At the 2003 Derby City Classic, Keith McCready was doing everything possible to get in action with Eric Durbin. You see, rumor had it that Eric Durbin was up 50 large. In fact, most folks were calling it the "Durbin City Classic" that year because Eric was winning everything he played. :grin:
Well, Keith's good friend and stakehorse Berle was in the house, and he told Keith that he could bet it as high as the Georgia pine. Berle liked Keith's in action, and everybody in the Executive West that evening wanted to see something happen.
Now, Durbin was well aware that he was a target for every pool gunslinger in the joint, and he was trying to keep low, but he couldn't escape Keith's mouth. Keith followed Eric like a shadow, giving Eric every proposition bet Keith could muster. And the crowd that surrounded Keith was getting bigger and bigger and bigger. Everybody was hanging onto every word out of Keith's mouth, hoping to see some big action.
Finally, Eric says to Keith, "Okay, you got action. Let me go up to my room, and I'll be right back." By this time, it was late in the night, and I wasn't too happy about sweating an all-nighter. Keith was supposed to play Grady Mathews one-pocket on the TV table the next morning at 10 a.m. How on earth could he bring his best game to the table if he got no sleep? Tournaments never mattered much to Keith, though, when action was calling his name.
An hour went by since Eric went to his room, and the crowd was getting restless. Alex Pagulayan joined in the festivities and started taking all bets whether he could touch the ceiling with one leap upwards. I've never seen such a little guy jump so high in my life. :grin-square:
Seeing all the prospects for action, Shannon Daulton decided to see if he could drum something up. He said, "I got an idea. Why don't we each put up $10,000 and have a 9-ball tournament, and then we'll see who the best 9-ball player in the land is."
Everybody stopped dead in their tracks to see what would happen next. By this time, just about every action player at the DCC was standing there with wide nostrels. $10,000 apiece, well, we might be looking at a $100,000 mini 9-ball tourney.
But nobody uttered a peep to take Shannon up on his very kind offer. Finally, after the unseemingly long pregnant pause, Shannon retorts, "
It's so damn quiet in here now, you could hear a mouse peeing on a cotton ball." :lmao::lmao::lmao:
Everybody laughed, and the barkfest continued while we all stood there waiting for the elusive Eric Durbin, who finally sent down a member of his entourage to say that Eric had changed his mind and wouldn't be playing.
What a bummer after waiting all that time. Action eventually did occur after another hour-long barkfest, but that's a topic for another story. :wink:
