A couple of words about the match

First of all let me say, congratulations to John for his win, it was a tough/closely fought 3 day battle.

And thanks to all that gave John and I both equal props...

Now, I need to vent a little...

Between certain posts that were made, both here and on azbilliards..and many comments in the chat rooms that I was told about today..the knockers sure put a bad taste in my mouth...lot's and lot's of mentions of missed shots, bad composure, etc. - but of course no one cares to make mention of any of the very tough shots that were made, in very intense situations...

For those that didn't get a chance to see the approx. final 25 gut-wrenching minutes of the match, I'm including here a link to those minutes...

I missed a game winning straight in shot in these minutes, that I was supposed to make, and that needless to say I'm not very happy with myself about...

That said...that miss was sure chirpily mentioned a lot in the chats, etc...

But did anyone care to mention that in the next inning (at the 7:37 point in this tape) I regrouped and came within 1/2" of making an extremely off-angled cross-corner to win the match? - of course no one did....or the straight back 5 min. later (at the 12:36 point in this tape) that I missed by 1" to win the match? - nah.......or when I was down 6-5 in this final game, how about the bank that I make at the start of this tape, a bank wherein it is just barely possible to escape the kiss, if you want to float-follow down for shape...nope, no mention of that shot either.....anyways...

...here's the link ------>

[ame]http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/37863239[/ame]

- Ghost

A couple of words about the match

Keep your head up Ghost. What you did there was something most of the knockers can only dream about and they have no idea how they would actually perform under half that pressure!

Thanks for making the match possible and being part of a great, intense One Pocket show!!

Ditto, both played great.

Nice match...

Nice match...

I sweat the match off and on for 3 days. I commented in another thread that I actually like watching this caliber of play. You both know the game very well, of course you aren't going to execute like a world class player.

Don't pay attention to the naysayers. They have no idea what it is like to put your nuts on the line and gamble. This obviously was an even gambling game. We all take the heat and the more times you put yourself in these situations the better you are going to handle it. Show me somebody that says they haven't "dogged it," and I'll show you somebody that has never put themselves in a situation to dog it.

Get yourself regrouped and get back up and try again if ya can. It's a close game. Both of you played good and bad at times.

This match was very enjoyable to watch. Both players deserve a ton of credit and both played hard for the cash.

The internet is full of keyboard champions, 90% of whom you would probably smash in an actual game of 1P.

Between here and AZB, it seems like anyone who actually matches up online needs to have a pretty thick skin. But, really, it's a lot of chirping from a relatively small number of people. I wouldn't pay any attention to them at all, it's what they want. (Homeless people wouldn't be standing in the medians asking for money if people didn't give it to them; this is more or less the same thing.)

Anyway, I thought it was a great match, even if I lost my sweat bet.

dont worry ghost, i think both you guys played great--just remember, there is a sub culture of players that like to talk big (we have some here in toledo) and they act like they are best friends with all the pros, etc...... they like to woof at people saying they'll play for thousands etc.....but when you ask them to play, they wont do it,or they want to steer you--these morons know all the shots, you cant tell them anything--they know it all--they are just bums that want to look impressive.... after watching both of you, im inspired to play more and better.....congrats to both of you.....

After watching the last few minutes...a couple thoughts...

After watching the last few minutes...a couple thoughts...

I couldn't help but notice the amount of time you took before shooting that 3 ball to win the set. Do you normally do this? Were you trying to get your nerves under wraps? It was a fairly easy shot at this point in a 3 day gambling match, and in hindsight do you wish you would not have taken an exaggerated amount of time before shooting?

I ask because then at the end you shot two back cuts at your hole with the ob on the spot in a matter of seconds, hardly taking any time on much more difficult shots. Also, I've seen this backfire on people before. Once I was betting a large sum of money on a player who had the worst of the game, the opposite player was getting the 7 and he had it straight in to tie the match in a long race to like 25 or something and he missed it after running around stalling to shoot the shot.

Hey Ghosty...good to see you reappear.I saw too many great shots and moves on both sides both offensively and defensively to list each one. You guys both showed us how the game is meant to be played. You may have taught me too much

I'm certain this match will be a huge stepping stone for you and your game and you will only improve as a result.

I personally have never tested myself for those types of stakes not to mention all the build up and internet stream with my peers viewing.I'm not so sure that I wouldn't regret missing a few easy ones under that type of pressure.

Looking forward to learning more by studying your match.

See you around the pool parlours.

One Pocket Ghost said:

First of all let me say, congratulations to John for his win, it was a tough/closely fought 3 day battle.

And thanks to all that gave John and I both equal props...

Now, I need to vent a little...

Between certain posts that were made, both here and on azbilliards..and many comments in the chat rooms that I was told about today..the knockers sure put a bad taste in my mouth...lot's and lot's of mentions of missed shots, bad composure, etc. - but of course no one cares to make mention of any of the very tough shots that were made, in very intense situations...

For those that didn't get a chance to see the approx. final 25 gut-wrenching minutes of the match, I'm including here a link to those minutes...

I missed a game winning straight in shot in these minutes, that I was supposed to make, and that needless to say I'm not very happy with myself about...

That said...that miss was sure chirpily mentioned a lot in the chats, etc...

But did anyone care to mention that in the next inning (at the 7:37 point in this tape) I regrouped and came within 1/2" of making an extremely off-angled cross-corner to win the match? - of course no one did....or the straight back 5 min. later (at the 12:36 point in this tape) that I missed by 1" to win the match? - nah.......or when I was down 6-5 in this final game, how about the bank that I make at the start of this tape, a bank wherein it is just barely possible to escape the kiss, if you want to float-follow down for shape...nope, no mention of that shot either...

Here's the link ------>



- Ghost

Click to expand...

Luke,

If you looked up "never say die" and "don't give an inch" in the dictionary, those phrases would be accompanied by pictures of you and John.

You don't need to know what morons wrote in a chatroom or what they said about you at all. F@@k them and anyone who looks like them. You & John are the only two guys that mattered for three days and to hell with the negative comments. I'd like to see any 74 yr. old man play with the heart & gamble that John has shown and as for you, well I don't know your age but I doubt there are too many your age who would get up and play you the same way as you played John.

You & John are both warriors and I respect the way you both conducted your affairs. You know damn well that I thought you were the favorite going in and I still believe that. Hell, the Oakland A's were the favorite in the 1988 World Series but nobody told Kirk Gibson.

You played a grueling match with tremendous pressure and came up 2 balls short. Both of you guys went to the hill in games and in ball count for a few shots. Nothing to defend from your end and nothing for John to defend either. You were in the "arena" as TR said. It was you giving your all, not the creeps who criticized you and John, and don't think John wasn't heavily criticized by the creeps also.

I'm not going to get too much more sentimental but I will leave you with this:



It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.


T. Roosevelt


Luke, your soul is neither "cold" nor "timid" and you are the only one who needs to know that for certain.

Your friend, Dennis

thanks for putting yourself out there ghost.

i have actually been kind of worried about your well being today -- sounds like you have licked up your wounds up just fine and i am relieved to see it.

i dont care how poor of a shot selection that full table kick attempt was, i still need 11-6 (or probably more).

take care pal.

ghost
there will always be railbirds who never miss.
unless you have been under pressure yourself its easy to critizise
those that said negative things you could probably beat 10-6
keep your head high and be proud
you went into the arena and put it all on the line
BE PROUD
to have stepped up to the plate

A couple more words....

A couple more words....

Just wanted to point out a couple things I forgot I my previous post. It strikes me as funny/ironic that John's two most ardent supporters here both acknowledge that the Ghost outshot and outmoved John most of the match and got bad rolls at the end. I'm not taking away from John in any way. He played well and won fair and square. More power to him. That being said I've read a lot of comments today that me make wonder what some individuals were watching. For reasons I can't comprehend, there seems to be a lot of unjustified Ghostbashing going on. I'm sorry but the Ghost made way more creative and difficult shots during the match than John did allowing him to go 4-2 on day one and 9-7 on day three.Let's review some of the facts. Game 16 got a ball roll attempting to cut ball along head rail...din't reach and as luck would have it stopped in the one in a million spot with the half inch angle John needed to get behind his game ball.If left straight in, he has to draw back I nto the side rail. Match should have been over then with Ghost 3 games winner. Again game 20 couple bad rolls that didn't reach and we would have had a different outcome.John capitalized on those opportunities and won. My point is that for anyone to say that Ghost didn't play well, give it his all, or didnt have the mental capacity, needs to have their freaking head examined.

DWS said:

Just wanted to point out a couple things I forgot I my previous post. It strikes me as funny/ironic that John's two most ardent supporters here both acknowledge that the Ghost outshot and outmoved John most of the match and got bad rolls at the end. I'm not taking away from John in any way. He played well and won fair and square. More power to him. That being said I've read a lot of comments today that me make wonder what some individuals were watching. For reasons I can't comprehend, there seems to be a lot of unjustified Ghostbashing going on. I'm sorry but the Ghost made way more creative and difficult shots during the match than John did allowing him to go 4-2 on day one and 9-7 on day three.Let's review some of the facts. Game 16 got a ball roll attempting to cut ball along head rail...din't reach and as luck would have it stopped in the one in a million spot with the half inch angle John needed to get behind his game ball.If left straight in, he has to draw back I nto the side rail. Match should have been over then with Ghost 3 games winner. Again game 20 couple bad rolls that didn't reach and we would have had a different outcome.John capitalized on those opportunities and won. My point is that for anyone to say that Ghost didn't play well, give it his all, or didnt have the mental capacity, needs to have their freaking head examined.

Click to expand...

DWS,

A win or a loss can always be traced back to a missed shot or a mistake by a player. Humans seem to have a need to do this. I don't know who John's "most ardent" supporters are but I think that most people want to try to trace a loss back to it's origin, no matter that they are wrong with their assessment. These very same people never try to discern the reason for their man winning a match. I think that with John & Ghosty it just simply became a war of attrition, nothing more or less. Trying to isolate individual shots or scenarios as proof of anything simply takes away from both players, in my view. You can always trace a loss in One-Pocket to the last mistake by the winner's opponent.

Simply stated; I wouldn't try to reduce 3 days of tough play by two tough players into some type of easy observation. Any shot made or missed by either of them could've changed the tide of the match.

Dennis

Good Show

Good Show

"The galleries are full of critics. They play no ball. They fight no fights. They make no mistakes because they attempt nothing. Down in the arena are the doers. They make mistakes because they try many things. The man who makes no mistakes lacks boldness and the spirit of adventure. He is the one who never tries anything. He is the brake on the wheel of progress. And yet it cannot be truly said he makes no mistakes, because his biggest mistake is the very fact that he tries nothing, does nothing, except criticize those who do things."

Gen. David M. Shoup,
Former Commandant, US Marine Corps,
Medal of Honor, *Tarawa,*November 1943

RedCard said:

"The galleries are full of critics. They play no ball. They fight no fights. They make no mistakes because they attempt nothing. Down in the arena are the doers. They make mistakes because they try many things. The man who makes no mistakes lacks boldness and the spirit of adventure. He is the one who never tries anything. He is the brake on the wheel of progress. And yet it cannot be truly said he makes no mistakes, because his biggest mistake is the very fact that he tries nothing, does nothing, except criticize those who do things."

Gen. David M. Shoup,
Former Commandant, US Marine Corps,
Medal of Honor, *Tarawa,*November 1943

Click to expand...

This is the BEST post so far!!!!! IMHO.

You Go Red!

Bill Smith "Mr3Cushion"

Sure

Sure

Cowboy Dennis said:

DWS,

A win or a loss can always be traced back to a missed shot or a mistake by a player. Humans seem to have a need to do this. I don't know who John's "most ardent" supporters are but I think that most people want to try to trace a loss back to it's origin, no matter that they are wrong with their assessment. These very same people never try to discern the reason for their man winning a match. I think that with John & Ghosty it just simply became a war of attrition, nothing more or less. Trying to isolate individual shots or scenarios as proof of anything simply takes away from both players, in my view. You can always trace a loss in One-Pocket to the last mistake by the winner's opponent.

Simply stated; I wouldn't try to reduce 3 days of tough play by two tough players into some type of easy observation. Any shot made or missed by either of them could've changed the tide of the match.

Dennis

Click to expand...

Dennis...sure you are right....my point wasn' t to try and trace the win or loss back....that's pointless......we could all woulda, coulda, shoulda this thing to death.....I may or may not have done it the correct way......I was just trying to clear up some of the derogatory things said since last nite by some chat room nits talking smack......You're right...it's over....John won fair and square....let's move on.......Who will the next match be?

PS....Thanks for the action.....money is on the way

redcard said:

"the galleries are full of critics. They play no ball. They fight no fights. They make no mistakes because they attempt nothing. Down in the arena are the doers. They make mistakes because they try many things. The man who makes no mistakes lacks boldness and the spirit of adventure. He is the one who never tries anything. He is the brake on the wheel of progress. And yet it cannot be truly said he makes no mistakes, because his biggest mistake is the very fact that he tries nothing, does nothing, except criticize those who do things."

gen. David m. Shoup,
former commandant, us marine corps,
medal of honor, *tarawa,*november 1943

Click to expand...

great post

mr3cushion said:

This is the BEST post so far!!!!! IMHO.

You Go Red!

Bill Smith "Mr3Cushion"

Click to expand...

No, this is the best post of the year, from a man who hasn't missed a ball in 40 years but insists on frequenting a One-Pocket site.

Why don't you tell Ghosty all the shit you wrote about him in the chat?

What a jerk.

Dennis

DWS said:

Dennis...sure you are right....my point wasn' t to try and trace the win or loss back....that's pointless......we could all woulda, coulda, shoulda this thing to death.....I may or may not have done it the correct way......I was just trying to clear up some of the derogatory things said since last nite by some chat room nits talking smack......You're right...it's over....John won fair and square....let's move on.......Who will the next match be?

PS....Thanks for the action.....money is on the way

Click to expand...

DWS,

I took your point. Chat room nits are many and most of them don't gamble and never have. Because of that they deserve no ink from me.

Dennis