I don’t mean to offend anyone on this board. Pool and billiards in the U.S. have always been perceived as a “dirty” business. The media does not consider it a serious sport and never will. Unless things change, national advertisers outside the pool industry just see no value in supporting it. Once in a while ESPN will feature a couple hours of pool when nothing else is happening. 99% of the sponsors are pool related businesses. Awhile back there was some talk about a billiard channel and that never happened. Movies were made about pool. Books were written, most of which depict a dark and depressing picture. We love the game and we are addicted to it. But the stigma has been there. It is always there. It is what it is no matter how we sugar coat it. But it does not have to be this way. Snooker is big business in England. Why not pool?
I am sure nobody here was surprised to hear about what happened in Vegas. It has happened more often than we like to admit. It happens in big and small tournaments, in small and big money matches, pros and amateurs alike. Earl didn’t want to have anything to do with the Vegas deal and that was a good thing. I’d like to know, however, what really happened in Hong Kong when he played Efren a race to 120 for 100K winner takes all. Very late in the match they took a 30 minutes break with Earl ahead 17 games. He played flawlessly for 2 and a half days up to that point. It was the best 9 ball pool that I have ever seen. What happened after the break gave it away. Watch the last few games: Earl scratched 3 times, let the cue ball fly off the table, missed several easy shots, played fast and recklessly and ended up loosing 117 to 120. Efren scratched 3 times, took a long difficult combo shot instead of playing an easy safety and miscued on an easy 8 ball. I have never seen him miscue before, not Efren, especially when 100 grand is on the table. Efren came back to tie the score at 111 each. What happened next could not be more conspicuous. Efren misses an easy carom on the 9 ball leaving it a couple of inches from the pocket. With the cue ball less than 2 feet away, Earl sinks the 9 ball in sending the white ball dangerously towards the side pocket, missing it by a hair. They kept the game close with Efren staying ahead by 1 or 2 games then they tied again at 117 each. Earl scratched again during the next game and Efren missed an easy ball in hand. 100K winner takes all, 2 games left in the match and the great Efren Reyes misses a ball in hand. I was always curious about how much money was in the hat from side betting. The match is on you tube, and I have all 13 tapes. You draw your own conclusion.
I wonder why they were never invited back.