Am I Steering?

[Mikjary]

Our strokes are always a work in progress. I can see an awful lot in people who come to me for help, and it goes beyond what I see at the table at that one moment in time. A person's pool game is an all-encompassing thing, from physicality to personality. It's all part of the package.

You wrote in your first post that you were cinching balls. I pay attention to stuff like that.

I watched how this whole business of Rick against the world got started. He challenged the theory of some instructors here. When he continued to challenge them, even after they felt they gave him answers to their own satisfaction, they became upset and resorted to name-calling. Then Rick fought back in his own way.

Weren't they doing the same thing in challenging CJ? Yet, they felt their challenges were justified, but Rick's weren't because he was challenging them.

You're right. I didn't have any problem with him because if I didn't know the answer, I said I didn't know and I didn't become insulted if he didn't agree with me.

However, now things have escalated to the point where everyone is in each others faces automatically. That's bad stuff. We might as well be in the Middle East because without someone putting their ego on the shelf, there is no solution.

If I'm not mistaken, a favorite line of Randy G's is: "Leave your ego at the door." Maybe this would be a good place to start.

Tap, tap, tap.

Sloppy,

When a lot of crazy, unexplainable things happen with my vehicle, I go to the source for the answer...the computer. If your mechanics are changing or you keep feeling the need to change them, you have an under confidence in your stroke and self doubt.

I would look at two things...do you have a consistent visual setup and a consistent PSR? Continually tweaking them will never let your shooting technique become ingrained and automatic.

If I change something, I let it happen for a month or so. I don't look for results in a session or two. Microwaving a new grip or implementing a pendulum/piston stroke wink takes dedicated practice. I don't plan on beating the ghost with my new grip in the first several weeks I use it or ever.

Find your best stroke and visual alignment. It will become a foundation for the rest to fall into place with practice.

Best,
Mike

 

[Neil]

Our strokes are always a work in progress. I can see an awful lot in people who come to me for help, and it goes beyond what I see at the table at that one moment in time. A person's pool game is an all-encompassing thing, from physicality to personality. It's all part of the package.

You wrote in your first post that you were cinching balls. I pay attention to stuff like that.

I watched how this whole business of Rick against the world got started. He challenged the theory of some instructors here. When he continued to challenge them, even after they felt they gave him answers to their own satisfaction, they became upset and resorted to name-calling. Then Rick fought back in his own way.

Weren't they doing the same thing in challenging CJ? Yet, they felt their challenges were justified, but Rick's weren't because he was challenging them.

You're right. I didn't have any problem with him because if I didn't know the answer, I said I didn't know and I didn't become insulted if he didn't agree with me.

However, now things have escalated to the point where everyone is in each others faces automatically. That's bad stuff. We might as well be in the Middle East because without someone putting their ego on the shelf, there is no solution.

If I'm not mistaken, a favorite line of Randy G's is: "Leave your ego at the door." Maybe this would be a good place to start.

It's your story, I guess you can spin it any way you want to. Why worry about facts when you can just spew out some nonsense and figure people will believe it because you have some rep.

One other thing, the pm feature is here for a reason. Who the heck are you to tell people how to use it? Quite frankly, what someone else put's in a pm is private, that means it's none of your business as to what's in it, or why they chose to use it.

 

[JohnPT]

Whoa, there! I'm not attacking you. You know I hold you in high regard. It's this incessant crap coming from another channel that's pissing me off. Please do not take offense where none is meant.

As far as my stroke goes, you only saw one part of me that day. I do a lot of experimenting, and I can really let my stroke out once I'm warmed up. I got off a four-hour bus ride that day and practically ran a mile and a half to make it to Amsterdam because I was running so late. I was beat and very tight feeling - not a good time to access my stroke (which, BTW, you didn't seem to have a problem with when I asked).

Fixed elbow, dropped elbow (I do both at different times according to some videos I've made of myself), doesn't matter to me. I still believe that the basis for a good stroke begins with the elbow joint first, wrist second, and shoulder last. I don't think about these things when I'm shooting, but after I shoot I try to notice how smooth my stroke felt. If I punched it, it's usually because I tried to force it rather than let the arm swing naturally. We all have bad days, and even on good days we sometime hit the ball horribly. That's the way it goes in almost any athletic endeavor.

In the meantime, please accept my apologies if you feel I have slighted you in any way. You seem to have a good rapport with Rick, and that's your business, but it sure seems to me that he is trying to use you as a shield to hide behind as he makes his attacks on other established instructors (and lately, lowly me). In the meantime, I'll work on my stroke as always and hope this little fracas doesn't interfere with my ability to work with you in the future.

Well hey you didn't need any help afterall!

 

[JohnPT]

.............

 

[sfleinen]

[...]
I watched how this whole business of Rick against the world got started. He challenged the theory of some instructors here. When he continued to challenge them, even after they felt they gave him answers to their own satisfaction, they became upset and resorted to name-calling. Then Rick fought back in his own way.

Fran, no offense, but this is revisionist history. It didn't go down like that. Speaking for myself as an example, I initially saw Rick's entry to AZB as "a very inquisitive" person. No wrong in that -- that's what forums are for. But when you'd answer his questions and provide supporting evidence -- and you know me, I'm quite detailed in my responses (to a fault, at times) -- you'd get hit with "50 questions." Questions not only about the material you just shared (that if he would j-u-s-t read it, it would be clear), but questions about why you used a certain word or phrase the way you did, why you quoted something the way you did, and just in general nit-picking words in your response to him.

Putting aside what kind of personality types do this, people get tired of this treatment, Fran. When I ask you a question, and you provide an answer for me, with e.g. hyperlinks to other sites and videos, I don't immediately respond within the space of 2 minutes with a "50 questions" reply. I go and actually *read* your response, get the "gist" of what you're trying to say (i.e. it's that, "spirit of the message, not the letter of the message" thing), and go and actually read the third-party links / watch the videos you shared with me. I take time to digest what you shared -- not use it as a platform to launch a debate / slough-off whatever's on my chest.

I think most open-minded and fair people would do this, Fran. Not immediately fire-off a list of 50 questions so that you can spoon-feed information bit-by-bit-over-the-course-of-20-replies, nor for the "love of debate."

Weren't they doing the same thing in challenging CJ? Yet, they felt their challenges were justified, but Rick's weren't because he was challenging them.

Yeah, much like how you immediately identified with the challenges offered by Matt Sherman (the "About.com" guy)? Let's be real here -- you are as guilty of this as anyone. When something looks and smells like BS, you're just as quick to call it out -- regardless who's dishing it out.

You're right. I didn't have any problem with him because if I didn't know the answer, I said I didn't know and I didn't become insulted if he didn't agree with me.

There's more to it than that, Fran, as I explained above. It's not simply, "if someone disagrees, it's immediately a name-calling contest." It's all about the packaging. You can disagree with someone, and still be respectful. Or, disagree *and* show that you at least reviewed the person's material without firing off a list of 50 questions "just because those questions are at my fingertips, and they are more important than reviewing the answer and supporting evidence you just sent me."

Disagreeing is not it. Lack of respect and courtesy is.

However, now things have escalated to the point where everyone is in each others faces automatically. That's bad stuff. We might as well be in the Middle East because without someone putting their ego on the shelf, there is no solution.

If I'm not mistaken, a favorite line of Randy G's is: "Leave your ego at the door." Maybe this would be a good place to start.

You may be right about the "point of no return has been breached" thing when it comes to Rick. Unfortunately, when someone has firmly established (and confirms, with every subsequent post) the rapport he has on the boards, it's very hard to turn people's impressions around. It actually would take a face-to-face meeting, to find out if someone's in-person persona is the same as the on-forum persona (in many cases, it's different, and many people realize this).

Unfortunately, it's the "keep on keepin' on" thing when it comes to forums, and you know both sides are going to exhibit this. Putting one's ego away isn't going to work unless both sides put their egos away.

-Sean