Stigma attached to the mechanical bridge

R

Rackin_Zack

Suffering from OCBD
Silver Member
I was in the pool hall last night just hitting some balls around because I had a half hour to kill. There was a girl shooting on the table next to me and she had a shot that she couldn't reach right-handed. She was trying to line it up left-handed and she made the comment that she couldn't do it (shoot left handed). I told her to use the bridge and at that time this guy yells out, "That's cheating, you can't use the cheater stick."

Now, I've had a few conversations about this topic with him and I always bring up that the vast majority of pros will use the bridge when needed. Does anyone else have to deal with this kind of gross ignorance, or in this case it may indeed be stupidity? Is there a persuasive enough argument out there to allow people to see the light?

On a side note, I told him that since he thinks that I cheat by using the bridge that I'd be happy to play him for anything he wanted and I promised that I wouldn't use the bridge even once. He came back at me with an offer to play left-handed for $10 a rack, which of course I jumped on. Luckily he chose 8-ball which is a much easier came to play left-handed and when the game was over he still had 5 or 6 balls left on the table. Needless to say, he didn't want to play any more left-handed games afterwards.

I just thought I'd through this out there and see if it helps to alleviate any of the frustration that occurs when dealing with these types of players.
 
I play APA league in a different honky-tonk every week. I won't hesitate to use the bridge if needed. Sometimes if somebody says something I'll pull my Keller's bridge out of the case just to irritate them further :D

www.kellersbridge.com

When you reach a certain point in life you quit caring what idiots think about you ;)
 
Sissy Stick?

When I was younger, I hated using the bridge so much that I actually practiced alot of shots left-handed. The guys in most of the pool rooms in this little redneck town always called the bridge a "sissy stick", "crutch", or worse most times. Since I gotten a little older though, I realized the need to learn to use it better, and now I'm pretty damn good with one. Call it what you will, it is sometimes absolutelly necessary and handy.

DougT.
 
I play out of a club (Elks), and we don't have anything but bangers there, that have forgten more about pool and billiards then anyone could possably know. Alot of them think it's in bad form (to say the least) to use the birdge (or even play a safety, they call that Chelssy pool sorry about the spelling).

Oh well they will always be bangers that look down on players...

Pete
 
I'd guess that we Canadians have less problem with this issue. We've grown up with snooker tables everywhere ... and mechanical rests of various lengths. Not much reluctance to picking up a bridge around here.

Dave
 
I imagine that folks that refuse to use a bridge lose more than those that know how to use a bridge. I know many is the time I have stretched being too damn lazy to find the bridge and after the shot wish I had looked for it. As far as folks calling it a crutch or what ever I have three words for them: KISS MY BUTT. Pel :D (hey, I said it nicely :p )
 
Pete said:
I play out of a club (Elks), and we don't have anything but bangers there, that have forgten more about pool and billiards then anyone could possably know. Alot of them think it's in bad form (to say the least) to use the birdge (or even play a safety, they call that Chelssy pool sorry about the spelling).

Oh well they will always be bangers that look down on players...

Pete
Click to expand...

Strangely enough, the view on how to play (with or without the bridge , with or without safeties) the game of pool "right" has always varied from placve to place and from culture to culture.

Some of you old timers surely know the story of when, close to thirty years ago, Mizerak beat a Japanese champion in the US Open 14.1 championships, and played some fine safeties in doing so. When a Japanese onlooker suggested that this win was cheapened by the fact that he played so much defense, Miz asked why that would be so. When told that in Japan, they believed in shooting everything and not playing safeties, he asked "do they gamble at straight pool in Japan?" After being advised that they didn't, he commented "trust me, when they start gambling, they'll start playing safe."
 
sjm said:
he asked "do they gamble at straight pool in Japan?" After being advised that they didn't, he commented "trust me, when they start gambling, they'll start playing safe."
Click to expand...

Beautiful quote. Pel ;)
 
Once I tried using a mechanical bridge and missed my shot. So I say to myself, "I'm going to learn how to use that gizmo!". And that is exactly what I did...

Once a week I play an entire game of 8-ball shooting every shot with the mechanical bridge. This gets interesting when the cue ball is frozen to the rail. Also I get real strange looks for other people, but I could care less.

I now know how to use that puppy and make most of my shots when using it. Now I'm learning to use it to make my shot *and* have good position on my next shot. (Using English or trying to make a draw shot when using a mechanical bridge is interesting to say the least...)
 
My problem is that I'd be too self-conscious to do something like that...it would put me off if I got strange looks from people.
 
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