Positivity Thread

also

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

We traveled a lot the last year otr so. met Jpowell real cool guy, Juice awesome guy, the guy from indiana Dana I think? Tracy in Memphis from High Pockets, Kenny Loftis,Mikey frost, go on forever. I have had a blast traveling and knowing we will know someone there,
 
After my first wife died I wanted to give my quarter horses to a good home. But you have to be careful some people will take any horse and sell it to the Alpo factory. These were good horses and I carefully searched for a good home.

A friend on one of the pool teams had raised quarter horses for many years. I approached him and said I would sell him my horses for $1.00 under the condition that he kept them for five years. If he did not love them after that he could do as he pleased. He wanted to think about it. So a week later at our next pool match I told him I could come down to $.50 but that was as low as I could go. He agreed to take the horses. One of the horses was a point or two from being a grand champion the other was the son of a great cutting horse so they were both really good horses.

A few months later he and his wife arranged to have his wife’s best friend forever be at our pool match to meet me. They never told me about it but in less than a year we were married. My buddy, who had a great sense of humor, pointed out to me on my wedding day that we were OK on the horses but that I owed him a buffalo robe in trade for the woman. My buddy was a big fan of Indians his whole life.

I really did look up buying a buffalo robe for him but they are simply too expensive for a joke. When my wife and I were going around the country on our honeymoon I found what looked like a squirrel with a buffalo head – only in Wall S. Dakota would you find such a thing, and I sent it to him telling him the woman was paid for and I was not dealing with pool players anymore.

Twenty odd years later I still have the woman
 
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the guy from indiana Dana I think?

Yes, that's elvicash.

Super nice guy, super smart, and a really good player, too. 14.1 is his specialty. He whipped me on my own home table during his brief visit to Austin.

Nine_ball6970 has become one of my best friends, and I met him here on AZB. He is definitely one of the good guys.

I've met many, many nice AZB folks in person, either facilitated through PMs, or at tournaments I attended because of AZB announcements.

The chat warriors are a blast to hang out with online. Seriously!

Believe it or not, I've learned a LOT about business from the leaders and their discussions here. BigTruck has been especially helpful to me, although I still have a LOT to learn.

Blue Hog Ridr has taught me some valuable interpersonal lessons, as well as providing many, many laughs. Thanks, BHR!

I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge the incredible and voluminous contributions from Dr. Dave. You were a big part of my inspiration to get into slow motion (high speed) video. Thank you for that, especially.

I've also had some very nice conversations with JAM. I truly appreciate her experience with pool, and her expertise with the English language. I can type almost as fast as Jenny, but I just don't have enough content to keep up with the typing. ;)

A special thanks must also go out to Pat Fleming for his help with my technical questions, and his truly positive professional demeanor.

TVMike and Zach have shared an unimaginable amount of technical video knowledge with me, and I truly consider both of them to be among my best online friends.

JCIN is one of the most straightforward, most easily understood AZB members, and I read and appreciate everything he posts. He also has a great sense of humor and a wildly successful thesaurus of jokes in his head.

Alex Chryssavgis has spent countless hours encouraging me and helping me learn artistic pool, and has even gone so far as to set up a Skype video call, during which he successfully taught me several shots from the WPA World Artistic Pool Championship book (which I captured in slow motion, of course).

EagleTrickShots (Iulian) has been an inspiration to many, with his incredible photos and videos, and he is even helping me with some side projects I've been wanting to complete.

CreeDo is my favorite overall AZB member.

Fatboy has also been extremely kind to me. Thanks, Eric, I know you are always there for me, and many others. You're a cool dude with a heart of gold.

Lets not forget the work of the AZB Staff!!! Hats off to all of you!!!

Tramp Steamer is the funniest, and JB is "arguably" the most passionate member on the forum. ;)

I am truly grateful for this site, and ALL of the folks that participate (well, almost all). There are just too many great people here to mention them all in one thread.

I know I make some wonky posts sometimes, but I'm just trying to have fun, play pool, and learn some life skills.

Tramp Steamer and JB may be the current world leaders in the wanking category, but I can give them both the 8 in wonking. :)

Thanks, everybody.

Sincerely,

-Blake
 
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I can't speak for Barton, but thanks for the compliment, SloMo. You're a good guy.
You know, we all bring a little bit of ourselves to this place and when you mix us all together it's a surefire recipe for success.
I once heard that the sum of the whole is equal...the sum of a bunch of parts is...the total of the sum is equidistant to...aw crap, you get the idea. :smile:
 
The pool room I like to go to got two Gold Crowns yesterday with very tight pockets. Not a positive thing for my bankroll but at least some very good tables to practice on.
 
Joe, you makum good trade for a pale face guy.

I would have went for a robe, beads and fire water. Sounds like you got a great deal.

Most of my Native pool player friends don't do fire water, other wise I may have been scalped many moons ago.

If I had have known. I told a story in NPR a couple of days ago. I doubt he still has the hide but I run into him at least once a week at the hall and will ask. There is a decent chance. Never know, maybe he knows someone.

A pool player acquaintance who lives on the Rez, looks after the horses and the kids riding program. Hes a great horse man.

Next to the Rez is a rancher that has some Buffalo. One of his Buffalo broke thru the fence and ended up close to this guys house. He took his rifle out and shot it. Good eating.

I have always thought it funny as a little pay back for the white man from times past.

He was perfectly within his right as the Rez is protected Native land. They can hunt and fish year round as long as it is providing food.

I have a beautiful pair of Indian beaded gauntlets, very old. I had a mouse or mice in the house that found them and chewed a few holes in them.

I went on the war path after, not a live mouse in the house.

Umm, myself, I was at a four way stop last week. I saw a blind man with his dog trying to cross the street. The poor doggie was a bit confused as to when to try and lead the man across as people pull up to a four way and go when it is their turn.

I had a warm 18 pack in the truck and figured that a couple extra minutes of my time
wasn't going to make the beer any colder. I pulled over once I crossed the street and ya know, I was pretty steamed. These people could obviously see that the guy was blind. How hard would it have been to stop at the sign and even get out and help the guy themselves. Just proves what a hurried up ME world we live in these days.

Then after, I cooled my beer in the stream that runs under the bridge where I live.

I did a good turn for a fellow AZer a while ago. Thats all I want to say as it is between him and I. From his posts, I had figured that he was a pretty decent person.

Last week, I loaned a stripper 40 dollars, one bill at a time. She was so happy that she came over and sat on my lap after.
 
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I had mentioned in a carom thread a desire to watch 5 birilli, a carom game with little pins in the middle of the table. A member here ended up sending me some videos of it for no charge.

J. Henderson mainly posts on the onepocket site, but he also helped me out with some cool instructional stuff.
 
I'm a lurker on several other forums relating to my other hobbies and I have to say the amount of generosity that people give to complete strangers on here is a very special thing. Plus, everytime I've met an AZ'er through my travels I've always had a blast!
 
Positive things from the pool playing community and the AZ community are very common. Unfortunately it is the negative moments that get the most attention.

In the 1980's I shaped Earl Strickland's tip for him and he stood right next to me telling me just how he wanted it. When he siad it was shaped perfect I handed it back to him and he handed me a five dollar bill. I told him I only charged two dollars to trim the mushroom and shape a tip. He said keep the change that is was worth five dollars to him to have his tip just right.

Lamar who is now in the AZ hall of fame (RIP) once tipped me $500 on a cue we built for him.

When my late wife got cancer and we had no insurance some AZ members sent me donations to help cover the medical bills. Even after I told everyone we were okay and did not need the donations, people insisted on helping anyway.

Some cuemaker members on here that were unable to play in our Cuemakers International 9 Ball Championship charity events, made donations to the Childrens Home anyway.

Those are just a few of the things that come to mind when I think of positive things that AZers and pool players have done.
 
Big Truck

can't believe left him out. Met him a few times at White Diamonds, High Pockets, etc..
another awesome guy and great for pool
 
What do I get from this forum?

Well, I get to talk about pool with a group of people who have been down the same road as me more or less.

I get to swap stories. I get to see new stuff. I get to see complete stranger stepping up to help each other.

When my friend was down and really desperate you folks came out of the woodwork to help her. And I am not talking small help either, some of you sent hundreds of dollars to someone you don't even know.

This is a community whether we think so or not. The positive is worth celebrating and worth remembering.
 
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