Well, after five days of the best pool I get to see all year, there’s only 16 players left and that does not include the SVB. Poor Shane had a tragic loss last night against Larry “The Truth” Nevel after Larry scratched on the 6 ball getting to the 7 for the match. That would’ve made it 11-6. A few games later, down 10-9. after a long safety battle on the 5 ball, Shane had a looksy at it. Most of us would’ve crumbled under the pressure, but not him.
He made the long cut shot on the 5 ball and even bumped the 7 off the rail for a shot.
Here’s a rough diagram of the layout after the 5:
It’s tough to see exactly what angle he had from across the room, but when the cue ball clipped the 9, it slowly trickled into the pocket and he just stood there in disbelief and reached in to grab it before it dropped.
Poor Shane. He’s such a trooper though. He left the room immediately, probably talked to Cristina for a while, and when he returned, just sat to watch some matches and even granted me a couple interviews. What a true gentleman and professional.
Not even Buddy Behrman could believe it.
Earl was up to his usual antics. He had these headphones that he wore during his hill-hill match against Corey last night. Barry finally had to come over to make him take them off.
(headphones photo courtesy of InsidePool)
More antics, I got punked!
So, at dinner the other night, Toasti taught me a phrase to say to someone after they lose a match. It goes something like, “Hast du fer geigt?” My three years of German from high school always seem to come out as Spanish when I try to say anything these days. But, last night, after Ralf was knocked out by Lee Van Corteza, the last match of the night, I tried it out.
Ralf, one of my favorite people in the world, sort of looks down, then give me one of his Ralfy faces and says, “Tell Toasti he should teach you more useful phrases.” Even though when I plugged it into the Altavista Babel Fish, it translated to something about playing a violin, apparently, it was slang for “Did you just dog it?”
Yeah, so I asked world champion, Ralf Souquet if he had just dogged it. Shoot me now… 
Danged Toasti!!!
Fortunately, when Ralf realized I had been set up, he was very forgiving and still gave me a big hug.
More new friends I’ve made so far on this trip:
Jim, with his cue balls, who went straight to Bebob and bought my book and game log and asked me to sign (my very first) cue ball
The very sweet Mitch, who was super helpful with my note taking.
John, from Houston, who has also be hugely helpful in filling in the blanks.
The very nice Donny Mills from Florida. Man! This guy plays like an animal!
And, Dan Louie, whom I’d met at Derby this year but have really enjoyed getting to know better this week. He is hands down THE nicest pool player I know.
And lastly, the humidity is finally getting to me. Not only is my throat sore every night from my allergies to this climate (that, and talking way too much when I’m at these things), but I gave birth to a massive pimple just to the right of my nose. Our producer, Dustin, named it Rufus. (no photos available)
As usual, here are the brackets & here are the photos.
Correction: it should be “Hast due vergeigt?”
Literal translation: You played the violin
Slang meaning: Did you just dog it? or Did you just f*ck up?