The better I get the worse I am.
I remember when I first started playing pool (queue up the flashback music)…it was in a small town arcade where a lot of local boys would hang out. The place just had two little bar tables. We would all play for a few dollars and I really hated getting beat. I can remember one game where I’m getting ready to shoot the winning 8 ball and one of the guys is waving a wade of dollar bills in the air next to the pocket to try and shark me. We didn’t know anything about sharking back then, so this sort of behavior was expected, if not encouraged. It did get a bit out of hand at times. Like the time my buddy was trying to shoot the eight into the corner pocket, only to look up and see the full moon. :nono: It wasn’t even dark outside. We all agreed at that point, maybe we were going too far.
Luckily for me, a friend of mine had a table in his garage. I don’t know for sure, but I think it was one of those Sears types. It was just a little bar table. I started practicing on that thing all the time, even in the middle of winter. That’s when I first wore a “pool glove”, just a pair of thin wool winter gloves. I would turn on the gas grill that was only a few feet away for minutes at a time to fight off the frost bite. Those were some good times. It didn’t take long for my immediate circle of friends to think I was crazy. I mean they enjoyed pool and all, but they didn’t love it! So I would practice by myself. I quickly got good enough to beat all the local boys. So I thought I was pretty good.
I grew up in a small town in between Flint & Saginaw, Michigan. I can remember driving into Flint to go into a real pool room, where real players played. What’s funny is I can remember one of the first times I ever went into one of the local rooms, Richie Richeson was there playing someone, this was around the mid 90’s. I remember watching him play at the time since someone at the counter said he was one of the better players in Michigan and thinking to myself “this guy's not that good. He’s just making a bunch of easy shots. I could make those.” You see, I thought I was pretty good back then.
Fast forward a bit…and I’m in Kalamazoo, Michigan and I start playing a bit more seriously, and I start to actually learn some things about pool. I get to watch some great players play, but this time I have more of an understanding of the game. I started to realize how difficult the game really was. Once it dawned on me how far behind these great players I really was, I just said forget it and I quit. I guess I realized I really wasn’t that good after all. I put my cue down for quite a few years after this.
Here in the past five years or so I have been practicing a lot (don’t tell anyone), and really working on my game. About as much as a working man with a family can. I’ve gotten better for sure. But it’s funny how with every step I take up the mountain to pool greatness, I realize how much further I have to go. The better I get, the more I realize how truly great world class players are.
I see it all the time on this forum, where guys come on here and you can just tell that they have not yet realized how exceptional the pool players at the top really are. When I see this, I smile because I know most of us have gone through this transformation. First you think you’re a great player, even though you can’t run 10 balls on a 9 foot table. Then you realize you’re horrible so you get really discouraged and maybe you even give up the game for a time. Then something happens. It’s this final phase where you realize that you’re in it for life. You’re going to try to climb that mountain to pool greatness even if it kills you. You’re now a lifer. There’s no more quitting. No more looking back. With each step you take, you realize you have further to go than you even realized. But you don’t care anymore. In the back of your mind, you know you will probably only make it so far but you press on anyways. This is when pool really becomes fun. You no longer get so frustrated with the game. You take the good with the bad and you sort of enjoy both of them.
I never really understood those people that for some reason just had to climb Mt. Everest. I’ve seen those shows and I just shook my head wondering why on earth these people would risk their lives for such a trivial pursuit. I think I now understand why. It satisfies something deep within them that nothing else does. That’s what pool does for me.
I know this is so cliché and we have all heard it a million times but at least for me it has become very true, not just with pool but with life: It’s the journey and not the destination. Maybe you share this same view of the game. Maybe not. If not, I bet you one thing - if you take this approach to the game you will not be nearly as frustrated with it as you were before. Trust me on that.
I remember when I first started playing pool (queue up the flashback music)…it was in a small town arcade where a lot of local boys would hang out. The place just had two little bar tables. We would all play for a few dollars and I really hated getting beat. I can remember one game where I’m getting ready to shoot the winning 8 ball and one of the guys is waving a wade of dollar bills in the air next to the pocket to try and shark me. We didn’t know anything about sharking back then, so this sort of behavior was expected, if not encouraged. It did get a bit out of hand at times. Like the time my buddy was trying to shoot the eight into the corner pocket, only to look up and see the full moon. :nono: It wasn’t even dark outside. We all agreed at that point, maybe we were going too far.
Luckily for me, a friend of mine had a table in his garage. I don’t know for sure, but I think it was one of those Sears types. It was just a little bar table. I started practicing on that thing all the time, even in the middle of winter. That’s when I first wore a “pool glove”, just a pair of thin wool winter gloves. I would turn on the gas grill that was only a few feet away for minutes at a time to fight off the frost bite. Those were some good times. It didn’t take long for my immediate circle of friends to think I was crazy. I mean they enjoyed pool and all, but they didn’t love it! So I would practice by myself. I quickly got good enough to beat all the local boys. So I thought I was pretty good.
I grew up in a small town in between Flint & Saginaw, Michigan. I can remember driving into Flint to go into a real pool room, where real players played. What’s funny is I can remember one of the first times I ever went into one of the local rooms, Richie Richeson was there playing someone, this was around the mid 90’s. I remember watching him play at the time since someone at the counter said he was one of the better players in Michigan and thinking to myself “this guy's not that good. He’s just making a bunch of easy shots. I could make those.” You see, I thought I was pretty good back then.
Fast forward a bit…and I’m in Kalamazoo, Michigan and I start playing a bit more seriously, and I start to actually learn some things about pool. I get to watch some great players play, but this time I have more of an understanding of the game. I started to realize how difficult the game really was. Once it dawned on me how far behind these great players I really was, I just said forget it and I quit. I guess I realized I really wasn’t that good after all. I put my cue down for quite a few years after this.
Here in the past five years or so I have been practicing a lot (don’t tell anyone), and really working on my game. About as much as a working man with a family can. I’ve gotten better for sure. But it’s funny how with every step I take up the mountain to pool greatness, I realize how much further I have to go. The better I get, the more I realize how truly great world class players are.
I see it all the time on this forum, where guys come on here and you can just tell that they have not yet realized how exceptional the pool players at the top really are. When I see this, I smile because I know most of us have gone through this transformation. First you think you’re a great player, even though you can’t run 10 balls on a 9 foot table. Then you realize you’re horrible so you get really discouraged and maybe you even give up the game for a time. Then something happens. It’s this final phase where you realize that you’re in it for life. You’re going to try to climb that mountain to pool greatness even if it kills you. You’re now a lifer. There’s no more quitting. No more looking back. With each step you take, you realize you have further to go than you even realized. But you don’t care anymore. In the back of your mind, you know you will probably only make it so far but you press on anyways. This is when pool really becomes fun. You no longer get so frustrated with the game. You take the good with the bad and you sort of enjoy both of them.
I never really understood those people that for some reason just had to climb Mt. Everest. I’ve seen those shows and I just shook my head wondering why on earth these people would risk their lives for such a trivial pursuit. I think I now understand why. It satisfies something deep within them that nothing else does. That’s what pool does for me.
I know this is so cliché and we have all heard it a million times but at least for me it has become very true, not just with pool but with life: It’s the journey and not the destination. Maybe you share this same view of the game. Maybe not. If not, I bet you one thing - if you take this approach to the game you will not be nearly as frustrated with it as you were before. Trust me on that.
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