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

[arnaldo]

For preservation, I’ve been busily digitizing all my pro pool VHS tapes that I captured when they were originally televised during most of the 1980’s and 90’s.

I just Youtubed this 2 hrs 23 mins assemblage of 3 closing matches of the 1988 Brunswick US 9-ball championship held at Caesars in Las Vegas.

Mike Sigel takes on: David Howard; Buddy Hall; Earl Strickland. Jay Helfert referees. Commentary by ultra-personable Mizerak.

Great pro pool playing. Plenty of tense sarcasm muttered to the spectators, and spoken audibly back & forth between Mike and his opponents.

Eyeball rolling all around, and more than a little frustrated whining about Sigel’s rolls is heard in all three matches. Mike’s chirping to his “ear men” and playing to the crowd, is in full gear.

A side note FWIW about on-camera fellows' ages in this 1988 video: Sigel is 36; Hall 43; Strickland 27; Jay Helfert and Mizerak both 44. The lady pro players in the introductory promo are lovely to see once again, and are certainly as vigorously into the competition as the men.

Here’s the link:

https://youtu.be/0L9RbYERqQg

Sigel vs Buddy Hall starts exactly at 52:00 (preceded by an unedited one-minute discussion of the Earl vs Keith match – a match which is available elsewhere on Youtube).

The final match – exciting and containing plenty of surprises – (Sigel vs Earl Strickland) starts exactly at 1:35:05

A number of games were edited out by the original TV producer as usual, in the interests of time-compression for the original one-hour telecasts, but were of course accounted for on the scoreboard and via voice overed blurbs.

Enjoy.

Arnaldo

 

[IPH]

Wow the quality of the video is amazing for vhs, thanks!

 

[hang-the-9]

Thank! I have a lunch time video to watch today.

 

[TX Poolnut]

Man that last rack...

 

[KAP1976]

Thank you for including the shitty 80s commercials too. It's so easy to forget what a row-rent station ESPN was back then.

 

[hang-the-9]

Just a quick suggestion, when you convert the tapes, see if there is a de-interlace option, that would get rid of the lines going across during motion.

 

[arnaldo]

Thank you for including the shitty 80s commercials too. It's so easy to forget what a row-rent station ESPN was back then.

You'll fit in beautifully here. Your healthful positivity is so timely too . . . just when all hope for attracting similarly eloquent and contributory newbies seemed lost.

Arnold

 

[westcoast]

Thanks for posting these matches. I look forward to watching them. Post everything you have when you have the time- it is very enjoyable to watch these classic matches

 

[flyvirginiaguy]

Absolutely great matches. Thanks for sharing the link with us. Would not happen to have any of the Last Call for 9 Ball tournaments from back in that time would you? That was the tournement held at Resorts International Atlantic City back then (late 80s I believe). I believe Sigel won a couple of them, and wade Crane won one as well.

 

[prewarhero]

Absolutely great matches. Thanks for sharing the link with us. Would not happen to have any of the Last Call for 9 Ball tournaments from back in that time would you? That was the tournement held at Resorts International Atlantic City back then (late 80s I believe). I believe Sigel won a couple of them, and wade Crane won one as well.

I have a few of those. Also I have the complete brunswick 88 matches direct from TV-VHS-DVD. I think I have about 7 matches or so.

We should create a catalog of what is available from old TV matches. I have professional grade equipment including vcrs with TBC, so I can do transfers for people. I also have a TON of matches already on DVD. We could create a vine.

 

[flyvirginiaguy]

I have a few of those. Also I have the complete brunswick 88 matches direct from TV-VHS-DVD. I think I have about 7 matches or so.

We should create a catalog of what is available from old TV matches. I have professional grade equipment including vcrs with TBC, so I can do transfers for people. I also have a TON of matches already on DVD. We could create a vine.

That would be awesome to have a catalog. PLEASE let me know if you ever upload any of them (the Resorts tournament videos). I remember them so well when I was younger. I remember Jose Garcia playing Danny Medina in one of them on ESPN (along with Sigel, Varner, etc...). Some great great matches back in the 80s.

 

[mosconiac]

Thanks for sharing these...can't wait to watch them in their entirety.

I randomly clicked on the timeline & saw this shot...I can't believe how Mike's arm jerked on this (simple) shot, he has such a pure stroke that you would never anticipate that.

https://youtu.be/0L9RbYERqQg?t=1605

 

[abbassi]

Nice production.

Tuxedos, slow cloth, no checking of the rack, and no safety play.

 

[arnaldo]

I randomly clicked on the timeline & saw this shot...I can't believe how Mike's arm jerked on this (simple) shot, he has such a pure stroke that you would never anticipate that.

https://youtu.be/0L9RbYERqQg?t=1605

Think about the reason that you were able see Mike aiming at the pocket (from the perspective of a person looking at him while standing near the pocket). That observer of course . . . was the cameraman. He and his camera are settling-in directly in Mike's line of sight.

Many of misses in those days were directly caused by this unfortunate much-too-up-close taping practice. The innocent cameraman is simply following his producer's instructions. The players were informed to never indicate that they were being annoyed or distracted by it, nor audibly attribute a miss to it during production.

But it is why during any then-contemporary taping, you'll occasionally see a player getting down on a shot while the cameraman is positioned directly in front of the pocket, then raising up again to gather himself from the distraction.

When you attended the tournaments in-person you'd sometimes see Mike or another player reflexively doing a diplomatic waving to one side gesture asking in effect: "Please get just a little bit out of the friggin way." I saw Archer do that many times. Who could blame him, with prize money at stake, and the normal desire to perform at his best in a televised tournament.

I've got a couple VHS tapes of 1984 Rempe vs Hall matches that I'll be Youbing where the casino had insisted that a magazine-sized piece of slick plastic bearing the resort's logo be planted right on the center of the table for all of the tournament's matches filmed there. Jimmy misses one shot and looking very annoyed, quite audibly says "the ball skidded on that darned piece of plastic." Can't blame him in the least.

In general, the players' forbearance with occasional televising distractions was commendable and in the understandable vein of "we'd better not bite the hand that might feed us." Also, almost all of them had encountered deliberate and far worse money game distracting by people who were betting against them on the road.

Arnaldo

 

[dnixon]

thanks that was fun

 

[Straightpool_99]

...........

 

[arnaldo]

Tried to give you green rep, but couldn't. Thanks a lot. Great video!:smile:

Thanks for the kind intent to green rep, SP_99. My rep quota allotment was overflowing -- very gratifying indeed. Seems to always bear out the old saying: "When you give . . . you receive."

Arnaldo

 

[hang-the-9]

Nice production.

Tuxedos, slow cloth, no checking of the rack, and no safety play.

Also on the break it's behind the line not anywhere on the table.

Rack should have been checked, that 9 ball went to the corner pocket a lot. Definitely some loose balls in there.

Pockets look huge and they look to be using a so-so set of balls, they look like the cheaper home use ball set.

 

[arnaldo]

--------------------------------------------------------------
Fortunately, when you think about it, PWH, we have a terrific, hugely popular "vine" already in place and at our daily disposal -- i.e. Youtube. Those of us with estimable collections of older VHS pool recordings, and as you indicate, also a ton of matches that we've already transferred to DVD (or are in the process of doing so, in my case) can certainly benefit all players in the US and worldwide by simply uploading them on a regular basis to Youtube as our personal time permits.

Creating a catalog is automatic in a sense, as our respective "Video" lists continually show all Youtube viewers what we've uploaded for the enjoyment and often instructive benefit of any players of all levels interested enough to view the offerings.

My Youtube handle is "Ray Carlton". What is yours, if you will, because I'd certainly want to enjoy any videos that you care to upload (or have already uploaded) to Youtube?

I feel that those of us AZB-ers who have such collections can -- via Youtube -- play a small but vital part in contributing to an easily accessible, continually forming visual history of our beloved sport. I haven't the least interest in any financial gain from sharing the videos I've recorded from original telecasts, as I'm sure most collectors of self-recorded VHS billiards events -- obviously dedicated players themselves -- wouldn't either.

I view it as a kind of "giving back" in appreciation of the ongoing pleasures the sport has given us for many years.

Arnaldo

 

[hang-the-9]

--------------------------------------------------------------
Fortunately, when you think about it, PWH, we have a terrific, hugely popular "vine" already in place and at our daily disposal -- i.e. Youtube. Those of us with estimable collections of older VHS pool recordings, and as you indicate, also a ton of matches that we've already transferred to DVD (or are in the process of doing so, in my case) can certainly benefit all players in the US and worldwide by simply uploading them on a regular basis to Youtube as our personal time permits.

Creating a catalog is automatic in a sense, as our respective "Video" lists continually show all Youtube viewers what we've uploaded for the enjoyment and often instructive benefit of any players of all levels interested enough to view the offerings.

My Youtube handle is "Ray Carlton". What is yours, if you will, because I'd certainly want to enjoy any videos that you care to upload (or have already uploaded) to Youtube?

I feel that those of us AZB-ers who have such collections can -- via Youtube -- play a small but vital part in contributing to an easily accessible, continually forming visual history of our beloved sport. I haven't the least interest in any financial gain from sharing the videos I've recorded from original telecasts, as I'm sure most collectors of self-recorded VHS billiards events -- obviously dedicated players themselves -- wouldn't either.

I view it as a kind of "giving back" in appreciation of the ongoing pleasures the sport has given us for many years.

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.