team commitment

L

lorider

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
before i go off on this lil rant i am about to make let me say this , i know there are more important things in life than shooting pool. well.... to most people anyway.

we played in our 8 ball tri cup this weekend which for those that dont know is a qualifier for the city tournament.

just like every other time we have qualified for this tournament for the last 2 years half the team does not show up ! i heard all kinds of excuses, cant get off work, ol lady is having a yard sale and i gotta help, etc etc.

every one knew about this tournament for a month in advance and no one could arrange their schedules to make it or at least say in advance they cant make it. wth ?

i do want to share with you about one persons commitment though. his name is bobby sirbaugh. he is not only my teamate but a good friend i have known for years. one of the nicest guys you will ever met and a helluva player.

he is the napa lo in our area. i happen to play on his napa team and he joined my apa team last session. towards the end of last session bobby developed some health issues and was hospitalizes for a while . his health caused him to miss some matches and was 1 match short of being eligible of the playoffs.

i talked with our apa lo and he waived the eligibility rule and allowed bobby to play in the playoffs. our opponents in the playoffs knew bobby did not have the required number of matches to be eligible but had no problem with him playing. needless to say bobby helped us to win the playoffs which qualified us for the tri cups.

bobby started having health issues again and has missed all of this session so far. well 2 weeks ago he had a relapse and was back in the hospital. he just got out the 1st of last week. during this time i kept in touch with him and told him about the tri cups this weekend. he said he could not play as he was still pretty week and had not fully recoverd yet. i told him no problem as his health was the most important thing to us. he said he wanted to come out for moral support and also give timouts to our lesser skilled players. he is the best player on our team. s/l 7 in 8 ball and s/l 8 in 9 ball.

when he walked into the poolroom fri night the 1st things i noticed was that he was very pale and had lost a lot of weight over the last 6 weeks. he looked very tired and week but always had a smile on his face for everyone coming up and welcoming him there. i am talking about the whole friggin pool room , every one knows and likes bobby.

well after all the greetings and get wells are over the tourney starts. we only have 4 plus bobby there. when we get to a 2-1 point we realize even if we win the next match we will have to forfiet. bobby tells me he want to play the 4th match when they throw a strong 5 out, we only have an average 3 left to play. i ask are you sure, you dont look well at all and your heath is more important than this game. he said yea he wanted to play but he felt too week to break.

we called the lo over and the opposing player. we agreed i would rack and let the opponent break all racks. bobby won 5-1. we threw out our last remaining player, an average 3 and they threw out a decent 4. our 3 put up a valiant effort and went hill- hill but lost.

bobby could not make it the next day but i gotta say no one i have ever met playing pool cannot have a bigger heart than bobby sirbaugh. i am proud to call you my friend.
 
Bobby is an inspiration and a friend of whom you can be proud. Thanks for sharing your story.
 
sjm said:
Bobby is an inspiration and a friend of whom you can be proud. Thanks for sharing your story.
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when i started that post i was going to rant about teamates failure to commit. notice the word rant in the 1st sentence. but as i started writing i decided to write about the person who truly was commited.

yes he truly is an inspiration to me .

thanks for the kind words.
 
lorider said:
when i started that post i was going to rant about teamates failure to commit. notice the word rant in the 1st sentence. but as i started writing i decided to write about the person who truly was commited.

yes he truly is an inspiration to me .

thanks for the kind words.
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There are a whole lot of misguided pool players on AZ. You are definitely not one of them. Don't know the player in question but I'd be proud to have him as a team mate on ANY team I play on. You are one lucky person to have such a good friend.

To Bobby, hope your health issues are cured. You are obviously well liked and respected. Best of health and long life to you!

Lyn
 
Tap! Tap! Tap! for Bobby... & you. Hope he recovers well & the two of you win it all next year, but with some new 'team mates'
 
A very inspiring story, wishing your friend Bobby well in his recovery.

As for your choice in veering off from a rant I must say that was very encouraging. I know sometimes it is difficult to play or work with people who can't commit. But a story about that would get lost in the many other similar stories.

The tone of the story you set I think may make people reflect on their own choices and what those choices mean to those around them.

Good luck with your team and your friend whom I'm sure you know you are lucky to have.
 
lorider said:
when i started that post i was going to rant about teamates failure to commit. notice the word rant in the 1st sentence. but as i started writing i decided to write about the person who truly was commited.

yes he truly is an inspiration to me .

thanks for the kind words.
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Wow....what a story. Bobby is the man!

As far as teammates not showing, I get how frustrating that is. I have as hard a time getting Saturdays off as anyone. When others don't find a way to make it happen, it burns me, too.
 
What a tale... wow. You can see what having a brave heart really means.

If I was on Bobby's place, I somehow doubt I'd be able to play. Not because I wouldn't want to. You said he was too weak to break. Without high-powered shots at my disposal, I would certainly be doomed against any serious players...
 
Nice story, thanks for sharing. You're fortunate to have a friend like Bobby, I sincerely hope his health improves in order that you can share that friendship for a long time to come.

As far as the other team members and their commitment, I'd say it is time to put together a new team with people who will make their absolute best effort to attend. It isn't a matter of bad mouthing those who won't commit, that's their choice. It's simply a matter of finding those that will commit and stick to it when possible.
 
instead of making multiple posts i just want to say thanks to all of you for the kind words and well wishes for bobby.

bobby told me yesterday he will be released from the doctors care and will be back playing pool in 2 weeks. i cant wait to have him back on the team. he said its killing him staying at home all the time lol.
 
Kudos to your friend. Sounds like he truly loves the game of pool. He also ranks A+ in sportsmanship! :thumbup:

I know every team captian would give anything to have just 1 player like Bobby, as he can elevate a whole team.

Well wishes for his recovery.
 
What I like isn't just that your buddy showed a lot of heart, it's that everyone involved seemed willing to be a good sport and understands what league is about.

Too often we hear horror stories where a guy gets his win reversed because some nit caught him on a technicality, or how the other team abused situations where a ref wasn't around to settle disputes.

In this case, the LO decided not to be a hardass and bobby play, and the other team decided to be good sports about it too rather than take the easy win. Then everyone went along with the strange breaking arrangement.

Pretty classy all around. I like to hear about people who get it.
 
Nice to hear your LO was flexible. We once had a team who had a player who died in the middle of a season, and the L.O. would not let them replace the player with his daughter who wanted to play on his behalf in the cities.
 
CreeDo said:
What I like isn't just that your buddy showed a lot of heart, it's that everyone involved seemed willing to be a good sport and understands what league is about.

Too often we hear horror stories where a guy gets his win reversed because some nit caught him on a technicality, or how the other team abused situations where a ref wasn't around to settle disputes.

In this case, the LO decided not to be a hardass and bobby play, and the other team decided to be good sports about it too rather than take the easy win. Then everyone went along with the strange breaking arrangement.

Pretty classy all around. I like to hear about people who get it.
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you are exactly right creedo.

all too often we hear about all the negative things about leagues and the douche bags that play in them and win any way you can mentality.

in the playoffs the lo bent the rules because of bobbys health and the other team had no objections. bobby helped us win and go to the tri cups. without bobby we would not have made it.

then when we get to the tri cups the opposing team had us over a barrel due to we did not have all our players. again the lo and our opponents gave us a fighting chance but we fell short.

even with bobbys frail health he was a strong enough player to give this very good 5 all the breaks and still won his match 5-1

i think it says a lot about the character of our league operator and of our opponents also. this was not just a typical league match, it was a chance to go to vegas we were playing for.
 
Bohemyth said:
Nice to hear your LO was flexible. We once had a team who had a player who died in the middle of a season, and the L.O. would not let them replace the player with his daughter who wanted to play on his behalf in the cities.
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our lo made the decision on his own for bobby to be eligible for the playoffs, but he did notify all team captains of his decision before playoffs started so there would not be any objections.

at the tri cups our lo and i consulted with our opponents and we all agreed to let the opponent have all the breaks.

i feel your lo should have at least consulted with all the team captains before making such a decision considering the circumstances you described.
 
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