OK, now I get to share my second favorite Niels story (my favorite is longer and will have to wait
)
In 2005 I had a disagreement with a friend about who was better, Niels or Mika. I liked Niels. We were both stubborn on this one so we settled it with a friendly side bet. We did a 'last longer' sweat bet between the two in every major tournament they played. $50 to whoever's horse made it further.
Well, it went totally my way. Niels finished above Mika in every tournament, just barely. Mika takes 9th? Niels would take 7th. Mika would take 7th? Niels would take 5th. It was an epic run for two years and at the end of which I'd collected about $400 with 8 straight wins. Niels didn't let me down once!
Finally my friend pulled up. He'd had enough. He still thought Mika played good but admitted that it was pretty close and he was tired of paying off bets.
Now, for those of you that don't know pool history I'll go ahead and share what happened next. The very tournament that my friend quit betting on was when Mika began the biggest tear of his life! For two years he won everything including back to back US Opens and a bunch of other big finishes in between. Money just can't buy the good feelings that came from me text messaging my friend with update after update as Mika ran the world over. "Looks like I gotta ship you some cash", followed by "Disregard, I forgot you pulled up". Stuff like that. Priceless.
