Breaking your cue; A right of passage?

Gregg said:
Show me a pool player, and I'll show you someone who has, at one time or another, broken a cue.......

.....And if you say you didn't, your either lying or your not as passionate about the game as the rest of us.

According to the above, there are a lot of posters in this thread who Gregg thinks are either lying or have less passion for pool than him:)

I also belong to that group. Felt like it many times but never done it. Exactly the same goes for my putter;)

My guess is that none of us are actually lying and that as regards breaking cues deliberately it is not so much a question of who has more passion for pool but who has more control over their passion:confused:
 
memikey said:
According to the above, there are a lot of posters in this thread who Gregg thinks are either lying or have less passion for pool than him:)

I also belong to that group. Felt like it many times but never done it. Exactly the same goes for my putter;)

My guess is that none of us are actually lying and that as regards breaking cues deliberately it is not so much a question of who has more passion for pool but who has more control over their passion:confused:

Please don't take my so literally. I do believe that there many people out there who have never broken a cue.

I've only broken two in the privacy of my own home while practicing.
 
IMO it's a ridiculous demonstration of your disgust with yourself and your concentration. But, it is more dangerous than benign.

I recall one specific instance back when I had my room where an "A" player, playing on table one, became agitated with himself and with all his might, kind of "air swung" his cue stick after missing, not unlike someone trying to hit a grand slam with a fly hovering over the table.

Anyway, the shaft snapped in half without hitting anything at all, and spun its way across the room with one broken off sharp end flipping around like a sidearm slung hatchet.

Very luck to miss folks playing on other tables.

My advise on this is, this kind of reaction doesn't just happen to someone shooting a shot with the proper relaxed fluid feeling needed to pocket balls. Rather this is a manifestation of a tense, anxious emotional player, even before they got down on the shot.

Your games would be much better off to practice tension release and relaxed sensations throughout your game rather than playing pool all wound up like an over done watch spring.
 
Break One

Destrroy one!
Scottie Townsend got so mad at his cue one day in the Starcade in Fort Walton Beach FLorida that he took out his pocket knife and began swearing at the cue!
Lets guess what happened next...... Yup. He Whittled and cut and made Toothpicks. Saying unnder his breath,"This mother bleepin piece of bleep%%^%$#$%.
While this was going on more than one player was screaming,"Scottie,I'll buy it!". "This cue aint going to shoot another Bleeped up shot! Believe that!" And that is about all he had to say about it.
Someone did wind up buying the butt later.
Nick :)
 
After thought

The best player I ever met or saw never put a mark on a cue. He only had used two cues in 40 years. He played at least 30 years with the last cue he played with.
Nick :)
 
never in over 40 years!

i have never broken a cue to the best of my remembrance(i am a 70's child!). i have broken two fishing rods. i do try to take care of things i respect- cues and equipment among them. i always remember this is the (insert dollar amount here) $xxx cue I paid for. no way am i going to smack this thing against the wall!
 
Gregg said:
Show me a pool player, and I'll show you someone who has, at one time or another, broken a cue.

And if you say you didn't, your either lying or your not as passionate about the game as the rest of us.

Gregg...You are off on this one. You KNOW what my passion is for this game, and I can PROMISE you that I have never, ever broken a cue, for any reason...not even by accident. I collected cues for many years, as I mentioned at pool school, and had as many as 40 at one time...several worth thousands of dollars each. Now, I may be a rarity, but there are no absolutes, as my above statement shows.:D

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
 
Scott Lee said:
Gregg...You are off on this one. You KNOW what my passion is for this game, and I can PROMISE you that I have never, ever broken a cue, for any reason...not even by accident. I collected cues for many years, as I mentioned at pool school, and had as many as 40 at one time...several worth thousands of dollars each. Now, I may be a rarity, but there are no absolutes, as my above statement shows.:D

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

Thanks for chiming in on my post Scott! As I said before, please don't take everything I take literally. I really believe there are many who have never intentionally broken a cue in their life, and never will.

Don't worry, I will no doubt have my $10 Samsara in my possession for all the rest of my days. As well as any other cues I own; My cue breaking days are far behind me. I used to go crazy setting up shots and drills when I was starting out playing, and my desire to play better was getting the very best of me.

That was many years ago. That same feeling comes up, but I deal a whole lot better now.

In fact, I haven't even dropped a cue once in the past few years, almost playing daily. I'm particular who uses and plays with my equipment (ask Player D, he knows!@#).


I've been working real hard on the Mother Drills, without fail. I wake up before work and put in about 15 minutes of practice, and then same for night time, with some playing mixed in. It seems to be sinking in real nice. I'm really motivated, and you and Cooper had a part in that; you guys were great, and your passion really came through.

I'll be doing a Pool School review thread soon. I can't say enough. The school was exactly what I was looking for.
 
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Klopek said:
Contradict yourself often?. You showed your ass on this thread, and the others handed it back to you. When you make generalizations based on poor attitude, people will take offense.

I guess you took things very literally on this one. Sarcasm does not translate well though text.

Well, I never claimed to know much, and am hardly an authority on anything, so I'm not really afraid to contradict myself.

And sorry if you took offense, or anybody else for that matter. I guess some subjects can be a sore spot for people.
 
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Gregg said:
Show me a pool player, and I'll show you someone who has, at one time or another, broken a cue.

The cue I broke definitely had it coming. Sometimes you may feel trapped with your cue, and there is no way out, or you are forced to defend yourself, and in a pinch break your cue in half in order to use as a weapon. Other people can't come to grips with how far away their game is from their expectations, and in turn let their cue have it. It's even possible that you are afraid that people are laughing behind your back, because you show up to league night with a Cutec, Scorpion, or a pink ribbed Stealth, and you want people to understand that you mean business.

And if you say you didn't, your either lying or your not as passionate about the game as the rest of us.


i've never done it. i wanted to a lot but the mistake was mine and the cue only did what i told it.
 
Klopek said:
Hey, when you question a players passion for the game based on how childishly they take out their frustrations, how can you expect another reaction?.

I wasn't offended at all but I do hate it when someone makes a crazy post and then back peddles the moment someone they respect (Scott Lee) posts something to the contrary. If you really believe this BS, stick with it to the end.

I didn't realize this was a sarcastic thread, maybe if you used an emoticon or two, that point would have been clear. That is all.:)

Oh, some I'm crazy now? ;)

And yes, you are correct, I do respect Scott Lee's opinion. Not to mention he has seen some of my cues, and knows I take great care of them.
 
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DoubleBye said:
I broke my piece of crap Sledgehammer, so I had an excuse to get the Predator BKII. What a good feeling! I guess I could've sold the Sledge, but I'd feel bad for the buyer. I can finally break with a little control.

If it was one of the Chinese made Sledgehammers, that cue had it coming, and you did the billiard community a massive favor.

Sometimes the destruction of a cue can have a fuzzy, warm, feel good story to go along with it:) .

Thanks for sharing.
 
I think of breaking my cue over my knee all the time. Just like I get the urge to fold my golf club when I make a bad shot. I like to drink and gamble when I play both, and I HATE to lose. The difference is you can get your golf club reshafted for $25. What's a 314^2 $250? I know if I broke my 4k4 I would probably take out the joint and shaft, and it would cost as much as a great set of irons to replace. I do fold a golf club occaisonally, and I am not proud of it, but I could never bring myself to break my pred. You gotta respect the equipment!
 
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In order to be a good pool player a person has to have the self control to maintain focus while playing.

Breaking a cue shows a lack of self control thus nulifies you from being a good player no matter how good you shoot in my opinion.

I had a player on one of my teams that broke his cue, I found reason to kick him off my team not long after that. If he hadn't had that lack of control I probably would never have found the reason.
 
I shattered my McDermott Shaft on the snap a few years back. However I had tapered it down to around an 12.5mm shaft and broke with it regularly.
 
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