Last week I had the good fortune to attend the straight pool championship for the first four days. This was my fourth year. It’s a real treat to see the game played at the highest level. It inspires me and I love it.
There is an aspect of seeing all this live play that doesn’t seem to be talked about much. Well, hear me out >>> the game played not at the highest level.
There’s something re-assuring about seeing great players who consistently perform well miss a shot or an opportunity. They come down to earth, however fleeting that may be. They are professional and will put their poor play aside, re-focus and play well again. That’s professional. My runs are quite a bit shorter and my bonehead lapses more frequent, more egregious and amateurish, but I do take some comfort in knowing that Thorsten and Darren have a few bad moments too.
Let me be clear, I don’t want them to contract the pox, miss a shot or play badly. I’ll vote for a two players playing their best every time.
I watched, up close, a match between two well-known players that turned into an excruciating grinder that wouldn’t end …lot’s of missed shots, poor position, loss of focus and expressions of frustration. It seemed they were both in a funk from which they couldn’t escape. They were put on the time clock and it seemed merciful.
The end was near and the soon to be winner missed a pretty straightforward shot, needing less than a rack to finish. He came back to his seat, which was directly in front of me, put down his cue and paused, looked off into the distance and said, for all to hear, “I suck!... We suck!”
I’m going to remember that! At some point, when I’ve missed a shot or have a mental lapse, my exasperation will inspire an “I suck”. I hope I’ll be able to smile, muster the mettle and refocus... knowing that my game overlaps, in a minor way, with some of the heavyweights who play the game brilliantly.
There is an aspect of seeing all this live play that doesn’t seem to be talked about much. Well, hear me out >>> the game played not at the highest level.
There’s something re-assuring about seeing great players who consistently perform well miss a shot or an opportunity. They come down to earth, however fleeting that may be. They are professional and will put their poor play aside, re-focus and play well again. That’s professional. My runs are quite a bit shorter and my bonehead lapses more frequent, more egregious and amateurish, but I do take some comfort in knowing that Thorsten and Darren have a few bad moments too.
Let me be clear, I don’t want them to contract the pox, miss a shot or play badly. I’ll vote for a two players playing their best every time.
I watched, up close, a match between two well-known players that turned into an excruciating grinder that wouldn’t end …lot’s of missed shots, poor position, loss of focus and expressions of frustration. It seemed they were both in a funk from which they couldn’t escape. They were put on the time clock and it seemed merciful.
The end was near and the soon to be winner missed a pretty straightforward shot, needing less than a rack to finish. He came back to his seat, which was directly in front of me, put down his cue and paused, looked off into the distance and said, for all to hear, “I suck!... We suck!”
I’m going to remember that! At some point, when I’ve missed a shot or have a mental lapse, my exasperation will inspire an “I suck”. I hope I’ll be able to smile, muster the mettle and refocus... knowing that my game overlaps, in a minor way, with some of the heavyweights who play the game brilliantly.
