Tuesday Open Thread: Sky v. Alex and Efren v. Jose

JAM said:
Some fold under the pressure. Looks like Sky doesn't have this problem. :smile:
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I haven't seen enough of him to comment either way, and good for him if he's playing at a high level at a young age... but do you really want to test this out at the Mosconi Cup in Blackpool? BLACKPOOL?

If the previous years in London are anything to go on, the atmosphere at this year's cup is going to be brutal.

Like I said, I haven't seen enough of Woodward to comment on him personally, but I'd be wary of tossing a young, not particularly seasoned player under the lights in front of a Blackpool Mosconi Cup crowd.

He may thrive under that kind of pressure, but if I were you I'd rather him test the waters on home soil first, next year.
 
JAM said:
Your evaluation is based on regional preference of Joss Tour. I love Joss Tour, but Sky Woodward has already established himself in the Midwest and Beautiful Dixie.

He doesn't have to go on M.D.'s turf to prove anything. Let M.D. come to his turf.

I would love to do a FB poll on who the pros think would win against M.D. and Sky in anything. You might be surprised at the answers, and so might I. :eek:

M.D. has sent me PMs on this forum for voicing my opinion about him. I'm one of the strongest pro proponents in this forum, as most know, much to my detriment. I wouldn't want to do anything to hinder their future careers in professional pool.

That said, M.D. folded like a lawn chair in his last Mosconi Cup match. It was out there for all to see. It was, I think, based on a lack of control of his disgust in missing shots or his emotional makeup. I'm not sure which.

Once you acquire the mechanical skills in pool, the rest is mental fortitude or strength. Some players have it; some players don't. Some fold under the pressure. Looks like Sky doesn't have this problem. :smile:
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Regional preference, LOL. Yours is not a very informed post.

I spend about fifty days a year traveling the country attending events all over America. I've seen them all play all over the country.

Please don't suggest that Woodward has a long list of rotation games accomplishments like Mike does, and, FYI, Mike's game travels real well. He has won the Ultimate 10-ball, has three straight top 10's in the Derby City 9-ball, 2 straight top 10's in the US Open 9-ball, and two straight top 10's in the US Open 10-ball to go with his many Joss Tour titles.

This year, in tournament matches away form home, Mike has wins two wins over Shane, a win over Appleton, a win over Archer, three wins over Immonen, a win over Hohmann and quite a bit more. He also beat Earl (who some on this forum think is still a top player) by a score of 25-11 in their exhibition match earlier this year.
 
sjm said:
Regional preference, LOL. Yours is not a very informed post.

I spend about fifty days a year traveling the country attending events all over America. I've seen them all play all over the country.

Please don't suggest that Woodward has a long list of rotation games accomplishments like Mike does, and, FYI, Mike's game travels real well. He has won the Ultimate 10-ball, has three straight top 10's in the Derby City 9-ball, 2 straight top 10's in the US Open 9-ball, and two straight top 10's in the US Open 10-ball to go with his many Joss Tour titles.

This year, in tournament matches away form home, Mike has wins two wins over Shane, a win over Appleton, a win over Archer, three wins over Immonen, a win over Hohmann and quite a bit more. He also beat Earl (who some on this forum think is still a top player) by a score of 25-11 in their exhibition match earlier this year.
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Yet the professional pool players, not railbirds, prefer Sky over Mike. Go figure!
 
JAM said:
Yet the professional pool players, not railbirds, prefer Sky over Mike. Go figure!
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That isn't true. I know because of how much time I spend around them. I think you'd have a hard time finding even one of them willing to back Sky for big money over Mike in nine or ten ball.
 
sjm said:
That isn't true. I know because of how much time I spend around them. I think you'd have a hard time finding even one of them willing to back Sky for big money over Mike in nine or ten ball.
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Wanna bet something? :grin-square:
 
In my opinion, someone on here had never even heard of sky until recently, let alone seen him play. In my opinion, it was only when other people gave their opinion to someone's other half, who also had never heard of nor seen him play, that someone started to tout sky as being a worldbeater.

In my opinion, some people should keep their opinions to themselves, and let those with their fingers on the pulse get on with running things. Backseat drivers, eh? :rolleyes:
 
JAM said:
Wanna bet something? :grin-square:
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You know, JAM, although I don't normally bet on pool, I have made an average of one bet a year at Derby City over the past seven years. My record is 0-6. Thankfully, the total damage is just $150.

Still, if Sky and Mike happen to meet up in this year's US Open 9-ball, I'll offer the following bet:

If Sky wins, you win $20
If Mike wins, we break even

Let me know if you are interested.
 
JAM said:
One selection criteria option for Mosconi Cup in 2014 could be, hypothetically speaking, to choose four players from the "Chosen Eight" and then have one wildcard pick of the player whose performance shined brightly throughout the entire year of 2014 who is *not* one of the "Chosen Eight." :)

Wildcard picks are used all the time by tournament promoters when the selection criteria is flawed, like this one. :o
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I like the wildcard idea, that would help a lot.

There are flaws in the European selection also. The strongest team would IMO be Appleton, Immonen, Hohmann, Feijen and Souquet - but that will not happen due to ranking issues and players not participating on Eurotour. I fear that e.g. Hohmann will once again be overlooked.
 
sjm said:
You know, JAM, although I don't normally bet on pool, I have made an average of one bet a year at Derby City over the past seven years. My record is 0-6. Thankfully, the total damage is just $150.

Still, if Sky and Mike happen to meet up in this year's US Open 9-ball, I'll offer the following bet:

If Sky wins, you win $20
If Mike wins, we break even

Let me know if you are interested.
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I'll tell you what I'll do, my little chickadee. I'll bet you a 2014 Mosconi Cup coffee mug or T-shirt, your choice. :cool:
 
pooladdict said:
I like the wildcard idea, that would help a lot.

There are flaws in the European selection also. The strongest team would IMO be Appleton, Immonen, Hohmann, Feijen and Souquet - but that will not happen due to ranking issues and players not participating on Eurotour. I fear that e.g. Hohmann will once again be overlooked.
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Well, quite frankly, I am a wee bit astonished that so much brouhaha was made about Team USA's behavior at last Mosconi Cup, yet not much mention is made about some of the members of Team Europe's behavior on and off the field. What's good for the goose is good for the gander, but nobody wants to touch that discussion with a 10-foot pole. :o

I will guarantee you that at least one member of Team Europe whose behavior was deemed to be unfavorable in the public eye will be on 2014 Team Europe.
 
JAM said:
I'll tell you what I'll do, my little chickadee. I'll bet you a 2014 Mosconi Cup coffee mug or T-shirt, your choice. :cool:
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Yeah, that's about my speed --- you've got a bet. Seriously, though, I think we'd both love it if these two drew each other at some point. The beauty of the US Open is in how it brings the stars of the game together to do battle.

I've really enjoyed it so far.
 
sjm said:
Yeah, that's about my speed --- you've got a bet. Seriously, though, I think we'd both love it if these two drew each other at some point. The beauty of the US Open is in how it brings the stars of the game together to do battle.

I've really enjoyed it so far.
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:):):):):)
 
JAM said:
Well, quite frankly, I am a wee bit astonished that so much brouhaha was made about Team USA's behavior at last Mosconi Cup, yet not much mention is made about some of the members of Team Europe's behavior on and off the field. What's good for the goose is good for the gander, but nobody wants to touch that discussion with a 10-foot pole. :o

I will guarantee you that at least one member of Team Europe whose behavior was deemed to be unfavorable in the public eye will be on 2014 Team Europe.
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I'm with you on this point. The 2013 Mosconi Cup was an aberration. I don't think it would be fair to say that the European players have out-behaved the Americans over the years when both are present at the same event.
 
JAM said:
Well, quite frankly, I am a wee bit astonished that so much brouhaha was made about Team USA's behavior at last Mosconi Cup, yet not much mention is made about some of the members of Team Europe's behavior on and off the field. What's good for the goose is good for the gander, but nobody wants to touch that discussion with a 10-foot pole. :o

I will guarantee you that at least one member of Team Europe whose behavior was deemed to be unfavorable in the public eye will be on 2014 Team Europe.
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Including you, it seems.

I don't understand all of the cloak and dagger innuendo around the events of the last cup. It seems hypocritical to complain about others not wanting to discuss things, and yet only alluding to them in veiled, cryptic statements yourself.
 
JAM said:
Well, quite frankly, I am a wee bit astonished that so much brouhaha was made about Team USA's behavior at last Mosconi Cup, yet not much mention is made about some of the members of Team Europe's behavior on and off the field. What's good for the goose is good for the gander, but nobody wants to touch that discussion with a 10-foot pole. :o

I will guarantee you that at least one member of Team Europe whose behavior was deemed to be unfavorable in the public eye will be on 2014 Team Europe.
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Quite frankly, it's only ever you banging on about either.
 
It would be difficult to go against Jose against Efren. Just due to past performance. José seems to perform at his best against Efren. Also, I've heard that he's the best ever under pressure. That seemed liked a pretty bold statement to me, but I've heard similar statements from multiple people. So it must at least put him in that discussion.

I will say that I've only seen José in tournament play and he didn't snap those off. So I can just pass off second hand accounts.

Daren ==> who personally likes McCready or Hall as under pressure.
 
Mosconi Cup is kinda like the Ryder Cup in golf. They are making decisions to early and not picking the HOT players. You can keep losing or step out of the box and pick the players that are playing vthe best. The bottom line is somebody will always be left off that should be on the team and people will always say...It's not FAIR !!!!
 
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