Tired of buzzed or drunk teammates.

You'll live longer if you don't worry about what the other guy does! If you can't take it, join another team or start your own.

It must be very furstrating... and because it's a team event, it makes their actions affect the whole team's season's stats, which usually includes money right?

Number 1 reason I don't play league, second is too much invested for many a crack at a little pay day.... if number 1 reason doesn't happen

Mr Slate said:

First off I know what to expect when playing in everyone's favorite "APA". It's a social league meant to introduce billiards to the masses.
I'm just getting more and more fed up with teammates that pound the beers BEFORE their matches and end up having their game suffer because of it. I'm not in any position to tell them what they should or shouldn't do.....I'm not a captain and they're grown adults. It just makes me upset when the team has a good chance of winning and the final deciding match is blown because too many beers or drinks have screwed up my teammate. I have said something in the past and usually I get the old "I play better when I've been drinking". I say BS. In my opinion the only thing one can do better under the influence, opposed to being sober.......is get a DUI.

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My suggestion is to find and join or start yourself a team of non-drinkers.
Also, check out the APA Masters, more serious players usually and usually mostly SL 6 and higher.

You hit the nail on the head when you said it's social pool and as such people are there to have a good time. Do you have any local tournaments you can play in to have an outlet for your competitive nature?

Good Luck.

Jason Robichaud said:

Number 1 reason I don't play league, second is too much invested for many a crack at a little pay day.... if number 1 reason doesn't happen

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Yeah, what he said.

I'd rather spend my money on crack too!

I actually get annoyed when people play APA and aren't having a grand old time hanging out, chatting, drinking, being social, and oh, playing pool. That's one of the reasons I and my wife play APA instead of BCAPL/M8 because it's much more social and fun. People don't take it as seriously. On our really one night out a week away from our kid we want to have a fun time and not take it seriously. When I want to play serious pool I enter a tournament.

Brian

Mr Slate said:

First off I know what to expect when playing in everyone's favorite "APA". It's a social league meant to introduce billiards to the masses.
I'm just getting more and more fed up with teammates that pound the beers BEFORE their matches and end up having their game suffer because of it. I'm not in any position to tell them what they should or shouldn't do.....I'm not a captain and they're grown adults. It just makes me upset when the team has a good chance of winning and the final deciding match is blown because too many beers or drinks have screwed up my teammate. I have said something in the past and usually I get the old "I play better when I've been drinking". I say BS. In my opinion the only thing one can do better under the influence, opposed to being sober.......is get a DUI.

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And anyway, maybe they are mad at you for not getting all hahammered!

Black-Balled said:

Yeah, what he said.

I'd rather spend my money on crack too!

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'maybe' would sound better there

These leagues do get people wanting to play for fun, however, being stuck $600 and relying on 4 drunk people isn't fun for me. The payout is usually $5000-6000 for 1st and 2nd losing money. Leagues are great for rooms, horrible for players (non-beginners).

Mr Slate said:

First off I know what to expect when playing in everyone's favorite "APA". It's a social league meant to introduce billiards to the masses.
I'm just getting more and more fed up with teammates that pound the beers BEFORE their matches and end up having their game suffer because of it. I'm not in any position to tell them what they should or shouldn't do.....I'm not a captain and they're grown adults. It just makes me upset when the team has a good chance of winning and the final deciding match is blown because too many beers or drinks have screwed up my teammate. I have said something in the past and usually I get the old "I play better when I've been drinking". I say BS. In my opinion the only thing one can do better under the influence, opposed to being sober.......is get a DUI.

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Thats league pool for you, Its JUST a play ground

I quietly said goodbye to my longtime team mates last year when I ended up having to taxi people to and from pool because of a player that didn't want to drive because he wanted to drink.

I got tired of watching my team lose because someone got too drunk.

This year I have a new team. Not nearly as strong (talent wise) as my old team, yet we're in first place, we have 4 players in the top 10 list of our division (currently all 4 are in the top 5). We have fun, we gel well as a team and we're in real danger of winning a trip outright without going to the playoffs.

You tell me which team is stronger?

Your so right...........

BillyKoda said:

You'll live longer if you don't worry about what the other guy does! If you can't take it, join another team or start your own.

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In the late 70's I went to a team tourny in Milwaukee at the Bayview Manner. They had some great tournaments there.

I went with George ,John and Bill. We had a pretty good team but everyone except me drank when they played pool. One guy drank way too much. . I won't use last names because it doesn't really matter.

We are playing a match and all of a sudden no John. We almost forfieted the game because John was downstairs at the bar. We couldn't find him. He didn't even know he was in a match. I guess his drinking effected his short term memory.

I was really dissappointed and really had trouble after that playing on any teams. Every once in a while I would give it another shot only to be very dissapointed. Everytime it was someone playing way below their ability because of to much to drink. It's frustrating to invest the time and money to do something as a team only to see one or 2 of the players throw it all away because they can't stop drinking long enough to play pool.

I road to this tourny with my friends. It was John's car I think, so he was going to drive. I thought john was too drunk to drive because i was totally sober and I could tell.. George and Bill had drank some so i don't think they really could see how bad off John was. I was scared to death. This was my ride. My only ride.

After going down in the ditch and back up fortuanately Bill talked john into letting him drive. This took about ten minutes and it was one of the most scariest moments in my life. He almost hit a few cars also. Good thing they weren't drunk also. They got out of the way. It very well could have been one of the deadliest rides in my life. I was only 23 at that time.

Bill died I think at about 55. George died around 53. John quit drinking about 15 years ago and is doing well. I quit drinking in 1986. My drinking had finally gotten me where my friends were. My life was a mess. Twin Town treatment was the answer for me. My pool game even got better. Even won some big tournys. AND Obviously I'm still alive also.

Bottom line is getting drunk and playing pool just doesn't work out very well especially if you have teammates that are depending on you.

There are alot of players that drink responsibly but there is no place in pool for getting drunk and playing.

Have a great day geno............

Maybe you're expecting too much out of your 2s and 3s. Not everybody is going to make every shot every time. Either way, if you don't like the way the team is behaving then it is time for you to get yourself a new team.

Part of being a captain on an APA team is knowing when to post your players. My players that have a tendency to drink too much I usually play early. I also have a couple that don't shoot well cold so I tend to play them later. Its not just about just showing up to play pool. My teams all gel pretty well and get along. I strongly discourage players from just showing up to play and then leaving. Part of it is to cheer on your teammates. If it were just about showing up, sitting on your hands til its time to play and then leaving the league wouldn't be nearly as successful as it is. It would be a lot more like the BCA.

btoneill said:

I actually get annoyed when people play APA and aren't having a grand old time hanging out, chatting, drinking, being social, and oh, playing pool. That's one of the reasons I and my wife play APA instead of BCAPL/M8 because it's much more social and fun. People don't take it as seriously. On our really one night out a week away from our kid we want to have a fun time and not take it seriously. When I want to play serious pool I enter a tournament.

Brian

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This is a very interesting perspective, Brian - thank you for sharing. I see a future blog article for my blog about this. Thanks!

yes a thing very disappointing is when people are so egoistical that don't see when someone cares about something. I don't say you must take everything in maximum attention, but if I see someone takes care of something I try my best to not disappoint him. I don't know, maybe i'm too much altruist.

Just because you think someone's game is hurt by how much they have drank. In the last few years that I played pool I had to get hammered to play at the high level everyone was accustomed to seeing me play. I came out to Vegas one year as a free agent and was immeditely enlisted by a local team from Nashville that had been courting me. The first match was early in the morning before I had consumed any booze or pain pills. I played terribly and was pulled after two matches. The next time our team played I downed two shots of whiskey at about 9 in the morning and slammed beers the rest of the match. Short story, we won and continued in tourney and wound up finishing in the money on the losers side. I had this arthritis condition for 40 yrs and it has gotten worse each year until I quit playing 2 yrs ago. It's league play, get over it and maybe you aren't as smart as you think you are.

By the way, my team captain and teammates didn't look to kindly on my drinking until they realized I never lost another match and was never pulled from play. They all admittedlater: different strokes for different strokes.

akaTrigger said:

This is a very interesting perspective, Brian - thank you for sharing. I see a future blog article for my blog about this. Thanks!

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I'll be happy to share my experiences (and the wifes) about stick in the mud boring take it too seriously pool players at APA vs. the APA in-house league that we love the most (and miss, since we moved back to Minneapolis from Charlotte, NC). It was ANYTHING but boring

Brian