Good shooting. BNR's in eight ball are a rarity for me, but I have one in nine ball from time to time. Here's a story involving my first nine ball BNR.
I'd been in an APA in house league in house league for a few years and was a SL4 at the time. I was picked to play a SL5 who was a decent shot, but got his "edge" through shit talking and sharking. It was long enough ago that I don't remember who won, but on one of my breaks I made four balls and had an easy layout. He made sure to comment about it. I get down to the nine and he says "Just don't think about the patch". It felt really good to BNR against that guy.
That was probably four years ago and I'd like to think my game has improved since then. I bounce between a SL5 and SL6 these days and am back playing in the in house league I was playing in years ago. This past Monday I put myself up and the guy from my first BNR is put up against me. No problem, I feel I'm the stronger player and that I should win as long as I don't let his shit talk get to me. No problem, as I usually play listening to music in headphones, so any shit talk this guys does is going to fall on deaf ears. But on this particular day I left my headphones in my other case. My teammates quickly found me a pair and off we go. He asks me if I'm going to play with my headphones in the whole time, to which I said yes. He says "I guess I'll just wave at you if I want to talk to you". My reply? "I'm listening to music, so you won't talk to me, please don't." We spit the first rack and I'm on the break. I break strong, make the 1 and another ball and leave the cb in the middle if the table. I have a thin cut on the 2 and really have to pay attention to the speed on the cb to get to the 3, but I make it and run out. He then gives me a crooked rack. I call him on it but he calls me "f-ing crazy" and refuses to fix it. I say "Whatever, hang up the rack and walk away". I break and run to the five. I may have been able to get out, but I decided to play a lock-up defense instead. I had also decided that I had proven my point and it was defense from here on out. I win handily and he's nothing but excuses and shit talk.
Congratulations on your first break and run. You will have many more, however they don't just fall from the sky. But when you and the cue ball are the only ones left on the table (or the other guys color, depending on the game) it makes all the practice, missed balls and blown runs worth while. When you complete a BNR the only appropriate response from your opponent is to rack again. It's a great feeling, til you miss your next ball lol.
Shot!
Ben
