What Really Happened With Earl at SBE

[smokey]

hey jay...

I keep saying this, Earl is a sick man and has been one for a very long time. It is both sad and bewildering to have to deal with him as a TD. You must be part therapist, part TD and part parent to even attempt to reason with him most of the time. The fact that some of the time he is not a problem is only another indication of his infirmity. Being married to a therapist, as I was for years, I think she would diagnose him as bi-polar. And an extreme case as well. I only wish he would get the help he so obviously needs. His brilliance is only outshone by his turbulence. Very sad for Earl and for pool.

it is always a pleasure for many of us to read your comments. you always tell it like it is...

thank you for being you,
smokey

 

[Kickin' Chicken]

Jay,

Unfortunately most or all of the fixes require medication. Medications that take the edge off of competitive spirit. I suspect that Earl's choices come down to compete well without med's if he can control himself or compete at less than his best with medications and then the med's only might prevent an incident. There really isn't a good choice to make, or so I suspect.

Hu

Hu;

I think this is very insightful.

I have known people who resist taking their meds because it dulls their senses and so, if, in fact, Earl has to make such a decision, it truly is a delemma.

Play at the highest level possible with outbursts or play politely with dulled senses?

Best,
Brian kc

 

[PoolSharkAllen]

Alex racked, Earl came out of his chair, eyeballed the rack from behind the footrail and said "it's tilted". Alex came to the rack and asked "What's tilted?" The TD came over, carefully inspected the rack then asked Alex to go to the headrail and put his finger on the center diamond. Alex obliged and the TD acknowledged that the rack was crooked and told Alex to rerack.

Alex attempted to rerack for what seemed like five minutes without success, obviously frustrated. He was having difficulty getting the one ball to freeze and so the TD, and then even Earl, tried to assist. At one point Earl used a full edge of the rack to rub the cloth at the rack area. Finally, Alex got an acceptable rack, about 10 minutes after play should have begun. We're now underway. :thumbup:

NOTE: When the TD declared the rack was crooked then instructed Alex to rerack, there was a tone in his voice like maybe it wasn't crooked but we're going to rerack to appease Earl. This is IMO.

When Earl sat down he turned to me and said "they're all trying to cheat against me by tilting the rack".

Alex again racks and again Earl is saying the rack is tilted. Alex said in a humorous way, "I think my eyes are tilted." The TD came over had a quick look and told Earl, "we're not going to be doing this, Earl, understand?" Earl asked "Can't I defend myself if I think he's racking crooked?" The TD just stared at him and Earl mumbled to himself.

While I am definitely a big Earl fan, this up close and personal look into this legend's behavior brings up a lot of questions for me. Are Earl's antics to do with intentional sharking, even somewhat? Is there something else going on that needs to be addressed? It's certainly not a new development though perhaps the frequency and intensity may be increasing.

I think that those who are closest to Earl (his family/friends) should help him find a way to resolve this recurring issue. I believe it does need to be sorted out, sooner rather than later.

This kind of distraction isn't fair to the rest of the players trying to earn a paycheck.

This exchange that I had with Joe Tucker should be the nail in the coffin that Earl has some loose screws. There is no real advantage for Alex to tilt the rack when breaking.

Originally Posted by PoolSharkAllen

Speaking of 10-ball racking secrets, at the SBE, Alex Pagulayan was accused of tilting the rack while playing Earl. Assuming that Alex did tilt the rack slightly, does that really increase his chances of making a ball on the break?

Given the randomness of how balls move around the table on the break, my guess is that a slight tilt to the rack provides no significant advantage to the breaker, which means that Earl was making a big deal over nothing.

It's also possible that tilting the rack slightly might actually be to the breaker's disadvantage. If so, that's the ultimate sharking technique wherein putting yourself at a "disadvantage" makes your loony opponent think you're trying to gain an advantage over him.​

Thats one great reason we need to move forward and use more racking templates and/or at least mark the tables. Tilting "could" be both good or bad for the racker but little more bad than good so I don't see Alex intentionally doing it, matter a fact I don't see him doing it intentionally no matter what.

Joe Tucker