I did that very gently and innocently one time and the guy wanted to beat me up for it. Apparently he had a thing about ever being told what to do.
Others in the room talked him out of it.
fyi,
Jeff Livingston
Problem with non-players in the pool room
- Thread starter ChopStick
- Start date
I did that very gently and innocently one time and the guy wanted to beat me up for it. Apparently he had a thing about ever being told what to do.
Others in the room talked him out of it.
fyi,
Jeff Livingston
Made me look it up. Love that scene ---> HERE.
Yesterday, Keith and I drove by the Avalon Theater on Connecticut Avenue in Northwest D.C., which is where I saw "The Color of Money" when it first came out. I pointed it out to him. About a dozen of us from the pool room drove over there in a convoy to see this so-called "pool movie."
Back then in '86, I had never heard of a "Keith McCready," and neither had any of the rest of us who went to see the movie that day.
We sat in the back of this theater. The Avalon was the old-fashioned theater, huge screen. When this scene came on, we got a case of the giggles and couldn't stop laughing. Other viewers in the audience were turning around going, "Ssshhh." They were quite annoyed with us.
Yes, this was a cool pool movie, but some of the scenes were so far-fetched. We all got a kick out of it and laughed and laughed. We enjoyed it, though. Even though it was far-fetched, it was a fun movie to see as a group of pool junkies. :grin-square:
Maybe the problem isn't the league players but those who can't handle imperfections in others?
Jeff, an imperfect league player, Livingston
I too am a pool leauge player, yet i tend to follow pool hall etiquette. Even fellow teamates piss me off when they appear to be there more for the booze. Ive noticced now that at a few of the joints i frequent, they have started beer pong tourneys. As if there werent enough drunks already, there is now way too many stumbling around, crashing into tables and you.
Why can't a pool room have someone walk around occasionally to make sure everything is ok? It's called customer service. I've seen staff walk around in pool rooms, but only to check the number or people on the tables so they're not cheating the house. How about walking around to look after your customers who are respecting your establishment?
All of this so-called understanding for people who don't know any better is fine, but then TEACH THEM!
I don't blame the OP for being angry. This is the business's fault.
All of this so-called understanding for people who don't know any better is fine, but then TEACH THEM!
I don't blame the OP for being angry. This is the business's fault.
good post!
I do agree, it is the rooms place to teach proper respect for the equipment and pool players. It isn't the player's place to have to. I sometimes explain to someone sitting on a table or placing a drink on a table immediately to try to prevent damage but I do it nicely. If ignorance or stupidity isn't interfering with me I usually let the pool hall handle it. I usually let the pool hall handle it anyway but I have to admit after twice moving a sweating water bottle from against my leather case, the third time it happened in less than ten minutes I disposed of the bottle properly, along with the remaining water in it. Probably wasn't necessary to hurl it with enough velocity to reach low level earth orbit when I was at the garbage can but the message was delivered.
I have sailed a ball or two off the table many years in the past, sometimes into a person, sometimes into a wall near somebody. It does convey the message that they are in a bad place to hang around! People sitting on the table or leaning with fingers draped over the cushion have occasionally had balls hit body parts in the playing area. Got to be expected when placing said body parts in the playing area during a pool game. When a group overflowing from the other side of the business into the pool room took over the drinks table at the foot of the table I was playing on I once sailed a cueball onto that table with great effect, spilling several glasses of wine and a beer or two. Not what I would do today but looking back, I can't say I regret any of my behavior! :thumbup: Some advantages to the good ol' days when times were rotten.
Hu
I do agree, it is the rooms place to teach proper respect for the equipment and pool players. It isn't the player's place to have to. I sometimes explain to someone sitting on a table or placing a drink on a table immediately to try to prevent damage but I do it nicely. If ignorance or stupidity isn't interfering with me I usually let the pool hall handle it. I usually let the pool hall handle it anyway but I have to admit after twice moving a sweating water bottle from against my leather case, the third time it happened in less than ten minutes I disposed of the bottle properly, along with the remaining water in it. Probably wasn't necessary to hurl it with enough velocity to reach low level earth orbit when I was at the garbage can but the message was delivered.
I have sailed a ball or two off the table many years in the past, sometimes into a person, sometimes into a wall near somebody. It does convey the message that they are in a bad place to hang around! People sitting on the table or leaning with fingers draped over the cushion have occasionally had balls hit body parts in the playing area. Got to be expected when placing said body parts in the playing area during a pool game. When a group overflowing from the other side of the business into the pool room took over the drinks table at the foot of the table I was playing on I once sailed a cueball onto that table with great effect, spilling several glasses of wine and a beer or two. Not what I would do today but looking back, I can't say I regret any of my behavior! :thumbup: Some advantages to the good ol' days when times were rotten.
Hu
as i stated in my above post i think the op could be describing the scene at high pockets yesterday during apa tri cups.
he described the scene perfectly. 9's in front...bar tables in back..counters around the perimiter. 9' gold crown with players signatures on it. non pool players clustered around it. i noticed them because they were with the team we played against .
i have mixed opinions on this problem.
1. i can see the op's view point. if i pay for a table i want to be able to use it , but....if i see the place is jammed packed with a tournament going on i am not going to pick a table down there next to where they are when there were plenty of tables available up front.
as a matter of fact the 2 -9's next to this particular signed table were covered to accomodate the league players allowing them to sit and place their cases and whatever on.
2. i guess the situation the op experienced does not bother me because of my years of playing in bars.if i can fade music so loud i have to yell at the person next to me...drunks staggering around...g/f's of my opponent shaking their ass trying to shark me into losing...well i guess i can fade a few thoughtless non pool players intruding into my lil private space around the table.
if he is talking about high pockets i just got this to say. tracy goes out of his way to accomodate every body the best he can. if there is a money match on the 9's he will rope that area off. if their is a bar table league tournament he will cover the last 2 9's adjacent to that area.
last but not least. when you have about 200 people crowded in a pool hall during a tournament you can expect some people to encroach your lil personal space.
always a possibility . . .
Always a possibility and flying cue balls sometimes led to discussions. The good thing about the old days is if it led to flying teeth it wouldn't have led to jail time and lawsuits back then. People generally got a warning or two and the flying cue ball was usually followed by a loud "oops" although sometimes blatantly lacking in sincerity!
Never got in a fight over a flying pool ball. The closest I came was when someone else was flying them, three or four times trying to break each rack! After twenty or thirty times when I was playing on the table below the one they were playing on I did tell them to take a good look at the size of the cue ball before hitting it the next time because they would be swallowing it if it hit me or the balls on my table again.
No problems for the next thirty minutes or so then their cue ball barely left their table and went under the table I was playing on. I handed it to them without a word. They did seem a wee bit nervous about my intentions as I walked over! :thumbup:
Hu
i got a lil warning for you people that say ...sail a cue ball towards them. i know cue balls fly off the table from time to time.....but if i see it was done deliberately ...its coming back atcha twice as hard.
Always a possibility and flying cue balls sometimes led to discussions. The good thing about the old days is if it led to flying teeth it wouldn't have led to jail time and lawsuits back then. People generally got a warning or two and the flying cue ball was usually followed by a loud "oops" although sometimes blatantly lacking in sincerity!
Never got in a fight over a flying pool ball. The closest I came was when someone else was flying them, three or four times trying to break each rack! After twenty or thirty times when I was playing on the table below the one they were playing on I did tell them to take a good look at the size of the cue ball before hitting it the next time because they would be swallowing it if it hit me or the balls on my table again.
No problems for the next thirty minutes or so then their cue ball barely left their table and went under the table I was playing on. I handed it to them without a word. They did seem a wee bit nervous about my intentions as I walked over! :thumbup:
Hu
i got a lil warning for you people that say ...sail a cue ball towards them. i know cue balls fly off the table from time to time.....but if i see it was done deliberately ...its coming back atcha twice as hard.
We were not throwing them at peoples heads. The cue ball was just shot in there direction to get them to move. I never once saw a fight over it and the numbskulls standing too close always moved away. Yea there was a look or two but that's as far as it ever went.
Yep. That was me getting into it with those guys at the head of table 13. Everybody knows 6 and 13 is the serious players area. Nobody is allowed to hang out there. This was early Friday night though and there wasn't a lot of people around. There empty tables on all sides of me. They just decided that spot was a good vantage point to park and watch the tri cup. I usually don't go in there when there is any kind of event like that but the room was half empty. Plenty of space for people to go.
I'm the old guy who is always practicing alone away from everyone else usually on 18 or 13. Drop by sometime.
Last edited:
i was not there then. it sure was like that all day sat though. we probly know each other. my name is buddy. bout every there body knows me.
That's what I'm talking about. Back when this pool room first opened, there was a sign standing in the floor when you first come in the door. It said Pool players only on the floor with the tables. All non-players must remain behind the counters. If you went onto the floor without a stick in your hand someone would come around and ask you to leave the area.
There are waitresses that come around regularly and check on you. In the case I mentioned she could not even get by because of the idiots at the end of the table. It would be a simple matter if he staff would just say please clear the playing area. It would help so much because most people would comply if they just had a gentle reminder on a regular basis.
I don't have a problem with league players. Most of them play well enough that they immediately recognize my skill level and I get a lot of respect from them because of that and they enjoy watching me practice. When they come in I switch my routine to down table drills and never go to the sides of the table just to give them more space. I don't mind. Every now and then one of them will not be paying attention and drift into my area. A simple excuse me or a look in their direction is enough to shoo them away.
I don't have a problem with people walking by when I am down on a shot. because honestly, I can't see them. I once had a guy sit down on my table while I was taking a shot and he jumped up and says I'm sorry man. I never even knew he was there until he jumped. I stand up from shots all the time to see someone standing there waiting. I tell them they don't have to stop. It doesn't affect me at all.
The only thing that affects me is when people physically interfere with me and it happens too often in my opinion. One time.....these things happen. When you have the same guy bang into you or your cue while a shot is in process 5 times in a row. Then that is a problem and they are going to get some grief from me. We passed "excuse me" a while back and now we are in the gtf off me phase.
Last edited:
ok...i got you.
you lob a cue ball towards some one on purpose and think they should pick it up and politely hand it back to you.:grin:
my reaction to an incident depends on your action to provoke said incident. the more severe your action...the more severe my reaction. 3 examples below.
1. you; hey mister ..you are in my way ...would you mind moving ?
me; oh ..pardon me . i did not realize i was in your way....of course i will move.
2. you ; hey ass hole ..get out of the way.
me; hey mf'er ....yea i will move but you don't have to such an obnoxious asshole about it.
3. you; i think i am gonna sail a cue ball towards those guys in my way.
me; that mf'er just tried to hit me with that cue ball. i am gonna sling it back at that mf'er and see how it likes it .
i 1st started going to high pockets about 10 years ago when i joined a bcapl league. i later joined an in house league on the 9 footers. it was much like you described back then.
since tracy has got involved things have changed. for the most part the changes have been for the better. the one major change was adding more tables to accomodate the growing number of league players ... in house...apa...and napa plus memphis traveling pool league. . those added tables means less seating area since he took out the booths that lined the wall from the end of the counter and along the back wall.
even with the added space in front where the old jack's bbq was there is not enough bar tables for the sun night double jeapordy league. we use all 10 bar tables plus 6 9 footers on that night. speaking of which ..i think its our turn to play on the 9's tonight.
Tracy is a good guy, a great room owner and supporter of the game. I consider him to be a friend. I first started going to High Pockets the day it opened about 35 years ago. I am from the Funland/River City crowd. I have been out of town for 30 years and just came back about a year ago.
Two things I wish Tracy would do is have the balls cleaned more often and have his staff to ask people to keep the playing area clear. I am sure that if they just ask people when they walk by and see it that it would improve things a lot.
oh....this explains your lamenting the fact high pockets aint like it used to be. you have been gone for 30 years.
well i have been going there for 10 years and saw the changes 1st hand. i am not gonna sit here and say high pockets would have closed by now if tracy had not got involved with high pockets. i will say i dont think they would be as busy as they are today with out his involvement. kennard was getting up in age and just could not devote the time it takes to run this place.
on any given night there are twice as many people there than 5 years ago.
i cant complain about the balls compared to other places in town.
the only 2 remedies to keeping people out of the playing area are less tables or a bigger building. the seating area behind the counter on the far wall is very narrow. every one has to stand up for you to get behind them to get to your seat.
and you are just gonna have to face the fact that people are gonna cut through the playing area to use the rest room or to get a drink. as a matter of fact ..down at the bar table end it is so tight that when a person is trying to break who ever is sitting behind them has to get up and move to the side.
back 10 years ago you had an average of 6 bacpl teams playing a couple times a week. a couple of 6 or 8 team in house leagues and the regular players.
now you have more in house teams and as many as 14 apa teams plus the regulars all crowded in the same square footage plus more tables than you had back then.
if you wanted more personal space you would have loved players before it closed. there was never more than 10 people in that place on any given night. it was an old time pool hall. actually it used to belong to kennard before he opened high pockets.
it was a serious players pool hall. no leagues except for a traveling league once a week. wonder why it closed.
I just remembers something that happend to me that shows that people that don't play pool are generally totally unaware of where they are or what goes one there.
I was playing at a table, by myself, and was lining up to shoot a ball at one end of the table. On the table next to me was a few younger kids (late teens, maybe early 20s), a couple of more of them came over while I was playing.
One of the new people stands next to my table on the othe end of me, and grabs at a few balls from my table and starts rolling them around WHILE I'M TAKING A SHOT AT THE OTHER END. I sand up and look at him in a very confused way like "Ah.. what the hell are you doing?", he startled a bit like he just realized that he was doing something, said sorry and moved away a step.
On the other hand I have seen some very well behaived people that show respect for others, a band was setting up during a league match, the band members were wheeling their amps and such over to the other room and they stopped and waited for the players to shoot whenever they walked by us.
I was playing at a table, by myself, and was lining up to shoot a ball at one end of the table. On the table next to me was a few younger kids (late teens, maybe early 20s), a couple of more of them came over while I was playing.
One of the new people stands next to my table on the othe end of me, and grabs at a few balls from my table and starts rolling them around WHILE I'M TAKING A SHOT AT THE OTHER END. I sand up and look at him in a very confused way like "Ah.. what the hell are you doing?", he startled a bit like he just realized that he was doing something, said sorry and moved away a step.
On the other hand I have seen some very well behaived people that show respect for others, a band was setting up during a league match, the band members were wheeling their amps and such over to the other room and they stopped and waited for the players to shoot whenever they walked by us.