Sometimes in pool, just as in life, your happiest moments aren't the ones you'd expect. Winning tournaments, taking a set off a champion, making a big score, having a high run, all good times. But when I think back to some of my most joyous times on a table it's not the grandiose that stands out. It's the quiet times. Working through a drill while listening to some good music. A good one pocket session with a friend that melts away an afternoon in the blink of an eye. Making a six hour drive home after midnight when you're due for work the next morning with shots from the night before on a continuous replay loop in your head the entire way. These are the moments that make me aware just how deep my love for this game is.
Among these are my trips to Fargo Billiards.
I don't remember exactly how it started. Of course I've been to Fargo Billiards a number of times. I'm only about 3 hours away from the nicest pool hall on the map. I had been there for several tournaments and had always been blown away. But to drive 3 hours just to practice? This never occurred to me. Until one day it did.
As you know for those of us with family and jobs it isn't as easy to get absorbed into the game as it was when we were kids. We have more on our mind, and we have less time to play. It can be very hard to screw your cue together cold, then just as you warm up it's time to break it down and put it in the closet for a week. And when my best friend and I got together to practice it always left us wishing we had a little more time, that we didn't have to go to a birthday party, or rake the yard.
Then it dawned on me. We were going to tournaments once or twice a month, and we were able to arrange time off from work and home to accommodate 3-4 day weekends. Well, if we could do it for a tournament, why couldn't we do it just to practice?
Turns out we could, and so our Fargo pilgrimage was born. Each year or two my best friend and I book a hotel and travel to Fargo to just get on a table and work on our game for 3-4 days. We leave town for no reason other than to make our time all about pool, with no distractions from our daily life. We work on fundamentals, shot drills, cue ball drills, the break, and a variety of different skills and obstacle courses we want to put time in on. Our 'breaks' are usually playing scotch doubles against the ghost with no side pockets or playing straight pool. Then it's back to work. It's hard work, but we push each other to keep going. Our goal is to return as better players, so that years later when we're competing an a shot comes up we can smile and think "I became friends with this shot in Fargo". I'm not sure if it really works that way, but we keep striving.
We couldn't have a more gracious host than Mike Page. Even though we're just practicing he always gives us a grand reception, almost as if we were professional players putting on an exhibition for him. The entire joint is classier than a five star hotel. The food there is amazing. The tables play true. The music is the right volume and the highest quality. There is simply not a place I'd rather spend 4 days. And every time I return I feel refreshed, rejuvenated. Coming home from a tournament I feel exhausted. Fargo just fills me up.
Well, it's time again. I have Thursday and Friday off work in a week and a half (3/23-26), and my buddy and I are once again preparing for our getaway. I am paying close attention to my game during matches to figure out where the key areas I want to work on are. I am sketching out shots I want to work on, drills I want to practice.
I find myself waking up with more energy, I get out of bed a little more easily. I am so excited to go play. I am looking forward to jumping in my car on Thursday morning and starting the drive with a big monster energy drink, letting the world fade away as we leave our lives behind and go back to the world of pool. I vaguely remember that it is really hard work, tiring at times, not always fun moment by moment. But that's all hazy. It's all overshadowed by the feeling I get of just filling myself up with all the pool I crave. It doesn't matter that I'm older now, that I don't get to compete as often, that my family and job come first and that I can't quite keep up with the new wave of youngsters that are taking competitive pool by storm. None of that matters. When I walk into the doors of Fargo Billiards it's my return to Never-Land, I become Peter Pan, and my inner child can play forever.
Among these are my trips to Fargo Billiards.
I don't remember exactly how it started. Of course I've been to Fargo Billiards a number of times. I'm only about 3 hours away from the nicest pool hall on the map. I had been there for several tournaments and had always been blown away. But to drive 3 hours just to practice? This never occurred to me. Until one day it did.
As you know for those of us with family and jobs it isn't as easy to get absorbed into the game as it was when we were kids. We have more on our mind, and we have less time to play. It can be very hard to screw your cue together cold, then just as you warm up it's time to break it down and put it in the closet for a week. And when my best friend and I got together to practice it always left us wishing we had a little more time, that we didn't have to go to a birthday party, or rake the yard.
Then it dawned on me. We were going to tournaments once or twice a month, and we were able to arrange time off from work and home to accommodate 3-4 day weekends. Well, if we could do it for a tournament, why couldn't we do it just to practice?
Turns out we could, and so our Fargo pilgrimage was born. Each year or two my best friend and I book a hotel and travel to Fargo to just get on a table and work on our game for 3-4 days. We leave town for no reason other than to make our time all about pool, with no distractions from our daily life. We work on fundamentals, shot drills, cue ball drills, the break, and a variety of different skills and obstacle courses we want to put time in on. Our 'breaks' are usually playing scotch doubles against the ghost with no side pockets or playing straight pool. Then it's back to work. It's hard work, but we push each other to keep going. Our goal is to return as better players, so that years later when we're competing an a shot comes up we can smile and think "I became friends with this shot in Fargo". I'm not sure if it really works that way, but we keep striving.
We couldn't have a more gracious host than Mike Page. Even though we're just practicing he always gives us a grand reception, almost as if we were professional players putting on an exhibition for him. The entire joint is classier than a five star hotel. The food there is amazing. The tables play true. The music is the right volume and the highest quality. There is simply not a place I'd rather spend 4 days. And every time I return I feel refreshed, rejuvenated. Coming home from a tournament I feel exhausted. Fargo just fills me up.
Well, it's time again. I have Thursday and Friday off work in a week and a half (3/23-26), and my buddy and I are once again preparing for our getaway. I am paying close attention to my game during matches to figure out where the key areas I want to work on are. I am sketching out shots I want to work on, drills I want to practice.
I find myself waking up with more energy, I get out of bed a little more easily. I am so excited to go play. I am looking forward to jumping in my car on Thursday morning and starting the drive with a big monster energy drink, letting the world fade away as we leave our lives behind and go back to the world of pool. I vaguely remember that it is really hard work, tiring at times, not always fun moment by moment. But that's all hazy. It's all overshadowed by the feeling I get of just filling myself up with all the pool I crave. It doesn't matter that I'm older now, that I don't get to compete as often, that my family and job come first and that I can't quite keep up with the new wave of youngsters that are taking competitive pool by storm. None of that matters. When I walk into the doors of Fargo Billiards it's my return to Never-Land, I become Peter Pan, and my inner child can play forever.
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