Why am I doing this???

Well, there are some neat and unique pool-related blogs floating around. There's OMGWTF and Fast Mikie for starters. FastMikie has some excellent tips and videos on playing the game and getting in quality practice time, and OMGWTF is just a pool junkie.

I am approaching this blog from the prospective of a long-time pool shooter who has been playing APA league pool for about a year. I started APA play on January 22, 2008 - I remember the date distinctly for two reasons: 1) I had been at Side Pockets consuming brews and shooting pool for about five hours consuming large glasses of Samuel Adams and shooting pool at a work-related "team" meeting when some members of a team that was playing that night asked if I wanted to join their team, and 2) it was three or more hours later when my match started. By then I was ready to call it a night and it showed in my shooting.

For the last three sessions - including this one that started several weeks ago - I have been the team's captain. While this is an honor (that apparently no one else on the team wants) it is frustrating and nerve racking. Frustrating in getting players to show and trying to match them to opposing players in hopes of attaining the most wins for the evening. Nerve racking in watching the matches take place and seeing shots missed that during practice the player would normally make without thinking about it.

This blog will follow my efforts to play better, smarter pool and to lead the team on to victory. Also I will cover some of the rules and tribulations of playing in an APA league.

The team I joined and now coach has Slop Shots as its name, which may have been appropriate when it was founded many years ago, but now seems a bit demeaning considering the infrequency of sloppy shots we make.

Anywho, the first session I was on the team I ended up winning half of the matches the team won and got to play in the Top Gun tournament as a level 3. Actually, half way through my match against a level 5 player the League Operator got on the PA system and announced that I was moved to a level 4. Not that it mattered - I won one game and lost the match. One consolation was that the guy that beat me ended up coming in first place.

The team placed last in the league of 11 teams that first session, around 18 points behind the 10th place team. The Summer 2008 session we missed first place by one point, came in second place in the Summer playoffs and qualified for the Local Team Championship so we were all psyched!

More later ...