I quit league... and found my focus again.

PINKLADY said:
funny you post this tonight, as i basically said same, VERBATIM, to Scott Lee this afternoon when he called to check on "the team".

POOL at your house! RACK EM! ;)
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Funny you should mention Scott. I just followed him up yesterday on a post in another thread on a table build. I don't ever see any of "the team" anywhere these days.
Glad to see you back on AZB again.
 
League play

I have played on three teams where I really enjoyed playing. First of all, they were teams where we all took the game seriously. Nobody sandbagged...we tried our best every game and even competed against each other by having rules about buying drinks for all of the other members of our team if you were the only one to lose in a round. Likewise, there were other penalties to add incentive to shooting your best. We did drink but typically not heavily until after our matches. I had to move from Milwaukee back in 2008 and I have not played leagues since. I play tournaments and by myself when I can. I don't match up for money anymore as I don't play as much to be consistent to gamble. I still shoot too well to play the average league player or bar player for money without stealing. I think that the league and your team are the biggest factors to how focused you are while enjoying the game.
 
I tend to agree about leagues.

The one that I found interesting is when I was playing a 3 or 4 in 8 ball league and they missed often, shot the wrong pattern or ball, etc. That I played at a lower level too.

If I played 6/7 in 8 ball, I played much better.

What is it? Immaturity? Lack of Focus?

The older I got the less I liked team play. I always hated that someone on my team loss or played poorly. I always hated it when I loss or played poorly, and I caused my team to lose. Individual play for me took that away. Sounds selfish or corny, but that's just me.

Ken
 
I've been thinking of quitting apa my self just cuz I'm ranked so high I don't get too play as much as I'd liked I like a tough match and seems like I'm always playing lower players think I'm gonna try too find a tougher league or just start playing couple tourneys a week atleast in the tourneys I can make money
 
I stopped playing about 15 years ago because I started taking it too seriously and stopped enjoying the game. Winning wasn't even fun anymore because I was "supposed to win."

I picked up a cue again about a year ago. Now, I am only playing in league. I enjoy it for the most part because I am on fun teams. I am trying to find the balance between "playing to win" and not taking the game "too seriously."

One thing I don't like about league is playing lower handicapped players.
 
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DERAIL ALERT!

Not to derail, but..

Does anybody else see the irony in the idea that people always say you should play better players, but people don't like playing lower players? :speechless:
 
Banks said:
DERAIL ALERT!

Not to derail, but..

Does anybody else see the irony in the idea that people always say you should play better players, but people don't like playing lower players? :speechless:
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I personally tend to play better under pressure. I'd rather play a strong player so I know that I can't miss :smile:
 
I'm really glad that I saw this post. Virtually everyone has crystallized my thoughts.

I was totally burned out and having ZERO fun in the team league that I participate in. It was to the point that I took off virtually the entire month of October. Stopped playing in the Wednesday night session. Stepped back and captained only on Thursday.

Came back in November and I'm crushin'. Feel much more relaxed. I'm just not a team player.
 
fathomblue said:
I'm really glad that I saw this post. Virtually everyone has crystallized my thoughts.

I was totally burned out and having ZERO fun in the team league that I participate in. It was to the point that I took off virtually the entire month of October. Stopped playing in the Wednesday night session. Stepped back and captained only on Thursday.

Came back in November and I'm crushin'. Feel much more relaxed. I'm just not a team player.
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This was my realization as well when it comes to league play. I'm really not a team player with a stick in my hands. For people like us, a team has to be a perfect fit and balance or the whole thing collapses on us. You have to almost be married to these people for it to work, so 5 to 8 different personalities trying to all fly toward the same place (in different directions) are going to either collide or get lost along the way.

You did what I had planned on doing.. just take a break and reset. Last season I dropped 9 ball Thursdays hoping that only playing once a week would improve my attitude and game play. But... SOS as the season before. I did play a bit better last season, but not anywhere near where I knew my game should have been.
And it's funny how I didn't mind giving away $10 (sometimes $20) a night in match fees just for a chance to at least break even 9 or 10 weeks later... but you put that same money on the table where I can walk out with it at the end of the night and then brother... it's game on!!! But that's how I learned how to focus decades ago.
Younger people (under 40) don't have the experience of the days when there were no less than 10 real pool halls in town. Or driving two hours away because that's where the biggest money hall in the state was. Back then you could walk into any pool hall and find yourself shooting money games within 30 minutes or so.
Now it's a long term investment and the pool halls are only bars and restaurants (with some pool tables) and VERY LOUD MUSIC.
I just need to find a league that pays out at the end of the evening and a team that gets juiced up on that "Color of Money" old school style of game play. Oh yea... they also have to only play in real pool halls (not that there are very many left) and not any of those party shacks with worn out tables. Not gonna happen.
I'll point a finger at myself if I loose, but I'm not going to impale myself onto my cue stick at the end of a season because "the team" didn't win.
I'd gladly pay $10-$20 a night to hang out, shoot and have a good time without cash being a motivator... if it didn't screw with my game so badly.
 
after dwelling on it diogenes i see your point a lot clearer.

after thinking back over the last 4 years of league it seems like i just go through the motions of shooting pool during regular league. but when the pressure is on during playoffs or tournaments i turn into a different player.

a couple of examples. this year in 8 ball ltc's. i went undefeated against mostly 6's and 7's with me being a 5. my final match turned into a safety marathon against a 7 going 42 innings with me playing 27 safes and him playing 12. i won 4-2.

napa nationals 2 years ago. i had 2 back to back 3 hour matches with me playing a shit load of saftys winning both matches. 12;00 at night i had to play another match and if i won i had to be back at 10;00 am. the match was was 2 hours long before my 60 year old body just gave up because if i won that match i had to get on my bike make a 70 mile ride home and then drive back 70 miles in the morning. i just said the heck with it.all the rooms were booked so i just said the heck with it ....kept me from reaching the quarter finals.

last year in vegas for 9 ball. in the 1st round my team was down 48-32 after 4 matches. i faced another 5 in the last match. my g/f said....the only way we are going to win is if you keep him from getting 8 points...iirc correctly. i won 38-4 . and scored 20 points with us winning 52-48 in a race to 51 points. now that is pressure in my book.

i can never get myself to play at the level of the examples above during a regular night out. i just dont have the drive to keep that intensity every time i go to the table....it just takes all the fun out of the game to me.

but back to playing better at home...last night my g/f's son wanted to play some. he is a 4 on our team. after losing 5 racks in a row to me he quit. thing is i made 2break and runs the last 2 racks . i never do that in league. :confused:
 
lorider said:
after dwelling on it diogenes i see your point a lot clearer.

after thinking back over the last 4 years of league it seems like i just go through the motions of shooting pool during regular league. but when the pressure is on during playoffs or tournaments i turn into a different player.

a couple of examples. this year in 8 ball ltc's. i went undefeated against mostly 6's and 7's with me being a 5. my final match turned into a safety marathon against a 7 going 42 innings with me playing 27 safes and him playing 12. i won 4-2.

napa nationals 2 years ago. i had 2 back to back 3 hour matches with me playing a shit load of saftys winning both matches. 12;00 at night i had to play another match and if i won i had to be back at 10;00 am. the match was was 2 hours long before my 60 year old body just gave up because if i won that match i had to get on my bike make a 70 mile ride home and then drive back 70 miles in the morning. i just said the heck with it.all the rooms were booked so i just said the heck with it ....kept me from reaching the quarter finals.

last year in vegas for 9 ball. in the 1st round my team was down 48-32 after 4 matches. i faced another 5 in the last match. my g/f said....the only way we are going to win is if you keep him from getting 8 points...iirc correctly. i won 38-4 . and scored 20 points with us winning 52-48 in a race to 51 points. now that is pressure in my book.

i can never get myself to play at the level of the examples above during a regular night out. i just dont have the drive to keep that intensity every time i go to the table....it just takes all the fun out of the game to me.

but back to playing better at home...last night my g/f's son wanted to play some. he is a 4 on our team. after losing 5 racks in a row to me he quit. thing is i made 2break and runs the last 2 racks . i never do that in league. :confused:
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Same here man. My stats go up the closer it gets to the end of the season. It gets into do or die time when you see the team point totals and they're so close at the top. I see it with other shooters who are better away from league than they are in it. Near the end of the season they get serious. 2 of my last 3 nights in league I ended up playing a double because my game was suddenly being motivated by the point totals in the team rankings.
Like I said... two seasons without a break and run in 8 ball and now... I often have two back to back and playing the ghost is usually no more than a 4 turn game at worst. I'm not worrying about my game going cold and letting the team down any longer. But so far my game is steady and I really don't expect it to go cold for more than maybe a rare off night (like last night). Today, I'm making the 6 and 7 ball runs on every rack.
I think as long as you can still keep a good game at home then league is a good fit for you and you should stay with it. If it hadn't effected my game so much away from league, I'd still embrace it because it was really fun most of the time... even with the loses and weak play.
 
It was the opposite for me..

I was always asked to play in league and I never really wanted to.

Then I was asked by Ian who runs Riverside Tap and I was traveling for work so I was rarely in town but I said yeah if I'm in town I'll come.

I went a couple of times and then I just wasn't in town enough to be able to go.

Then I got a local position so I gave him a call and said Hey man, I got a job locally so I can start coming more regularly.

So I started playing in the TAP 8 ball league once a week. they play on diamond bar boxes, so it's not so bad and it helps me to get in the practice for the USBTC that I started playing in this year.

I'm literally just there to have fun and hang out with people. Yes, I'm competitive, but my competing happens in the Mezz West State Tour so I can just relax and play some pool.

There are dicks just like in all walks of life, but it's not worth messing with them because league really doesn't mean much. It's just for fun.

If you wanna make money then play in real tournaments and get a real game. Handicapped leagues aren't for you.

Playing in the league and being able to relax and just have fun playing has actually helped my game and given me the release I've needed for a while. The Mezz West State Tour has helped my game more by giving me the experience competing against top players regularly. It's helped me to get over the mental blocks that have been keeping me from competing at the level of play I'm capable of.

Jaden
 
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