bigger stronger faster, so what?
Let's grant that today's generation is bigger stronger faster, plain better athletes. Smarts are a combination of raw brain power and learning. I'm none too sure today's generation is smarter other than a fairly small percentage. They certainly aren't smarter about pool, I think the opposite is true for the most part. The players of yesteryear were big enough, strong enough, and fast enough to play on that day's tables. They are certainly big enough, strong enough, and fast enough to play on today's without handicapping themselves.
The main reasons, perhaps the only reasons, today's players are better are equipment and playing conditions. Even in the sixties and seventies some of the places I played had no air conditioning, holes in the ceiling/roof that I could see stars through, cracks between the flooring planks that meant there was never need to pick up dust or cigarette butts when sweeping, they both went between the cracks. The only leveling of the table in decades was the beer coasters under the legs, sometimes under all four legs! One in awhile I took out dozens of coasters and started over. The cloth was original issue, decades old. The sweat, beer, cigarette ash, lord knows what all had the once green cloth a nasty gray.
The bugs deserve their own paragraph. Mostly just powered over termites, mosquitoes and small bugs. June bugs and bigger were deserving of respect. They would send balls in all new directions and there is no learning how to carom off of a june bug! Wasps and hornets deserved respect. Running over them was apt to annoy them and they would retaliate on whomever was closest, not necessarily the shooter.
Today we expect perfect tables, a cool place to play, and excellent lighting, something I didn't bother touching on above. We are hothouse players in the US and that certainly includes me. Easy to say we play better in our hothouses with everything perfect. I can't help thinking that the old guys would fair a lot better if they came here today than today's players would fair if we brought back yesterday!
The relatively small country of the Philippines continues to turn out world class players. I think one reason is that they don't learn to play in hothouses. They adapt readily to the conditions they find to compete in.
Hu