Age Catch's up...when to retirel?

Pangit

Pangit

Banned
How do you know "when" to exit stage left...gracefully. Brett Favre stayed on too long.

I just saw this guy Morris that's about 7O years old...just guessing. Hadn't seen him in a few years. He used to be "nearly" unbeatable locally, a true sage of the game.

Now he can't see anything...can't afford glasses. His stroke has gone south.

I feel sorry for him...he's a shell of his former "pool playing self".
 
B

bbb

AzB Gold Member
Gold Member
Silver Member
Pangit said:
How do you know "when" to exit stage left...gracefully. Brett Favre stayed on too long.

I just saw this guy Morris that's about 7O years old...just guessing. Hadn't seen him in a few years. He used to be "nearly" unbeatable locally, a true sage of the game.

Now he can't see anything...can't afford glasses. His stroke has gone south.

I feel sorry for him...he's a shell of his former "pool playing self".
Click to expand...

why dont you buy him some glasses??
that might postpone his retirement???
:grin:
 
Bona

Bona

Registered
Interesting... I stopped playing pool when I was about 30... family and career demands, golf, and life just took me out of the pool rooms. Semi retired now 40 years later at age seventy, I went through my closet this summer, found my cue, and joined an APA league.

I was a decent (not great) player, mostly 14:1 and one pocket when I was younger; but now in the league I am learning to play 8 ball and 9 ball. I am having some problems getting a stroke back and with shot making, so to enable more practice I bought a table and spend a couple hours a day practicing.

I doubt I will ever fully regain fluidity or consistent shot making, but I have already found myself better able to discern high and low probability shots and trying to think my way through a match instead of just shooting out of trouble. I am working on planning my way through a rack by factoring in my opponents strengths and weaknesses. I am concerning myself more with making the last ball no matter how many "innings" or safety shots it takes than trying to run the rack from the break.

Probably neither your friend nor I will ever recover what we had, but I think we can, with determination, effectively use what is left combined with what is available to be learned and still enjoy competing and winning our share of the time.
 
Tramp Steamer

Tramp Steamer

One Pocket enthusiast.
Silver Member
You stop playing when your body finally tells you to, although that may not occur until long after your skill level has peaked. It is only natural, and happens to us all.
Do not pity the person who can no longer cut the mustard, but praise him if he can still lick the lid (an old Ozarkian saying handed down to me by my great-great-grandfather Hezekiah Steamer). :smile:
 
F

FranCrimi

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Pangit said:
How do you know "when" to exit stage left...gracefully. Brett Favre stayed on too long.

I just saw this guy Morris that's about 7O years old...just guessing. Hadn't seen him in a few years. He used to be "nearly" unbeatable locally, a true sage of the game.

Now he can't see anything...can't afford glasses. His stroke has gone south.

I feel sorry for him...he's a shell of his former "pool playing self".
Click to expand...

Don't feel sorry for players like that. They've still got spunk and spirit. You should worry about yourself, because with thoughts like that, you'll probably give up when you have to fight for something.
 
berko

berko

Aggressively passive
Silver Member
It depends.

If your goal is to have fun, then you should continue as long as you meet that goal.

If your goal is to impress others, you probably should have already retired.
 
ENGLISH!

ENGLISH!

Banned
Silver Member
Bona said:
Interesting... I stopped playing pool when I was about 30... family and career demands, golf, and life just took me out of the pool rooms. Semi retired now 40 years later at age seventy, I went through my closet this summer, found my cue, and joined an APA league.

I was a decent (not great) player, mostly 14:1 and one pocket when I was younger; but now in the league I am learning to play 8 ball and 9 ball. I am having some problems getting a stroke back and with shot making, so to enable more practice I bought a table and spend a couple hours a day practicing.

I doubt I will ever fully regain fluidity or consistent shot making, but I have already found myself better able to discern high and low probability shots and trying to think my way through a match instead of just shooting out of trouble. I am working on planning my way through a rack by factoring in my opponents strengths and weaknesses. I am concerning myself more with making the last ball no matter how many "innings" or safety shots it takes than trying to run the rack from the break.

Probably neither your friend nor I will ever recover what we had, but I think we can, with determination, effectively use what is left combined with what is available to be learned and still enjoy competing and winning our share of the time.
Click to expand...

Bona,

The 'blue' above is the key. I have done much of what you are doing since my eye accident. It took a little time to rely more on mental ability & knowledge than just physical shooting ability, but I'm more than just competetive as I win most of my games. I just do it differently than before my eye accident.

When one no longer enjoys competing that is when one should maybe retire.

I'm 59 yrs. old & it's about the challenge & competing more so than it is about 'winning'. Now don't get me wrong, winning beats losing every time.

As Vince Lombardi said, 'Winning isn't everything...but it's the only thing worth striving for.

I hope you are still playing to win on your last day at the table & I also hope that you do WIN!

Best of Luck & Wishes
 
B

bstroud

Deceased
Speaking for myself.........

I started playing at 4 years of age.
Got to be a very good player.
Quit to make cues for 25 years.

Started playing again about one year ago.
I am 71 and am playing as well as I ever did, perhaps better.

The only thing that keeps me from improving is lack of access to a pool room where I can play people all the time. I am changing that next week.

Without beating on other players you do not develop confidence.
Without confidence you can not beat the best players.

I still find pool as interesting and intriguing as I did when I was young. There is still so much to learn.

Bill S.
 
ENGLISH!

ENGLISH!

Banned
Silver Member
FranCrimi said:
Don't feel sorry for players like that. They've still got spunk and spirit. You should worry about yourself, because with thoughts like that, you'll probably give up when you have to fight for something.[/QUOTE

As Fran has stated above.

A Champion's 'Heart' never dies. It is merely taken to it's reward in the 'Champion's of All Time Hall of Fame'.

One should respect & treasure all of them while they are still with us & hope that we can emulate them when our time comes, and it will.

Sooner for some, than later for others. But...our day will come.

Respectfully yours,
Click to expand...
 
P

pro9dg

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I am certainly in the top quadrant of age ranges on this forum. But I still love to play but only competitively. So I have a little technique that wins me a lot of 9 Ball matches.
I assess my opponents ability on the number of balls that I think he can run and then I will not try to run the rack until I think he will break down and leave me two balls to win. For example with 7 balls on the table against an opponent who I think could run 4 balls then I might pot a ball and play safe. Then await his four ball run and take the last two myself.
It is an effective way if you don't play so good any more
 
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poolplayer2093

poolplayer2093

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
i hear luther lasiter was still playing in tournaments long after he should have stopped. they say he would sometimes forget he was in a tournament and move balls around and say he was just shooting around
 
krupa

krupa

The Dream Operator
Silver Member
I heard about a guy at the NAPA national tournament this year who was so old and wobbly, he couldn't bend/squat down to get the balls outta the table to rack.

He would go around to the long rail, lay his chest on the table and reach over the edge to get the balls!

If that guy can keep playing, I think anyone could.
 
S

Scott Lee

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Hey Bill...Do you find pool interesting enough to go over to YOUR "Design Your Dream Cue" thread, and explain why you haven't made and delivered mhaimi's winning design? It's been over 2 years...:rolleyes:

Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com

bstroud said:
Speaking for myself..........

I still find pool as interesting and intriguing as I did when I was young. There is still so much to learn.

Bill S.
Click to expand...
 
pwd72s

pwd72s

recreational banger
Silver Member
I'd say keep playing as long as it's fun!

Example...he doesn't come around these days because he's not doing well...but on Thursday afternoons the real life Sgt. Don Malarkey could be found near the snooker table in Salem, Oregon's Cue Ball until he was past 90.

Sure he didn't play as well as he used to. Nobody cared. All the regulars love & honor the guy.

When he was in the hall we also knew who the toughest S.O.B. there was. He proved that long ago.
 
pt109

pt109

WO double hemlock
Silver Member
poolplayer2093 said:
i hear luther lasiter was still playing in tournaments long after he should have stopped. they say he would sometimes forget he was in a tournament and move balls around and say he was just shooting around
Click to expand...

I believe you're talking about Irving Crane....
..it was one of Danny Diliberto's worst moments playing pool...
..Irving missed a ball and kept shooting...
..Danny said "Mr Crane, you missed."
..Irving said "We're just knocking them around."

It was a straight pool tournament.
 
S

scratchs

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
To OP

When...? REALLY...! WOW...!

Maybe you should QUIT..seems to me, your not having
fun anymore..an this by the way is the answer.
 
rayjay

rayjay

some of the kids
Silver Member
Bill Stroud: go build the promised Dream Cue, it will help your game.

Back on topic, there's no reason, other than physical and self-imposed mental limitations, that one cannot continue to improve their game until death. In other words, the brain is able to continue to learn but the flesh may be weak.
 
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