Well, it's been a while since my last post and I apologize. We've played thirteen weeks, and in the standings through the twelfth week we are tied for first with one team and another just a point off of the pace.
Right now it is Thursday the 16
th and I am sitting in the airport in Milwaukee; no free
wifi access so I am typing this in Notepad for uploading later tonight. Last time I was here in Milwaukee was in 1971; I was in Navy Boot camp at Great Lakes and we got to spend a Saturday in town.
I have struggled in making a decision on whether or not to go public with team player names and have decided to give first names and assign a nickname to them for use in this and later posts.
Mike "
Deadeye" has been a level 5 since his third match, which seems remarkable since those matches were against 3s and he lost the middle one! He is usually very accurate with all shot types: banks, cuts, long and short.
Mark "Scorpion" is a real good level 4 and could easily be a 5 - he is currently 8-of-10 - and the nickname comes from the brand of cue he plays with.
Jason "Too Tall" is the same level and plays like Mark. "Too Tall" because he can reach across the table to mark his pocket. (I on the other hand need to walk around!)
Larry "Lightning" plays like he's an hour late getting home. He sees the table well and starts pocketing balls in a hurry. He is a level 5 and could easily be a 6; he also plays good safeties.
Shawn "Borderline" wins and goes up to a level 4, loses and heads back down to a 3.
Aaron "Heater" always complains that the pool hall is too hot and is a great money player. Currently a level 5.
Jacen "Unpredictable" has his ups and downs, mostly down this session with a 1-for-4 record that could have easily been 4-for-4.
Glenn "No nickname" (maybe we should have a naming contest) is currently 7-for-8 and is underrated as a 4. Oh well, maybe my nickname should be "No Respect."
The team is still struggling and winning, but not to the level we are capable of. Since my last post the team has posted matches of 3-2, 3-2, 2-3, 3-2 and 4-1.
The first 3-2 match I thought we could go 5-0 against them, but a level 2 beat Heater (she smoked him, looking like a 6 in the process) and one of their 7s beat Deadeye for only his second win of the session (both against us!).
The 2-3 match was played against a team that has added some quality players and I am glad we do not have to face them again this session. We might have had another win against them, but it was not to be.
The 3-2 match the following week we should have gone 4-1, but Too Tall was beat by a 3, who won only his second match in ten tries. Too Tall could not put a run of two balls together, often failing to make a straight in shot. Their match went 37 innings with the match ending 2-2. I struggled in my match as well. I won the first three games, lost one and then won the final one in 35 total innings to beat a level 2. Here again I think that I have a problem adjusting my play to match that of my opponent.
Finally, on April 14
th we had a tremendous effort in going 4-1. It could have easily been 5-0, but the middle match
Deadeye against their struggling 5 - ours ended up struggling and theirs ended up being hot.
On a personal note I have won my last three matches; Tuesday against a six that lost one match all last session, but who has been struggling this one (luckily for me). He won the first game, I took the next two, he took the fourth and I came through to take the fifth for a win.
I have not heard, almost a week later, how the other first place team or the team trailing us by a point did, hopefully not as well as we did.
I will try to have weekly updates from this point on. Best of luck to you in your pool shooting - as long as it is not against me!
