usapl national qualifier...the most screwed up weekend ever

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lorider

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
There has been so much crap gone wrong I dont even know where to begin. Gonna break it down to several posts otherwise it would be the longest post ever on here.

1. I did not even know about it until Monday.

2. Some of my players were not eligible ...including the best player on the team.

3. Second best could make it Friday night but was leaving town Saturday.

4. 2 of my players were not answering their phones and did not return my calls for 3 days.




5 showed up Friday night to only find out we had a bye.

Aint even got to the bad part yet.
 
League starts at 7:30 so I assumed the tournament would also. When i got there I found out it started at 8:00. The lo does not get there till 8:30 and the got started around 9:00.

So our first match was at 12:00 today. The team we faced asked if we could wait till all their players got there. I said no problem cause all of mine were not there either. We have 4 there ...one comes in at 1:00 and the other at 2:00. These 2 late shows of mine happen to be the ones that took 4 days to reply also. Come the last match of our first round I start to throw the one who showed at 2:00. Come to find out he had left

Well we win our first round ....with a shit load of controversy because the race matrix did not compare to the scoring app.

On our second round I start to throw the guy who showed at 1:00. Come to find out he is asleep in his car.

We Los that round and are now waiting for other teams to pls before we play again.

Oh yea. The lo did not show today...at his day job so we at basically running it ourselves.
 
lorider said:
There has been so much crap gone wrong I dont even know where to begin. Gonna break it down to several posts otherwise it would be the longest post ever on here.

1. I did not even know about it until Monday.

2. Some of my players were not eligible ...including the best player on the team.

3. Second best could make it Friday night but was leaving town Saturday.

4. 2 of my players were not answering their phones and did not return my calls for 3 days.




5 showed up Friday night to only find out we had a bye.

Aint even got to the bad part yet.
Click to expand...

In a nut shell:

I HATE league play. NOTHING but drama at every turn. Just my opinion from what I have observed.

No thank you is what I say every time someone ask, "Hey, want to join our league?"

I know rooms need them but they really suck to me.

Rake<<<<<<<<< misses (a lot of shots) old school rooms.
 
Sorry to hear. Well we will see if you learned your lesson by whether or not you play another session. I wouldn't.
Of course I can hold a grudge like no other and vote with my money.
 
Pool will never be anything but garbage until stuff has a schedule that actually starts on time.So unprofessional.We deserve what we get with ragamuffin bum freeloaders determining start times by arriving at wheneverifeellikitoclock.
 
Oh and I hate league too and running a team is like herding alcoholic cats.
 
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I just got home and need to clear up a couple things based on bad info and me not having my head on right due to the situation with my lack of players.

1. The lo was not there due to running a city tournament in another area.

2. He did assign some one to run this tournament and I mid say he did a fair job all things considered.

Mu beef is with my team .....or apparently lack of one.....just individuals with their own agendas..

Still debating whether to show up for 9 ball tomorrow or not. Have a couple players say they are going to be late and have a couple that did not show and need to verify if they will be there tomorrow or not.
 
Since I have had a chance to cool off I must say I probably gave the wrong impression of my thoughts towards usapl in general and my league operator in particular in my previous rant.

While it did not run like a synchronized watch I dont think it was as bad as I made it out to be.

I was really pissed off about the situation regarding lack of players and just let every little thing piss me off even more.

For that I apologize on here to usapl and my league operator.

On paper I had the team to beat and must say I am proud of the effort of those that did show to finish in 3 rd place.

Now I am not one to complain about handicaps....much. :grin-square:. The reason being is because I have had countless people complain about my handicap countless times. With that said this may wind up as a big rant concerning the team that knocked us out.

The team we faced was loaded with players that are apa 6's and above.

The team consisted of the following.

Apa 6/6 ..fargo 495
Apa 6/7...fargo 494
Apa 6/8 ..Fargo 444 ???
Apa 7/9 ..Fargo 474 ???
Apa 7/9...fargo 443 ??? Granted this guy had some health issues and was out of pool for a while but from what I have seen his rating is kinda low.

Their 6/8 and the 7/9 that had health issues are rated lower than me ...apa 5/5 ...fargo 455.

Just for comparison ....my apa 7/9 ...who did not care enough to bother playing enough to be eligible is rated at 556. Another apa player 7/8 is rated at 562.

So begs the question . Wth is an apa 7/9 with a Fargo rating of 474 doing spotting an apa 5 only 5 points in usapl ?

Oh yea ...had an interesting conversation with their 6/8 ....fargo 444 while he was sitting with their 7/9 ...fargo 474.

I was walking by and the 444 asks me what my handicap is. I reply around 460 I think. He replies he is a 444. I say no way in hell. He says I am a 444.

I reply that I better not ever hear him complaining about my handicap again . He complained and called me a sandbagger when I beat him in apa 9 ball playoffs a few weeks ago. He went as far as to say if I was not raised he was going to quit apa. Now this is coming from a guy with a Fargo lower than mine. I said how in the hell can you complain about my handicap with your Fargo rating ? he said he was not sandbagging as he had a 50% win record. I said well I maintain a 60% win record and like I said...dont ever say shit about my handicap again and walked away.

Well I know it sounds like a lot of league drama and I admit it happens from time to time but with over a couple thousand matches in various leagues I must say drama is seldom seen for the most part.

It does happen more often when shit gets serious like a qualifier for nationals.
 
After reading this I think I will stop complaining about the leagues I play in here in Subic and Angeles. No $$$ to join the league, no $$$ to play each week. Beers are $1.50. I think the only thing I have to complain about are the dancing girls in bikinis and shorts trying to get my attention and buy them a drink. It's very hard to concentrate!!!!

cute.jpg
 
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I Got Lucky said:
After reading this I think I will stop complaining about the leagues I play in here in Subic and Angeles. No $$$ to join the league, no $$$ to play each week. Beers are $1.50. I think the only thing I have to complain about are the dancing girls in bikinis and shorts trying to get my attention and buy them a drink. It's very hard to concentrate!!!!

cute.jpg
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So far I have played in 1 bcapl qualifier....2 Napa qualifiers....10 apa qualifiers and have never experienced what I did this weekend.

My issues were not with the usapl....my league operator...other teams " except for a few obvious under handicap players " .

My issue is with team mates showed absolutely no interest in this tournament and let the rest of the team down.

The 3 best players were no shows. Well one did and unbelievably left an hour after he showed up with out saying anything.

The best player on the team and perhaps the league failed to qualify.

2 players avoided replying to me for 3 days until the league operator got a hold of them.

One player showed up an hour late....the other showed 2 hours late and then left without saying anything. The one who showed an hour late couldn't be found for a while at the start of the third round because he was asleep in his car....no one on the team knew where he was and I figure he up and left also and to make matters worse he was the best player that was there .

All the above really put me in a bad mood and any little thing..like a captain taking a minute longer to match up than I thought necessary just irritated me and pissed me off even more.

I am quite proud of the other 3 for sticking in there....and being what a team is supposed to be all about and managing to finish in 3rd place . Frustrating to know we had a real good chance to win it if the 3 best players on the team had been commited to the team.
 
My two minimum rules for being on a team:

1. Show up on time, ready to play.
2. Pay your dues.

I'm considering changing teams next season, as I have before, due to some not doing the minimum....the minimum!


Jeff Livingston
 
chefjeff said:
My two minimum rules for being on a team:

1. Show up on time, ready to play.
2. Pay your dues.

I'm considering changing teams next season, as I have before, due to some not doing the minimum....the minimum!


Jeff Livingston
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I have already set the wheels in motion to change my situation. I text my lo and told him I am not going to be a captain again but i will continue playing usapl if i could find a team to join that i thought would be a good fit for me.

I do tend to not take regular session too serious . I just want to enjoy playing pool and hopefully learn something new every time i play. I do tend to take playoffs and qualifiers very seriously.
 
jrctherake said:
In a nut shell:

I HATE league play. NOTHING but drama at every turn. Just my opinion from what I have observed.

No thank you is what I say every time someone ask, "Hey, want to join our league?"

I know rooms need them but they really suck to me.

Rake<<<<<<<<< misses (a lot of shots) old school rooms.
Click to expand...

This^! I played in two leagues, one of which I started and ran with people I worked with who liked pool. I had to give myself a LARGE handicap and did NOT win it. The other was larger and more organized. Both were in house only. The larger one had a good variety of players from A+ or AA to D. Both played three disciplines, the larger one with four man teams. Much better than anything I've even heard of in recent years on a larger, national scale. Leagues suck.
 
book collector said:
Aghhhhhhhhhhh!
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You find this amusing huh ?

I know league is not for every body.. I also know that team play is not for everybody. However there are a lot of people that enjoy leagues . They enjoy getting out with friends and family and enjoy playing pool in a competitive environment.

They spend weeks sitting with each other getting to know each other pretty well.. Some have team parties at each others houses sometimes. Sometimes you may learn from or teach some one a few things about pool. Some become very good friends.

To me a team is several people coming together for a common goal. I guess I am guilty of immersing myself in that belief and I became upset when I realized that I was not a part of a team this weekend but instead was associated with a group of individuals with their own agendas and could care less that others were relying on them for what we thought was achieving a common goal this weekend.

Then again maybe I take crap like what happened yesterday too personal. Regardless.....glad you found some humor in it.
 
Summertime can be a really difficult time to get guys into the hall.

But if a guy commits to a team, he commits to a team....or not. It's the "or nots" that are the problem, but the solution is simple: change teams or players.

We got a guy who could be a pro player, he's that good. But he NEVER practices EVER. So, he shoots at a good level but he makes mistakes, gets out of shape, etc. because he never practices, ever. The potential of his skills drives me crazy. I know he has a life, but what a waste of talent.



Jeff Livingston
 
lorider said:
You find this amusing huh ?

I know league is not for every body.. I also know that team play is not for everybody. However there are a lot of people that enjoy leagues . They enjoy getting out with friends and family and enjoy playing pool in a competitive environment.

They spend weeks sitting with each other getting to know each other pretty well.. Some have team parties at each others houses sometimes. Sometimes you may learn from or teach some one a few things about pool. Some become very good friends.

To me a team is several people coming together for a common goal. I guess I am guilty of immersing myself in that belief and I became upset when I realized that I was not a part of a team this weekend but instead was associated with a group of individuals with their own agendas and could care less that others were relying on them for what we thought was achieving a common goal this weekend.

Then again maybe I take crap like what happened yesterday too personal. Regardless.....glad you found some humor in it.
Click to expand...

I can appreciate your feelings about league.

Back when I played in my younger years there was no such thing (that I was aware of) as league.

It was like this for me:

Back in the day, only thing I ever remember mentioned by folks was the pro's and their tours, the road players and their ways and us local players that the pro's/roadies picked clean (known as shortstops today).

Which to my understanding is how (some of us) "good" not "great" players became known as "SHORTSTOPS". The "truly great" players would make "short stops" in our area and pick us clean and move on.

Well, fast forward, I pick a stick up and all around me is league this and league that. I think hmmm, "pool" has really took off. Great!!!!

Nope!!!! Pool had not took off, it had stopped and then changed directions in a way I would have never thought possible.

Again, I appreciate your feelings about leagues. I too had a warm fuzzy feeling about them for about 15 minutes.

Then again, it could just be location.

Rake
 
jrctherake said:
I can appreciate your feelings about league.

Back when I played in my younger years there was no such thing (that I was aware of) as league.

It was like this for me:

Back in the day, only thing I ever remember mentioned by folks was the pro's and their tours, the road players and their ways and us local players that the pro's/roadies picked clean (known as shortstops today).

Which to my understanding is how (some of us) "good" not "great" players became known as "SHORTSTOPS". The "truly great" players would make "short stops" in our area and pick us clean and move on.

Well, fast forward, I pick a stick up and all around me is league this and league that. I think hmmm, "pool" has really took off. Great!!!!

Nope!!!! Pool had not took off, it had stopped and then changed directions in a way I would have never thought possible.

Again, I appreciate your feelings about leagues. I too had a warm fuzzy feeling about them for about 15 minutes.

Then again, it could just be location.

Rake
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I would like to thank you for taking the time to convey that you have a different view than I do without resorting to trash talk and ridicule towards leagues or league players. a very refreshing post...again, thank you.

I just got home from our 9 ball usapl national qualifier and must say I have a lot of mixed emotions and thoughts circling around in my head because I am on shock I guess. I am shocked that my team is in the finals tomorrow night.

I dont really consider myself a pessimist ...i prefer to use the term...realist. After coversing with my players and watching their actions today my perspective of what makes a great team has changed somewhat.

Once I get over this shock and sleep on it I will share with you tomorrow what I learned today.
 
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