This should stir some poop! There is not a normal person in the world since normal is just a theoretical condition. Hopefully a person balances out to near normal. Consider the olympics. Not one of those people standing on a podium is normal! "Normal" and "average" have very similar meanings and average isn't going to get you on a podium or make a champion pool player.
I have been well above average at everything I competed at. The first trick is choosing something I wanted to do and was suited to do, then focusing intently on that. I would never be a sprinter as a foot racer, I could herd a sprint car around a track. A javelin is similar to a pool cue but I could never throw a javelin with the same success as using a pool cue. Gotta pick reasonable goals.
Pool was unusual. I was godawful when I begin! However, it was challenging and I had the inspiration of money being made to play! First six months I bought more beer for others than I won. One thing, the places that tolerated underage drinking by a fifteen year old also had tables in horrible shape. Easier to learn on nice tables. By the end of a year or year and a half I always drank on other people's money. Often all my friends did too!
I don't know if you noticed the enhanced competition for athletes recently. Some thought records would fall left and right, in reality, I think one record was set, unofficial of course. Then again, the best athletes weren't willing to go enhanced and interfere with their ability to compete anywhere else.
Some players that are playing "enhanced" due to emotional issues would be even better had they learned to control their emotions on the natch! I think all would if they could manage to compete on the natch. I have heard of chemical players that could play for long hours and days with a perfect balance but in many years of play I have never encountered one. As long as I had deep enough pockets I was going to bust a chemical player because they couldn't hold their mix. Beat them a few games in a row and they would make a trip to the bathroom, or two or three! I was still winning, their mix must still be off! Before long I was having to watch where to put my bridge hand down, there was drool all over the table.
I have had medical issues for many years. Taken dozens of different medications for the usual issues, none emotional or mental except as side effects of medications taken for things like blood pressure. I have yet to find a medication that caused me to compete better than on the natch. Beta blockers interfered with my ability to perform. Some want them to dull their senses but you need sharp senses to compete.
Drugs can be fun for recreation if you lean thataway. They suck for performance.
Back to the original subject, I am a perfectionist, others are OCD!
Hu
