I've got a few Parica gambling tales, but here's one of my faves. It's not so much about the money or the game being played, but it is an example of what happens when three diehard action players can't find anybody else to shoot their dough at, and so they decide to play each other! :grin-square:
The Capital City Classic in Philadelphia was held at the Hilton, and the ballroom was absolutely first class. There was plenty of room between each table. The only problem was there weren't too many spectators to come see the big show. :sorry:
One evening, after the tournament matches, there weren't a lot of players around that looked like they wanted to get some action. Since it was slim pickings for action games, Keith McCready recruits Ryan McCreesh as a partner and decided to see if he could rope Jose Parica in with a one-pocket game, two against one, with Keith and Ryan alternating shots. It was close to the midnight hour, and most people were snuggled in their beds at the Hilton, but not Keith, Ryan, and Jose.
I was sitting on the rail, yawning, wondering how long it was going to take, so that we could retire for the night. It was a pretty uneventful game, but then it happened. Keith fired a shot into the corner pocket with authority. It was one of those lot-of-green shots and quite pretty. He split the wicket, as they say.
Jose Parica jumps up out of his chair and says, "You shot the ball into my hole." Keith has the deer-in-headlights look, but Ryan McCreesh had steam coming out of his ears.
Ryan looks at Keith and says, "What's wrong with you, doing that for my cheese?" Keith shrugs his shoulders and goes back to his chair, not believing he could have made such a gross error. :embarrassed2:
Jose begins to giggle, steps up to the plate. The table is wide open, the balls a looking pretty sweet for a run-out. Jose proceeds to pocket a ball. Piece of cake.
Keith jumped out of his chair and informed his opponent, "Jose, you just pocketed the ball in our hole." Then Jose got the deer-in-headlights look and returned to his chair, shaking his head. :embarrassed2:
When that game ended, Ryan unscrewed his stick and said, "I've had enough of this kind of action. I'm going to bed." :lol:
