to be like on the top players of the 21 century? I'm sure there will be great stories about the amazing matches, but what about the stuff that happens between the major tournament? I doubt I am going to hear about Ralf Soquet (sp) pulling any of Whitey's old stunts for cash!

Maybe 40 years from now someone will write a story about the wild and crazy players of the early 21 century but I just don't see it having the same flair. I hope I am wrong.

The guys you are talking about often lived on the edge. There are a lot of different meanings that can have and the old guys each covered all or most of those meanings at one time or another if not most of the time. It makes for great stories looking back on it but it usually ain't all that much fun at the time. A life most people would want no part of, a few wouldn't have it any other way!

It is still possible to live off of three day old baked goods from the thrift store or the food places are fixing to throw away at closing time and still possible to sleep in your car for many nights in a row. The romance goes out of it in a hurry when you are the one actually doing it. I lived for a week or a little longer on two dollars once, not pool related. It was possible but not real fun! Almost as funny/silly as some pool stories, I had a hundred dollar bill in my wallet at the time. Felt sure I had spent it by then and didn't even check my hiding place. Months later I checked the stash spot out of idle curiosity when I was flush and there was my hundred dollar bill I kept there for a deposit if I saw something on the side of the road I wanted to buy. The whole time I was tightening my belt for a week I had that hundred dollars!

Hu

 

[slouch]

Just think how colorful rock bands were back in the day so it's not just pool players. In 40 years billiards may be played in 3 dimensional space with holograms. They'll think back and wonder how disappointing it must have been to be limited to a flat table.

 

[King T]

Cant get by with it now!

Its hard to fad being broke now, things just cost to much and there are fewer Pool player suppoters in the Pool Halls now. Back then everybody had a pool plying friend, not so much now.., Soul Survivors are all that left.

The econonmy hasnt helped, theres fewer people to huslte and what you can beat them out of wont get you through any more..., its hard to be colorful when you got to work...,

and then theres the kids that are coming up with so mant options outside of Pool, they dont see it as a big thing like we did, I hope something changes..., Im just not all that confident it will?

 

[BarneyCalip]

Times are a change in.

I grew up in seedy bars and poolrooms.
Booze, Women, Drugs and Parties were part of the life style.
You were a real gambler only if you bet it all and showed no fear.
Unfortunately it is still like that today.

Who were our greatest colorful stars, Richie Florence and Heroin.
KEITH waking up, robbed by a prostitute at the Senator Hotel in Sacramento.
Saint Louie Louie with a drink in his hand with those glassy eyes.
Cole hugging his daughter with beer a bottle in each of his hands.

I didn't have the guts to tell them they were wrong, instead, I admired those guy's what was I thinking?

Television has brought real money to the players.

We then had the International Pool of Champions where it was alleged that Hall of Famer Buddy Hall and others dumped?

Today's players like Shane, Ralf, and Appleton, etc. are smarter.
They are trying to make a honest living.
They realize that they are under scrutiny and have to look good in front of their Sponsors.

Unfortunately there is little money in pool and we revert to gambling.
My friend told me, he sold his Hall of Fame Plaque for money, wish I could buy it back for him.

 

[krupa]

Pool book from the future:

I read an old book about a game called "pool" on my Google Glasses (All Hail the Powerful Google) while my Google Car (All Hail the Powerful Google) drove me to work. Once I got over the motion sickness, I decided to find one of these "pool tables" and try the game. Turns out they don't exist anymore.

The End.

 

[Dunnn51]

I was thinking today about the way pro's are compared to what they used to be. It just seems like the pros today are not as colorful as the older generation. They are all business. Obviously they are extremely talented and successful but overall it seems like the generations past were more lively.
With the exceptions like Alex and a few others.

Guys like Jimmy Mataya, Keith McCready, Cornbread Red, Winnie Bennie, Titanic Tompson, Fats, Louie Roberts, Whitey etc.

When I think of those guys and compare them to todays crowd I just wonder what the heck happened. I'm not saying that the pros today are dull, it's just I wonder what the future books of pool stories are going to be like.

What are the stories going to be like on the top players of the 21 century? I'm sure there will be great stories about the amazing matches, but what about the stuff that happens between the major tournament? I doubt I am going to hear about Ralf Soquet (sp) pulling any of Whitey's old stunts for cash!

Maybe 40 years from now someone will write a story about the wild and crazy players of the early 21 century but I just don't see it having the same flair. I hope I am wrong.

For the sake of pool I hope you are wrong too. I want to see PRO's with flair, style,woofing,the whole 9-yards. But I also want to see good pool playing.
I just seen the Earl/Shuffett match at Tunica. I heard it was "interesting" (I didn't want ppl to tell me anything till I seen it.).

All I gotta say is that's not pro play, (on Earl's part.) Why didn't he ever take-on an understudy??
There needs to be some "theatre" amongst the PRO's in order to make it interesting to the average spectator.

 

[CreeDo]

Weenie Beenie was a colorful guy? Watched videos of him playing and heard him do commentary but struck me as a regular, friendly guy, not one to chirp or play to the crowd. Not disagreeing, maybe I just saw one side of him.

It's true we don't hear about Ralf doing any wild shit...

imagine him staying up til 7 am gambling when he has a tournament match at 10, getting drunk at Waffel Haus, then showing up late for his match and yelling at the ref. No stories like that for Thorsten or Mika either. Wonder why Europe has our number at the Mosconi Cup?

 

[Dunnn51]

Weenie Beenie was a colorful guy? Watched videos of him playing and heard him do commentary but struck me as a regular, friendly guy, not one to chirp or play to the crowd. Not disagreeing, maybe I just saw one side of him.

It's true we don't hear about Ralf doing any wild shit...

imagine him staying up til 7 am gambling when he has a tournament match at 10, getting drunk at Waffel Haus, then showing up late for his match and yelling at the ref. No stories like that for Thorsten or Mika either. Wonder why Europe has our number at the Mosconi Cup?

Blend "serious" with a little "color" and you got sumthin' goin' on !

 

[JAM]

Weenie Beenie was a colorful guy?

Quite colorful! Here's a C&P of a previous post:

In perusing my pool print periodicals, magazines, newspapers, et cetera, from the '70s, '80s, and '90s, I get stuck every now and then when I come across a gem.

In the January 1984 issue of National Tavern News, there's an 8-page article written by Bill Pierce entitled "WEENIE BEENIE: A Classy Pool Player." I created a Wikipedia article about Bill Staton, and so I had to go through this pool print media piece just in case there was some good data to contribute to Wikipedia.

When asked "What was your best game?" Beenie replied, My best game was one pocket. I learned from a guy named FITZPATRICK. They called him "BUGS," and he was one of the greatest. He died in 1960, but I cut my teeth on guys like Earl Schriver, Rags, Eddie Taylor, and Squirrel. They were my teachers.

In my area, I grew up seeing the Weenie Beenie hot dog stands. In fact, there's still a few of them around in Northern Virginia, Arlington to be exact. Bill Staton was an all-around gambler, whether it was cards, golf, or pool. He owned the infamous pool room named Jack and Jill's in Arlington, Virginia, which was a road player's stop to get action. Oh, if those walls could talk!

What Weenie Beenie said about Detroit. I quit playing pool from 1972 to 1976. One day I received a call, and this guy told me they were playing pretty high in Detroit, and I had a chance to make some big money if I would go up there. So I went up there. I played and I won. That was my first time up there.

Later I went back , and I lost everything I had won -- plus considerably more. And this is funny. After I lost all the money I had with me, I called my wife and told her to bring some money up to me. She did, and I lost all of that. Now I had flown up there to begin with, so when I called her next time, I told her to bring more money, but to drive because I needed transportation to get around.

In the meantime, I had borrowed some money, so when she got there, I paid off my debts and then proceeded to lose the rest. I played one game for my car and lost it (about 10 minutes). So Dear Momma brought more money. She did. I bought my car back, but I guess I don't have to tell you that I lost all that money too, plus the car again. So I said, "Good-bye Boys. I can no longer afford you," and I went home.

There aren't too many player who can laugh about a big loss like this. Does anybody remember his time in Detroit?

I saw Weenie Beenie play a local, Freddie Boggs, in Arlington, Virginia, $500 a game one pocket. It was after his prime, sometime in the mid to late '80s. It was like a cameo appearance having him in the pool room. We all drove over to check out the festivities. Weenie came there to play one pocket, but Freddie, a good one-hole player in his own right, took too long between shots, studying them, analyzing them, and Weenie Beenie pulled up after the first game. He just didn't like the pace of the game.

I saw him later in 2002 with Keith at the U.S. Open, and I sat down with him to chat. He was moving kind of slow, but he seemed content to be a railbird, sweating the U.S. Open matches. He was definitely one of the great ones.

 

[Scott Lee]

CreeDo...You're not wrong. Weenie Beenie was always first, and foremost, a southern gentleman. When he got started wanting to become a real player, he spent a lot of time and money playing the best guys (most of them came to his room to play). Eventually he learned enough from them to be able to beat a bunch of them. Through it all, he would never dream of trying to hustle someone, or dump a match. He was a class act all the way, and a very close friend to my dear departed buddy Willie Jopling!

Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com

Weenie Beenie was a colorful guy? Watched videos of him playing and heard him do commentary but struck me as a regular, friendly guy, not one to chirp or play to the crowd. Not disagreeing, maybe I just saw one side of him.

 

[CaptainHook]

I heard some of the top guys these days don't even gamble

 

[jalapus logan]

I heard some of the top guys these days don't even gamble

The funny thing is that in other sports, the opposite statement could be said:
I heard some of the top guys these days even gamble

 

[Tramp Steamer]

Believe it or not, the pros of today are just the same as the pros of yesteryear. The only difference is the clothes. :smile:

 

[Tramp Steamer]

Miss, Jam, tell everyone how Mr. Staton got his nickname. It's pretty cool. :smile:

 

[TheKman]

The pros of today aren't colorful, but would crush, I mean crush the best of the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Mccready vs van boening? Not even a match

 

[West Point 1987]

The pros of today aren't colorful, but would crush, I mean crush the best of the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Mccready vs van boening? Not even a match

Oh, come on! You're baiting everybody just a little bit, aren't you? I'd say a lot would depend on the conditions and table, stakes (their own?), the race, etc. When SVB runs a 23 pack on a BB sweating several dimes of his own in the middle of a 24 hour set, then maybe a fair comparison can be made. Different times, different players, different atmosphere, etc. And this from a serious SVB fan, too. I'm not saying SVB isn't a better player, just different...these cross-generation comparisons are impossible to prove or defend. For the record (while we're violating the time-space continuum), I don't think SVB is at the point yet he could have beaten Lassiter in his prime...or Earl in 1989, for that matter.

 

[whammo57]

Can you picture SVB in a Tux like the old days of pool???

Kim

 

[JAM]

The pros of today aren't colorful, but would crush, I mean crush the best of the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Mccready vs van boening? Not even a match

Much to my surprise, McCready did defeat Van Boening at the 2003 U.S. Open on the TV table in front of a full room of spectators. :wink:

Must have been a full moon that night, I guess. :grin-square:

 

[JAM]

Miss, Jam, tell everyone how Mr. Staton got his nickname. It's pretty cool. :smile:

Bill Staton used to own a slew of hot dog stands in Arlington, Virginia, called Weenie Beenie, and that's how he got his name, "Weenie Beenie."

If I was a man, I'm not sure I'd like that nickname.