It's Taken Me 1 Year To Write About This; What Happened To Me At Last Year's SBX

Kickin' Chicken · 2014-03-12T14:13:05+00:00

This memory has stayed with me all year, and now before getting in my car in a few hours to head off to SBX 2014, I figured I would share this experience with my fellow az members. I'd been practicing a lot in the months proceeding SBX 2013 and was feeling pretty good about my chances to at least cash in the Amateur Open. Unusual for me, I showed up at my 1st match table about 25 minutes early so I was able to get in stroke. I was hitting them good and some of my homeboys were sitting there to watch my match and even a couple of other friends, non homeboys, just passing by who saw me decided to watch me play. Nice to have the support. :) While putting the finishing touches on my warmup, out of the corner of my eye I noticed a guy I didn't know sitting there messing with his smart phone. I'm now thinking this is my opponent who showed up 3 minutes before start time so I asked if he wanted to warm up and without hardly looking up he said "no thanks, I'm good". As he said this I noticed that he was missing an arm. :confused: Now I'm thinking two thoughts. 1. I have great admiration for someone trying to compete despite not having an arm. 2. I wonder who I'll draw in round 2. It's 10:59, we start in just a minute and my opponent is finally getting his gear together including putting on a prosthetic arm. And not just any arm, mind you, this thing has what looks like a high tech pool bridge built in. Good for him and his dedication. :thumbup: I break game 1 make it to the 6 or 7 and dog something and my opponent gets up and in *very* smooth fashion he cleans up the remaining few balls. Obviously, he's pretty comfortable shooting with this contraption. Game 2 he breaks and it's pretty effing hard. The balls all scatter nicely, he makes one, he looks like he knows what he's doing, and very precisely, he runs out. My sophomoric friends are starting to whisper and needle me a little and as they do this guy is starting to pull away. It's like 3-1 and he leaves himself jacked up tight on a ball. Good! Now what, buddy boy?!? Here's what: This contraption he's wearing has an adjustable height capability and it freaking telescopes, too. Are you kidding me? He bridges perfectly over the ball and continues to run out. I'm playing the 6 million dollar man. My friends are watching me squirm and breaking my balls so bad right about then, one, my pal Joe says in a tone like he's about to piss his pants barely containing his laughter, "I can't wait til we get home so I can tell this story". What an ass he is. :wink: Okay, back to the match. This guys wins the first set 5-2. Did I mention he plays jam up safeties, too? :angry: Second set was starting out much like the first. He's getting out from everywhere, it seems, and the few times he doesn't, I come to the table not liking what I see, but believe me, still thankful for the chance to get out of my chair. He can play! :thumbup: I can't fade the thought that I'm getting my liver shot out by an amputee, what can be worse? Then he has a long reach shot and has to stretch way out *and* telescope his bridge and as he's draped over the table I notice he's also missing a leg. OMG, I'm getting a smackdown from a *double* amputee!!!! WTF! My demeanor had to be exactly like how Corey Deuel looked at that Glass City Open when Kid Delicious laid a major package on him and Corey was just glued to his chair smiling to himself and shaking his head like 'is this really happening to me?' Okay, I'm sitting there with the exact same look of resignation, my buds are off the hook now needling me as I watch this match that I practiced so hard for quickly slipping away and I think nothing can be worse, right? Wrong again. NYC Grind comes over to memorialize the last bit of my ass-kicking on film. Yep, there's Jerry and Allison getting the final couple of racks of me in my chair; looking all Corey Deuel-like, and, oh yeah, the other guy running out. Again. As I conceded the last 9-ball of the match and got up to shake hands, I asked him about the incredible prosthetic. He said the late, great, cuemaker, Paul Fanelli made it for him. I learned that he was a former police sergeant and he had a run in with a ferocious infection that caused all that damage. Aside from his totally impressive play, he was a complete gentleman and a real pleasure to watch in our match. The emotions I had at the end of all this were all over the place. Sure I was frustrated over having suffered a 1st round loss but I realized, short of winning the tourney (which wasn't gonna happen anyway), nothing actually could have been better than losing to this man for whom I have total respect and admiration. :thumbup: I stayed at the table a little while after the match hitting some balls and az member Swiss Chris came to the next table to get ready for his 1 o'clock match and he asked me if I was also getting ready to play. I began telling him what just happened and quickly he laughed and said, "holy crap, you played Scott Simonetti. He's an open player." Of course people asked how I was doing in the tourney so you have to answer, right? I told this same story to JV at Classic Cues who nearly fell off his chair laughing as he said, "you drew Scott Simonetti, he plays real good". Cleary got a good laugh, too, I think he said Scott was a two time Tri-State champion. So, it seems all the ny and nj guys know him well; don't know how he stayed under my radar. But not any more. I hope I get another shot at him and if I do, I'll look for a more comfy chair. :grin-square: Nice shooting, Scott. You are an inspiration. :thumbup2: best, brian kc