Who's the Best...Just ask the Best...

M

Mr. J

Jeff Jimenez
Silver Member
All this communication about who is the best needs to be answered by only the best. They have the insight to truly know this answer. If you want to know the pecking order of players in your area, then you must seek the opinion of the absoulte Monsters of your area. They know for sure. Only players at the top can make a true judgement on this isssue providing that they have had an ongoing interaction with you and your game. I believe that C players should never judge who the best B or A player is. They just do not posess the insight and knowing that is required to make such a judgement. If you want to know who is the best. Let's just gather the opinions of everyone who has ever played and placed in the money at past world championships as well as the derby events and reno and all the best players of Europe and Asia and the rest of the universe and have them write one name down...

Who's picture has graced the cover of Billiards Digest and Pool and Billiard Magazine and Inside Pool and all the other countless publications nationally and locally to your area? Who's face have we all see so many time over and over?

I think we all know the face and the name...

Just ask the all the Champions on this planet...

I bet the final tally would reveal the one and only "Efren Reyes"...
 
Mr. J said:
e providing that they have had an ongoing interaction with you and your game. I believe that C players should never judge who the best B or A player is. They just do not posess the insight and knowing that is required to make such a judgement. ..
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I think I'll have to disagree with you here. Some of the greatest teachers and greatest scouts were never top professionals. I also have read many posts in this forum from incredibly wise C and B players and glad I've had the opportunity to learn from them.
 
When you see two pros playing and one says to the other
"You Efrened that one"

Well.........enough said
 
Yeah I believe Efren Reyes would and should be the best. Not only the Filipinos but the majority of pros place him as the greatest pool player ever and of course those people would know better, they have played against him from money to tournament.
 
Mr. J said:
All this communication about who is the best needs to be answered by only the best. They have the insight to truly know this answer. If you want to know the pecking order of players in your area, then you must seek the opinion of the absoulte Monsters of your area. They know for sure. Only players at the top can make a true judgement on this isssue providing that they have had an ongoing interaction with you and your game. I believe that C players should never judge who the best B or A player is. They just do not posess the insight and knowing that is required to make such a judgement. If you want to know who is the best. Let's just gather the opinions of everyone who has ever played and placed in the money at past world championships as well as the derby events and reno and all the best players of Europe and Asia and the rest of the universe and have them write one name down...

Who's picture has graced the cover of Billiards Digest and Pool and Billiard Magazine and Inside Pool and all the other countless publications nationally and locally to your area? Who's face have we all see so many time over and over?

I think we all know the face and the name...

Just ask the all the Champions on this planet...

I bet the final tally would reveal the one and only "Efren Reyes"...
Click to expand...

I think I would have to respectfully disagree with your argument. As far as evaluating talent goes, I guarantee there are many people at my local poolroom who have never picked up a cue but can tell you who the best players are. I don't think you have to be a pro to appreciate someone's pool playing ability.

And as far as comparing past and present, a funny thing happens when new generations of players emerge in any sport. Suddenly the past players' achievements become somehow diminished. The luster of their games seems to dull in comparison to the immediacy of the current players. We don't have hours and hours of high quality video of Ralph Greenleaf running hundreds (and doing it drunk half of the time). We don't get to see all of the magazines and newspapers and newsreels he appeared in. All we have is the record books and anecdotes from old men. And people can use lots of excuses to try to diminish what he and others did. So it's hard to truly appreciate his dominance in this game.

Don't get me wrong, I think Efren is an awesome player. And the current pros are probably the most knowledgeable about who is the best player playing today, but they are not the pros who played Greenleaf. Or Mosconi, or Crane, or any of a host of other past greats. Sadly, a lot of them probably don't really even know that much about past players. I saw a show the other day featuring Frank Robinson. He's managing the Washington Nationals now. He told the story of talking with one of his players one day, and the player actually asked "Oh, did you play?". I like to think that professional pool players have a little more repect for thier history than that, but it sure makes you think. Maybe pros don't always have the most educated opinions.

Like I said earlier, just a friendly disagreement for what it's worth.
 
JLW said:
I think I would have to respectfully disagree with your argument. As far as evaluating talent goes, I guarantee there are many people at my local poolroom who have never picked up a cue but can tell you who the best players are. I don't think you have to be a pro to appreciate someone's pool playing ability.

And as far as comparing past and present, a funny thing happens when new generations of players emerge in any sport. Suddenly the past players' achievements become somehow diminished. The luster of their games seems to dull in comparison to the immediacy of the current players. We don't have hours and hours of high quality video of Ralph Greenleaf running hundreds (and doing it drunk half of the time). We don't get to see all of the magazines and newspapers and newsreels he appeared in. All we have is the record books and anecdotes from old men. And people can use lots of excuses to try to diminish what he and others did. So it's hard to truly appreciate his dominance in this game.

Don't get me wrong, I think Efren is an awesome player. And the current pros are probably the most knowledgeable about who is the best player playing today, but they are not the pros who played Greenleaf. Or Mosconi, or Crane, or any of a host of other past greats. Sadly, a lot of them probably don't really even know that much about past players. I saw a show the other day featuring Frank Robinson. He's managing the Washington Nationals now. He told the story of talking with one of his players one day, and the player actually asked "Oh, did you play?". I like to think that professional pool players have a little more repect for thier history than that, but it sure makes you think. Maybe pros don't always have the most educated opinions.

Like I said earlier, just a friendly disagreement for what it's worth.
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Well said.
 
Mr. J said:
All this communication about who is the best needs to be answered by only the best.
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I strongly disagree. All that is needed is a well-rounded comprehension of all the skills that make one professional better than another to be able to have a truly educated opinion on who is the best. I'd say that tens of thousands in the world of pool qualify. As we've often noted on this forum, pros often make poor pool analysts, explaining why so few of them make good commentators or instructors. In most sports, the most qualified to judge who is or was the best are the journalists, the instructors, and the most serious fans. Pool is no different.
 
Archer, Souquet and Strickland has said that Efren Reyes is the best and greatest that they have ever seen. He's the most creative and most imaginative player and he's the best in playing position and cue ball control. And a lot of these top pros have said that nobody in the world play him even in money unless he give them a spot and those are the things that a lot of journalist, pool fans and commentators does not see. Gambling is always a big part of pool so to me that's big enough, he's the best ever.
 
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