Great APA finals story from last weekend,

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In my local pool room there are six APA teams that play weekly in an "in house" league, plus 150 other teams, both traveling teams and in-house teams that compete for a spot in the finals. This past session my team won the in house division and the 2cnd place team had the most points (we beat them for the trophy)...meaning both teams received a spot in the playoffs for a trip to the nationals. The other team is like our sister team, made of of all our best friends and practice partners.

By some act of the pool gods, the 1st and 2cnd teams from our pool room ended up in separate brackets. We won through playing the best teams in our chapter to end up playing each other for Vegas...coming down to a sudden death rack between me and a good friend (who I play dead even with) for the win. I rolled a 2 rail kick on the 8 short and he ran out...win or lose it was an amazing weekend and a hell of a first session as a team captain.

People hate on the APA, and sometimes for good reason...but to watch the guys on my team play their hearts out with a 5 man roster to go as far as we did was something I wouldn't trade for anything...our LO didn't know what to think when both teams were celebrating with the trophy and high-fiving each other.
 
In my local pool room there are six APA teams that play weekly in an "in house" league, plus 150 other teams, both traveling teams and in-house teams that compete for a spot in the finals. This past session my team won the in house division and the 2cnd place team had the most points (we beat them for the trophy)...meaning both teams received a spot in the playoffs for a trip to the nationals. The other team is like our sister team, made of of all our best friends and practice partners.

By some act of the pool gods, the 1st and 2cnd teams from our pool room ended up in separate brackets. We won through playing the best teams in our chapter to end up playing each other for Vegas...coming down to a sudden death rack between me and a good friend (who I play dead even with) for the win. I rolled a 2 rail kick on the 8 short and he ran out...win or lose it was an amazing weekend and a hell of a first session as a team captain.

People hate on the APA, and sometimes for good reason...but to watch the guys on my team play their hearts out with a 5 man roster to go as far as we did was something I wouldn't trade for anything...our LO didn't know what to think when both teams were celebrating with the trophy and high-fiving each other.


I would have loved to see the look on his face. Priceless
 
I think the quote was something like "ummm...I need just the winning team in the picture wth the trophy and check."

Then we all went and consumed many adult beverages.
 
Tell your APA to add cash- and keep the trophy

I see the APA as down the road and hopefully gone. 40 yrs ago they were selling this crap to the Pool Players and they don't get smarter!! But your APA boy in your area laughts all the way to the bank. I'd tell them to change the old program ,add MONEY<mark
 
Great story. Congrats. A couple years ago, we were on the hot seat at cities. We all went to breakfast with the other team that we were supposed to play later that morning. They had been to Vegas 2 years before and they were telling us That's one of the great things about leagues. I've met a lot of great people and as long as you aren't a d-bag, everyone kind of roots for everyone else.

Andy
 
I wish the APA added cash...the team going to Vegas does get a check for 8,000.00 though. I'm lucky that my league isn't a bunch of bangers...we all work hard to improve our game and love pool. APA just happens to be about the only gig in town besides the tournaments we shoot in.
 
I remeber in 2010 when my team was playing for vegas we met a team from salsbury md that was a great team with great people but we ended up knocking them to the losers side . After we won to go to vegas I went over and sweated there match and watch them win to go to vegas. I was just as happy to see them go as they were.And in 08 when my team went plus 2 other teams from our area (one was my cousins team) and it was funny because I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to watch everyone play. Its good to see good sportsmanship.
 
Joann Mason parker

has a cell phone application- (shot selections as the game goes on. All stuff taught by her father- It would be agreat apa application- take a time out- And the app figures out the best way to shoot to victory. mark
 
I see the APA as down the road and hopefully gone. 40 yrs ago they were selling this crap to the Pool Players and they don't get smarter!! But your APA boy in your area laughts all the way to the bank. I'd tell them to change the old program ,add MONEY<mark

Why people get their panties in a bunch over a league that caters primarily to recreational players is a mystery to me. Is it that you just can't have fun any more, or do you envy people that successfully market a good, fun hobby to others? Do the same people pitch a fit when they go to the movies? :confused:
 
I see the APA as down the road and hopefully gone. 40 yrs ago they were selling this crap to the Pool Players and they don't get smarter!! But your APA boy in your area laughts all the way to the bank. I'd tell them to change the old program ,add MONEY<mark

down the road and gone ? tell me exactly who is gonna give bussiness to all the pool halls, billiard supply stores and cue companies ? people that have your kinda attitude ? i dont think so. people like you think every league and every tournament director should give every dime that comes in to the pool players. should they all take money out of their pocket or at the very least donate their time for free so you can play pool without spending your money.

you sound just like the guy a room owner was talking about last night. there is a bar league in town and just as the name says plays in bars where the tables are .50 to play. well this room owner sponsered 2 teams this session, 1 which happens to be a team i captain.

well the 1st night one of those established teams played at our home room 1 of those guys was complaining about the tables costing .75. this guy is b*tching over paying .25 more for a game before he even realizes what the facts are !! in the bars each player puts up .25 to play, now this room owner knows this so he decides to give the team he sponsers a roll of quarters to offset the extra .25. the visiting team still puts up .25 and the home team puts up .50. one quarter of their own and one quarter the room owner provides.

now mind you this room owner is not only providing the extra quarter to use. he also opens up his tables 2 hours before matches start so league players can practice and warm up for free and he also opens them back up after the matches are over so you can play for free until closing time.

this by the way is a money league where 90% of the money taken in is paid back out and you have someone b*tching over a friggin quarter a game.

this pool hall is the only place in memphis that has open tables for any league and i could see where he would be pissed and want to throw those greedy money league players out the door and just rely on the grateful apa bangers .

sorry for the long winded rant but people with your attitude really is whats wrong with pool today.

just wanted to add i play on 2 in house apa teams at this pool hall also and no one has ever b*tched about paying .75 a game with all the free table time we have before and after our matches.
 
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down the road and gone ? tell me exactly who is gonna give bussiness to all the pool halls, billiard supply stores and cue companies ? people that have your kinda attitude ? i dont think so. people like you think every league and every tournament director should give every dime that comes in to the pool players. should they all take money out of their pocket or at the very least donate their time for free so you can play pool without spending your money.

you sound just like the guy a room owner was talking about last night. there is a bar league in town and just as the name says plays in bars where the tables are .50 to play. well this room owner sponsered 2 teams this session, 1 which happens to be a team i captain.

well the 1st night one of those established teams played at our home room 1 of those guys was complaining about the tables costing .75. this guy is b*tching over paying .25 more for a game before he even realizes what the facts are !! in the bars each player puts up .25 to play, now this room owner knows this so he decides to give the team he sponsers a roll of quarters to offset the extra .25. the visiting team still puts up .25 and the home team puts up .50. one quarter of their own and one quarter the room owner provides.

now mind you this room owner is not only providing the extra quarter to use. he also opens up his tables 2 hours before matches start so league players can practice and warm up for free and he also opens them back up after the matches are over so you can play for free until closing time.

this by the way is a money league where 90% of the money taken in is paid back out and you have someone b*tching over a friggin quarter a game.

this pool hall is the only place in memphis that has open tables for any league and i could see where he would be pissed and want to throw those greedy money league players out the door and just rely on the grateful apa bangers .

sorry for the long winded rant but people with your attitude really is whats wrong with pool today.

just wanted to add i play on 2 in house apa teams at this pool hall also and no one has ever b*tched about paying .75 a game with all the free table time we have before and after our matches.

It's nice to hear about a bar owner that is loyal to the folks that butter his bread so to speak. Not only is it generous but it's a smart move on his part to take care of the league players. We also have an in-house APA league on Monday and Wednesdays. Our people spend some serious money on drinks and food and we take care of the bar tender and the room. It's like a big family. So, for years we got free table time before, during, and after matches the entire time we were there. (these are drop pocket tables, not bar boxes)
Sadly enough they've taken a different attitude toward our"free" table time. They think we should have to pay 5 dollars an hour for any practice table. This isn't a lot of money granted but we've lost a lot of folks on principle alone.....For years we've spent tons of money and brought that place the best MON and WED nights they could possibly hope for. Without us they'd be hard pressed to do well on those nights. The bar is losing teams and people and pretty soon I feel that our in-house league(12 years plus in the running) is going to fold and scatter to other places which aren't nearly as nice. It's a sad thing.
 
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