Excuses, excuses

victorl

victorl

Where'd my stroke go?
Silver Member
Is it just me or do pool players as a whole love making excuses to cover their ego? I see it more in pool than anywhere else.
I'm guilty of it myself too from time to time. Some of the ones I've caught myself using are "I've been playing too much 3 cushion these days, I can't make a damn ball!" (there are 3 cushion tables at my hall, but I don't play) or if the cue ball stops dead on a draw shot I'll take a moment and angrily stare at my tip, "WTF!"

I know excuses are for losers but we all use them, so man up and share some the best ones you've used or heard.
 
Good point,

first thing i tell a student if he wants to start practicing SERIOUSLY:
No Excuses!

If you re not serious with yourself....you ll have a problem :)
 
most excuse I made in my mind: he (my opponent) got lucky.
or
i got unlucky.
lol
 
"He`s getting all the rolls". I really have to fight myself when I start this ridiculous thought process.
 
i think the reason pool player make alot of excuses becuase alot of the times we beat ourselves and allow our opponent to take advantage of our mistakes. the winning player isnt always the most skilled player, it the player that makes the least mistakes.... especially in 9-ball.haha
 
I've used bodily pain as a reason for suddenly playing bad but thats true.Once my shoulder starts acting up I'm screwed.In are poolroom 2 guys were playing for the cash and on the first game he ran to the 9 and had a cut in the corner,he shot the 9ball and missed it by a foot.He says out loud to his opponent that the headlights from a car that was coming off the highway distracted him and caused him to miss.The problem i had with this excuse is that when you look out the window there's a bunch of bushes and trees and about 800 yards beyond that is the highway.Needless to say after his opponent heard this he tortured the guy for the rest of the night.Using excuses during a match is the sign of breaking down mentally.Unless a guy is outright sharking you then thats a different story.
 
jcs003 said:
i think the reason pool player make alot of excuses becuase alot of the times we beat ourselves and allow our opponent to take advantage of our mistakes. the winning player isnt always the most skilled player, it the player that makes the least mistakes.... especially in 9-ball.haha
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Making the least mistakes and taking advantage of other's mistakes is practically the definition of skill. Sounds like the foundation for yet another excuse brewing here:)
 
metmot said:
Making the least mistakes and taking advantage of other's mistakes is practically the definition of skill. Sounds like the foundation for yet another excuse brewing here:)
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i guess forced and unforced errors are one in the same....:wink:
 
So... if we loose a close set, 10 to 11 and the other guy did in fact get all the rolls, including one that decided the last game, we are not supposed to say we lost cause he got the rolls? We have all been in matches where the rolls did make the difference. I know at times the rolls go to the better player so one could argue that, but if you lost (or won) because of the rolls why not say so? Maybe it is a matter of being objective enough to see what is really happening as opposed to what we want to see and believe is happening. As for me if I win or loose 'cause of the rolls I have no problem saying so.

Excuses are detrimental to improvement, honest evaluation is a useful tool.
 
The only thing that pisses me off is when the ball checks or skips. What I mean by that is it rolls the wrong way on the point of contact when you shoot a slower shot. This drives me crazy! Lots of four letter words
 
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lol one of my shooting buds who actually has a good eye but struggles with consistency among other things is always coming up with excuses, not long ago i told him it seems you only complain about 3 things when it comes to pool this, that, and the other :D
 
tbayplayer said:
The only thing that pisses me off is when the ball checks or skips. What I mean by that is it rolls the wrong way on the point of contact when you shoot a slower shot. This drives me crazy! Lots of four letter words
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When this does happen,that is truely a bad f ing roll,we call it(skidding),but no matter what u call it,it sucks when it happens.
 
Excuses and incessant complaining are my biggest pet peeves in pool. Sometimes you may have a legitimate excuse, but NO ONE wants to hear you exhaust all the possible reasons you missed a ball. I'm sick, I have an ear infection, the food I ate made me sick, I didn't sleep enough, I can't concentrate, I get all the bad rolls, I've been playing for 3 hours already, I'm too hungry...

Some players are much better players in their own mind; they should never miss a ball and always get perfect shape. A friend of mine, an average player, likes to point his cue where the cue ball should have landed like Efren does (yeah, we never expect you to be out of line but please tell us about it).
 
imho pool is one of the games where you play differently everyday, depending on so many factors, mood, happenings, life, its not like other sports, for example tennis, I play the same everyday, I would never lose to a player in lower gear than me in tennis, regardless of my mood, or how I feel, but in pool, you can and will lose to anyone one day or the other, last week I used to make balls from everywhere, play perfect, runout whenever I get the chance to, but yesterday I played like crap, couldn't run out a one 9ball rack, or even if i did i was struggling.

I didn't make execuses, I know it was me, but here's a guy that can play perfect one day, and bad the other day, and I have no control over it, and some guy comes to me and ask "Hey why are you playing crap today, your not in the form" and in my mind I answer with "**** off dude your making it worse, because frankly if i know whats wrong, i would prevent it from happening"

I'm speaking of the amateur level of play, those who play for fun, even in the pro level of play their ability will diminish depending on the mood, but they have a smaller gap between "playing their game vs playing bad today" but for us amateurs our gap between playing our game or playing bad is bigger.

My 2 cents.
 
Sorry, this game destroyed my ego years ago. The comments usually come from my team mates. Geez Don that was right in front of the pocket. My little sister could have made that.:o
 
We have a man and wife in our league that drive me crazy because every game, and I mean every game they lose they tell their opponet that he got all the rolls... Another guy in our league always tells his opponet that he got lucky...Last week I had to play him...He missed a fairly easy shot in the corner..I ran out and won game....He tells me I got lucky....I told him lucky is when I reach down and find a $100 on the floor...You played bad and missed an easy shot...How am I lucky???
Mine is when I hook myself and I say, "damn...I got screwed by just a 1/2 inch"..."If the ball would of rolled a 1/2 inch farther or stopped a 1/2 inch sooner, I had a shot." :crying:
 
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