i was there for 2 hours. admittedly 'deserved' is a judgement call. but to me, he was too busy talking, not playing. johnny was focused, wanted to win, and i would have bet anything when i left that johnny was going to win.
earl asked for the loss. earl would hang a ball in a pocket and blame johnny for getting lucky. earl would break dry and complain. johnny would break dry and leave earl no shot and earl would complain, "every time he makes a ball everything is open, he breaks dry and leaves me this. they all do that." earl made poor safeties and would stare intensely into johnny's face with this wild-eyed-i-am-a-lunatic look and say "you're getting all the rolls, johnny." earl complained that the crowd wasn't paying enough attention. he told us we all needed to get a job. he would throw his cue down, onto the next table, in disgust when he missed. he would close his eyes when johnny was doing well.
johnny took it all in stride and made his shots. he missed, he sat down. he won, he broke. recipe for winning. earl played a good safe but left a small "keyhole" window available. the audience was clapping and earl yelled, "don't clap, he's got a keyhole, you know what that is?" hours of *****ing, recipe for loosing.
often, you get what you ask for. leave the soup on the stove at high heat for an hour and come back to find it burned. hey, make all the excuses you want, but you deserve to go hungry.