Smoking • U.S. Open 9 Ball Champion

[dannyb78]

Smoking has affected my life style

Several years ago I was diagnosed with scar tissue in my left lung. It is not sever and have it for many years. I take antibiotics year round to try and get the infection out of my lungs. It came from having phmonia and broncitas a lot as a child. Because of this I miss out on a lot of pool events. Reason being. I can not be around certain kinds of fumes. One of the main fumes is cigaret smoke. I love going to US Open (exception of this year for obvious seating reasons). I have been every year since 1996. I am in constant action when at the open. I make probaly around $5,000 worth of bets sweating the matches. I would love to go to Q MAster and stake someone or atleast side bet on some matches. I dont have that option because I dont bet on what I cant watch. Qmaster smoke is so bad. And so thick it leaks out into the non smoking section. Needles to say, I can not go to Q Master because of Cigaret Smoke. This is another reason I can not hit some of the Action Pool Tour Events. Some of the events are held, or where held at Q MASTER. The biggest disapont for me was several years ago at the Derby City Classic. It was my first time there. I arrived at the beging of the event. I did not know smoke was allowed there. It was not in the tournament room, but it was every where else. You could right your name in Mid Air it was so thick. Beings I was so far from Home I tried to wheather the storm. I got some action before I got sick. But that did not last to long. When SVB Played Busty and Efren. I was in my hotel room taking breathing treaments probally watching sportcenter. Smoke is just somehting I cant have in my life now a days. Both of my parents smoked. The pool room I learned how to shoot in. Was packed with smoke. I used to hang out in Qmaster. I just have to pick and chose where I go. I wish there was No smoking. But, we cant have every thing perfect.

 

[RobertaAgnor]

Very nicely put! I used to smoke myself for many years & quit cold turkey 11 years ago. Some place around here allow smoking & it doesn't bother me unless it's someone like you describe who has absolutely no thought or consideration for anyone else around. Just because I'm somewhere that allows smoking doesn't mean I want it blown in my face.

I wrote this in a smoking thread a while back. Instead of stating the same thing twice I will just copy and paste it b/c I don't know how to attach an old thread comment/post or whatever. lol.. Sorry, it's kind of long... I just feel really strongly about people's right to smoke or not smoke... I know threads like this can be tiresome but I will never give up on trying to enjoy myself at tournaments rather than dread going to them b/c I know the smoke will be insane! Even playing on the OB Cues Ladies 9ball Tour is hard sometimes, depending on the pool room. They do not allow smoking at the table (which is awesome), but that doesn't stop people from smoking 10 feet from you at the bar...

We all have the right to DECIDE how we want to live our lives. Smoke, don’t smoke, go where they allow it or don’t….whatever…..it’s your choice. Well, to be fair, it's your choice IF you have the option of a smoking and a non-smoking pool room.

With that said, let me tell you a simple little story. I was in a (smoking) pool room for league one night. I was sitting down minding my own business, eating a salad that I had ordered. A few minutes into my dinner someone walks up to where I am sitting, puts an ash tray right in front of me, puts his cigarette in the ash tray, and walks away. I politely move the ash tray so the smoke wasn’t blowing directly into my face while I’m eating my food. The person comes back, gets irritated with me for moving the ash tray, and gives me a dirty look. I simply stated I was trying to eat without the smoke in my face and he says, “You are in a bar”, rather rudely. Well no sh*t Sherlock! I couldn’t tell! What the hell kind of argument is that and do you really expect to win with it??? THIS is what I do not like.

My point of the story is that if everyone was courteous, and if everyone even began to think a little about how it affects people around them other than themselves, I doubt the whole smoking ban thing would be this big of an issue. (I know I know…this might only happen in my little fantasy world.) There are some smokers out there that will make sure they don’t blow smoke in your face, or make sure that the line of smoke isn’t directed toward you. I am fortunate to have these kinds of friends. However, there are a lot of smokers that have the “don’t come into my space if you don’t want to smell it” mentality. Even when I was a smoker I never had that mentality. Now I have not smoked in about 5 years and I will admit that ONE of the reasons I don’t frequent the pool rooms is because of the smoking. Smoking is the smoker's bad habit - I do not wish to make it mine (again). It is also my opinion that most pool room owners do not want to spend the money it takes (because it is expensive) on a really good ventilation system. I have no idea if that is true or not – I am just basing this off of what I have seen, heard, and experienced.

You can argue all day long…until you are blue in the face if you want…who is right and who is wrong here. Personally, I do not wish to pollute my lungs with 2nd hand smoke (which IS harmful), so I go to pool rooms only when I have to, and that is MY choice. I do not have an issue with smokers, but smokers can’t say that non-smokers want it their way or no way, without saying the same thing about themselves.

This thread is about smoking…your opinion on banning it or not. It is not about driving, eating fast food, or working out. The Government is trying to do what is best for the people of this country by banning smoking in public establishments. By giving non-smokers the right to simply not smoke against their will in public establishments. This is going to be one of those debates folks will still be having years and years from now.

It is our own responsibility to treat each other as we would be treated. Reverting back to the bible, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

Definition of COURTESY
1
a : behavior marked by polished manners or respect for others : courteous behavior
b : a courteous and respectful act or expression

Just sayin’….

 

[mandalamps]

Very nicely put! I used to smoke myself for many years & quit cold turkey 11 years ago. Some place around here allow smoking & it doesn't bother me unless it's someone like you describe who has absolutely no thought or consideration for anyone else around. Just because I'm somewhere that allows smoking doesn't mean I want it blown in my face.

EXACTLY!!!! Being courteous goes a long way!

 

[Shazar]

I hate smoking

TG I live in CA

Smokers should go outside period

I don't want to be poisoned

I couldn't play in a pool hall full of smoke.


I'm sure of this.

 

[Juice]

I'd lay a biscuit to SEVERAL THOUSAND... SVB will play pool if he thinks he can win big money no matter the environment! He LOVES da dough BRO!!

I agree with this 100% and know Shane is a good image for pool and respect that about him. Lets be real though if he had the stone cold nuts to make 10-50k he is not going to do it because the building is smoking is a lie. I also know he hit balls in emeralds every day while in Louisiana which is a smoking establishment as well and played in that tournament.

So do not agree with him making that statement and bashing White Diamonds for it. I take it as Shane is a sharp guy and does lots of research before traveling over a thousand miles to a tournament and knew what he was up against pretty sure before arriving. Shane is one of the most profitable pool players alive and will be for a long time for his talent but telling a owner how to run a successful business and his tournament is out of line to me unless you are god himself. Every pool player knows if they go to a pool hall they have never been to or town they never been before that they take the chance that it is smoking but we do it because we love it even though we hate the smoke.

Pool and smoke go together and have always been together since the days of Willie Mosconi and Minnesota Fats. I do not smoke and hate it just like everyone else but love pool and some things are worth the sacrifice and everyone who reads this forum has made that choice to do something they don't like cause the good out weighs the bad.

I enjoyed watching Shane play this weekend along with the other 1000 people there and can gaurantee some came to watch him play and made that sacrifice of only going to non smoking places to enjoy this opportunity in a smoking establishment. This is one of the best bar table tournaments in the country and with Shane or not will continue to be because of the staff and hard work they put into the tournament. It has been sucessful before Shane and just feel that was a unfair statement he made about this tournament.

Shane has played the Andy Mercer Memorial tournament the last 4 years @ the Rum Runner Bar in Las Vegas where they allow people to smoke inside. There is so much smoke in the room it makes your eyes burn. He has won 3 out of 4 and finished 3rd. Maybe theres another reason he doesnt want to go back there.

Oh really? LOL

And I bet he got paid for this one.

You know it!

I think that businesses that are well run will continue to do well despite a few customers that will whine.

Businesses need all the customers they can get but the smoking allowed establishments are probably missing some very lucrative business from the non-smokers who just don't want to be exposed to the stink and the health hazards of smokers. Like you, I guess I am a pool nut.

Pool nut right here!

 

[SJDinPHX]

I catch a little flak for some of my perspectives about a few other things but I know that everyone won't always agree with me and that's ok.

The fact that I live my life treating everyone fairly and with respect until they treat me otherwise, that I try to live my personal life as a positive life, is good enough to carry me through any flak that I might receive here or anywhere else but thanks for the sentiments as they are appreciated.

ld

ATTN; JOEYA,

You must have missed post #51..Mild flack...

SuperDuck

 

[Jaden]

Camel did...

Good for Shane. People whine about the image of pool and the lack of money in pool then allow pool rooms to be filled with toxic smoke. What sponsor wants to be associated with that?
I could care less if smokers like going outside or not, the rest of have no desire to be trapped inside with your poison wafting around the room.

Until they outlawed cigarette advertising. Let people run their businesses as they see fit. Enough with the laws trying to create an impossible Utopian society.

People can absolutely choose not to visit establishments that allow smoking, they can hope that enough people do the same that the owners decide to not allow it in the future, but **** these laws that make it a crime to do so.

Quit trying to control people's behavior, it's time people take responsibility for their own choices, let cigarette manufacturers advertise, legalize drugs, quit trying to make laws to create crimes with secondary desired results.

Punish the actual crimes with actual victims, no more victim-less crimes.

Jaden

 

[Sloppy Pockets]

42,000 deaths from second hand smoke that are documented. How many go undocumented.

I don't know how one can document even a single case of death from second-hand smoke. All that can be done is to gather up data and run it through a statistical package to get a correlation between the two.

Correlation should not imply causation.

 

[JoeyA]

Nicotine is known to be a performance enhancing drug. Asking the smoker (or telling him) not to smoke is actually going to decrease his performance. Therefore those that wish to compel smokers to not smoke are overtly and knowingly attempting to take advantage of them.


Difficult problem to address fairly, no doubt.



.

Aren't there such a thing as nicotine patches, which come in different potencies, that would allow a person who smokes to still get their fix, legally?

 

[JoeyA]

I agree with this 100% and know Shane is a good image for pool and respect that about him. Lets be real though if he had the stone cold nuts to make 10-50k he is not going to do it because the building is smoking is a lie. I also know he hit balls in emeralds every day while in Louisiana which is a smoking establishment as well and played in that tournament.

So do not agree with him making that statement and bashing White Diamonds for it. I take it as Shane is a sharp guy and does lots of research before traveling over a thousand miles to a tournament and knew what he was up against pretty sure before arriving. Shane is one of the most profitable pool players alive and will be for a long time for his talent but telling a owner how to run a successful business and his tournament is out of line to me unless you are god himself. Every pool player knows if they go to a pool hall they have never been to or town they never been before that they take the chance that it is smoking but we do it because we love it even though we hate the smoke.

Pool and smoke go together and have always been together since the days of Willie Mosconi and Minnesota Fats. I do not smoke and hate it just like everyone else but love pool and some things are worth the sacrifice and everyone who reads this forum has made that choice to do something they don't like cause the good out weighs the bad.

I enjoyed watching Shane play this weekend along with the other 1000 people there and can gaurantee some came to watch him play and made that sacrifice of only going to non smoking places to enjoy this opportunity in a smoking establishment. This is one of the best bar table tournaments in the country and with Shane or not will continue to be because of the staff and hard work they put into the tournament. It has been sucessful before Shane and just feel that was a unfair statement he made about this tournament.

Juice,
I do not know where you get that Shane was "bashing" White Diamonds. He actually did just the opposite. He said it was a great event and he enjoyed himself.

He also said that he wouldn't be coming back because of the smoke.

That's not bashing White Diamonds, just criticizing the smoke, in my opinion.

 

[fathomblue]

Are people seriously arguing that second-hand smoke doesn't kill? You're kiddin' me, right?

Should I be allowed to accidently spill Visine in someone's drink, simply because my eyes are watering that day and I NEED my eyedrop fix?

I'm sure we could come up with a lot of ludicrous scenarios, but it's not any more ludicrious than indoor smoking.

 

[Juice]

Juice,
I do not know where you get that Shane was "bashing" White Diamonds. He actually did just the opposite. He said it was a great event and he enjoyed himself.

He also said that he wouldn't be coming back because of the smoke.

That's not bashing White Diamonds, just criticizing the smoke, in my opinion.

I just feel that it is a bash cause he had White Diamonds name in the quote. He should not have that name because there are tournaments he attends that allows smoking and places he goes to that smoking is allowed to play. I also feel that if you are going to say one thing to stick with it and not single something out.

I just have a lot of respect for Louisiana pool halls because it seems they have the best owners who try to help there pool community. So take things hard when someone tries to bad mouth or put rules in place to benifet there likes to there advantage. If something is not broke do not fix it.

 

[JoeyA]

I just feel that it is a bash cause he had White Diamonds name in the quote. He should not have that name because there are tournaments he attends that allows smoking and places he goes to that smoking is allowed to play. I also feel that if you are going to say one thing to stick with it and not single something out.

I just have a lot of respect for Louisiana pool halls because it seems they have the best owners who try to help there pool community. So take things hard when someone tries to bad mouth or put rules in place to benifet there likes to there advantage. If something is not broke do not fix it.

Shane mentioned other pool rooms that allow smoking and that he does not attend those tournaments either. I don't think it's bashing and view it as constructive criticism.

White Diamonds doesn't get a lot of cold weather and the smokers go outside anyway to smoke even when it is warm so I see eliminating smoking from the tournament building as a good thing.

Maybe it is the smoking inside of public buildings that's what's broke and been broke for a long time. At least, that's what most of America thinks.

 

[KoolKat9Lives]

I don't think this would be an issue at all if they simply banned Shane from all tournaments. He's too good!

 

[elvicash]

It's a simple matter and does not require a long explanation as the OP provided. I am very surprised that the topic can continue to create so much discussion.



The champ spent time and money going to a tournament where he didn't know there would be smoking. He apparently has a personal policy against that yet is is not secret information. It seems that the gentleman demonstrates very poor planning skill, very poor awareness, and very poor decision making skills. Obviously if this were not true he would have never been at that tournament.


.

He could call and ask they answered every question i asked. I thought it was an awesome tourney non smoking would be better. Flyers should mention if a tourney is smoking or not.

My buddy is a smoker and we got out of the car and were walking in he started to smoke outside he said what am i doing i can smoke inside walked on in but he is used to not smoking so he liked it smoking. I would prefer nonsmoking myself.Smoking as a sharking move is a low down crappy thing

 

[Lonestar_jim]

Sharking

Sharking is a low down crappy thing. Smoking as a shark is pretty subjective, but a TD might have been able to help as in Gene's situation. Smoking on Amanda's salad was total BS, people like that are a nuisance. They can mess up your day with or without a cig in hand.

 

[Teddydog]

Joey A..

Just so you know, Joey, I really think your act on the stream was over the top, at White Diamonds.. 1st of all, you should be objective in the booth, but I understand this isn't the NFL, so I can let that pass.. But damn, man, you acted like you were the smartest guy in the room, cause you got to be on SVB for breakfast, and kept mocking Davis Jr, saying "he's on fire," as if it was ridiculous for Davis Jr to even be there, when meanwhile... He was the story, not SVB..

Just so you know.. Jr was playing so he could buy himself a used POS car, and pay his rent, while Shane get staked everywhere he goes, and you get in the booth and actively root for SVB?..

It doesn't surprise me you're from New Orleans.. lol..

 

[fathomblue]

One other smoking-related thing happened while I was in White Diamond.

I was eating. The food there is VERY good, btw.

The waitress came up to clear some things off the table and grabbed a piece of plastic wrapping that was sitting in the ash tray in front of me. As she did that, she pulled a whole pile of ashes up and it proceeded to rain down.....all over the last few bites I had of the food. Thankfully I was to the point where I was pretty full, and she was just trying to tidy up the area, so I decided not to say anything.

Needless to say, I didn't finish my meal. It was accident, so I wasn't mad at her, but it's something that would never happen at a non-smoking facility.

 

[JoeyA]

Just so you know, Joey, I really think your act on the stream was over the top, at White Diamonds.. 1st of all, you should be objective in the booth, but I understand this isn't the NFL, so I can let that pass.. But damn, man, you acted like you were the smartest guy in the room, cause you got to be on SVB for breakfast, and kept mocking Davis Jr, saying "he's on fire," as if it was ridiculous for Davis Jr to even be there, when meanwhile... He was the story, not SVB..

Just so you know.. Jr was playing so he could buy himself a used POS car, and pay his rent, while Shane get staked everywhere he goes, and you get in the booth and actively root for SVB?..

It doesn't surprise me you're from New Orleans.. lol..

Wow, I'm sorry that you viewed the teasing that I did toward Ray as a dis toward James Davis, Jr. It wasn't meant to be that at all. If the rest of the viewers got that out of our commentary, then I didn't do my job.

James Davis Jr is and has always been one of my favorite players.

The breakfast bet was just something that I did to liven up the commentary. If it came across as you suggest to the rest of the viewers I made a mistake and will surely abstain from making bets and teasing Ray about matches in the future.

I have always admired James Davis, Jr as a top pool player who has not only great talent but always carries himself with dignity and class.

James had an incredible tournament and played at world class speed most of the tournament.

If James watches a rebroadcast and feels like I was dissing him, I will personally apologize to him and refrain from the teasing and betting that I did toward Ray in the future.

Since you brought up the subject, I would be curious to hear if the rest of the viewers thought I was out of line. I'm always interested in hearing what others had to say, including your admonishment. I think most everyone who knows me, knows I am a very nice and fair guy and don't go out of my way to injure anyone unless I am provoked. (Seriously, thanks for your perspective. Regardless of what others might say, I'll keep what you had to say in mind. Seriously, thanks!)

I'm not perfect and if I need to modify my commentary or refrain from taking sides in a match or to refrain from making silly bets etc, to make the broadcast more enjoyable for the majority of the people, I will do just that.

You could be right and if so, I will fix it in the future.

Sincerely,

 

[smoooothstroke]

Shane is now my all time favorite player.

The pool scene where I live is pretty small compared to many parts of the country but there is no smoking.Everytime I think of hitting the road and how nice it would be to relocate to an area with 24hr rooms and lots of tourneys and lots of top players,one of the things that puts a damper on my enthusiasm is the thought of walking into a smokey pool room or bar.