Funny Musings

JoeyA

JoeyA

Efren's Mini-Tourn BACKER
Silver Member
I was just thinking about the times in my youth when I was perplexed about how a good player made a particular shot. I've mentioned before that New York Blackie would often answer my question with "Well, you've gottta hit it good". :D

But there were many others, protecting their turf, giving totally false information concerning how they made a particular shot. While others would say simple things like, "I hit it with low left" as if that was enough to make the shot alone. Maybe they didn't know any better than to describe the speed at which to hit the cue ball or the angle at which to hit the cue ball and the location was about all they could offer or wanted to offer.

A lot has changed as far as learning how to play pool is concerned. The Internet has opened up a world of information and it is good for the game. Bad for the thieving, but in some ways it's good for the gambling. Overall, I have to think that the game is better off with the information express, although I do marvel at the amount of information that is available for purchase and for free.

The other day I was looking at some youtube videos and ran across one of Force Follow's videos (he's got many dozens of them) and he was describing how to help yourself to aim straighter and shoot straighter. His drill was to put the object ball on the middle diamond, frozen to the foot rail. Put the cue ball on the head spot or vice versa, since it is easier to spot and shoot the cue ball from the foot spot to the middle diamond of the head rail since it has a black patch permanently marking that location. Sure enough, that drill will tune you up in a hurry. It will humble you a bit too if you think you can just hit the cue ball without really paying attention to your stroke. I like the drill. It's simple and it will straighten your stroke and your aim if are ever able to hit the object ball square. The goal is to hit the object ball directly in the face and have the cue ball bounce directly back toward the direction you shot it from. If you hit the object ball even a tiny bit off center, it will soon become quite apparent. :D

MNorwood, you've done a lot for pool with your many videos. It had to take many hundreds of hours to do all of them. Thanks for your hard and valuable work. Now just put that 80lb pack on the side and let others do the heavy lifting. I'm sure those warriors of yesteryear had the slaves carrying most of their load. ;) Thanks for your mentioning St. Jude Children's Hospital. They are the best!

I have some plans to continue to expand pool knowledge as I press and cajole the professional pool players.

If I get permission from Richie Richeson, I will share one of his VERY VALUABLE SECRETS of pool that he shared with me recently but I will most likely do it on one of my commentary gigs if I get the permission. 4 Bears Casino event in North Dakota April 18-21st, comes to mind. I don't think Richie will be there but if you're in the chat and you jog me enough times, I might be able to see the chat room request and respond.

Richie is living the good life down in New Orleans these days so I might try and get him to sit in the booth with me at the BIG CALCUTTA tournament event at White Diamonds in Lafayette, LA March 16 & 17th.

Ronnie Wiseman the celebrated and talented journeyman is making New Orleans his home as well so I will try to see if I can get him in the booth as well.

It's been a while since I told the story of seeing my very first Road Warrior at the famed Sport Palace of New Orleans. Would anyone like to hear that story?
I might be able to find it again somewhere but I like re-telling the story because the ones I write about are all true and while more or less might be added or subtracted from subsequent tellings, they are all what I witnessed. If you find it and I write about it again you can compare the two. :smile:

Thanks again for all of your hard work MNorwood. You've done well.
 
I am also amazed at the amount of free or inexpensive info available.
Anyone with hand eye coordination and dedicated enough to practice could be a top level player.
Some of my answers to questions were "Just thunk it a little on the left or I don't know how I do it " and I truly believe some of them did not !
Some people just see the game from the very start , others never truly
understand the game.
Your stories are always great and I would enjoy hearing them.
I find it amazing sometimes, how learning one piece of information opens up a whole new level of play, so I hope you can convince Richie and Ronnie to give up a couple of secrets.
In another thread readers were asked what one question they would ask San Jose Dick.
I said, to show me one concept that he did not see most players use in One Pocket.
Sadly, I never got an answer.
 
This thread is much like some over at 1p.org. Before the Derby last year they were setting up shots to find a solution for and then some of us would video how we worked it out and up load to, in my case, Vimeo to watch.

I was never one to keep secrets, whats the use really? I recently got a hard time from some buddys about putting up some videos of a 92ball run, and the 10ball ghost. They thought I was nuts, or killing my action, or something? These days, NOBODY is under the radar for very long, so I put the video out there for people to learn from. I just wish we had this technology back when I was learning.

On a similar note, the guy I learned from, to this day, aims EVERY shot with center ball and strokes english on the final hit. He told me this was from gambling in bars years ago so opponents wouldnt think he knew too much :)


G.
 
book collector said:
I am also amazed at the amount of free or inexpensive info available.
Anyone with hand eye coordination and dedicated enough to practice could be a top level player.
Some of my answers to questions were "Just thunk it a little on the left or I don't know how I do it " and I truly believe some of them did not !
Some people just see the game from the very start , others never truly
understand the game.
Your stories are always great and I would enjoy hearing them.
I find it amazing sometimes, how learning one piece of information opens up a whole new level of play, so I hope you can convince Richie and Ronnie to give up a couple of secrets.
In another thread readers were asked what one question they would ask San Jose Dick.
I said, to show me one concept that he did not see most players use in One Pocket.
Sadly, I never got an answer.
Click to expand...

This must be a funny week.

Again, just last night one of the best rotational players in Louisiana came up to me and asked me if I thought his new shaft was warped and if the warp could have been caused by using some sandpaper on it to clean it. I looked at it and sure enough it was a tiny bit warped.

He then said he had heard that I had one of those special tip tools (last4ever tip tool) that Joel Pope makes and his tip was flat and could I shape it up a bit. I showed him the tool and I could see that he was struggling with trying to shape the tip so I asked him if he wanted me to do it. He wasn't going to make the tip rounded like it needed to be and was just going to whittle it down which isn't what he needed. A number of people have asked me to work on their tip and quite frankly, I'm getting tired of doing it. At least 5 people have asked me to shape their tip with the last4ever tip tool. Yes, it's that good but I think I am going to buy another tip tool and give it to the owner of the pool room to get out of the work. :D

He then confided to me that he doesn't know anything about cues, tips, or the physics of pool and that he "just shoots". The guys shoots like a machine with laser like ability, naturally, without lessons, without videos and he can go for months and years without playing and within a few weeks he can be at his top speed. Another TOP player then chimed in, and said that he too didn't know anything about tip shapes or anything like squirt or swerve and that he just shoots. Both are young guns with great eyesight, perfect alignment and they stay down on the shot. Some of us need aiming systems and other people to tell us to stay down on the shot. :p
 
Gerry said:
This thread is much like some over at 1p.org. Before the Derby last year they were setting up shots to find a solution for and then some of us would video how we worked it out and up load to, in my case, Vimeo to watch.

I was never one to keep secrets, whats the use really? I recently got a hard time from some buddys about putting up some videos of a 92ball run, and the 10ball ghost. They thought I was nuts, or killing my action, or something? These days, NOBODY is under the radar for very long, so I put the video out there for people to learn from. I just wish we had this technology back when I was learning.

On a similar note, the guy I learned from, to this day, aims EVERY shot with center ball and strokes english on the final hit. He told me this was from gambling in bars years ago so opponents wouldnt think he knew too much :)


G.
Click to expand...

You're a good dude for helping others to improve their game.

It's not important but just going from something I think I remember; aren't you a plumber by trade?

How about a link to that 92 ball run and the 10 ball ghost victory?
 
I remember reading that story a time ago too. A good read. I take it, that is Joey "The Tie" standing in front of the Sport Palace.
 
Yeah, ok. You do look like a swarthy Hustler yourself.
I bet you were also responsible for relieving the wallet weight from a few yourself.

Don't go acting all innocent now.
 
Blue Hog ridr said:
Yeah, ok. You do look like a swarthy Hustler yourself.
I bet you were also responsible for relieving the wallet weight from a few yourself.

Don't go acting all innocent now.
Click to expand...

You can trust a man with a tie, especially on a pool table. :D
 
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