Best cue ball ever

Michael Andros

Michael Andros

tiny balls, GIANT pockets
Silver Member
ChrisinNC said:
If you ordered it off the Brunswick website, and it cost you $36 or whatever, plus shipping, I think you can be confident that it is the same blue circle cue ball that comes with the Centennials, and not a knock off.
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Hopefully so, Chris. We'll see. The reason I asked is, I think it was Freddie who said earlier that the Blue "Dot" had replaced the Blue Circle in the Centennial set. But, the photo on the Brunswick site certainly looks like a blue circle, not a blue dot. Que sera, sera... I'll know in @ a week or so! ;)
 
PoolBum

PoolBum

Ace in the side.
Silver Member
Michael Andros said:
Watched him play countless times ( he lived in Tampa for years off and on ) but never paid much attention to his cue ball. What was it?

I know he had/has the best control of one ever! :grin:
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I think it was one of those Jim Rempe training cueballs.
 
WildWing

WildWing

Super Gun Mod
Silver Member
Patrick Johnson said:
Freddie said it, but the other way around - the circle replaced the dot.

pj
chgo
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I doubt it. Going back as far as I can, the Blue Circle came before the Blue Dot. The Jimmy Caras Book started in 1948.

As far as the Blue Dot goes, I recall it being Albany Ball Company's replacement for the Blue Circle, as they wore out in most pool rooms.

All the best,
WW
 

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Michael Andros

Michael Andros

tiny balls, GIANT pockets
Silver Member
WildWing said:
I doubt it. Going back as far as I can, the Blue Circle came before the Blue Dot. The Jimmy Caras Book started in 1948.

As far as the Blue Dot goes, I recall it being Albany Ball Company's replacement for the Blue Circle, as they wore out in most pool rooms.

All the best,
WW
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Well, it's almost certainly going to be one or the other. I'm simply hoping it's the circle, not the dot. We have several blue dots at the room ( the rest are red circles ) but haven't had any blue circles in decades. When I ordered today, I was expecting a circle. We'll see what happens.
 
F

fiftyyardline

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Blue circle

Re the blue circle cueball that comes with the Centennial sets. I got rid of the two blue circle cueballs that I had several years ago because they looked terrible after just a moderate amount of use. They retain a lot of chalk that cannot be totally cleaned off. They obviously have a much more porous finish than than the other premium cueballs such as the red circle, measle, etc. I also like the new Cyclop cueball - the one with the one large red dot - dot size similar to the size of the dots on a measle cueball.
 
Cornerman

Cornerman

Cue Author...Sometimes
Gold Member
Silver Member
WildWing said:
I doubt it. Going back as far as I can, the Blue Circle came before the Blue Dot. The Jimmy Caras Book started in 1948.

As far as the Blue Dot goes, I recall it being Albany Ball Company's replacement for the Blue Circle, as they wore out in most pool rooms.

All the best,
WW
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The Centennial blue dot was from Hyatt (Albany), and the Centennial blue circle was most defintely from Saluc Aramith afterwards. Whether there was some other blue circle before Albany’s blue dot , I don’t know. Maybe it as a different shade of blue? I grew up in the transition of blue dot to blue circle (US Albany to Belgian Saluc Centennials). I know those two pretty well. My blue dot is noticeably smaller from wear.

Maybe the Blue Circle that the OP (Michael) is reminiscing about is the older one.


Freddie <~~~ the plot thickens
 
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Cornerman

Cornerman

Cue Author...Sometimes
Gold Member
Silver Member
Michael Andros said:
Well, it's almost certainly going to be one or the other. I'm simply hoping it's the circle, not the dot. We have several blue dots at the room ( the rest are red circles ) but haven't had any blue circles in decades. When I ordered today, I was expecting a circle. We'll see what happens.
Click to expand...

You’re getting a Blue Circle. :) The Universe works like that.
 
R

Roscoe

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I live in an over 55 community. We have two blue circle cue balls in our three table game room.

Roscoe
 
Cornerman

Cornerman

Cue Author...Sometimes
Gold Member
Silver Member
Michael Andros said:
I like that, Freddie... I'll go with that! :yeah:
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https://forums.azbilliards.com/showpost.php?p=5547938&postcount=190

This looks to be what people are refering to as the “blue circle” that came before the blue dot. It looks like a black circle to me, but that could be the lighting.Definitely a different blue circle than what I’m refering to.

The blue circle that I’m refering to is the Saluc-made Centennial, which is what you’ll be getting. It’s made from the same cast phenolic resin as their Aramith Super Pros, based on my previous communciation with Saluc (Aramith)


Freddie <~~~ we’ll talk, Michael
 
Michael Andros

Michael Andros

tiny balls, GIANT pockets
Silver Member
Cornerman said:
The Centennial blue dot was from Hyatt (Albany), and the Centennial blue circle was most defintely from Saluc Aramith afterwards. Whether there was some other blue circle before Albany’s blue dot , I don’t know. Maybe it as a different shade of blue? I grew up in the transition of blue dot to blue circle (US Albany to Belgian Saluc Centennials). I know those two pretty well. My blue dot is noticeably smaller from wear.

Maybe the Blue Circle that the OP (Michael) is reminiscing about is the older one.


Freddie <~~~ the plot thickens
Click to expand...

Just to set a specific time-frame on this, I began going in the pool room at the beginning of the summer of 67, within a week or so after school got out. I was 12. I turned 13 at the very end of that summer. The room had ( as I recall, anyway ) multiple blue circles. By 80 ( or thereabouts ), they were all gone.
 
Michael Andros

Michael Andros

tiny balls, GIANT pockets
Silver Member
Cornerman said:
https://forums.azbilliards.com/showpost.php?p=5547938&postcount=190

This looks to be what people are refering to as the “blue circle” that came before the blue dot. It looks like a black circle to me, but that could be the lighting.Definitely a different blue circle than what I’m refering to.

The blue circle that I’m refering to is the Saluc-made Centennial, which is what you’ll be getting. It’s made from the same cast phenolic resin as their Aramith Super Pros, based on my previous communciation with Saluc (Aramith)


Freddie <~~~ we’ll talk, Michael
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I Read WW's post you just pasted the link to. Fascinating stuff, Freddie, thanks. I wonder if the one in the photo ( the blue or black circle, on the mirror ) is the one people are referring to that gathers chalk or if that one is the one I played with way back when and will be getting from Brunswick.

History was always my favorite subject in school. All of this is a bit mesmerizing to me. In another thread, someone was asking about the origins of 9ball; when, where, how, rules, etc. No one seems to know... this, to me, is very similar in that I could read all day about it all. Great stuff!
 
C

ChrisinNC

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Michael, you've really built this blue circle Centennial cue ball up to being something really special - I hope you're not let down. I probably have 25 of them in various conditions, but the only time I use one in our poolroom any more is when I'm practicing 14.1 or playing a 14.1 match in here, in which I break out a virtually new set of Centennial balls and a new blue circle cue ball.

Otherwise, we use sets of Aramith Super Pro balls all the time, a red circle Aramith cue ball throughout the week, which is very easy to keep clean, and we break out the Aramith Pro Cup Measle cue ball just for our Monday night tournaments and our occasional bigger tournaments.

I honestly can't tell much difference in the Brunswick Centennial blue circle, although some old time players will swear it plays differently - lighter, heavier or whatever.

When you get it, you'll know it's a legit blue circle when you experience how hard it is to keep it nice and clean. Even simple fresh blue chalk marks on it from your cue tip don't seem to wipe off very easily. It will also gradually yellow over time, like many pool balls do. If you think you don't have a legit one, PM me, and I'll be happy to send you one of my used ones in good condition!
 
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Michael Andros

Michael Andros

tiny balls, GIANT pockets
Silver Member
ChrisinNC said:
Michael, you've really built this blue circle Centennial cue ball up to being something really special - I hope you're not let down. I probably have 25 of them in various conditions, but the only time I use one in our poolroom any more is when I'm practicing 14.1 or playing a 14.1 match in here, in which I break out a virtually new set of Centennial balls and a new blue circle cue ball.

Otherwise, we use sets of Aramith Super Pro balls all the time, a red circle Aramith cue ball throughout the week, which is very easy to keep clean, and we break out the Aramith Pro Cup Measle cue ball just for our Monday night tournaments and our occasional bigger tournaments.

I honestly can't tell much difference in the Brunswick Centennial blue circle, although some old time players will swear it plays differently - lighter, heavier or whatever.

When you get it, you'll know it's a legit blue circle when you experience how hard it is to keep it nice and clean. Even simple fresh blue chalk marks on it from your cue tip don't seem to wipe off very easily. It will also gradually yellow over time, like many pool balls do. If you think you don't have a legit one, PM me, and I'll be happy to send you one of my used ones in good condition!
Click to expand...

Chris, that is incredibly kind of you, thank you! I just might take you up on it!!! Hopefully, though, I won't need to. Time will tell.

As for building it up as being something special, that reminds me of a quote by Shelby Foote from Ken Burns' Civil War:

“We think that we are a wholly superior people – if we’d been anything like as superior as we think we are, we would not have fought that war. But since we did fight it, we have to make it the greatest war of all times. And our generals were the greatest generals of all time. It’s very American to do that.”

I say that because if I'm being fair, I'll admit that playing with a blue circle probably was never anything really special at all. It's simply very much an integral part of the magic I felt as my life in pool began unfolding. It was the first cue ball I remember using and, so, to paraphrase Mr. Foote, the blue circle must be the greatest cue ball of all time. And to take his quote one step further, it's probably not just very American to say that... but ultimately, very much human.

:smile:
 
C

ChrisinNC

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Michael Andros said:
Chris, that is incredibly kind of you, thank you! I just might take you up on it!!! Hopefully, though, I won't need to. Time will tell.

As for building it up as being something special, that reminds me of a quote by Shelby Foote from Ken Burns' Civil War:

“We think that we are a wholly superior people – if we’d been anything like as superior as we think we are, we would not have fought that war. But since we did fight it, we have to make it the greatest war of all times. And our generals were the greatest generals of all time. It’s very American to do that.”

I say that because if I'm being fair, I'll admit that playing with a blue circle probably was never anything really special at all. It's simply very much an integral part of the magic I felt as my life in pool began unfolding. It was the first cue ball I remember using and, so, to paraphrase Mr. Foote, the blue circle must be the greatest cue ball of all time. And to take his quote one step further, it's probably not just very American to say that... but ultimately, very much human.

:smile:
Click to expand...
Yes, it's nice that we can all get pleasure and satisfaction out of the little things in life. I've been know to get somewhat giddy with anticipation looking forward to receiving something pool related that I've ordered, that to most anyone else would be no big deal - such as a special kind of chalk, a new tip on my cue, or a different ball cleaner/polishing product that's been recommended to me from this forum. Let us know how it goes once you've played with it.
 
Michael Andros

Michael Andros

tiny balls, GIANT pockets
Silver Member
ChrisinNC said:
Yes, it's nice that we can all get pleasure and satisfaction out of the little things in life. I've been know to get somewhat giddy with anticipation looking forward to receiving something pool related that I've ordered, that to most anyone else would be no big deal - such as a special kind of chalk, a new tip on my cue, or a different ball cleaner/polishing product that's been recommended to me from this forum. Let us know how it goes once you've played with it.
Click to expand...

Yes, i know the feeling well, Chris.

Oh, I will, I'm sure. The first shot will be instantaneous nostalgia. :D
 
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