Still not satisfied

I played alright tonight in league, but not where I feel I should be. The team we played had one of the top points leaders on their team (each player has a skill level and if you beat them then that's how many points you receive and if you lose then you get 0 points) and they put him up first. Now I usually don't care who I play but I wanted the challenge so I decided to put myself up. This guy was tied for first with 53 points and I'm tied for second with 49 points. His skill level only says a 5 (a 7 is the highest) but I think it's his first time playing this league and 5 is the default skill level, because he's actually better than a skill level 5. I beat him 7-6, another hill-hill match like last week and again I came from behind trailing 5-6. My play was rather inconsistent in that I messed up too many easy outs and gave a couple games away. I was fortunate to make the 9 ball early in two games or I probably would have lost the match. My pre-shot routine was solid and getting to be second nature, which I believe helped my shot making. I only missed a couple shots but my problem tonight was I fucked up way to many leaves. My speed was way off. I felt myself not staying down on every shot which is frustrating. The guy I was playing was a nice enough guy but he annoyed the shit out of me because when I was shooting he was always standing up. This isn't against the rules and he wasn't trying to shark me, it's just the way he waits for his turn but it bothers the fuck out of me for some reason.

I've done some practice drills recently and have noticed a couple little problems that I'm aware of and am now working to fix. I'm hoping I can keep up the practicing and get a jump start on preparing for Vegas. It's a long ways away but last year I don't feel like I gave myself the opportunity to do as well as I can by slacking off. Summers are always going to take away from my game because I have other things I like to do and I'm fine with losing some ground but I need to hit it hard when Summer is over.

Last week I was playing at Antiques and there was this old guy (who I'll call "weird old guy") there who was clearly a regular and "weird old guy" was talking to this guy I was playing and asked him if he could get him a beer because they wouldn't give him one. It was not spoken of as to why they wouldn't serve him. Anyways, "weird old guy" was there tonight wearing a plaid pajama top & bottom with the pants rolled up to his calfs. He uses a cane and I've not seen him EVER shoot pool or even carry a pool stick. He's what I would call a strange cat.

But what does a self-employed pocket-billiard player know?

Why?

Why do people insist on wasting my time? I'm in need of a driver so I put an ad on craigslist and have received several phone calls by people interested in the job. I explain what I do and don't do and ask if they're still interested and always get a resounding yes. Then I fax or give them an application and have received a total of one back. This lucky gentlemen will be getting the job but I'm confused as to why people do this. I tell them when they call what the pay is and how things work and then I ask them if these things are acceptable to them. All they have to say is "no thanks", or "not gonna work for me", or "go fuck yourself". Any of these are better than me going through the hassle of explaining everything and giving them an application and then getting no response. My favorite is one guy actually said "my unemployment runs out in "x" amount of days so I'll be needing a job after that." Does he really think that I'm interested in hiring someone who is insistent upon running out his unemployment? Not really a go-getter and not someone who will be a good employee.

I'm going to touch on some pool now, hitting all topics of my blog name. At the tournament in Vegas back in May there was this new rack and it's the end-all be-all of racks. It's simple and very useful and I wanted to get one for my home table so I was looking for where I could get one and no one sells them. I called the small place here in Colorado Springs where I get the work done on my cue and buy most of my pool related products and he didn't have one. Then I called Fodors(reluctantly because I hate this place with a passion) and the lady I spoke to said "I've never heard of that, is it for racking balls?" The name of the product is Magic Rack. I said "nope, it's a set of Tits with magical powers." I didn't actually say that but it reaffirmed my hatred of Fodors. If you're going to be in the billiards business then you need to know the latest and greatest products. I don't expect them to have the latest and greatest but knowledge of it is paramount, or why would someone like myself shop somewhere that they have no useful knowledge of ANY products. It's actually almost impossible to get this rack, for whatever reason, the only way to get it right now is to email the makers of it and tell them you want it. It's not for sale or even mentioned on their website. So, why was the rack available for use clear back in May but not available for purchase 3 months later? WHY FUCKING WHY??? I'm not a brilliant business mind but with my futile brain I've come to the realization that if people cannot find where to purchase your product, it's seems unlikely they'll buy it. Which, in turn, will make turning a profit verge on the impossible. But what the hell does a self-employed pocket-billiard player know?

I wonder if anybody else has 2 hyphens in their blog title? Someone should do some research on this.

NOT IT!!!

I'm ready for POOL!!!

I'm ready for winter and moreover ready for pool. I've been playing league one night per week but that's about all I've been doing. No practice or tournaments makes the game suffer badly. I've been keeping myself busy this summer by going to the lake and camping. However, I'm ready for some football and playing pool on a regular basis. This has been a very productive summer in many ways, work and personally. I completed 3 years of taxes for my business, personal, and my old company. This was a TON of work, and the tedious, time consuming type that I despise. I've also leased on a couple trucks and paid off a couple trucks. My wife and I bought a boat and I got a work truck.

So summer pool has been very inconsistent for me, after last nights match I'm 9-4. Which isn't too bad but I haven't played very well so I'm unhappy with my play, not necessarily my results because the competition level isn't what my winter league is. I've been playing more the last 2 weeks so I'm expecting my play to start getting more consistent and last night was not exactly what I was hoping for. I played a pretty good player and beat him 7-6 but I was losing 6-4 and won the last three games to win the match. I missed way to many shots and position leaves to be happy about my play. But an interesting story from last nights match I'll share. I'm losing 6 games to 5 and I've just broke the balls and about to shoot my first shot which the ball is basically hanging in the pocket and I'm looking at the table for where I'm going to leave my cueball, not at if I'm going to make the shot because it a hanger. And some jackass walks by and says "I'll bet you 10 bucks you miss." Now I'm usually a pretty easy going guy and don't let the dumb shit people say get to me...BUT I wasn't playing well and I'm focused on my game and this dickface decides to talk a little shit and everybody who knows me knows I LOVE to gamble on anything. Anyways, I turn to the guy(who I've never seen, I don't think he plays league or anything) and say "Put your money up." Then he says "well which ball you shooting?" I says "whats the difference, you said I'd miss so put your money up loudmouth." He didn't say anything back immediately but a little later during the game (which I was still shooting in because I didn't miss) I hear him mutter something about not being proud.

That's all for now but I'm going to start blogging again, hopefully a couple times a week so all the people who been hating on me for not blogging can SHUT THE FUCK UP! Just kidding.

Feeling pretty good

I've been playing a lot of pool the last 2 weeks and I'm real happy with how I'm playing right now. The biggest difference is I've change my stance a little bit. I was playing this VERY good player that I've played several times and he was saying that I shoot good but I need to change my stance some. I was not on very good balance and after fixing what he suggested I'm playing great. By moving my back foot out about 12" it's given me much better balance and actually helps me stay down on the ball because my feet are a little wider apart which allows me to not have to be bent straight over. I'm still having some mental lapses and not focusing on every shot. I have made improvement on this problem but still need to focus 100% on all my shots. It usually happens on an easier shot or leave when I'm in the middle of a tough rack. I'll be so focused on getting to a ball or getting a certain leave and I'll come to the cupcake ball in the rack and let my focus slip because I've already done the hard work or the next ball is the hard work. I know many players have this same handicap so I'm not alone but I don't want to be "many players", I want to be better.

I played a pretty good player in league last night and beat him 7-2. He won the lag and chose 9 ball. He can either choose the game or to break. Generally, not always, but usually when I player chooses 9 ball it's because they're always going to try and combo the 9 in or bang it around and hope to get lucky. That wasn't necessarily the case with this dude but he did combo it in early once and the runout was easier than the combo. I was ahead 6-2 when we finished 9 ball and I won a defensive struggle in our 8 ball game. It took probably 10-12 safeties and about 8 ball in hands before I bested him with a sweet safety and then ran my last two balls and sank the 8. It was a good night for me in that I didn't miss any easy shots and only 1 shot that I should make more times than not.

I'm very excited about going to Vegas. I think I can do real well with how I'm playing and my confidence is sky high right now.

Protocol

Have you ever been out somewhere and when you get back to your car you see it? It's shining in the sun and laughing at you. DING. A nice ding on your car door from some worthless faggotface who can't seem to understand that when he flings open his door it's going to fly the fuck open at a NASCAR rate of fucking speed and hit the person's car next to you. It almost never fails that the queefsniffer who did it to you is gone. But today the car that did it was still there. I've had many thoughts as to what I should have done. What I did was nothing. I thought I'd be a bigger man and take the high road. I believe this was a mistake, very out of character for me. It's still eating at me that I didn't get revenge. Here's a list of the things I wanted to do to this pristine Chrysler minivan:

1. First thought was key it.
2. Spit a big loogie on the drivers side window.
3. Dump my coffee all over their hood.
4. Take a big fucking duece on the hood.

Out of all these I should have done #2. I think #1 may have been a little overboard. I had just drove to get my coffee and it was cold out so I didn't like #3 either. I would have absolutely loved to do #4 but as is turns out I didn't have it in me. Literally.

I'm wandering what the protocol is for this? What is acceptable punishment for catching your door ding criminal? Or should I act the like 29 year old man that I am and let it go?

Sneaking up on me

I'm going to play in the BCA tournament in Vegas and it's less than 3 weeks away. I'm usually counting down the days until Vegas but not this time. I need more time to practice and get into my groove. I was playing really well a few weeks ago but not so much now. I've haven't been playing as much as I would like to and when I do play it's league usually and I don't play jam up and really focus. I'm going to start playing tournaments every week as many as I can. I tend to really focus and play my best, like in the couple tournaments I played in Fort Collins and Denver a couple months ago. I've never played as strong as I did in those, I felt like I could play with anyone. And confidence is almost as important as shooting well. When I've got that combo going I feel like I could do some real great things in Vegas. With short races to 5 anything can happen. At the tourney in Denver I played at several weeks ago I broke and ran 7 of 16 racks I broke! So regardless of who I'm playing, if I'm stroking it that well I've got a good chance. I tend to really focus in tournaments, when I played in Vegas 2 years ago I played probably about as good as I ever had. I made the 1st round of the money so I was satisfied with my results that year. My goals this year will be to make it quite a bit further than that but I don't feel I can only be results oriented at this tournament. I could play the best 2 players in the tournament and lose and be out right away. So my main goal is to play the best I can and the rest will take care of itself. If I play great and lose then that's ok because I ran into someone better than me and I know there are many people out there better than me. I'm a much stronger player than I was 2 years ago so I'm very excited to kick ass and take names.

Letter to ESPN

I'm just starting to watch the Masters coverage on ESPN and I can't help but be annoyed by this super flaming faggot Mike Tirico. He's so fucking self-important like everyone wants to hear what he has to say. Well listen to what I have to say to you Tirico "No one cares what you have to say, I want to watch golf not you talking to some other queer in the Masters Cabin. I've got in on this channel to watch golf and not two dumbasses wearing a suit talking about how these players are going to handle this course. If you idiots would shut up and put the camera on the players we could see with our own eyes how these players are handling the course." I don't understand why or how these annoying pricks got this job but it's at the very least- borderline completely fucking useless. Here's how you televise this: show golf and every little while flash the leaderboard on the screen. I don't want to see some self-important schmuck being introspective or retrospective or any goddamn spective. Show me Tiger fucking Woods.

Sincerly Yours

The life and times of a self-employed golf watcher