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JAM
07-12-2004, 09:03 AM
A happy July 12th for NH Steve, as today is his birthday! :D

When I tried to look up a birthday horoscope for today, it read as follows: When the Moon changes signs midday, as it does today, we can often feel the shift of energies, giving us the illusion of two very different days wrapped up into one. We begin with the moon in slow and sensible Taurus, with our feet firmly planted on the ground. The shift into restless and curious Gemini occurs at 3:44 p.m. EDT. The later afternoon and evening is more active, energetic and busy. We can even feel scattered, in contrast to the single focus of the Moon in Taurus earlier in the day.

I have no idea what all of this means, but I hope NH Steve reports back to us after "3:44 p.m. EDT." :p

I used to think birthdays weren't anything special, just another day, but now I feel it should be a day for one to be happy, to celebrate their own life by doing something that makes them feel good. It also marks a milestone, and I like to think of all of the GOOD things that I may have accomplished in life. For some, it may be their children who blossomed into mature independent self-paying adults, and for others, it may be something as simple as that unbelievable one-pocket shot made under pressure, the game win, the impossible dream, so to speak.

My favorite shot of all times is when I made the 8-ball on the break, playing 8-ball on a Busch League. Somehow they had me over-rated as a 6 because of the inferior sand-bagging handicapping system which meant I must bring my best game to the table. Well, one league night, I got picked to play the case match for the team win. My team mates from Hank Dietle's Tavern, my favorite watering hole, were all standing there pulling for me. My formidable opponent was Vicki, who worked at this host pool room we were in and knew the equipment. She was a very under-rated 5 and should have been a 7, the highest ranking, in my opinion. I knew it, and she knew it.

She was also the girlfriend of a local champion, Jimmy Scrima, and quite frankly, I was doubting myself and beginning to sweat. I could feel my face getting hot and worried that my fingers would tremble in front of the crowd surrounding our table. I looked at my team captain, Sonny, and said, "8-ball in the side pocket, Sonny Lee" pointing to it with my cue which accidentally hit the overhead light, making me cringe. I used low inside-english and aimed for the second ball in the stack (a common 8-ball break, AND the only one I knew) and the 8-ball went right in the side pocket right after the snap, just like I said. The place became unglued, and all of my team mates came over to me, giving me the high five, cheering loudly. What a night!

May NH Steve have a Happy Birthday, and I'm hoping that NH Steve and others will share a best-shot story!

JAM

redhell
07-12-2004, 05:05 PM
HAPPY BIRTHDAY NH STEVE !!!

As for JAM's request on a best shots story, I'm not sure if it's my best shot but sure was one great shot.

It happend in an Hotel north of Montreal during a training session. We are in the bar where there's a couple of beatup 7 footers and a few shooting sticks as that didn't even deserve the name pool cue.

In any case, after a good diner as we were sipping up some cold sirup, a co-worker turn to me and said: "Hey, with all the time you spend on a pool table, you should be able to get up and kick my ass !... Wanna game ?"

I looked at the table and all the people stading around and drinking not really taking care of their sourounding and wasn't really impressed by the setup. But we've had a couple and that was all for fun so I agreed and we got to play a couple.

After about 3 wins in a row where I wasn't shooting lights out but was still faster than my opponent, he got into a good run and managed to bring it down to the 8 but missed it. He left me stuck on my only remaining stripe with no real shot at it. He turned to me and said with a sarcastic tone: "Can't wait to see where you're gonna shoot this one!!! :D " I looked at him and said: "Normaly I would play safe on this and bring the CB up table forcing you to make a bank that I know you have few chances of making... But because this is all for fun and you wanna see how I can shoot, I'll try a shot you'll probably never see again..."

So I bent down and played this shot:

START(
%HD7H7%KH9Y8%PH3X7%Wn2D0%XI1X4%Yr6E1%Zo5C5%[O5Z6%\s2E7%]E2[0
%^G6Z1%_F5S1%`I7Y3%aM6[1
)END

I couldn't believe I pull it off. :eek: I was playing in the worst condition I could imagine and with one to many warmup juice down the drain. Still, I made this great shot to close the game. My co-worker couldn't believe it and decide it was time to go back to our seats and drink some more :)

NH Steve
07-12-2004, 05:49 PM
A happy July 12th for NH Steve, as today is his birthday! :D

When I tried to look up a birthday horoscope for today, it read as follows: When the Moon changes signs midday, as it does today, we can often feel the shift of energies, giving us the illusion of two very different days wrapped up into one. We begin with the moon in slow and sensible Taurus, with our feet firmly planted on the ground. The shift into restless and curious Gemini occurs at 3:44 p.m. EDT. The later afternoon and evening is more active, energetic and busy. We can even feel scattered...<snip> More scattered? Now that's pretty scary :D :D

Thanks, Jenn! No doubt I am a lucky guy and I am very very thankful for that...

Great shot? Here is a pretty good one I was certainly pleased with, because it came off just as I hoped, and capped a come-back. I needed three; they needed one; they had all three balls in front of their hole (trying to force the issue). I thin cut the 3-ball bank, and the cue ball back-kicked the 1 into the underside of the 2, off of which it caromed right into my pocket :) The 3 hung close by and I got out from there.

START(
%AD1F8%BF0H4%CE9D6%Pg9V9%QA7[4%Uj5G4%VV5C7%WG4F1%Xf7V6%YC4T7
%ZE8C6%[[1S4%\F9I1%eA7`7%f7%g5%_C9Y7%`D7J8%aD2G4%bU5C8%cE0E6
%dD9E1
)END

It's actually a variation of a standard bank-one-and-carom-another Ronnie Allen type shot that comes up often -- here's another way it comes up -- great for when you are behind:

START(
%AN8O5%BM4O5%CH7F1%EL1O5%IJ8O6%Pg9V9%QA7[4%Uf0E2%VL5N1%WJ2G4
%Xf7V6%YO4W4%ZL8Q1%[K0X7%\J9P9%]Q4T2%^O5Q4%eA9`4%f7%g3%_C9Y7
%`F9E2%aH3E0%bK3M8%cC6H7%dH3G0
)END

Pelican
07-12-2004, 05:55 PM
Happy Birfday to you, hic, happy birfday hic to you, happy birfady dear nhsteve hic, happy hic birfday toooo yououuuu hic. I sure enjoyed hic the party. Say JAM, are you hic gonna finish that drink hic.


Now, As for best shot - I hope I haven't made it yet because if I have, I really really suck.

Hope you had a great one Steve, Pel