Here's one of Maniac's posts...from 2010 on a thread started by Tramp Steamer...
....a poster I miss all to hell.
In 1967, there was a young man who entered a musty 'ol poolroom in Springfield, MO with his father. After banging balls around a table for a couple of hours, they went on to Rochester, Pa. where they engaged in the game every night for several nights in a row at a local pub. Upon returning to Texas, the young lad became maniacal about the game (and later was dubbed "Maniac") and soon got a table in the garage of his parent's house. His love for the game developed into a deep commitment and carried on into his "midlife" and still has him captured now that he is nearing 60. His maniacal ways still follow him into the pits of "billiard-accessory buying" hell and there's not a week goes by until he feels the need to open his wallet to the billiard industry and pay "tithes" to the pool Gods. He spends hour and hours hovering his tired, achy body over the sides of the mahogany and cloth mini-arena. He is truly a pool Gladiator (good thing nobody dies from pool, cause he sucks big-time at it ).