When life gives you lemons.... blah, blah, blah...
I had a seriously rough tournament two weeks ago in Texas. That’s how long it’s taken me to slowly draft this post. It was depressing, fun, educational, and disappointing all at the same time.
I arrived Wednesday, November 18 to do some 6 Pocket biz while touring as many pool halls as possible between the San Antonio, Austin, Houston, and League City area. I spent most of Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday playing nothing but 6 Pocket on the nappiest “felt” with the filthiest balls in the most unkempt conditions. I guess Texans don’t much care for Simonis??? I didn’t mind. I was up for the challenge and was just happy to be hitting balls after taking about a weeks off after Tampa.
After Tampa, I spent a couple days packing up from Mike’s house and heading home. Though I was home for four days, it was not nearly enough time to get any practice in. I hit some balls only on the Monday and Tuesday night before I left town. Some recent unexpected disruptions in my personal life have left me distracted and feeling very unprepared for Texas. It was a bitter sweet weekend for me. Sweet because I had some financial help for this trip and didn’t have to stress about that part. I was also very happy to see all my Texas friends that I hadn’t seen in a whole year (yeah, I couldn’t believe it had been a year since I played in Texas). It was bitter because I knew it was going to be final tournament for the year and I really would’ve liked to have done better in the tournament. My results were a huge disappointment. My performance showed moments of greatness but was overall very inconsistent.
Between the main event and second chance event, I only played four matches and didn’t win one of them. This was the worse I’d EVER done in Texas, or anywhere since I don’t remember when. It was so frustrating. I arrived at the pool hall early enough on Friday evening to get a solid three hour practice in and hardly missed a ball. I even got a full night’s rest. I was so happy because Legends, where the tournament was held, had 8-foot Diamond tables with Simonis cloth, Centennial or Super Aramith Pro balls, and red circle cue balls. Other than being 8-footers, these are my favorite playing conditions, not to mention the best I’d found in Texas.
As I review my notes from the weekend, it’s difficult to rehash them. I made mistakes, I didn’t get out when I was supposed to, and the bottom line was that just wasn’t prepared, mostly mentally. It sucks but there will be more tournaments. I’ve decided to put that weekend behind me. With this post sitting in my drafts for the past two weeks, there have been moments and experiences that I’ve missed out on sharing because I’ve felt like I’ve needed to put this weekend behind me.
Pool to look forward to in December:
14.1 League playoffs starting Monday
Four more weeks to run 50 balls
2010 goals to come.
Run 50… and all else will be forgotten!