I cannot imagine Shane Van Boening being involved in a dump. It just too far-fetched, in my opinion, watching his demeanor over the years. He's about as clean-cut as a pool player can be.
I was disappointed in the so-called "stakehorse" when he jumped out of the stands and threatened Earl Strickland during a challenge match. I understand he may have been irritated with Earl's antics, but I thought that the threatening part did not belong in that challenge match. I do believe, however, he was just trying to defend Shane against Earl's verbal arrows. Nothing negative happened, thank goodness, as Earl proceeded to win the match on the gaffe table. :lol
Sometimes people can get in your head before a match with mere words. Good players like Earl are able to overcome that, I guess.
Money is the root of all evils. Sure, in pool, we want to win money, but at what cost? How much do you lose when you win big at the expense of being egotistical, nasty, mean-spirited, and boastful? It speaks volumes to me when a stakehorse is given an award for his backing capabilities. Talk about the Emperor's New Clothes.
On the other side of the coin, without backers, there would not be a match in some cases. Most pool players are broke dogs and can't come with the big bucks, unless they get a backers committee. I always liked the backers committee concept. You don't win as much as a player, but it's nice to have a room full of backers rooting for you while you're in the heat of the battle, and if you lose, it only hurts for a little bit. If you win, you're everybody's King for the Day, receiving pats on the back and high-fives.
Don't get me wrong. There are some good-natured stakehorses who genuinely love action and wouldn't threaten anyone. They just have a passion for pool and want to get things going. Harry Platis comes to mind, as does Ricky from down South. But I've also seen some backers in my travels who were kind of scary, wearing fur coats and lots of gold jewelry, looking more like pimps than stakehorses. I guess in a way, they are pimps to the pool player in action.
The backer does take a risk putting up all the cheese. The last time my other half was offered to be backed in a big challenge match, the offer presented to him from a multi-million-dollar backer was the backer would get 80 percent and he could collect 20 percent of the net proceeds, AFTER expenses. Wasn't that a nice deal?
I guess I have a love-hate relationship with stakehorses. If you were to ask some players what is more important, the win or the money, what would the reply be? For me, money isn't as important as it once was, and I would reply the "almighty win," but for the broke pool players of today, I'm not so sure the win is as important as how much money they pocket.
In sum, as Fast Eddie said, money won is sweeter than money earned, I guess.
