Snapping cues

M HOUSE said:
Something similar occured in my room a few years back but he took it one step further. The player was a little below average in ability so it wasn't like he was unfamilar with missing shots. Maybe it was the accumilation of misses that sent him over the edge, but after a miss on the 9-ball he put his cue down and walked over to the bar and asked how much I would charge him for a house cue. He was being very calm but I had a feeling what was coming so I picked out an old one and told him that it was on special for $10.00. He said "deal", took the cue and calmly walked out the front door. His car was parked directly in front of the glass front doors so everone in the room had a good view as he proceeded to to beat the hell out of his car with the house cue. He persisted until the pieces of the cue were too small to inflict further damage to the car. He then picked up all the pieces of the cue, brought them back in and put them in the trash. Without ever saying a word, he went back to the table, racked the balls, picked up his cue and looked at his opponent as if nothing had happened.

I've read the previous posts and know that some don't see any humur in this. I'm just hope that this post doesn't set off any car lovers.
Click to expand...


LOL...Actually.....Years ago I worked in rental car. I had a guy return a Mustang GT Convertable with a chip/crack in the glass.... (normally if there is not "crack" the chip can be repaired) In this case there was a noticable "crack"... He looked like a guy that was going to fly off the handle when I informed him...He proceded to tell me what a crook I was and what I could do. and so on and so on......I told him it was not up to me....

He started to leave...and then came back in. He calmly asked me for hammer...(I knew what was coming)...I got him a hammer from the shop...He proceded to go crazy bashing the windshield with the hammer until it caved in the front of the car...He then calmly handed the hammer back to me...said "thanks"... and got on the shuttle back to the airport... :)
 
Unbridled Passion?

I think in most cases of breaking a cue it is always unbridled passion that overcomes a player who is playing bad or loses money. I have been known to cuss like a sailor if I lost in the past (waaay past), but I've never broken a cue on purpose. I tossed a CueTec on a table once and broke it at the joint, but that wasn't on purpose. I'm one of those passionate people who loves to play pool. People ask me sometimes why I get angry at myself or say "it's only a game" (which REALLY pisses me off), and I tell them that I am passionate about pool and know what my standards of play are. I ask people who say "it's only a game" why they dedicate so much time to practice if it's "only a game". They never answer. Will I get pissed if I miss or lose? Absolutely, because I hold myself up to a very high standard of play, and if I don't perform up to my own standards, I am severely disappointed in myself. BUT, and this is from years of play, I have learned to redirect my anger into a sharper focus and better concentration. Matter of fact, I play better now when I get pissed, helps me focus like a laser.
 
Once again I find myself reading this thread and see that most realize by now that it is a matter of self control. Without same, I believe it is much more difficult to play pool well. It behooves you to remain calm at the table. Any kind of upset will throw you off your best game.

STAY COOL WHEN YOU PLAY POOL! Or be a fool! :D
 
jay helfert said:
Once again I find myself reading this thread and see that most realize by now that it is a matter of self control. Without same, I believe it is much more difficult to play pool well. It behooves you to remain calm at the table. Any kind of upset will throw you off your best game.

STAY COOL WHEN YOU PLAY POOL! Or be a fool! :D
Click to expand...

Don't be a tool; stay cool when you play pool!:D
 
Well there are some lessons here, like who not to loan a cue to .
I have seen the result of a shaft spliting on the break. But this cue was not smashed or abused.
Neil
 
conetip said:
Well there are some lessons here, like who not to loan a cue to .
I have seen the result of a shaft spliting on the break. But this cue was not smashed or abused.
Neil
Click to expand...
Here is an example of why, if you have a cue that is special to you, you should never, and I mean never, loan your cue to anyone.

In 1970 Buddy Hall went bust in a ring game during the Johnson City tournment. For a rather small amount of money I wound up with his cue. It was an early Joss (before there was a Joss West) that had been made for Buddy. It was the perfect cue. It looked great, felt great, and hit great.

I played with this cue for the next 12 years, all the while protecting it like a child. Even at the risk of making a number of people mad, I turned down all requests to "use" the cue. I also turned down several very good offers to sell the cue.

In 1982 I was in Ft. Lauderdale, Fl. when I ran into a decent player who knew the bar "action" spots. After a week of hitting these spots together, he was well aware of my policy of not loaning out my cue. Then one night he gets in action and as the bet started rising so did his begging to use the cue. When the bet got to a $100.00 a game his begging was so persistent that I finally gave in. ( Given the nature of this thread you know what happens next) In the very first game he used the cue, he dogged the 9-ball striaght in and instantly reacted by slamming the cue down on the rail. It shattered.

The irony and frustration of having protected the cue for 12 years and then having it broken during the very first game it was loaned out must have shown in my face. When he looked at me he immeadiately bolted for the door and went running down the street. Looking back, I'm probably lucky the SOB was fast as lighting. I might not be a free man today if I could have caught him.
 
Here's a tip: If you hang around, or are friends with someone who occasionally gets so mad he whacks, slams, or breaks his cue..... Keep a good distance from that person. It's bad for your game, and will eventually creep into yours if you believe that's a normal reaction
 
A couple of weeks ago, a few of the league players were talking about a big ol' boy that had joined their league ( I don't play in the league so I don't know this guy).

It ends up that in about a two month period, the guy has broken 3-4 cues. They say he doesn't show anger, he just slaps the cue on the rail, breaks the shaft, then, grabs it by the joint and the end of the butt and snaps it over his knee. Next week, he's got a new cue and it starts all over again.

What's funny is the guy's new nickname. He's been chrisened "Broke Butt Mountain"!!!!! LOL

Of course, I don't think anyone has been stupid enough to call him that to his face.

Stones
 
My first session in APA, I am a 3 learning the game, inconsistent as hell, playing a 6. The whole time his kid is pestering him and he's getting pissed at his kid. It creeps into his game, and he starts getting frustrated. I end up winning the match 2-4...:rolleyes: I shake his hand he tells me "Good match" as I turn to walk away he slams his Meucci onto the floor. It's kindling wood. He cleans up the mess and leaves. He ends up shooting with a house cue for several months, during that eliminating me from a tourney. I lost the lag, he did the rest. After I got to know him, I asked him about it... "My kid and my wife were really pissing me off" he said, "I always hated that Meucci, I should have just sold it"
He let outside forces effect his game and took it out on the cue. I've since seen him play for couple years and never another episode. He now plays on my Tuesday night team.

When reading the initial post my thoughts were. Anger Management

Banger
 
randyg said:
Poor cue, feel sorry for it. It was only doing what it was told to do....SPF=randyg
Click to expand...


You just don't understand:p

The cue is a proxy for an instructor who did not ingrain into the student to SPF.

Your students would never smash a cue:D
 
I have seen my roommate break a few but the best happened at the Flamingo in St. Pete Fl. he walks out the front door and throws his Meucci over a four lane road, over the Dairy Inn across the street and then the cue hooks in the air and flies into a garage in the back corner of the parking lot and hit one of the video games in there....Ron
 
Breaking cues

I have never broken a cue in 46 years, and don't plan to. Breaking something when you are angry is a stupid way to go, and does absolutely nothing to solve anything.

If it is an isolated incident, or something really extreme, then that might be explainable, but if it is a pattern of behavior, then the person has issues that need to be addressed by a professional, or that person is just an egotistical
a**hole that can not deal with reality.
 
M HOUSE said:
Something similar occured in my room a few years back but he took it one step further. The player was a little below average in ability so it wasn't like he was unfamilar with missing shots. Maybe it was the accumilation of misses that sent him over the edge, but after a miss on the 9-ball he put his cue down and walked over to the bar and asked how much I would charge him for a house cue. He was being very calm but I had a feeling what was coming so I picked out an old one and told him that it was on special for $10.00. He said "deal", took the cue and calmly walked out the front door. His car was parked directly in front of the glass front doors so everone in the room had a good view as he proceeded to to beat the hell out of his car with the house cue. He persisted until the pieces of the cue were too small to inflict further damage to the car. He then picked up all the pieces of the cue, brought them back in and put them in the trash. Without ever saying a word, he went back to the table, racked the balls, picked up his cue and looked at his opponent as if nothing had happened.

I've read the previous posts and know that some don't see any humur in this. I'm just hope that this post doesn't set off any car lovers.
Click to expand...

ROTFLMAO!!!

That would only happen in your room, Mike... lol...

Mike,
That reminds me of the time some guy came into Beach Club and played on one of the tables with the Simonis - he had his own cue - nice case - I guess he was a tourist because he had never been in there before...

so we sort of watched him... I remember that on those tables, you wanted to protect the cloth - so you would give a break cloth to everybody that played on them... so you gave him the break cloth and all it did was serve as a launching pad!

Every time the guy tried to break the balls the cue ball would fly over the balls and across the room coming close to hitting your other customers... lol...

Frustrated, the guy goes back up to the bar - he's half pissed/half embarrassed - so he asks for another cue ball - but to no avail he just kept launching the ball off the table.

It was funny as hell, but I remember you finally going over and moving him to one of the 8 footers - which was a smart move because eventually he was going to hurt somebody- lol... he still couldn't hit the rack - by this time he knows we're laughing -we're not even hiding our laughter anymore - so finally he gets disgusted and leaves.

As he walks out the door he pushes the door real hard and storms through the parking lot... then he tosses his case like a javelin into the back of his pick up truck and it goes through the back window. lol ... He spins his wheels as he leaves... Never saw him again.
 
I've never broken a cue (not sure if I could if I tried lol) but Mike, I cannot for the life of me comprehend how someone could attack their own car in frustration!!
 
Sweet Marissa said:
I've never broken a cue (not sure if I could if I tried lol) but Mike, I cannot for the life of me comprehend how someone could attack their own car in frustration!!
Click to expand...


Marissa,

I guess you just have to know Mike and how he is about his tables. These guys obviously knew better than to take out there frustrations inside Mike's room. They were safer damaging their own vehicles, trust me on that.

:D
 
I don't think there is a pool player alive who hasn't thought about busting a cue. Some have, some haven't. I've known one or two who did. The first time I was at Tim Scrugg's shop, he showed me a cue with a skull and crossbones in the butt sleeve that he had made for a guy long before Viking or whoever came across the idea. The guy missed a money ball playing $20 9 ball and slammed the forearm across the rail. Tim fixed it up for him.
Some people have anger issues or other life problems and don't deal with them well. Some people can't stand losing. Others hate it when they don't play anywhere near their potential. Most of us understand this, but don't think it's exactly funny, which the original poster apparently did. Shows a lot about your attitude, especially from some of the sniping replys back and forth.
 
Pushout said:
I don't think there is a pool player alive who hasn't thought about busting a cue. Some have, some haven't. I've known one or two who did. The first time I was at Tim Scrugg's shop, he showed me a cue with a skull and crossbones in the butt sleeve that he had made for a guy long before Viking or whoever came across the idea. The guy missed a money ball playing $20 9 ball and slammed the forearm across the rail. Tim fixed it up for him.
Some people have anger issues or other life problems and don't deal with them well. Some people can't stand losing. Others hate it when they don't play anywhere near their potential. Most of us understand this, but don't think it's exactly funny, which the original poster apparently did. Shows a lot about your attitude, especially from some of the sniping replys back and forth.
Click to expand...

This pretty much sums it up. Man I think about it everyday at some point. I HATE to lose especially for money. Pool is about control, and that begins between your ears. If you can't control yourself good luck controlling that white ball.
 
Once, I caused a guy to break the pool hall.

It was the last league game of the session and his team had already wrapped up first place; the game was meaningless. He missed a fairly sever cut on the 8 ball. I ran my last few balls and was getting down on the eight with my back to him and I hear him swear good and loud. Determined not to let his outburst affect me in any way, I continue my warm-up strokes and then all of a sudden I hear a loud thump. I shoot the shot and then stand up to shake his hand, but he's gone. I look over to my right and there is a large, man sized hole in the drywall column. I guess it cost him more then twice what he got for first place to repair it. He's lucky he was friends with the owners.

I've never let my anger cause me to cross the line into property damage, but smashing the cue has crossed my mind a few times. I recognize it as a weakness in my game, no different then a swerving stroke and I know I can overcome it. I think that if I was able to visualize my shots as well as I can visualize myself smashing my cue on the ground (not the butt, I'm talking samurai style) after a bad shot, I would improve much faster. ;)
 
I have to share this with you. When I was a young lad in my 20's, all I did was play pool. And I played for money every day! I usually won but occasionally would run into a tough game. Sometimes I would get frustrated with myself if I missed a shot or got out of line. When my self directed anger boiled over, is usually when I got beat. Once I began to lose control of my emotions, my game began to slip badly. More misses, more bad position, more lost games, and more lost money.

One night I was laying in bed after a long tough day at the "office"/pool hall. I thought about all that had happened that day. How I was winning and then began to get upset about a couple of mistakes. My opponent turned it around on me and he got even. I had a realization right then that losing my cool was costing me big time. The next time I was playing and began to feel edgy about a missed shot, I remembered my "awakening", and told myself to calm down.

I went on to win that day, and little by little I got control of my temper and my game. For the next few years, I had a gambling record like the Globetrotters. I lost maybe once or twice a year. Soon I had saved enough money to buy my first pool room in Bakersfield at age 28.

Let this little parable be a lesson to you.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top