I’m hoping to find one where he’s playing near perfect pool. The footage I’ve found on YouTube has been late in his career and the performances were obviously past his prime.He's all over YouTube.
I’m hoping to find one where he’s playing near perfect pool. The footage I’ve found on YouTube has been late in his career and the performances were obviously past his prime.He's all over YouTube.
I'll nominate a match played in 2022. World 10-ball semifinals, Szewczyk vs Kaci. It was one of the best matches I've ever seen. In one rack, Kaci had a kick-in, a jump in and a long bank on the way to a runout. Both players did some amazing things on the way to double hill before Szewczyk prevailed, and he rode that victory to the title.
Yeah, while there is lots of footage of Buddy, there's that not much footage of him in his very top form, meaning 1975-85. If you're trying to study pattern play, watching Souquet is nearly as good as watching Buddy. Appleton is also a pattern player extraordinaire whose play is worth studying.Anyone know where I can find good footage of Buddy Hall in his prime? Specifically when he would be demonstrating the elegant and simple cueball control and patterns that earned him his legacy? I’d pay for footage if needed. It’s just all the free stuff I’ve found so far were fairly unimpressive matches relative to my expectations.
It was more that I’d love to get a taste of his prime play to see that magic cueball he’s famous for. Not so much to study pattern play but to feel connected to Buddy’s legacy in a more firsthand way. For example I rewatched this match last night and really him and Varner were playing quite poorly compared to the standard of professional play I’m used to seeing.Yeah, while there is lots of footage of Buddy, there's that not much footage of him in his very top form, meaning 1975-85. If you're trying to study pattern play, watching Souquet is nearly as good as watching Buddy. Appleton is also a pattern player extraordinaire whose play is worth studying.
I’m reading this right now. All about that match, their lives, their careers, their contrast, and their trajectory towards each other.Minnesota Fats vs. Willie Mosconi
It drew 11 million viewers on Valentine's Day, which I think is the most ever on ABC's Wide World of Sports. I also think it was the 2nd-most watched sporting event in 1978. The first was the Ali-Spinks fight.
I'm sure that billiards purists will disagree, since it wasn't the highest-quality pool by any stretch of the imagination, and Fats didn't even bother to read the rules for the games, but for pure entertainment value it checked a lot of boxes, and I believe it remains the most watched pool match of all time.
Does anyone know if there was another match between Fats and Mosconi? I've read all over the internet that there were two exhibition matches between these players, and that Fats won one of them, but I've found no actual evidence that this is true.
Cool!I’m reading this right now. All about that match, their lives, their careers, their contrast, and their trajectory towards each other.
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So far I’ve read about their first encounter of Fats coming to a pool hall where Mosconi was the house pro. Fats wanted to hustle Willie into playing 1P with a plan to talk and shark him into losing. Could backfire knowing Mosconi liked to play angry and those tactics could just stoke his engine. Mosconi wasn’t a gambler but if the room owner put him in action he played.
Fats knew the moves of 1P better and Willie had a better cueball. It could have been like Filler vs Chohan at the time. It was likely the 1930s during the Great Depression before Mosconi was thought of as the title collecting GOAT. So they were likely closer in skill at that time than you might assume. Mosconi says they played 5 games at $50 per game and he won all 5 (giving Fats bus fare home). Fats says they played 100 times and he won them all. Willie was whacked out and couldn’t beat a drum. Fats version of events in his autobiography led Willie to sue Fats for half a million. That went nowhere. Willie wanted to play to settle it and Fats ducked every invitation.
It’s very likely they never had a notable match-up again until that Wild World of Sports event. Even that was a lucky accident. Fats was meant to play the imposter Bruce “Superstroke” Christopher with Howard Cosell and Willie commentating. But the cameras broke and the promoters looked to Fats to entertain the audience. They kept asking who Fats had beat. Someone called out Mosconi and he said he beat them all. That had the hot head Willie out of his chair ready to kill Fats. They screamed at each other back and forth. From that even producer Charlie Ursutti knew what event really needed to be produced. And the rest is history.
It was more that I’d love to get a taste of his prime play to see that magic cueball he’s famous for. Not so much to study pattern play but to feel connected to Buddy’s legacy in a more firsthand way. For example I rewatched this match last night and really him and Varner were playing quite poorly compared to the standard of professional play I’m used to seeing.