[pwd72s]

Press conference prior to the big cup in the pool world...USA vs. Europe. If I had to bet, based on player rankings, I'd have to go with Team Europe. But a lot of emotion in this one. Noisy fans on the sidelines. Going on in Vegas now...Tabs, better see if you can get a nosebleed seat ticket.

Rooting for Earl Strickland to do well...brilliant player, fighting bi-polar. Hoping he controls it, doesn't go off. Earl quotes:
“I wish I live to be a hundred years old to see if any of these guys can match me at 61….I’ve exercised so vigorously you can’t even imagine it…running, sit-ups, practicing, just to be heckled. I have to be in better condition than any of these guys to deal with the formality I’m dealing with…but that’s the way it is when you’re the greatest player on Earth period…you still can’t outshoot me, I’ll tell you that….I’m telling you, pool’s the hardest game in the world, people don’t realize it…people who don’t play pool are fools!…pure fools!…I ain’t no hustler, never have been…these guys are hustlers, especially Shane. Shane would Rob a nun, just kidding. You’ll never see another guy like me…I’m going to try and stay here as long as I can….but I don’t appreciate the fact that you keep pushing my buttons and you won’t relish the fact that I’m here and I’m great…that’s what I don’t like about pool, what I don’t like about the fans…if these guys over here think they’re going to make every shot, they’re fools….(to Jayson) I’m not engaging with your BS either…if you got a long tough shot, you ain’t got no guts to shoot it I’ll tell you that. (To Jayson) have you took a look at your stomach?…you’re not going to make it to 61 and play like me I’ll tell you that…you look like a beached whale…I’d knock a lot of these guys down…if you think you can beat me every time you play me, you’re crazy. You’re just simply crazy. I’m too good a player…especially when I’m exercising….these shoes…they’re very very deadly…this is a secret weapon, you don’t know it…these shoes have made me a better player.”