We’re back for more!

After the BCA‘s, Mike and I took a well needed four day trip to Arizona. The first two days we were there, it was record-breaking temperature highs of 110 & 108 degrees. Yikes! Oddly enough, when we left on Thursday to drive back, it was raining and hailing. Then, when we returned to the Riv, it was just as cool and muggy here too.

Yesterday, they closed to pool because it was TOO COLD. It was freezing all day here yesterday. In my six years of coming here for nationals, this is the first time I’ve ever seen the weather like this. All the vendors I talked to also agreed. It was chilly yesterday! …weird…

Anyway, here are my photos from pre-BCA’s to now:

RANT TIME:

We returned in time to play in the 9 ball event yesterday. Mike couldn’t get in because his charter holder never turned in his entry. Some very unhelpful guy called Dick (what an suiting name) basically said it didn’t matter that you came all the way out here a day early or that it wasn’t your fault, there’s nothing I can do about it (even though there were plenty of TBAs on the board). It wasn’t until his teammate gave up his spot did they let him play. What a joke!

When I asked Dick how a player is supposed to confirm that they’re signed up for the tournament (because unlike the BCA, they’re not sophisticated enough to post all confirmed entries online), he said we’re supposed to contact our charter holder. Fortunately for me, I have a responsible charter holders. Unfortunately, for Mike, his charter holder never provided entry forms, misspelled his name on his 8 ball entry (at least he got signed up for that), and never returned any calls to his captain until they were in the car on the drive out here to confirm they’re team was signed up. Yeah, sounds like a well run ship…

I already feel dirtier just being back here for Valley. This is probably going to be my last year playing VNEA. This is not what pool is about for me (either that or they’ll ban me for life after reading my factual post). It’s definitely no BCA, that’s for sure.

1. Inferior equipment. It’s bad enough it’s not a smart table, but they haven’t been recovered at all and the pool balls are all absolutely filthy! They’re so gross, in fact, it was nearly impossible to get a tight rack during 9 ball. You could barely get any balls to move to the other half of the table on the break.
2. Price per game was raised to $1.25 tokens (even the tokens are the cheap stock arcade tokens you can buy from a party store, you know the kind that say “no cash value” on one side).
3. NO FREE CHALK. They aren’t providing any chalk on any of the tables. If you want it, you have to buy it from them for $.50 a piece. I heard a rumor that there was some light green chalk floating around, but what respectable pool player uses neon green chalk?
4. Dress code. What dress code??? Cargo shorts, tank tops, and flip flops. Oh my!
5. No table cloths. That might have put a dent in their beer & fireworks party budget. At least it’s not smoking anymore. That was the worst!
6. Goofy 9 Ball rules. No Texas Express rules here. If you make the last ball before the 9 ball and scratch, you have to spot it back up. No three foul.
7. As I mentioned before, there’s no way to download entry forms, confirm your sign-up, or goodness forbid, see results on their website.
8. They have three team divisions instead of two. After expenses, you can barely break even if you win.
9. Quality of players. Well, under these circumstances, I think the better players play worse and the worse players thrive.

However, here are some positive things about Valley so far:

1. We did end up with one of those newly remodeled rooms. Even the bathroom has been remodeled (eat your heart out, Freddy!), well, except for the turbo engine fan.
2. How many red circle cue balls were stolen from the BCA tournament last week? At least they don’t have to worry about that here.
3. They’re tournament does fall over Memorial Day weekend. (Geez. Imagine how many more entries the BCA would have if they fell over Memorial Day.)
4. And lastly, the cute little snack bar that was being built has finally opened. Notice time lapse photos in album.

I feel very fortunate to have just about every league available to us in Colorado. If I had a full time job and could only choose one nationals to attend, well, I think you know which one I would choose. I feel sorry for the players that only have VNEA available to them. Everyone should have the choice to play in everything.

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