Air stroking....

Gunn_Slinger said:

You beat me to this thread. Its 'profiling, look at me ,I'm kool. Some good player did it and now the herd does it. I dont mind too much when the great players do some of it, but now all the local short-stops and even ball-bangers ( and the suckers ) do it.
I love it when they do all that crap, and then screw up!
Its like when Sigel started breaking the balls ,taking the cue into the cloth after the CB was gone...it did nothing, but every wanna-bee started doing it. Screwed up soo many tables...its a joke.

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+1 on the break comment. I hate seeing people rainbow their shafts on the table. There's also the guys that have to mimic the Tony Ellin style break, going all up in the air after the hit.. It's all about trying to look cool if you ask me.


As for the air strokes, I don't really care. Do what you think is helpful. If that's apart of your pre-shot routine, then go for it. If anything, it's kind of like golf where it's an etiquette thing for pace of play. Your psr shouldn't take half an hour.

u MaD bRO?

galipeau said:

+1 on the break comment. I hate seeing people rainbow their shafts on the table.

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But the shaft bending is a natural consequence of keeping your bridge hand on the table and the cue in your bridge. The only way to avoid it is to either lift up your bridge hand, which is probably not a good idea, or push your stroke arm forward rather than up, which also may not be a good idea.

Runner said:

I def don't have a problem with 2 or 3... almost everyone takes a few, from Efren on down. Standing there air stroking 20-25 times... not so much. Try playing someone who does that (I have)... it'll drive you crazy. Do your PSR, take a few, get on with it.

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Sooo ....
When you play these turkeys, do you win or have they discovered a successful strategy?

After the ball has left your tip, nothing you do can affect the path or speed of the cb. Imo, for the break it's best to keep it simple, follow through cleanly, and lift your bridge hand when the balls come back up table.

I think the bending and extreme upwards motion was a bit of a fad. From the players I've seen these days, their breaks are much more compact than those of the 80s and 90s. I'm no expert, just my observations. Also take into account the equipment changes may be a factor in why the break technique had seemed to have changed.

If we were all less bothered by petty crap like air strokes we'd all be better players (myself included).

Runner said:

I def don't have a problem with 2 or 3... almost everyone takes a few, from Efren on down. Standing there air stroking 20-25 times... not so much. Try playing someone who does that (I have)... it'll drive you crazy. Do your PSR, take a few, get on with it.

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Just to add some food for thought.

I hate playing players who do this when I know they're going to miss the shot. I certainly give credit where credit is due, and I am not one to underestimate my opponent but eventually you get a realistic idea of what to expect from them.

I don't want to see someone airstroke 20 times if I know they're going to miss the shot, miss shape, not run an impossible rack. It's the equivalent of trying to beat a guaranteed double-kiss bank and spending 3 minutes standing there preparing to miss.

I'm certainly a selfish player to a degree, mind you, because I like to be the one at the table. So, I'd say that circumstances determine whether or not it would piss me off or not. I'll happily sit down for a few hours watching Justin airstroke every shot while running a 6-pack.

CoreyD said:

If we were all less bothered by petty crap like air strokes we'd all be better players (myself included).

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Hey, I've been to Mitchell, SD during the corn festivities
We were traveling from Maryland to see the black hills.

Is this a real post?! LOL