Momentary Lapse of Reason.

S

Secaucus Fats

Banned
This is from my "if it has happened to me while playing pool it has happened to you too files".

We all get the occasional brain farts.

You know what I'm talking about.

I'd been watching this guy play and now it was my turn to play him. He broke and scratched.

I looked, saw that the table was runnable by either group. I decided to go for it and and played beautifully. I got down to the last two and had perfect alignment for a dead-on stop shot that would have provided another dead-on stop for the 8 in the opposite corner.

This was a cake shot..dead straight into the corner on barbox... a half blind granny could make it...no way I'm gonna miss..sh*t I'm putting this guy on notice here.

Somewhere midstroke my mind skipped, but it was too late to abort, and so I got a perfect stop shot and watched the object ball bobble ever so slightly before it parked itself right on the very edge of the drop.

My opponent now had a table that was wide open and he wasted no time in running out. I shook his hand and congratulated him on his skills, and his heart.

Brain farts ..hey they happen. I know and I trust my stroke (thanks Scott Lee). I practice shooting all kinds of shots with my eyes closed or my head turned away and do fine with that. But all of us have, or will, succumb to that momentary lapse of reason at some point in time. :wink:
 
I play a practice game (with a practice buddy) that works on this specific thing. It's similar to straight pool (and also similar to Allen Hopkins' "Q Skills" test), but simpler. All we do is rack 15 balls, smash break them, take ball in hand and run as many as we can without missing. When you miss you're done - next player racks and tries to beat your score. We shoot sets of 10 racks each, alternating players, as one of the games we play against each other (we also play 8-ball, 9/10-ball and one pocket).

Like straight pool, this exercise isn't about making difficult shots; it's about holding your concentration/focus for many "easy" shots, forcing you to play each one like it's the match money ball. Competing is key, because that also makes you want to try harder. Over time all that trying gets easier and the times your mind wanders on an "easy" shot get to be fewer and farther between.

The take-home lesson is that every important aspect of pool, including concentration, can be practiced and improved, and you can make up your own practice games to make it fun, especially if you have a likeminded friend about your speed.

pj
chgo
 
Secaucus Fats said:
Thanks! I'm gonna try this with a buddy. Sounds like it would be a fun game and an effective training tool.
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Prepare to be frustrated (of course, that's part of the training). You'll think you should run out a lot, and you should, but you'll hit some 3s and 4s (and some 1s and 0s too, especially when you have a tough problem to solve with the first ball-in-hand shot). Usually your run will be stopped by a momentary lapse of concentration and a dumb mistake - those will become more rare as you practice this (and they'll become more rare in other games too).

Stick with it; you'll see improvement in just a few sets, and you'll feel that it's a fundamental improvement that will help you in all games.

pj
chgo
 
Secaucus Fats said:
This is from my "if it has happened to me while playing pool it has happened to you too files".

We all get the occasional brain farts.

You know what I'm talking about.

I'd been watching this guy play and now it was my turn to play him. He broke and scratched.

I looked, saw that the table was runnable by either group. I decided to go for it and and played beautifully. I got down to the last two and had perfect alignment for a dead-on stop shot that would have provided another dead-on stop for the 8 in the opposite corner.

This was a cake shot..dead straight into the corner on barbox... a half blind granny could make it...no way I'm gonna miss..sh*t I'm putting this guy on notice here.

Somewhere midstroke my mind skipped, but it was too late to abort, and so I got a perfect stop shot and watched the object ball bobble ever so slightly before it parked itself right on the very edge of the drop.

My opponent now had a table that was wide open and he wasted no time in running out. I shook his hand and congratulated him on his skills, and his heart.

Brain farts ..hey they happen. I know and I trust my stroke (thanks Scott Lee). I practice shooting all kinds of shots with my eyes closed or my head turned away and do fine with that. But all of us have, or will, succumb to that momentary lapse of reason at some point in time. :wink:
Click to expand...

We can all relate to this.

The other one that has gotten me a time or two is Tics. Those involuntary muscle twitches that come out of left field and strike at final stroke. If a Tic had an expression it would be this one: :nanner:
 
If you havent done it yet, do some research on the "quiet eye" theory. I think it comes into play more than people think.
 
But all of us have, or will, succumb to that momentary lapse of reason at some point in time.
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Save the scientific talk for someone else. You were looking at a pair of Lulu Lemons walk past the table on the way to the ladies lavatory.
I know, I do it all the time.
 
Secaucus Fats said:
This is from my "if it has happened to me while playing pool it has happened to you too files".

....................................................... :wink:
Click to expand...

I can still remember a few from about 25 - 30 years ago.......

They can turn into ghosts that 'haunt' you ...... :eek:

Not to mention all the recent ones.


td
 
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