Is Rating Points

I already mentioned it a few times in this forum but will do so again.  I once did a statistical analysis of a bunch of players who have both a USATT rating as well as a German TTR rating and came up with the following formula:

USATT = TTR + 350 (+/-50)

The standard deviation was quite high because the data set was not that great. So if we take the example of Jim Butler: he currently has a USATT rating of 2528 which would correspond to a TTR of 2178 (with a range of 2128 to 2228).

Judging level via matches on video is always problematic.  That game is played all the time on this forum and errors abound. 

P.S. There is an old thread here about the same subject ("he won't even be in top 1000 in country X!")- it quickly turned rather uncivil then, hopefully we won't have to rehash it.

I also have investment beachfront property for you in Arizona, if Matt doesn't sell it to you first. You gotta be ready for that big Cailfornia earthquake ya know.

I don't think Jim right now would cut it even in 2. Bundesliga, (EDIT: as a #1 or #2 on the team) but that doesn't make him a bad player, he used to have a decent world ranking and US doesn't have buy a tiny fraction of the active players Germany has, but that is changing for positive and will continue to improve.

Jim is a force motivating older players already interested in TT to come back to the sport and Jim has a lot of good ideas  to grow our sport.

What you compare is almost like comparing German top baseball players to our Major Leaguers (hundreds in the league). My team has who i think is the first ever German baseball player (Lutz) (Who was ironically born in Watertwon, NY) and even he might finish the spring camp sent to Minors.

Bigger numbers of active participants and good structure with a path to professional career = a system producing top pros.

USA is gunna get a lot better in the coming years, we just are no there yet and are only beginning to get together the right conditions to get our sport to accelerate its growth. 

it is noteworthy you would raise this point here... I fully concur with pgpg. What are you trying to say, anyway? Jim's made an epic come back, it can only be applauded. You know, in this country you also get to see some really awesome young players from other countries who come to visit here for some time and, believe me, they play at a very high level that easily defies the Matt Pimple's formula. We have seen the really explosive TT here, yet we also are willing to appreciate achievement of all sorts.