Valley Forge- Class of '06

[watchez]

Back to the topic, there is something to be said about anonymity, something I am coming to understand more clearly in recent times, especially as it pertains to my personal life. I understand exactly why Eric felt compelled to punch out Fast Larry.

JAM

I am not sure what you mean by the first sentence of this paragraph.

I haven't read any posts by Larry in over a year & didn't know of the situation of him & Eric until now. I too would have been compelled to Punch out Fast Larry after months of abuse BUT wouldn't have done it to an old man unless I was physically provoked first. That being said, there are plenty of people in this world, Eric is probably one of them & I have a few friends that fall into this category, that don't ask your permission first before kicking your ass.

I truly am serious that, for Eric's sake, from reading the link of posts to him by Fast Larry that FL is not in a correct state of mind. Him going postal would not at all surprise me. That was my only point, and I didn't want to be in a place in the line of fire when he does.

 

[Andrew Manning]

People condemning physical violence are entitled to their opinion, and I do see merit in the idea of eradicating all violence, but from what I've read of Fast Larry's opinions and viewpoints, nothing could ever happen to him that he doesn't deserve.

If I were a homosexual, and ran into him at an expo, I would feel comfortable handing him some accountability for the comments he makes.

If I were a member of any number of racial minorities, I would feel comfortable handing him some accountability for the comments he makes.

As it happens, I'm a straight white guy, and I'm happy someone handed him some accountability. Free speech is a protected right by the government, and that's how it should be. No government should have the authority to suppress the people's right to express their views. But every individual on the planet should be aware that their words have the power to do harm, and anyone who thinks they can harm others with their words and escape personal accountability should be corrected. I think Fast Larry needed to learn a lesson about personal accountability, and it's fitting that he learned it from one of the most frequent victims of his hatred.

-Andrew

 

[JAM]

for those race to 5 sets, with a sudden death game if tied at one set each
might be instead of the 1 game sudden death to have a 'Win by 2' playoff.
It seems more fair to me all the way around.

I hope Timberly saw the match between Johnny Archer and Fabio Petroni so that I can find out how it unfolded.

According to hearsay, as I wasn't there, Johnny may have won 9 games over Fabio's 5 in the two sets of race-to-five. As an aside, alternate-break format was being utilized in the Pro 8-ball event. So, conversely, if the two races-to-five were a higher race of one set, Johnny Archer would have defeated Fabio Petroni. With the one-game sudden death, Johnny ends up losing. I can understand the frustration. Jimmy Wetch said he lost his match the same way as Johnny Archer. However, if a player wins their first match, they get their entry fee back, $500, which is an attractive feature to the payout breakdown.

JAM

 

[JAM]

A friend had asked me if I could pass out invitations to the pros to play challenge matches for the Toys for Tots charity during the players meeting so I was in attendance at the meeting. This was actually the 1st pro players meeting I've ever been to. It was pretty much what I expected except that maybe only a 1/4 of the field was in attendance.

I agree 100 percent. The players meeting for the Pro 8-Ball event was on Wednesday. Coincidentally, I did get to see a player from the Pro 8-Ball event at a weekly $20-entry-fee tournament on Wednesday night, the night of the players meeting. He and Keith both got knocked out the very first round by a couple of locals, which pleased the majority of the rail that evening.

During the players meeting, very few of the folks there were even listening. They were talking amongst themselves. I can understand that most meetings are boring but when the tourney consists of a format that you're not familiar with, it is in your best interest to attend and listen.

I have seen many a player get fouled and even lose a match because they weren't familiar with the rules and the format of a tournament. One of the most common is the concession of the game ball, which BTW was allowed during the Pro/Am tournament. There is one school of thought that some players concede the game ball because it's showing a little respect, and then there's another that they don't want their opponent to keep hitting balls in, increasing their momentum. I think the rule should be enforced. I wish I had a dollar for every time I've seen a player miscue or get a case of the jitters when sinking that last ball in for the win.

I had heard a few players complain about the format but in Allen's defense, he gave the players the option at the players meeting. Allen said, "I have no problem changing the format to a race to 8, winner break." They took a vote and I think I saw three hands go up in favor of changing the format.

The guys had no right to complain IMO.... had they shown up to the players meeting and paid attention, they could've had a different format.

I think it should be mandatory at all events for the players to be in attendance at the players meeting. Each year at the U.S. Open, the same practice occurs. There should be a level playing field where all players are treated equal.

It's a shame, though, when they have it the NIGHT BEFORE the tournament, causing the pool player to incur an extra night of expenses. JMHO, FWIW.

JAM

 

[JAM]

JAM,

One spectator came up to me during the match to repeat something funny Shannon said to Keith during that match. They were both breaking and running out so well that after Shannon racked he said to Keith on his way to sit down, "First one to miss is a rotten egg.".

Gotta love it when the big guns show us how easy it is to play on the little tables.

Barbara

That's funny. I think I especially enjoyed that match-up because the two of them are so comfortable in the pit, especially on the 7-footers.

Both of them are bar table masters, and it was a delight seeing them execute their strategies back and forth. Shannon was hitting 'em mighty sweet, and Keith responded offensively and defensively. It was poetry in motion. They were both running out left and right.

Shannon won the Pro/Am event last year at SBE, and believe me, he was gunning for that big trophy and the bragging rights. I saw a bit of his finals match with him and Troy Frank, and Shannon did seem to get a few bad rolls going his way, but Troy, an Ohio legend on the bar table, capitalized on them with full steam ahead. Chalk another one up for the Ohio contingency!

JAM

 

[vagabond]

JAM,

One spectator came up to me during the match to repeat something funny Shannon said to Keith during that match. They were both breaking and running out so well that after Shannon racked he said to Keith on his way to sit down, "First one to miss is a rotten egg.".

Barbara

They both are born under the sign of Aries.They both are masters at one liners.Can u imagine the kind of energy generated between these two aries men !!!

 

[Peer]

Andrew Manning wrote:
> Free speech is a protected right by the government, and that's
> how it should be. No government should have the authority to
> suppress the people's right to express their views.


That's correct, but libel and slander are not protected by free speech... and neither is physical violence (although in this case we might wish it was ;^)


-- peer

 

[Voodoo Daddy]

Eric has been stalking FL on the forums for years now, and Larry has done nothing but fight back. Too bad all this had to happen, but it happened none the less. If anyone deserves to be put in a straight jacket it is Eric. Trust me, he is one sick MOFO. If he believed in what he stands for he should have defended himself by being proud of what he is, not retaliating with violence. And if he does sell drugs, shame on him.

I hadda feeling another slug would crawl out from under the moss. Your nothing more but a Keyboard Rambo...waiting until AFTER the fact to spew your bile. If you were half as smart as you think you were you would be dangerous. I suppose you support the moronic comments of FL like "chink" when directed towards a man of asian decent or death threats which all of that were on CCB read. Your nothing WhiteWolf, never were anything and never will be anything. I have called you out countless times, offered to meet you at the US Open or go to your town and publically shame you but in the grand scheme of things, you do a better job than I could EVER do every time you turn your computer on...what a dickhead you are.

I appologize to anyone that finds my words offensive...its directed towards this jerkoff and no one else.

 

[onepocketchump]

No one has the right to instigate and antagonize another person. These are some of the limits to free speech. You cannot yell "fire" in a theater, you cannot call for the murder of another person, you cannot threaten to harm another person, you cannot malign another person's reputation. People have successfully beaten assault charges on far less evidence than Larry has provided during his cancerous appearance on the forums.

All Eric needs to do is state that he felt physically threatened by Larry, which he would be perfectly within his right to be considering the death threats Larry has spewed these ast three years. I will be more than happy to testify to Eric's normally calm demeanor and Larry's highy confrontational and threatening one.

Larry got far less than he deserved and Eric got far more. I also abhor violence but I can completely understand Eric's reaction. Larry is very, very lucky that he was not in a place where help was not readily available. As is Eric, because I think it might have gotten far worse for both of them otherwise.

I hope that Eric's ban is not for life. I will lobby on his behalf with Allen if it is.

John

 

[JDB]

Ya know, tourney draws in amateur events can be funny; I was playing my first match against Chris {something} and he was making everything and kicking everything I threw at him. Meanwhile, to the left of me and to the right of me are four cripples shooting balls into rails! Now, I don't want to put anyone down, I'm just laughing/whining like a poolplayer does...
Eric

I think you are right, but I think you are exaggerating a little too. I think everyone has there own reasons for competing. Some people just like to compete and have no real expectations while other people hold out a glimmer of hope that they get a good draw, while some actually have a chance to cash, while others expect to win the event. Some people are just not consistent enough to play well each game while others get nervous or some may be hungover...lol. Hungover is no excuse, but it happens...lol.

Anyway...I think the breakdown of players at the SBE is pretty much as follows:

25% - APA SL 6/7 (No real expectations to win)
25% - APA SL 8/9 (hoping for a good draw)
25% - A Players (hoping to cash)
25% - Semi Pro (expect to win)

You can argue percentages, but I would class most players as the above, give or take.

I think most APA SL 6/7's will miss on average 1 ball a rack or maybe every 2 racks. In my area, it is mostly one ball a rack.

Most APA 8/9's (in my area) will miss on average 1 ball every 2 or 3 racks.

Most A Players will miss on average 1 ball every 4 or 5 racks.

Most Semi Pros will not miss on a 7 foot table.

I define a miss as missing a ball with the intention of making it. Not missing a ball constitutes leaving the table after a win or a safety. For simplicity I will not go into safeties because, obviously, better players play better safeties.

I actually saw your game and the table at the very end, since I was playing on it and I don't think I saw people hitting balls into rails. I think I missed about 5 shots in 17 games, which puts me at missing once every 3 racks or so. Unfortunately I scatched on 4 or them, which my opponent ran out each time.

From what I saw, I thought you played well, although i couldn't pay a lot of attention because I was concentrating on my game.

 

[Andrew Manning]

Note aiming at you Andrew, for I can imagine how difficult it would be to start reading posts a few years after this all began and making a judgement from that. You and a lot of the other posters putting down Fast Larry have joined in 2005! Granted, not everything that Larry does is politically correct in the eyes of many, but aside from that, it really galls me how Eric is the 'angel' in all of this. You know absolutely nothing of the history behind this all. I said this years ago that Eric had indeed stalked FL at Valley Forge. He came up to FL's show and started jeering him from afar. This was not the place to do this. This is FL's living for Pete's sake. IMO you can bet the house that Eric was stalking Larry again this year. Eric has been stalking FL on the forums for years now, and Larry has done nothing but fight back. Too bad all this had to happen, but it happened none the less. If anyone deserves to be put in a straight jacket it is Eric. Trust me, he is one sick MOFO. If he believed in what he stands for he should have defended himself by being proud of what he is, not retaliating with violence. And if he does sell drugs, shame on him.

I did join in 2005, but it doesn't mean I haven't read quite a bit of what Larry wrote before I joined. You say "Larry has done nothing but fight back" but he's fought back with racism and bigotry and threats. He says things you wouldn't say if you weren't a bad person, and he says them all the time, from what I can tell. I don't think excuses exist that could justify spewing such filth as he's spewed in countless posts I've read.

On the other hand, I know nothing about Eric. He may be totally in the wrong, for all I know. I'm just glad Larry got what he got.

-Andrew

 

[Eric.]

Wow. This is really taking on a life of it's own

I hope this is the end of it. To the people that made some nice comment, I thank you, and to my detractors, well, "Jesus loves you."


Eric

PS- JDB, you're right with your observations, sorry if I wasn't completely accurate in my views. Next beer is on me, please intro yourself to me. Or we can meet at the condiment table (j/k)

 

[bud green]

Every guy I knows that if you can't back up your words, you shouldn't be mouthing off. Especially to the extent Larry does to people that obviously can shut him up.

Larry is 60- something but talks about killing people, martial arts; he should know better at this point in his life.

Danny Diliberto is over 60, doesn't spend his days flaming people, and would still beat the crap out of most people half his age. Larry just doesn't have what it takes to back up his mouth in pool or fighting.

FL's problems are of his own making. How could you try harder to make something like this happen than what he does?

Still, for Erics' sake, I hope he feels he got his justice and this thing will die. I don't really think it would of helped if he beat Larry to a pulp. I think he made his point.

 

[JimBo]

It is no wonder that Pool has such a negative image! Fast Larry did not deserve this.. seems to me that Eric was there seeking him out. This is very disturbing in that what is said on the Net can result in violence against someone. Fast Larry only deserves to be pitied & not thrashed. Hope this makes you feel like a "Real Man". JMHO.

I do agree that words shouldn't be enough to ever get someone mad enough to take action, but the lesson that needs to be learned is that this is real life there are people on the other end of the screen and when you say things you need to know that you are accountable for them. FL has said things for 3 years now that he would never say face 2 face with anyone, it's a small world and he was reminded that there are consequences. I do not condone what Eric did but I do understand and I'm happy he did it.

Jim

 

[buddha162]

Yet all that aside just hitting a 63 year old man was enough in my up bringing to get the "do do" kicked out of you by witnesses or others hearing of you hitting a 63 year old. You are not a hero in my book, but even so Jesus still loves you.

I will add you to my prayers.

Jim

Please. If FL said to me what he said to Eric I would've done the same...probably worse.

But hey, Jesus still loves me right? Add me to your prayer list Preacherman.

-Roger (ass twitches when people pray for me)

 

[buddha162]

Jesus may love him but God doesn't you can rest assured. Look at what happened to Sodom in the Old Testament as he turned the entire city into ashes. I know, unless you know who repents.

The only other thing I am going to say at this point is that I hope Larry doesn't get AIDS if there was any blood spattered around.

This is the kind of hateful shit that requires moderating.

-Roger

 

[JimBo]

Note aiming at you Andrew, for I can imagine how difficult it would be to start reading posts a few years after this all began and making a judgement from that. You and a lot of the other posters putting down Fast Larry have joined in 2005! Granted, not everything that Larry does is politically correct in the eyes of many, but aside from that, it really galls me how Eric is the 'angel' in all of this. You know absolutely nothing of the history behind this all. I said this years ago that Eric had indeed stalked FL at Valley Forge. He came up to FL's show and started jeering him from afar. This was not the place to do this. This is FL's living for Pete's sake. IMO you can bet the house that Eric was stalking Larry again this year. Eric has been stalking FL on the forums for years now, and Larry has done nothing but fight back. Too bad all this had to happen, but it happened none the less. If anyone deserves to be put in a straight jacket it is Eric. Trust me, he is one sick MOFO. If he believed in what he stands for he should have defended himself by being proud of what he is, not retaliating with violence. And if he does sell drugs, shame on him.

I have been here from day one, I've been on RSB and CCB and have watched it all unfold, Eric was justified and if FL was worried about his *living* then he wouldn't act the way he does. I also know you and still for the life of me can't figure out why you'd try to defend the guy.

Jim

 

[macguy]

I do agree that words shouldn't be enough to ever get someone mad enough to take action, but the lesson that needs to be learned is that this is real life there are people on the other end of the screen and when you say things you need to know that you are accountable for them. FL has said things for 3 years now that he would never say face 2 face with anyone, it's a small world and he was reminded that there are consequences. I do not condone what Eric did but I do understand and I'm happy he did it.

Jim

Don't you all think Larry is just crazy? I was in a booth next to him at the BCA show one year and he was nuts. His dog was all over everyone trying to look at the other booths basically chasing people away and he couldn't even see it, he views the world through some whacko delusion. You know this going in and just stay away from the guy regardless what he says. I hate to say it, but it really does take two for something like this to happen and how do you deal with crazy, by being equally as nuts, it makes no sense.

 

[Cornerman]

You know absolutely nothing of the history behind this all. I said this years ago that Eric had indeed stalked FL at Valley Forge. He came up to FL's show and started jeering him from afar. This was not the place to do this. This is FL's living for Pete's sake. .... And if he does sell drugs, shame on him.

You should be ashamed of yourself for perpetuating the horse$hit. You know nothing about the history. Here's the post that got your stupid hero all confused:

http://www.billiardsdigest.com/ccbo...oard=ccb&Number=64747&page=&view=&sb=&o=&vc=1

Your slow mentor thought Eric. was glorifying drugs because under his CCBoard name, it said, "addict."

Newsflash: everyone's name said 'addict' (including Whitewolf and Fast Larry) because that's what the forum software changed your status to when you had a certain number of posts. Larry is too dumb to have understood this, and apparently so are you.

Larry has also been lying about Eric's sexual orientation because Larry got all confused when a man simply wrote:

http://www.billiardsdigest.com/ccbo...oard=ccb&Number=64731&page=&view=&sb=&o=&vc=1

And that is the start of Fast Larry's continued lies and assaults, lies he's continued to use as attacks for several years now. He thought Eric was a drug dealer because of the word "addict" under his name. And he got all confused about sexual orientation just because two or three men happened to think Larry was nuts.

Your (whitewolf) continued blindness, hero worship, and dissemination of putrid lies will certainly get yourself into trouble by those that aren't willing to show restraint.

Fred

 

[Icon of Sin]

Wow, you dug up the past there Fred. There was even an old post by me in there.

I also think you are 100 percent right.