Video: 1988 US 9-Ball Championship Caesars Las Vegas - 3 matches

[arnaldo]

Issue is that many of the videos are owned by the broadcaster or by AccuStats. While putting on a match recorded off TV may be OK (although the broadcasters may disagree here even if they just sit on their tapes for 20 years and do nothing with them), I don't think we should be putting our AccuStats matches on YouTube, they are still in business and actively sell old matches to this day.

There realistically is no issue because that's intuitively obvious or should be to any minimally knowledgeable collector. My comments are specifically related to collections of older matches, self-recorded off TV, and certainly don't bear on any AccuStats matches we've purchased otherwise acquired. The copyright infringements of such non-commonsensical uploads are crystal clear to anyone familiar with the Youtube uploading parameters.

For potential uploaders unfamiliar those parameters, your post is a stimulating reminder to any who are somehow unaware that (a) AccuStats is still in business and (b) they actively sell old matches whose availability, titles, and descriptive text are readily seen by logging onto their website.

Arnaldo

 

[BasementDweller]

Thanks for posting these. I really enjoyed them. I do have one question though - did Jay Helfert not understand how to rack the balls properly back then? The nine was flying right into the corner or very near it almost every rack.

I think this was the same tournament where Jean Balukus got all fired up about the nine ball going in on the break. I see why now.

 

[westcoast]

I wonder if Sigel ever regrets retiring relatively young. He basically stopped playing on a frequent basis at the pro level in the early '90s, right? In contrast, Earl is still going strong 27 years later- I know he is younger than Sigel, but it seems that Earl has never lost his passion for the game.

Earl hit some really impressive "do or die" shots in the final match you posted. He was relatively humble in victory back then as well.

 

[flyvirginiaguy]

I wonder if Sigel ever regrets retiring relatively young. He basically stopped playing on a frequent basis at the pro level in the early '90s, right? In contrast, Earl is still going strong 27 years later- I know he is younger than Sigel, but it seems that Earl has never lost his passion for the game.

Earl hit some really impressive "do or die" shots in the final match you posted. He was relatively humble in victory back then as well.

He slowed down play when he got sponsered by Brunswick (doing other things within pool). I must say though, just because you quit pro tournaments does not mean you lose a passion for the game. You just lose it for that aspect of the game.

According to the video posted here, he had been sponsered by Brunswick for about a year and a half before this tournament. And also the reason he responded "not bad for a guy having played only 6 months" in one of the matches. The very late 80s and early 90s were spotty appearances by Mike in tournaments.

One of the reasons I would really like to see the Last Call for Nine Ball videos again, if any copies still existed. These were on ESPN as well around 1985-87, and more in line with Mike playing full time. I remember Sigel defeating Varner in the Final of one of them for 40K. Big money even by todays pool tournaments.

 

[pwd72s]

Very enjoyable..life was busy for me back in '88 with no time for pool. Many thanks for posting these matches. You know, those guys could play some. :thumbup:

 

[wahcheck]

thanks

Thanks for this video. There was a recent thread where Jay gave a tip about pausing and taking some deep breaths before taking a tough shot; I mentioned that I'd seen Earl do this in a match before; he does this at about 2:15 in this video in the second to the last game.........a great example; he pauses, takes a walk around the table, takes some very audible deep breaths, gets down and fires in an almost length-of-table shot.......Since Jay was racking during these matches, I think he might've picked up on this method of calming yourself before shooting a tough shot....

 

[PoolBum]

I wonder if Sigel ever regrets retiring relatively young. He basically stopped playing on a frequent basis at the pro level in the early '90s, right? In contrast, Earl is still going strong 27 years later- I know he is younger than Sigel, but it seems that Earl has never lost his passion for the game.

I for one was very disappointed when Sigel retired so early. I think pool fans missed out on some great pool from one of the best players ever because of that (his 150-and-out in the first inning against Mike Zuglan is an absolute classic).

I think Sigel was just tired of the grind and having to play for so little money in tournaments all the time. There were tournaments in the 70's that actually paid better than some of the bigger tournaments in the 90's were paying.

 

[westcoast]

I for one was very disappointed when Sigel retired so early. I think pool fans missed out on some great pool from one of the best players ever because of that (his 150-and-out in the first inning against Mike Zuglan is an absolute classic).

I think Sigel was just tired of the grind and having to play for so little money in tournaments all the time. There were tournaments in the 70's that actually paid better than some of the bigger tournaments in the 90's were paying.

It is kind of sad that the prize money for this tournament (15k for top prize) is the same as it was for the US Open 10 ball in 2013- I think Rodney Morris took home 15k for that tournament.