I have finally got semi-caught up on all the stuff I had to do after getting home and figured I would post a final report about the World 10 Ball Championships in Jacksonville.
First thing is I had a Blast! My friend Shane snapped off his first major tournament, I met alot of great people and even drank too much on Saturday with some of them.
I hung out with Shane and Anna Kostanian all week, sweated matches, took pictures, posted an update or 2 and in general had a great time.
I can't say enough about how great it is to see Shane break through, he hit a roadblock in his loss to Harriman but kept fighting and came back the next day and played great to make it to Sunday. After the way he played in Vegas I told him he could win this thing, and he did it. This is the first of many to come. He will do nothing but good things for the sport.
Now for some random thoughts and observations about my week in Florida.
- Where I live if you pull a u-turn you get a ticket. In JAX they use 'em instead of stop lights. Seriously, you cant turn left out of anywhere. You go right and at the first opportunity yank on the wheel in the middle of traffic and pull a huey.
- Drinking with European Professional Pool Players and Florida Pool Room Owners is a sure way to get a lot of "Are you alright ?" looks the next morning. These guys make frat boys look like amateurs.
- Going to Hooters with easy-e is more entertaining than just about any comedian I have ever heard. The man is not shy.
-AZ members are the stone nuts. I met Jason(Big Perm) with easy-e at Hooters and not only is he a great guy but he took care of the meal for the whole table. Thanks Jason I had a great time.
- Never be without a camera. You may miss the opportunity to get a picture of a future world beater standing on a chair in Hooters with fake boobs on doing the chicken dance for his 18th birthday. I won't divulge this guys name but it rhymes with John Morra.
- I am getting old. I went to lunch with Shane (23) John Morra (18) Anna Kostanian (19) and Landon Shuffett (12). They were all standing around the car waiting for me to get there and I said "Damn, I feel like the bus driver pulling up to the bus stop in the morning!"
- Florida has more beautiful women who play pool than anywhere else I have been.
- I like Charlie Williams. Some people rail on him, but I think if I was him and heard all the BS I might just take my ball and go to Asia for a few years and just see what happens then. I mean if he is so terrible no one will miss the tournaments right ? It is easy to talk about how things should be. It is alot harder to actually build something.
- It is a ball being around players from so many different countries. I have never heard people talk about "He should of hit like this" in Japanese, Korean, French, German and English all at the same time before.
- If all the women in Korea look and act like the pool players from there, I am moving. If I can just get Justin Acker to teach me Korean.
- I met Shanelle Loraine at the tournament and she is one of the most beautiful women I have ever met in person. I mean throw your best friend under the bus hot. She is also very friendly and down to earth, a rare combination. Very cool girl.
Finally, here are some of my favorite pictures from the trip.
The entrance to Bankshot Billiards in Jacksonville. Thats Tyler Edey hanging out waiting for his ride.
Yu Ram Cha. I could not stop taking pictures of her. She plays very conservative, no real shows of emotion other than a head nod or small smile. Off the table she was always smiling and looked like she was having fun. We had a good conversation considering I don't speak Korean.
I asked Anna if she wanted to go to lunch. We figured we might as well see the ocean since we were close. The plan was seafood. We ended up with cajun. No seafood before 5 in Jax I guess. Every place was closed. It was cool just to see the ocean. We don't have one in Indiana.
Shanelle Loraine. Cool girl who happens to be a goddess. She has a website at www.shanelleloraine.com where she has a bio and a schedule of events.
Everyone who steals this owes me a $1.00
First thing is I had a Blast! My friend Shane snapped off his first major tournament, I met alot of great people and even drank too much on Saturday with some of them.
I hung out with Shane and Anna Kostanian all week, sweated matches, took pictures, posted an update or 2 and in general had a great time.
I can't say enough about how great it is to see Shane break through, he hit a roadblock in his loss to Harriman but kept fighting and came back the next day and played great to make it to Sunday. After the way he played in Vegas I told him he could win this thing, and he did it. This is the first of many to come. He will do nothing but good things for the sport.
Now for some random thoughts and observations about my week in Florida.
- Where I live if you pull a u-turn you get a ticket. In JAX they use 'em instead of stop lights. Seriously, you cant turn left out of anywhere. You go right and at the first opportunity yank on the wheel in the middle of traffic and pull a huey.
- Drinking with European Professional Pool Players and Florida Pool Room Owners is a sure way to get a lot of "Are you alright ?" looks the next morning. These guys make frat boys look like amateurs.
- Going to Hooters with easy-e is more entertaining than just about any comedian I have ever heard. The man is not shy.
-AZ members are the stone nuts. I met Jason(Big Perm) with easy-e at Hooters and not only is he a great guy but he took care of the meal for the whole table. Thanks Jason I had a great time.
- Never be without a camera. You may miss the opportunity to get a picture of a future world beater standing on a chair in Hooters with fake boobs on doing the chicken dance for his 18th birthday. I won't divulge this guys name but it rhymes with John Morra.
- I am getting old. I went to lunch with Shane (23) John Morra (18) Anna Kostanian (19) and Landon Shuffett (12). They were all standing around the car waiting for me to get there and I said "Damn, I feel like the bus driver pulling up to the bus stop in the morning!"
- Florida has more beautiful women who play pool than anywhere else I have been.
- I like Charlie Williams. Some people rail on him, but I think if I was him and heard all the BS I might just take my ball and go to Asia for a few years and just see what happens then. I mean if he is so terrible no one will miss the tournaments right ? It is easy to talk about how things should be. It is alot harder to actually build something.
- It is a ball being around players from so many different countries. I have never heard people talk about "He should of hit like this" in Japanese, Korean, French, German and English all at the same time before.
- If all the women in Korea look and act like the pool players from there, I am moving. If I can just get Justin Acker to teach me Korean.
- I met Shanelle Loraine at the tournament and she is one of the most beautiful women I have ever met in person. I mean throw your best friend under the bus hot. She is also very friendly and down to earth, a rare combination. Very cool girl.
Finally, here are some of my favorite pictures from the trip.
The entrance to Bankshot Billiards in Jacksonville. Thats Tyler Edey hanging out waiting for his ride.
Yu Ram Cha. I could not stop taking pictures of her. She plays very conservative, no real shows of emotion other than a head nod or small smile. Off the table she was always smiling and looked like she was having fun. We had a good conversation considering I don't speak Korean.
I asked Anna if she wanted to go to lunch. We figured we might as well see the ocean since we were close. The plan was seafood. We ended up with cajun. No seafood before 5 in Jax I guess. Every place was closed. It was cool just to see the ocean. We don't have one in Indiana.
Shanelle Loraine. Cool girl who happens to be a goddess. She has a website at www.shanelleloraine.com where she has a bio and a schedule of events.
Everyone who steals this owes me a $1.00
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