maybe he can grow up now and treat it as a sport..

My break/jump cue has served me well and cost under a hundred. The phenolic tip and heavy / stiff shaft makes a full cue jump possible.
All cues have a personality. Most critical is knowing your cue. And oh yeah, It ain't the arrow. It's the Indian.

iusedtoberich said:

Busti held that distinction until he won a world championship late in his career.

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then three (?) DCC banners even later, plus MOT's.. longevity

DrCue'sProtege said:

Anybody have any idea why a reputable table mechanic would have told me Charcoal?

Perhaps that was what was used years ago?

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No dog in this fight, but . . . I assume sometime in your life you've picked up a piece of charcoal? If so, you know the answer. But if you believe that, make sure the carpet under the table is black . . . . as coal, which you may get!

Island Drive said:

he was such a nice person

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Absolutely! A true Ambassador to the game.
I drew him in a 9 ball tournament on 9 footers. I was dead money and donating, for sure. My highlight of the match was making A shot. I had rolled out after the break and he gave it back. I drilled the bank and drew perfect shape. Well the full table run was beyond my ability. Playing him on center stage uh made me nervous.
I was seated behind Dan's chair when he missed a simple 6 ball playing Earl at hill/hill. Earl had done the same earlier in the rack. As he cased his cue he looked at me and said, " I just got nervous ." I replied, "Dan , I can certainly identify with that."

Taxi said:

And in a way it was even better than that. He went below 1.000 only after scratching on an incredible shot down the long rail that most of us might make 1 time out of 10 or 20. And two of his misses were on extremely difficult treetop shots. Theoretically those shots were makeable, but realistically they were in a different class altogether from shots we generally expect to pocket.

But Yapp! JFC on steroids!

At this point in 2025, has there ever been a player who's ever put up a more impressive string of wins against stronger competition than Yapp has in such a short stretch of time? Just to go down the list:

Winning the International Open, Reyes Cup MVP, Formosa Cup, U. S. Open, Florida Open, and UK Open, plus quarterfinals or better in the World 10B championship, the Hanoi Open, the Scottish Open, and the Premier League.

Okay, maybe Sigel went an entire year without missing a single shot, but still.....

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i really don't think so. FSR had a wild run and bigger titles, but the asian competition is arguably stiffer now when fully recovered after pandemic travel/tournament restrictions. would be sick if he won the intl open trice. i'm rooting for wiktor, probably in vain

jay helfert said:

I did not enjoy the commentary in this match. Too much talk, talk, talk where they were actually talking over each other. They seemed to feel like they had to take up every moment of airtime with conversation. A moment or two of silence between shots would have been a relief. And Mike starting so many comments with "I would have done this or I wouldn't have done that." Too much me, me, me. Jerry played right into it reminding us how great Mike once was several times. Sometimes commentators forget the cardinal rule of commentating - it's not about them, it's about the guys out there on the table.

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Sigel was pretty chatty and could have been more restrained but he had some pretty good insights and was genuinely excited - only thing that really bugged me was at the end of the match he kept having the score wrong in his mind and keep talking like Skylar had Yapp's games won, but overall the quality of the match overcame the commentating for me.

Mensabum said:

I remember when I first started to play - when a ball was hit good, it felt good, your cue had a certain feel to it and the ball made that sound when hitting the pocket.
Undeniable. Heads turned.
All players know that sound.

Just for shits and giggles, try playing with earplugs and tell me if you dont have a situational awareness not found during normal play.
Not earbuds, actual ear plugs. Noise cancelling earplugs.
That sound you normally hear when in stroke becomes something completely different . When you hit one bad, its like fingernails down a chalkboard. The feedback you receive from hindering your hearing can be enlightening.
If you can interpret that data, it adds a whole new level of subtle feedback you may not be aware of.
Try it.

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Funny as it sounds, changing sound often changes performance! Going around in circles in a car or on a motorcycle, ear plugs will make you go faster. Heard this, tested it to be true. However, twisting a 327 at eight grand with individual pipes and no collectors then putting in ear plugs seemed unAmerican at the least! Got some bad information as to rear gears for a track and didn't have lighter gears. By the time I got to the flagstand it felt like somebody stuck an icepick in my ears. Even with a helmet on I was seriously worried about damage to my ears. Not worried enough to park the car of course! Some consolation, people in the crowd noticed that I was throwing roostertails of dirt on the flagman in his low stand over the track! As bad as it hurt my ears I might have been lifting a tad early or just not had my foot getting that tiny extra bit of floorboard flex from trying to jam my throttle foot through the floor. Drivers in long races said earplugs definitely made them faster, I wasn't giving up the noise as a teenager!

Some of the five by tens I cut my teeth on had heavy leather pockets at the top with a basket cut out of the bottom. Then they had another very thick leather "burner" inside the pocket. When you put a ball dead center of the back of the pocket it made a very satisfying thunk. I liked it enough to play for the thunk. My first play for the center pocket when I didn't really need it was just to hear the sound of a ball hitting close to a half inch of leather when considering the double layers up high.

Would you play better with ear plugs? Under some conditions I would say definitely! Remember when Rocking Robin or Achy Breaky Heart were popular? Enough to justify ear plugs! One night I was gambling and somebody found the song "Give Me Another Bowl of Them Good Ol' Butter Beans." Not a bad song once in awhile but five or six times an hour it starts losing it's appeal in a hurry! I finally said if you can't beat them, join them. I started singing along and I have been tone deaf since birth! Anybody that thinks earplugs can't help hasn't heard me sing!

Hu

garczar said:

what's the difference? both are sign you're done.

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You can shoot without a glove. You can’t shoot without a cue.

It is a shark move for sure, but any ass who does it can still play.

AtLarge said:

Sky shot .949 and lost!

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And in a way it was even better than that. He went below 1.000 only after scratching on an incredible shot down the long rail that most of us might make 1 time out of 10 or 20. And two of his misses were on extremely difficult treetop shots. Theoretically those shots were makeable, but realistically they were in a different class altogether from shots we generally expect to pocket.

But Yapp! JFC on steroids!

At this point in 2025, has there ever been a player who's ever put up a more impressive string of wins against stronger competition than Yapp has in such a short stretch of time? Just to go down the list in reverse order:

Winning the International Open Bigfoot, Reyes Cup MVP, Formosa Cup, U. S. Open, Florida Open, and UK Open, plus quarterfinals or better in the World 10B championship, the Hanoi Open, the Scottish Open, and the Premier League.

Okay, maybe Sigel went an entire year without missing a single shot, but still.....

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