Why do you play this game?

I came across a caroom table, I think that what there called. Had a checker board on one side. I wore that thing out in my driveway as a kid in Cali, a local park had tournaments, but I think I just watched, don’t recall playing competitively as a 7-8 year old. Was given a Viking butt when I was about 15, went to the Viking shop and asked for a 10mm shaft, they refused to warranty any under 11mm. Lost that cue around 20, found the exact cue in my early 30’s, the vaunted Super Joint, Still have it but the guy who had it last took off the wrap and personally refinished it. He did a good job for an amateur.
 
My dad and I would watch any televised pool , I remember seeing Willie doing some trick shots like six balls one shot and five rail bank and was amazed what could be done with the cue ball . Not long after seeing that on T.V. my dad bought a 5'X10' pool table . I set up those shots and played for hours , and the pink aluminum cue dad had we thought was the bomb :ROFLMAO:
 
For me a pool table and the pool balls on or in it were a babysitter of sorts for me as my folks enjoyed adult beverages in the bar , then I discovered a pool table in the back room at a cafe it was the challenge that got my attention and fed my competitive spirit .

Then a pool league was my next experience with the game and I owned a Olympia beer pool cue and thought I had the world by the tail little did I know but I was starting to learn fast even with a slip on tip because I crushed and cracked the original ferrule which lasted through a brief stay in college .

My next cue was a Adams Jim Rempe cue and it survived longer than the Oly pool cue or tomato stake ha ha , then I met Frank McGowan who befriended me and we'd talk hunting , fishing and yes even pool and he helped me with my game when I needed it the most after surgery that fused my neck and made it difficult at best to get down on a shot .

With Frank's help we developed a European / American stance as he called it which I still use today .

For a short while I taught kids or tried to teach kids at both the boys and girls club then years later at a Corner Pocket Billards hall in the town I lived in .
At times I still will help people who are serious about wanting to improve their game if I and my grandkids lived closer to one another I'd do what I could to get them more involved in the game if it's their idea and not me trying to push them into it .

This is just some of the highlights there's many pool league games and many 8 & 9 ball tournaments that I didn't mention .
A divorce then kids placed with me and my walking away from the game because my kids needed a dad .
 
My grandfather had a pool table, but I didn't catch the pool bug until my grandfather gave the table to my father when I was around 8~10. Once that table was in our basement, I played almost every day.
 
LibraryFool77 said:
How where you introduced and what caught your interest.
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I was 13-14 my dad grounded me for 2 months.... we had a wet bar and a 4x8 pool table with clay balls in the basement.
Dad came home one day I wasn't studying.... I was hitting balls didn't enjoy studying, I was the best short track indoor speed skater in the US 1961-2 and had Allot of energy.
A week or so later came home from school.... table was gone.
I lived in the SW suburbs of Chicago, every town had billiards or bowling.... Brunswick territory.
Opened the yellow pages, there was a pool room right next to Hestermans Bowling alley, went there, walked in....allot of kids my age hitting balls on GCI's.
I won $22.... played from then on, why?
I enjoyed it, and played Varner 1969 in the midwest collegiate 14.1 finals/lost by two balls, went to his room and emptied his pockets at 9 ball. $20 a game he quit after about 13 games.

bm
 
Rusty in Montana said:
For me a pool table and the pool balls on or in it were a babysitter of sorts for me as my folks enjoyed adult beverages in the bar , then I discovered a pool table in the back room at a cafe it was the challenge that got my attention and fed my competitive spirit .

Then a pool league was my next experience with the game and I owned a Olympia beer pool cue and thought I had the world by the tail little did I know but I was starting to learn fast even with a slip on tip because I crushed and cracked the original ferrule which lasted through a brief stay in college .

My next cue was a Adams Jim Rempe cue and it survived longer than the Oly pool cue or tomato stake ha ha , then I met Frank McGowan who befriended me and we'd talk hunting , fishing and yes even pool and he helped me with my game when I needed it the most after surgery that fused my neck and made it difficult at best to get down on a shot .

With Frank's help we developed a European / American stance as he called it which I still use today .

For a short while I taught kids or tried to teach kids at both the boys and girls club then years later at a Corner Pocket Billards hall in the town I lived in .
At times I still will help people who are serious about wanting to improve their game if I and my grandkids lived closer to one another I'd do what I could to get them more involved in the game if it's their idea and not me trying to push them into it .

This is just some of the highlights there's many pool league games and many 8 & 9 ball tournaments that I didn't mention .
A divorce then kids placed with me and my walking away from the game because my kids needed a dad .
Click to expand...
Details on that European/American stance might be of interest to several people on this forum.
 
David in FL said:
Because I'm an idiot... 😑
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Same. I have no idea how & why and will choke the person that introduced me to it to deeth when I see them again.
Honestly a pool table is a shit magnet...pulls us right to it. I was at a Summer camp in the the Pocono's that had 4 dusty tables in a barn. Got sucked right in.
 
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Not Dead Ted said:
Details on that European/American stance might be of interest to several people on this forum.
Click to expand...
Like so many people now stand when down on a shot their chin is very close to their pool cue , after my neck was fused the first of two times that wasn't happening without a great deal of pain and discomfort .

Frank suggested that I square up a bit more to the shot as as it was mentioned in another post on here a stance similar to what Minnesota Fats used where you're stance is more of a up right one , it still can have some discomfort involved but not like before .
Since then I've had another surgery so C-3, C-4, C5 are now solid so bending my neck isn't as simple as it once was .

I hope you can understand my explanation , as I was back to playing pool shortly after those surgeries while wearing a cervical collar this was back in the 1990's and today the patient wearing a cervical collar is non existent .
 
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My first recollection of pool is the Wide World of Sports with Cosell. I also remember Mizerack and Mike Massey being on TV. When there are only 3 channels that's a big deal.

The first time I remember going to a pool hall was because my Dad was getting a bike he ordered for me at a place called Wheeler Dealer. It was next door to The Pool Room, which is now Chester's (moved though) and owned by John Barton. The Pool Room let kids in and I was hooked from that moment on. Then a couple of years later the Color of Money came out, I was 16 and it made me even more hooked.
 
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