jlcomp45
Verified Member
Well vacation is over and I keep thinking back to last week at derby. Jeanne and I arrived Friday evening and got checked in. We went down to sign up for the 1 pocket, and I couldn’t believe my ears when she signed up too. From there we went upstairs and found the action room decidedly lacking in action since the tournament had taken it over. Luckily some friends from St. Louis were on the bar box so Jeanne got to rematch her 9 ball game from the year before, winning 3 of 4 sets. You can’t imagine how proud I was that some of you guys got to see her play! Chicago Mike, Mitch, and the Crabb were there.
Saturday was mostly spent watching other people play until I got to play a couple games of banks against the pilot - what a class act (I swear I didn’t dot another cue ball all week after that embarrassment). Mitch showed up and was going to play, but promptly got us kicked off the table lol. So 4 of us headed to Louisville Billiards for the promise of unoccupied 9 footers. Nick, Jim, Mitch, and I made the drive with only 2 wrong turns and finally were able to shoot. Tables were slow, but the company was beyond compare.
Sunday morning Chris snagged a table in the action room (thanks again Mike for the Whatsapp setup) and I was the 1st one there. Played a couple games against Chris, and then Mr Newkirk and I went to another table. Got to play Robert and Mitch on that one and then the draw was out so we lost the tables.
Finally got to play my match about 9:30, and I can tell the work is starting to pay off. Played my 1st games of 1 pocket 3 years ago here and my only goal was to not embarrass myself. Last year my goal was to win a single game - and came up short. This year I wanted to improve on that - and did. I was up 2-1, and then down 4-1 when tied 2-2. That last ball will haunt me for a while - missed a relatively easy cut on the last ball for the win. Thanks to both Ben and Mitch for sweating my match.
The true highlight of my week though was the 3 hours Nick worked with me Monday night. I don’t think I’ve met a nicer guy and definitely not one more willing to help a guy out with this game. Nick, my back heel is PLANTED on the ground, and I’ll never forget the “it’s not time yet for that -we’re still on defense here”. Hopefully we can get dinner in Memphis.
To many people met to name them all - but Catkins, Col Billie, Steve - it was great getting to see you again or get to know you for the 1st time. Less than 8 weeks to Memphis!
John
Saturday was mostly spent watching other people play until I got to play a couple games of banks against the pilot - what a class act (I swear I didn’t dot another cue ball all week after that embarrassment). Mitch showed up and was going to play, but promptly got us kicked off the table lol. So 4 of us headed to Louisville Billiards for the promise of unoccupied 9 footers. Nick, Jim, Mitch, and I made the drive with only 2 wrong turns and finally were able to shoot. Tables were slow, but the company was beyond compare.
Sunday morning Chris snagged a table in the action room (thanks again Mike for the Whatsapp setup) and I was the 1st one there. Played a couple games against Chris, and then Mr Newkirk and I went to another table. Got to play Robert and Mitch on that one and then the draw was out so we lost the tables.
Finally got to play my match about 9:30, and I can tell the work is starting to pay off. Played my 1st games of 1 pocket 3 years ago here and my only goal was to not embarrass myself. Last year my goal was to win a single game - and came up short. This year I wanted to improve on that - and did. I was up 2-1, and then down 4-1 when tied 2-2. That last ball will haunt me for a while - missed a relatively easy cut on the last ball for the win. Thanks to both Ben and Mitch for sweating my match.
The true highlight of my week though was the 3 hours Nick worked with me Monday night. I don’t think I’ve met a nicer guy and definitely not one more willing to help a guy out with this game. Nick, my back heel is PLANTED on the ground, and I’ll never forget the “it’s not time yet for that -we’re still on defense here”. Hopefully we can get dinner in Memphis.
To many people met to name them all - but Catkins, Col Billie, Steve - it was great getting to see you again or get to know you for the 1st time. Less than 8 weeks to Memphis!
John