Shootin' with Sidewinder John

It was a perfectly awesome Saturday afternoon
the weather was clear and warm,
and I just got the car washed.
After a week of hermit-like cave dwelling,
I had a hankerin' to get out among the populace,
so I called El Maestro and offered to drive north
to Oceanside and shoot some pool on substandard tables.

It was a great drive.
Top down, of course, stereo blasting,
soaking up the fresh air and sunshine.
(I really should get out more often!)

It's important to get on other tables occasionally
so that I can test my ability to adjust to
changing conditions and other players.

Tony and I got into some 8-ball right off,
until "Sidewinder John" showed up to say hello.
Tony told me that Sidewinder has been an "A" player
for a long time, and that he has been shooting a lot
of carom billiards lately and figured we should
match up for a race to 7 in 9-ball.

That's when I saw how he got his nickname.
He's got a sidearm stroke way more pronounced
than pro shooter Keith McCready.
But it must work for him because he shoots good.
And, with his carom experience, he sure knows
his way around the rails.

We traded games until we got to 2-2,
then he squirted ahead to 4-2,
but I came back to get the score 6-6,
and that's when Tony stepped in to stop the action.
What a bummer!
I was looking forward to a come-back win,
but it wasn't going to happen.

He said it was because he just wanted to see
if I could get to the hill with John,
(which he said he figured I could)
and that's all that really mattered.

I'm looking forward to a re-match!

Later, El Maestro and I shot some more 8-ball,
and I was doing a lot better this time,
in the lead this time at around 5-4
or something similar, when he stops the set again
for me to play some guy Jeremy for a couple of games.

I'm sure there's a lesson in all this for me somewhere.
Tony says I need to always be matching up against
different players on the road to pool excellence.

I guess that's more important,
in my stage of development, than who wins.
And he's the boss, so how can I argue?
I need to take my ego out of it, right?
The Zen approach would be to
let go of attachment to the outcome.

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