John is a first-rate referee. He has gotten better with age. I feel he was a bit too animated early in his career, but he has come to fully understand that a good referee stays in the background and lets the players have the stage to themselves. Pro pool is very lucky to have John in its domain.
I'm not denying his ability as a referee, I just find it surprising how he's all over the place now because outside of Micheala Tabb and a few snooker refs, it's hard to imagine anyone doing the pool referee gig as much as he has and actually making it to this stage. Then again, that's the sign of hard work paying off.