I'm sure most of us at some point have had the chance to buy a particular cue, but either didn't have the money to spend, or 'passed' on it for whatever reason. Now, in retrospect, you wish you would have begged or borrowed to have that cue today.
Tell your story...
Here's one I had, but got away:
(insert flashback music)
Back in 1977 I was lucky enough to win a qualifier for the National 8ball Championship. It was held in Dayton, OH, if I recall. At that tournament, every player was given a free Brunswick cue -- it was a merry widow style cue and had a clear plastic sleeve in the butt underneath which it said something like "Nation Eight Ball Tournament" in gold on black. It was probably worth about $25 at the time. I came home and threw it in my closet.
A few months later I'm playing in the Montana State Eight Ball Tournament. This is a big huge honking deal up north because basically every bar up there has two million league teams of various configurations playing 8ball all winter and so there are several hundred players playing in a hotel in downtown Great Falls.
My tip had come off my playing cue a few days before and I was concerned that my basement glue job might not take, so, just as a back up, I pull the freebie cue out of the closet, and take it in its custom made plastic sleeve to the tournament.
Right off the bat, my first match, I could tell I wasn't playing well (yes, the tip was glued on just fine). After a few shots, out of pure desperation, I pull out the freebie cue. Suddenly, everything was right with the world. I couldn't believe the difference. Everything looked and felt just right when I got down on the shot. Everything worked right when I pulled the trigger -- the balls all went into the pockets and I had the cue ball on a string. A little while later in the match, I switch back to my regular cue (a very nice and expensive job) to see how that feels and immediately after a couple of shots I can tell that it's not right. So I go back to the $25 Special. To make a long story short, I end up in the finals of the tournament, go hill-hill, last three balls on the table, play a safe on Jack Larsen's last ball, and lose on what may be one of the greatest kick shots anyone has ever played on me. If not for that cue, I probably would have gone two-and-out.
After the tournament, I returned the $25 Special to my closet. Something in my ego would not allow me to accept that there was something special about that cue and I just couldn't picture myself playing with it on a regular basis. Years later, during a regularly proscribed move mandated by the United States Air Force, I sold the cue, for probably $10, at a yard sale.
Now, years and years later, I kinda wish I had that one back.
Lou Figueroa
