Hey everyone, I'm Mark from the Outer Banks of NC.
I started playing pool at a young age on my friends Coin-op bar box. My father helped me get a fake ID at 18 so I could join a pool league. I did pretty well and soaked in everything I learned like a sponge. While en-route to the 1988 U.S. Open, I was hit by my first drunk driver that messed up my arm pretty good. As a result, I sold my Meucci Cue and gave up the game for a bit. (I wish I had never sold that stick)
At that time, there was a fair amount of billiards being televised on ESPN and I was watching Sigel, Varner, Hopkins, The Miz, Remke, Hall, Strickland, Mataya etc... I remember watching a match between the Miz and I think Steve Davis where they competed in 9-Ball and then snooker. Great match.
Fast forward a few years and my friend (with the bar box table) asked if I could store the table in my room over the garage in our house that was being built for which I obliged. After we set it up, he confessed that he never wanted it back. :thumbup:
I only played about 5-6 times a week for years until a bar down the street brought in 2 larger tables. I started playing and it was like I was a kid again. It totally rejuvenated my interest in game partly in fact that there was some competition to play with.
It's somewhat nostalgic in the sense that I am playing on a 50+ year old table that I played on as a young child but part of me wants to get a larger table. I checked the other day and it would be $700 to re-felt and re-cushion the table...not sure what I am going to do yet.
Anyway, I've been doing a lot of reading on this site and find everything really interesting and am looking forward to joining some conversations.
Thanks