2019 on a 6 month assignment in Lake Charles, Louisiana. I’m playing at a little pub called Linda’s Lounge. A desolate area as far as pool goes, with nothing but 7’ Valley bar boxes as far as the eye can see (you have go all the way to Beaumont to avoid them, and even then your met with the rare pool hall 8’ Olhausen at Fast Eddie’s).
But, Linda’s was the place that people with their own cues would go to shoot for a while, and they had sign up boards so people can rotate in.
So I’m playing and I win two in a row in not “world beating” fashion. But either way it drew the sharks out. All of a sudden my opponent lost control of his bladder and had to go to the bathroom twice in one rack, and I eventually call my ball off to carom off the 8.
As soon as I hit it, my opponent (now with, what I assume to be, a really empty bladder) calls foul since the 8-ball can’t be part of any shot. My only question was why didn’t he correct me when I called exactly that prior to shooting. All told this whole exchange didn’t bother me much.
However, at this point some bystander says “that’s the rule wherever you go in this country” - and at this point I just about lost a gasket.
Louisiana is the 11th state I’ve lived in, playing at least a rack of pool in all of them. I also spent 7 years in the Navy serving with folks from all 50 states, and figuring out how to play just a simple rack of pool was a legitimate problem we faced because the details were so different. Furthermore, that’s not even the rule 50 miles from Lake Charles.
At this point one of the other guys playing sensed the frustration on my face and clarified “yes, the pubs in lake Charles abide by this rule”
