I believe the advance in equipment and certainly, the dominance of fast cloth (Simonis) allowed a revolution in offensive one pocket. In the past, you might have needed a great stroke to try certain shots, but now, the fast cloth allows even a mediocre stroke to get around the table effortlessly. The cloth also allows all the balls to separate, so to allow more shots. Then came the power one pocket players to take advantage of the equipment upgrades. Scott Frost, Cliff Joyner, Tony Chohan, and Danny Smith began to play the game in a hyper-aggressive manner that was both impressive to watch and exciting to play. Shots that might have been too risky in the past have now become standard one pocket shots. Things that were never really considered as legitimate shots are now common place as the players now challenge the accepted norms of what is a "right" shot. The game has definitely skewed towards the offense because the player knows if he makes that shot, he can win the game from anywhere. If you have any doubt, ask yourself who is in the top 15 that is known as a defensive player? Defense still has its place, but we definitely are living in an offensive world.
Offense vs. defense
- Thread starter gulfportdoc
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All we know for sure is that when you play the best players of your era and consistently win, you have done what you can do to prove your worth. Comparing the present against the past is difficult at best. One Pocket unlike other games except maybe banks is so different that you'd have trouble comparing past and present. Look what happened to John Schmidt, many among us didn't want to see him break Mosconi's record but he did. IMO the "BABE" was the best home run hitter of all time...............
Billy Jackets
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The only hitter I recognize in modern era is Hank Aaron, the rest of the record breakers were juiced to the gills. In my opinion that disqualifies them.