Last week during league play, I had a minor altercation with a player on the opposing team. A little background first ...
A few years ago, I treated myself to a Predator BK2 break cue. I love it endlessly and play very well with it. The site our league match was being played at is kind of a hole in the wall. The tables are in good shape, but there was only one house cue with a tip on it, and it was being passed around as a "break cue" throughout the other team.
At one point, that lone house cue was nowhere to be found, and the opponent whom I was playing was up to break. He looked and looked, and couldn't find the house cue. So he turns to me and asks, "Can I borrow your break cue?" I don't know this guy, nor do I know how he'll treat my cue, and frankly, he's my opponent, so I politely decline. Then came this exchange:
Him: "Well I don't have anything to break with, so I don't know what we're going to do."
Me: "You have a cue right there," (pointing to his playing cue).
Him: "That's my playing cue, I don't break with it."
Me: "So you'd rather use some old, warped, beat up house cue that you have never touched before walking in here today than your own cue?"
We exchanged words, not hostile or anything, but we simply had a difference in opinion on this matter. I finally concluded by saying "Look, if you don't feel like you can break with your playing cue without harming it, then your playing cue is garbage." He kind of called me a hypocrite since I break with a separate cue, but I explained to him that my Predator cue is specifically designed for breaking - and it's MINE. It took me a while to get used to playing with it, but now that I know exactly how it plays, it's money for me.
I've run into this problem a lot lately. People seem more comfortable grabbing a cue that they are completely unfamiliar with rather than breaking with their own cue. If I didn't have my Predator, I'd feel completely fine breaking with my playing cue. I've always subscribed to the school of thought that your playing cue should be sturdy enough to sustain the stress of using it to break, or else your playing cue shouldn't be played with in the first place.
Your thoughts?
A few years ago, I treated myself to a Predator BK2 break cue. I love it endlessly and play very well with it. The site our league match was being played at is kind of a hole in the wall. The tables are in good shape, but there was only one house cue with a tip on it, and it was being passed around as a "break cue" throughout the other team.
At one point, that lone house cue was nowhere to be found, and the opponent whom I was playing was up to break. He looked and looked, and couldn't find the house cue. So he turns to me and asks, "Can I borrow your break cue?" I don't know this guy, nor do I know how he'll treat my cue, and frankly, he's my opponent, so I politely decline. Then came this exchange:
Him: "Well I don't have anything to break with, so I don't know what we're going to do."
Me: "You have a cue right there," (pointing to his playing cue).
Him: "That's my playing cue, I don't break with it."
Me: "So you'd rather use some old, warped, beat up house cue that you have never touched before walking in here today than your own cue?"
We exchanged words, not hostile or anything, but we simply had a difference in opinion on this matter. I finally concluded by saying "Look, if you don't feel like you can break with your playing cue without harming it, then your playing cue is garbage." He kind of called me a hypocrite since I break with a separate cue, but I explained to him that my Predator cue is specifically designed for breaking - and it's MINE. It took me a while to get used to playing with it, but now that I know exactly how it plays, it's money for me.
I've run into this problem a lot lately. People seem more comfortable grabbing a cue that they are completely unfamiliar with rather than breaking with their own cue. If I didn't have my Predator, I'd feel completely fine breaking with my playing cue. I've always subscribed to the school of thought that your playing cue should be sturdy enough to sustain the stress of using it to break, or else your playing cue shouldn't be played with in the first place.
Your thoughts?