Tomorrow: 20 years as an AZB poster: our beloved JAM; Celebrate-Congratulate-Appreciate this dear lady here.
- Thread starter arnaldo
- Start date
Jennie has been a valued asset to AZB for these many years. Along with her reports she posted very impressive photographs from simple point and shoot cameras. Since I was using 12-15 thousand worth of camera gear to get similar quality I found her photographs amazing! Even now she seems able to whip out a photograph for almost any occasion.
A bit of a funny, one of the goodest of the good guys on AZB is a gal! Jennie, thanks for everything. I do miss our early morning talks when I was getting ready to call it a night and you were already up for the next day.
Have a wonderful day! That goes for Keith too of course. He has spoken more often through your fingers than he would have otherwise.
Hu
A bit of a funny, one of the goodest of the good guys on AZB is a gal! Jennie, thanks for everything. I do miss our early morning talks when I was getting ready to call it a night and you were already up for the next day.
Have a wonderful day! That goes for Keith too of course. He has spoken more often through your fingers than he would have otherwise.
Hu
Love her from Germany and also on FB. 
Love ya, Jen!
Amen JAM. In February of '25, I'll have been here for 17 years myself. Coming here at times has provided me with laughs, frustration, and an entire host of various emotions/interactions.
It's been like a marriage, only cheaper.
I've always enjoyed the story tellers, and I consider you among those folks. Here's to 20 more.
Geese! I used to be a bar shooter with the big cueball at my hangout, a one-table bar in Rockville, MD. Tom-Tom Wirth walked in one night and was a stranger. We ended up playing partners and held the table for a while, each pocketing a buck a game. That was big money for me back then.
Tom-Tom took me over to Randolph Hills Pool Room, just a hop, skip and a jump from my hangout, and this is where I met Geese (Michael Gerace) and was introduced to the big tables, a whole nother subculture in pool. Geese's best game was one-pocket, no question about it, and he was also a good one-handed player as well. I have never seen anyone draw their rock a full table length one-handed, without the cue ever touching the table. His greatest claim to fame, according to him, was coming in third place when he was 19 years old at Johnston City. He was proud as punch and boasted about this third-place finish, saying, "I was third in the world when I was 19." Every player has a bragging right, and that was his.
But he was definitely not a tournament soldier and was the last of a dying breed as an American road warrior. He traveled from coast to coast looking for action, and he got played. When he went to California, he met a very young Keith McCready, which in a strange way is how I met Keith, about 25 years later. Keith was Geese's steer in California, and the two of them hit it off great. It is ironic that because of my relationship with Geese that I met Keith McCready.
Geese and I went on the road down South quite a few times, and I had the time of my life. I could play a little back then and got into some cheap action myself. Durham, North Carolina, had a cool pool room where I saw big burly men climb onto the table on all fours to make a shot. I laughed so hard the first time I saw that, that I had to go outside and finish laughing. Everybody stared at me, wondering why I was laughing because this was the norm in that pool room. I met Grady Mathews at Baker's pool room in Tampa, Florida, where they played ring 9-ball on the snooker table.
Geese was an old-school player and practiced old-school pool etiquette. When he was winning and you were with him, you were in for a jelly roll, and he had more heart than a lot of players today when it came to gambling. I will always cherish my relationship with him. Geese was a heavy smoker and smoked non-filter Lucky Strikes. He passed away from cancer in 2004 at the age of 57.
In this photo, taken at King's Dominion, Virginia, I wanted to hold the rifle, the tomboy that I was, but after a slightly heated back-and-forth with Geese, I got stuck with the stupid parasol and frilly hat. Geese always had to score the win. RIP, Michael. I miss you.
Your story reminds me of my Dad.Geese! I used to be a bar shooter with the big cueball at my hangout, a one-table bar in Rockville, MD. Tom-Tom Wirth walked in one night and was a stranger. We ended up playing partners and held the table for a while, each pocketing a buck a game. That was big money for me back then.
Tom-Tom took me over to Randolph Hills Pool Room, just a hop, skip and a jump from my hangout, and this is where I met Geese (Michael Gerace) and was introduced to the big tables, a whole nother subculture in pool. Geese's best game was one-pocket, no question about it, and he was also a good one-handed player as well. I have never seen anyone draw their rock a full table length one-handed, without the cue ever touching the table. His greatest claim to fame, according to him, was coming in third place when he was 19 years old at Johnston City. He was proud as punch and boasted about this third-place finish, saying, "I was third in the world when I was 19." Every player has a bragging right, and that was his.
But he was definitely not a tournament soldier and was the last of a dying breed as an American road warrior. He traveled from coast to coast looking for action, and he got played. When he went to California, he met a very young Keith McCready, which in a strange way is how I met Keith, about 25 years later. Keith was Geese's steer in California, and the two of them hit it off great. It is ironic that because of my relationship with Geese that I met Keith McCready.
Geese and I went on the road down South quite a few times, and I had the time of my life. I could play a little back then and got into some cheap action myself. Durham, North Carolina, had a cool pool room where I saw big burly men climb onto the table on all fours to make a shot. I laughed so hard the first time I saw that, that I had to go outside and finish laughing. Everybody stared at me, wondering why I was laughing because this was the norm in that pool room. I met Grady Mathews at Baker's pool room in Tampa, Florida, where they played ring 9-ball on the snooker table.
Geese was an old-school player and practiced old-school pool etiquette. When he was winning and you were with him, you were in for a jelly roll, and he had more heart than a lot of players today when it came to gambling. I will always cherish my relationship with him. Geese was a heavy smoker and smoked non-filter Lucky Strikes. He passed away from cancer in 2004 at the age of 57.
In this photo, taken at King's Dominion, Virginia, I wanted to hold the rifle, the tomboy that I was, but after a slightly heated back-and-forth with Geese, I got stuck with the stupid parasol and frilly hat. Geese always had to score the win. RIP, Michael. I miss you.
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He also passed away in 2004. Leukemia at the age of 58.
Sorry for your loss. My father passed away when I was young. It's so hard losing a parent.
Rusty in Montana
Well-known member
JAM , I hope I can bring you a small bit of country humor to your life through my posts as you open my eyes to the " Outside World " ha ha keep up the good work !!!!
Yes cancer sucks from the 2 nd cancer survivor in my immediate family .
Yes cancer sucks from the 2 nd cancer survivor in my immediate family .
I first ran into Geese at Beanie's Jack & Jill in Arlington, VA, and then at Roman Billiards in Silver Spring, MD. That's where Tom-Tom studied and learned one pocket from older players like Bill Morton (Jackie Robinson) and younger sharks like Geese and Nick (Little Nicky) Vlahos, who may have been the most "natural" player of the lot, and certainly the smartest in terms of money management. Beanie's and Guys & Dolls may have been the best road action rooms in the DC area, but for purely local talent Roman's was as good as any of them. Tom-Tom was pretty good even back then, but he wasn't in Geese's or Nicky's class.Geese! I used to be a bar shooter with the big cueball at my hangout, a one-table bar in Rockville, MD. Tom-Tom Wirth walked in one night and was a stranger. We ended up playing partners and held the table for a while, each pocketing a buck a game. That was big money for me back then.
Tom-Tom took me over to Randolph Hills Pool Room, just a hop, skip and a jump from my hangout, and this is where I met Geese (Michael Gerace) and was introduced to the big tables, a whole nother subculture in pool. Geese's best game was one-pocket, no question about it, and he was also a good one-handed player as well. I have never seen anyone draw their rock a full table length one-handed, without the cue ever touching the table. His greatest claim to fame, according to him, was coming in third place when he was 19 years old at Johnston City. He was proud as punch and boasted about this third-place finish, saying, "I was third in the world when I was 19." Every player has a bragging right, and that was his.
But he was definitely not a tournament soldier and was the last of a dying breed as an American road warrior. He traveled from coast to coast looking for action, and he got played. When he went to California, he met a very young Keith McCready, which in a strange way is how I met Keith, about 25 years later. Keith was Geese's steer in California, and the two of them hit it off great. It is ironic that because of my relationship with Geese that I met Keith McCready.
Geese and I went on the road down South quite a few times, and I had the time of my life. I could play a little back then and got into some cheap action myself. Durham, North Carolina, had a cool pool room where I saw big burly men climb onto the table on all fours to make a shot. I laughed so hard the first time I saw that, that I had to go outside and finish laughing. Everybody stared at me, wondering why I was laughing because this was the norm in that pool room. I met Grady Mathews at Baker's pool room in Tampa, Florida, where they played ring 9-ball on the snooker table.
Geese was an old-school player and practiced old-school pool etiquette. When he was winning and you were with him, you were in for a jelly roll, and he had more heart than a lot of players today when it came to gambling. I will always cherish my relationship with him. Geese was a heavy smoker and smoked non-filter Lucky Strikes. He passed away from cancer in 2004 at the age of 57.
In this photo, taken at King's Dominion, Virginia, I wanted to hold the rifle, the tomboy that I was, but after a slightly heated back-and-forth with Geese, I got stuck with the stupid parasol and frilly hat. Geese always had to score the win. RIP, Michael. I miss you.
View attachment 784947
About a year after I'd first met him, Geese went to Johnston City and acquired his "Third in the World" moniker, but what really surprised us was that the former butterball came back as thin as a rail. That didn't last too long!
As you (JAM) well know, Geese was a total character. Late one Saturday afternoon at Randolph Hills, a couple of road players from Jersey came in looking for one pocket action, and Geese jumped up to play them for the single barrel double saw he had left in his pocket. After that it would've been purely on ass, as the saying went, but that prospect didn't faze him.
Of course these road players didn't have a clue as to what they were up against, and Geese commenced to spanking them like 10 games in a row, being slightly on the lemon but not giving up any games. In truth he probably could've given them 9-7 or even 8-6.
But here's the punch line. Just before about 8:00 PM, when he was getting bored, he finally let them win a game----and then proceeded to screw up his cue. His excuse? "I've got a doctor's appointment." At 8:00 on a Saturday night!
JAM is one of the many special posters on our forum. Her passion for the game shines through in her many posts and while she and I have had our occasional tussles, we are both ultimately most concerned about the lot of the professional players and we get equally upset when obstacles are placed between pro players and the opportunity to maximize their income from pool.
Thanks, JAM, for all your contributions to our forum over the years.
Thanks, JAM, for all your contributions to our forum over the years.