The Story.....
This is probably gonna run a bit long....so bear with me.
We all know about my desperate hunt for a 6-pointer.....or, at least you should, if you're reading this thread!!
Anyhow, after about 6-8 months of searching, and two hard-core "last" attempts to find one, I had essentially given up. I figured I'd move on to something new, and try to get the 6-pointer hunt out of my head. I was convinced that Craig already had most of 'em...and the others belonged to those who weren't gonna sell anytime soon.
I headed up to Boston last week for work, and over a few days, had narrowed my new cue search down to a couple of REAL choice Mottey/White cues. I was inches from pulling the trigger on one, when I get a PM from a brand new forum member - vaplaya
He told me that he knew of a guy that owned a nice 6-pointer, as was possibly looking at selling. Vaplaya put me in contact with the owner, and after some discussion, I asked for some pics. He arranged for another guy to take some photos for me, and had them sent out two days later. Now....to be perfectly honest....I had LITTLE hope of this actually panning out. I had "a line" on a couple 6-pointers before, but for one reason or another, it never panned out. I fully expected the same out of this deal.
My work in Boston ended a couple days early, so I called the BB cue owner down south, and asked if I could come down to take a look on Friday evening (a 13 hour drive - one way - from Boston). He said it wouldn't be a problem, and that the cue would be there, waiting for me. I make the voyage (starting at 2am on Friday morning) to a small, dark, smokey hole-in-the-wall poolroom in southern VA.....just the kind I like to see....and there it was, in a glass display cabinet. My exhaustion, headache, and sore back all disappeared. The cue's owner wasn't at the room (I showed up a bit earlier than expected), so the room owner called him up to tell him the "Black Boar guy" was there.

I spoke to the owner on the phone for a bit, ironed out the details, and walked out the door with a gorgeous ebony/maple/tulipwood BB Custom. 3 hours later, I was back home, and tearing the house apart to find my camera (which my wife had unknowingly taken with her for HER trip out of town). After putting the house back together, I grabbed my P.O.S. backup camera, and got the pics up.
The only analogy I can use to describe how it felt...to finally achieve an EXTREMELY difficult goal....is this:
(Mind you, I never played offense.....so I'm going at this from a Free Safety point of view)
Picture if you will - Conference championship game. 4th quarter, and we're up by three. Their offense is on the 20 yard line. 4th down, and 5 seconds on the clock. Last play of the game, and the quarterback's got a cannon for an arm. He lets fly to the wideout (who had scored all of their team's points thusfar), who catches the ball on the one yard line, and turns toward the endzone. As soon as his feet hit the turf, I unload on him hard enough to take the helmet off his head....and the ball goes bouncing, end over end, out of bounds. THAT is exactly the same feeling I had when I picked up this cue.
This shows two distict things.
1. I got SEVERE issues.
2. I was so serious and intent on finding that cue...that when I finally did get it....I felt as though I reached a real milestone.
Much like the Academy Awards, I'd like to say that I couldn't have done it without the help of several people.
First and foremost, HUGE thanks to
vaplaya for telling me about the cue, where it was, who had it, and putting me in touch with the owner. I can't thank you enough, sir.
Craig Smith - you were right, sir. Dark, small, out-of-the-way places are where it's at!! You nailed it, sir...and I thank you for your advice during my search.
Guycrunch, Hunter, rayjay, cornerstone, jimmyrayk, alpine9430, OriontheHunter, kbooks3, bogey, Danktrees, KevinLindstrom, BillYards, Sumet1, kamdaswani, Deep....all of you gave me advice/help during my hunt...and each of you added a little more information into the great big blender. Much appreciated, sirs.
All the guys (and girls) in the AZB crew....thank you for the constant words of encouragement. Most of ya'll were pulling for me.....and it worked out, just like ya'll said it would.
Thanks again, ya'll. Sorry it took so long to get all this out.
Mark