". . . you suddenly realize a man is seated at the opposite end of the table holding a cue in his hand.

"Now for the first time since the match was made, you are awakened to the fact that your opponent's name is Mosconi, and should you miss or make an error, the game is lost. Mosconi has won and gone, you are alone.

"Gentlemen, when that day comes and one of you has been the unfortunate one, then it will be my pleasure to explain the errors that were committed by you, and why you lost the game. In fact, I'll explain the biggest error you made, which was playing Mosconi in the first place."

— attributed to the late Onofrio Lauri in The Encyclopedia of Pocket Billiards by Johnny Holiday

For those of you who don't know, Willie Mosconi was one of the greatest pool players of all time. His brilliance is beyond the scope of this little explanation, so let me summarize with two little facts:

1. Willie Mosconi was world champion fifteen times. This was back when the game they played was 14.1 (straight pool), a much stronger test of skill than 9-ball.
2. In an exhibition, Willie Mosconi once ran 526, by which I mean that he made 526 consecutive shots without a miss across thirty-eight racks. For a bit of perspective, a professional game of 14.1 is usually 125 points. This means that he ran more than the equivalent of four consecutive games.

But these are just numbers, and I could rattle off many, many more. Do yourself a favor and watch The Hustler. Not only is it an excellent drama (Paul Newman, Piper Laurie, George C. Scott and Jackie Gleason), but it has the best look at pool I've ever seen on film. At least part of the reason for this is that its technical advisor was Willie Mosconi.