Positivity Thread

iba7467

iba7467

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
With every horrible thread going on I thought I would try to lend some positivity. Please do not post snide remarks or talk about the bad. Let's make this one thing to reflect positive experiences in and around pool.


Just here on AZ:

1. A young player friend of mine who grew up with nothing was donated a nice J Flowers case ($250 or so value). This was from a random AZ who was just passing on good fortune.

2. J Barton has given away a number of cases over the years. I myself have received one through a free contest he ran.

3. Was given assistance on booking recent travels saving over $800 total.

4. Have seen numerous outpourings of support to assist AZers in time of need or heart break.

Outside AZ:

1. Met my wife while stopping by a bar for a quick tourney/action.

2. Met most of my good friends including the parents of my godchildren who would not be together were it not for the pool hall.
 
I agree about the good news/bad news saga, but if you turn on the news on TV or online, most of it is not good, for whatever reason.

Let's see. What can I bring to the thread? I donated 100 bucks to BEF (Billiards Education Fund) last week in an effort to help the youth of our sport. Dr. Dave matched funds. He raised $500 altogether. Plus, he donated $500. That's $1,000 going to the BEF. :cool:
 
I'll contribute

An older friend of mine tried my Chris Whitaker cue a couple years ago and LOVED it. Went over to Chris' booth and found a cue he liked, but he couldn't afford it at the time. Fast forward a year and a half and we were at the Wisconsin State tourney this year and he still couldn't afford it.
I made the decision that if I made some $ at the casino, I would buy the cue for him and he could pay me back at his convenience. Well, I won, so I went and got the cue for him. I took it over waited for his match to end and presented it to him. He was speechless and couldn't believe I would do that for him. Brought tears to his eyes as we are not close friends, just league buddies that I see a few times a year. But just a very nice gentleman that I wanted to do something nice for.

And sometimes it is the arrow, not the Indian. His game really picked up and he feels one with the cue. And yes, I've already been paid back from him.
 
I too met my wife (of 14 yrs and counting) at a pool hall, that pool hall has generated 3 married couples (me, my wife's sister and her husband and and two of our friends), and 6 kids.

Playing pool with my son enabled me to travel to the Jr Nationals together, got his first plane trip when we went to Wisconsin last year and will be my first trip to Vegas coming up next month.

My son got a gift of a very nice cue from Ed Bishop form here.

AZ members sent us $250 in donations for our Jr Nationals trip.

A member on here invited us over his house to play on his Diamond table so my son can prectice on one before Nationals.

I am very close to my son pretty much totally due to us going around playing pool together, I know some of the members here have met us and can see that.
 
Got paid forward

This year in leagues, I was going out for a cigarette. One of my opponents (again, league buddy) came out with me and asked when I was going to quit smoking by using the e-cigarette her teammates had used. Not the $9 kind at 7-eleven, but the more expensive re-usable with refillable juice.

I explained that I have been unemployed for several months and couldn't afford it, but planned to once back on my feet. Yes, cigs are expensive, but I know they work and didn't want to risk $50 on something that didn't.

A few days later at our league end event, that team pulled me over and presented me with not 1, but 2 of the e-cigs (1 for my girlfriend as they know it's hard to stop smoking unless both do it).

I was shocked and asked why they would do that. They mention that I do so much for all the other players in the league. I didn't think I did, but the cue story above was one of the things mentioned. And the mentoring I do to other newer players in the league.

And yes, both myself and my girlfriend were successful in stopping smoking. I highly recommend the good e-cigs to any smoker that wants to quit smoking and save $!!
 
I met my girlfriend in a revolving door. We've been going around together ever since. :smile:

Was that a snide remark? I'll be honest with you, I've got to plead the fifth on this.
 
Great stories guys. Thanks for contributing. I cannot count the number of good people I have met and played while travelling. I'll name a few and hope I don't make anyone mad by not listing them:

Black-Balled
MikeM
nucues - Steve Klapp
Miller
bmsclayton
patrickcues - Doug Patrick
beetle
Cory in DC
Tate
Jay Helfert
1on1pooltourney
 
Thank you for starting this thread. I needed something positive to start my day.

During the time that I was filming JB's slow motion case video, I asked John if he could help a very promising young 13-year old player from Houston. Without hesitation, John told me to send him any case that he wanted, and there would be no charge.

This young man had been keeping his cue under the bench seat of his grandfather's truck.

I spent a few hours with Michael, discussing which case would be best for him.

He now has a very nice, simple case, and has sent me several messages on FaceBook thanking me, in addition to thanking John.

He may also be a member here on AZB, but I'm not sure.

Here is a short video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b255R2pVUTs

-Blake
 
DoubleD said:
A couple of months ago I saw that the guy who wrote the story about his friend who needed the cue (and got the cue) started a cue giveaway of his own.

...

I'll leave with a small story: I was playing a few years ago, trying to get back what I had lost after a few year layoff. It was crowded in this place with no real pool players, I was shooting by myself a couple of tables away from a couple and their early-20's daughter. After a couple of hours they packed up to leave and the mother came over to me, the daughter a couple of steps behind. She waited for me to take a shot, apologized for interrupting me, then said that she wanted to tell me how much fun they had watching me. I hadn't even realized they were observing. There are very few times in my life I have been completely speechless, as I was at that moment.
Click to expand...

Both of those are excellent narratives. You're one of the good guys, DoubleD.

-Blake
 
Good thread, hope it lasts a long time. I've met some of the best people I know playing pool, also some of the worst. But without those worst, I wouldn't have come to know the best, so thanks all!
 
I sold a pretty expensive cue on eBay about 6 years ago and learned about AZ when a friend told me, "they are talking about your cue on this pool forum site". After that, I met Chris Tate and he told me to come by his place of business and talk cues.

I've been involved in cues since then and have become good friends with a couple of solid cue makers, but I think at least 1/2 of what little I now know about cues, I learned in that first session with The Palmer Collector.

Chris shared because he loves the game and loves cues, absolutely nothing "in it" for him outside of sharing a love.

Thanks

Kevin
 
A while back there was a thread talking about being colour blind and playing pool. Being severly colour blind myself I took a moment to describe how it affected my playing and how I have a very hard time seeing the difference in some of the balls.

A few weeks later I recieved a pink 4 ball in the mall from another AZ member, now I don't mistake the 4 for the 2 or vice-versa. This member took it upon himself to send it to me, shipping and all. :)
 
Sarnia Shorty said:
A while back there was a thread talking about being colour blind and playing pool. Being severly colour blind myself I took a moment to describe how it affected my playing and how I have a very hard time seeing the difference in some of the balls.
A few weeks later I recieved a pink 4 ball in the mall from another AZ member, now I don't mistake the 4 for the 2 or vice-versa. This member took it upon himself to send it to me, shipping and all. :)
Click to expand...

Learn to play One Pocket, and you won't have to worry about it. :)
 
iba7467 said:
Great stories guys. Thanks for contributing. I cannot count the number of good people I have met and played while travelling. I'll name a few and hope I don't make anyone mad by not listing them:

Black-Balled
MikeM
nucues - Steve Klapp
Miller
bmsclayton
patrickcues - Doug Patrick
beetle
Cory in DC
Tate
Jay Helfert
1on1pooltourney
Click to expand...

Yep, made me mad
 
It's a good thread!

I've been the recipient of some great kindness from many people on this forum, both publicly and privately. I've probably received much more than I deserve and it would be difficult if not impossible to mention all of the people in pool that have had a positive impact on my life.

Some of the relationships go far back to the rec.sport.billiard newsgroup days and those relationship continue to grow, as I travel and meet new people all over the world.

By doing pool commentary, I have had the honor of meeting all kinds of people that I never would have met otherwise.

To mimic a quote by a great baseball player: "Pool has been very good to me."

JoeyA
 
One of the area pool tours has a really friendly player (Paul Helms) whose little girl was attacked by a dog, got bitten on the face. Ozzy from the APT set up donations to help with the medical expenses and from what I understand it was a success and she's recovering nicely.

I've found some truly nice people in the pool hall, really generous guys. I've had a cue, jump cue, and case all gifted to me, not for any special occasion, just people wanting to make a nice gesture. I wanna thank those guys now, y'all are awesome.

I've seen someone bust a drunk guy out of 100 bucks easily in a single rack, have mercy, and turn him down though he wanted to keep playing. In fact he tried to give the 100 back.
 
Oh my, where to start?

I've been rather fortunate to have won a few free contests here over the years, and even when you don't win, its fun watching it play out. The generosity of folks providing these contests is amazing.

I have gotten an AZB patch for my case, a CJ Wiley instructional DVD, a racking template and a couple new prototype tips from Chris "The Renfro"...I could have forgotten others. All very cool, and very much appreciated.

And very recently a AZB veteran here took it upon themself to purchase my Gold AZB membership, unsolicited and out if the blue, which astounds me to this moment. That person takes an awful lot of grief here at times, and it frustrates me to see it take place.

Beyond those examples, I have "met" (in so much as anyone meets here online) a number of fantastic folks, many who have helped me with advice and suggestions over the years. We are so fortunate to have this resource at our disposal. I have gained a lot of knowledge, and the forum has also provided a great deal of entertainment as well.

Outside of AZB, I have met a large group of people here in my local area, and across the state, from my participation in the APA. There are several who I now consider great friends, and we spend time together away from pool, as well as while playing. It is somewhat of a family, of sorts, and I treasure it.

I owe all of this happening to one of my best friends, the guy who got me started playing pool a few years ago. It all took off from there.

I'm very fortunate.
 
SloMoHolic said:
Thank you for starting this thread. I needed something positive to start my day.

During the time that I was filming JB's slow motion case video, I asked John if he could help a very promising young 13-year old player from Houston. Without hesitation, John told me to send him any case that he wanted, and there would be no charge.

This young man had been keeping his cue under the bench seat of his grandfather's truck.

I spent a few hours with Michael, discussing which case would be best for him.

He now has a very nice, simple case, and has sent me several messages on FaceBook thanking me, in addition to thanking John.

He may also be a member here on AZB, but I'm not sure.

Here is a short video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b255R2pVUTs

-Blake
Click to expand...

Another video of him http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCEGPYgdVZc&feature=endscreen&NR=1

His break reminds me of Shane's, he must have really look at how he breaks. Wonder how my son would do against him :wink: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVkV079yEFI
 
hang-the-9 said:
Another video of him http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCEGPYgdVZc&feature=endscreen&NR=1

His break reminds me of Shane's, he must have really look at how he breaks. Wonder how my son would do against him :wink: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVkV079yEFI
Click to expand...

Thats a cool video of him against the Widow. I have met a ton of good people that love the game of pool throughout the years. I also appreciate the pros who take the time to do some exhibitions that I have had the pleasure of watching (Dr. Cue, Dave Pearson, Mike Massey, Jeanette Lee, Archer, Strickland, Frost, Vanboening) etc.

One quick funny story was I was in vegas for APA team and the day before the tournaments were going on Stefano Pelinga was doing trick shots on a table in a suit. A couple of buddies who were on my team watched as I told them I was going to offer him the 7 ball (in good humor of course since we had a few pepsis and were feeling frisky). I started to walk toward him and then he made a bad*ss trick shot to which I turned back around and looked at my friends and said "nevermind". Of course they didn't let me live it down and called me chicken for the next few hours or as twitter would say #karma.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top