The Incredible Lightness of Imperfection

Last night was the first match
in a new session of APA team 8-ball,
and I lost.

I missed one shot on the 8
but an embarrassing margin.
I made a costly, and rather stupid, mental error.
And, generally, exhibited relatively mediocre play
against an opponent who played well.
(4-1 vs. R. Dusenberry, skill level 6)

The great joy of this otherwise ugly evening
is that I have removed
the enormous burden of Perfection
which I have been carrying
for the last 3 and one half months.

The gods favored me with omnipotence
only for a little while,
and then, last night, reminded me that
I am human.

It has been 4 years since I took up this game.
I have yet to find the easy, relaxed, fluidity
which El Maestro demonstrates so naturally
and so consistently.

I yearn to play
solely for the sweetness of the game.

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Bizzaro Rules

Another night, another tournament.
Last night it was at Jim's Vista Lounge,
playing race-to-one 8-ball on little tables (yuk).

Here in this remote backwater of pooldom
they invented some bizarre rules.
For starters, if you put the cue ball in a pocket,
it's ball in hand, but only behind the head string.
(Like straight pool.)
In the APA, it's ball in hand anywhere,
except if you pocket the cue ball on the break,
and then it's ball in hand in the kitchen
(behind the head string).

Ok, I can live with that rule, I guess.
But check this one out:
If you table scratch (no ball/rail),
you lose your turn, of course,
but the cue ball just stays where it stops!
Again, like straight pool,
but at least in straight pool you lose a point.
Here, there's no penalty at all.

This can lead to some strange behavior.
Any safety attempt is like a push-out,
but the other guy has no option,
he has to take the shot as it sits.
But of course, he can do the same thing to you.

What is the point?
I have no idea...

I had the chance to test the limits of this rule
in my match with El Maestro
(who, in his usual magnificence, won the tournament).
At one point we must have traded safeties
at least a dozen times in a row.
While he took full advantage of the bizzaro-rule
I tried my best to play the normal rule
of ball and rail for a safety
just for the practice,
but when I ran out of imagination
I resorted to the bizzaro-rule.

So maybe that is the reason for the wacky rule:
they don't want to force the players to think too much.
Who knows...

I won every match I played,
except for the two times I played El Maestro.
I guess I can't complain about that.

In one of my matches,
my opponent tried the most blatant sharking
I have ever had attempted against me.
Of course, it had no effect as I ran out on him,
thinking all the time of that line from
The Color of Money:
"I don't rattle, kid"

I have been sharked by the best of them,
El Maestro himself!

Overall, I played pretty good,
and made some fun shots...

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Lunar Eclipse Madness

My first visit to The Stagecoach
for their Tuesday night 8-ball tournament
and things could not have been more weird.

The format is just one game per set,
not the usual race to three,
so I need to bear down from Jump Street!

My first opponent scratched on the 8
to give me the win.

Next match I scratched on the 8
to put me on the one-loss side.

In the final set,
my scratch on the 8 sent me home.

I have played here many times in APA,
and the tables were always in good shape,
but tonight they had all kinds of funny rolls,
not just for me,
everyone seemed to get funkified.

Maybe the heavy cue ball added to my difficulty.

I think it was the Full Moon,
and it was the day after the full lunar eclipse.
Good thing that only happens every 4-7 years!

Good tournament, well run.
El Maestro won it, as usual.
I'll be back.

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Just when you think you've escaped...

... they pull you back in!

I thought the current APA 8-ball team session was over.
But somehow, we made it into the playoffs,
so there was the prospect of several more matches,
plus Las Vegas for the nationals.
Will the pain ever end?

On the bright side,
there was the opportunity to win again,
but as it happened, that didn't happen.
In fact, it was even worse than that.
Not only did I lose,
I lost to the guy I won against 2 weeks ago,
(the top ranked player, Dave Arballo)
and even worse, if I had won,
the team would have advanced in the playoffs.
So that makes me the fall guy.

It was ignominious.
I missed a long straight in 8 ball.
How can I do that?
Of course I have seen world champions do that.
Of course I have even seen El Maestro do that.
But nothing lessens the pain of ME doing that.

What actually caused such a miss?
What let my full attention wander
at the moment of stroking the ball?
More importantly,
how can I keep this from happening?

It must be true that such a humbling experience
serves as the foundation for future growth.
One step back, two steps forward...

Naturally, it was not ALL horrible.
I made some really nice shots.
But it wasn't enough.
My miss on the 8 gave my opponent new hope,
and he drove the final nail into my coffin
with a nice break and run for the match win.

OK, Dave, that has earned you an invitation
to Mikie's Fun House,
and an opportunity to play on a real pool table
(9' Gold Crown, not a dinky bar table).

I shouldn't complain about the bar table,
even though my only losses were on bar tables.
Last night I actually liked the table!
Slow nappy cloth, un-level, crowded, hot, loud,
but that didn't seem to bother me at all.
I felt relaxed, confident, focused...
Until that one miss on the 8.
That probably rattled me,
and gave hope to the enemy.

Disaster lurks on every stroke.
My focus must become stronger.

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Learning experience 4-26-2007

My winning streak has come to an end.
I am human.

But, I am driven to be more.
I am superman.

So, superman,
what Kyrptonite felled you this night?
What was the cause?

I was calm, well rested, clear of mind.
Except for my ears which seem to be sick,
so I taking an anti-biotic.
But that's not an excuse.
I don't feel any effects of that drug.

Today I was practicing at home,
but kept missing easy shots.
Inconsistent, unfocused.

What's going on?

Tony was watching my match, tonight,
at the same time he's playing his match
on the next table.

His first observation is that
all 3 of my losses this session
have been on 7 foot tables,
so there's something about
the small size table that's throwing me off.

I agree.
I hate small tables
I feel constrained on a small table.
I like to let my stroke out.
(such as it is)

But why did I miss shots?
I knocked the 8 in early.
Missed another 8.
Missed two bank shots.
Safety play weak.
Scratched on the break.
It was humiliating.

I think it's because I let go of my spirit.
I did not want to be there.
I hate that bar,
It's disgusting
with thick cigarette smoke in the air.
The only reason I do it is for the team.

Tony says, before the match,
there is no hope for our team
to qualify for the city championships,
whether I win or not.

To sum it up:
It's the last match of the session.
Whatever we do doesn't matter.
Team doesn't need my win.
I hate the place.
And did I mention that
it's uncertain even IF I'm going to play?

My warrior spirit was down.

That, I think was the primary reason.

Plus, it was late in the evening,
so I had taken in lots of smoke by then.
Waiting for hours in heavy smoke
to do something irrelevant.

The waiting wore me down.

I should have walked out of there.
We had extra team members
who could have played and had fun.
But my heart wasn't into it.

And, something about seven foot tables...

---------

Let us celebrate this rare moment in my life
for the perspectives it brings,
seeds of future greatness.

-------

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Focus vs. Concentration

Concentrate

A. to bring all efforts, faculties, activities, etc., to bear on one thing or activity

B. to come to or toward a common center;

C. to become more intense, stronger, or purer.


Focus

A. to concentrate: to focus one's thoughts.

---

So much for Dictionary.com's meanings of these words.
For the full definitions, click on the underlined word/links.

The reason for a fuller analysis of these words is because
El Maestro and I went at it yesterday on the keys
to success in pool.

I have always used these words interchangeably,
and, based on the definitions above,
you might see how I could do that.
But in the pool world of El Maestro,
these words have different meanings.

It was only yesterday,
after 3 years of my dogged determination to learn
did I finally press the issue
when he told me that I have NEVER YET
been focused in a pool match.

Needless to say,
this was a stinging rebuke,
and my first and natural reaction was
to completely reject his hypothesis.
But I suspected it might be some language issue
(what with him being Honduran born and raised
and English being his second language)
so I pressed for a more complete analysis of his meaning.

For an example of "focus" he offered his own performance.
When he is playing a match,
he does not recognize distractions,
never talks,
never shows emotion
even on the rare occasion of a missed shot.
He never sits down,
never recognizes any person
even if they come up to him during a match.

He is a rock.
There is nothing in his mind except the table.
He never looks at his opponent,
even when he (the opponent) is shooting.
Instead, El Maestro will tend to the tip of his cue,
which may be one reason why he gets fewer hits per tip
than anyone I have known.

In comparison,
he tells me that I have some need to be a nice person
and talk with those who talk to me,
that I show emotion during the game,
that my attention wanders all over the place
from the TV to the spectators, players, loud noises
and shiny objects.
In short, I am a mess.

I complain bitterly to El Maestro
that his characterization is excessive,
and that surely I must have had at least one match
when I had good focus?
No.

Ouch!

In fact, he says, it is his judgement that
I have probably never been focused in my life.

What?
Impossible!
Surely my successes in yoga, business and aviation...
landing an open cockpit biplane in a high crosswind
on a narrow runway...
Was it all just luck?

Now he's pissing me off.
Who is he to negate my ability to focus?

Well, actually,
he's the best pool shooter I have ever seen,
so he just may have some basis for his assertions.

It may be time for me to assume some humility
and listen up.

El Maestro suggests that,
maybe I might want to actually try to focus
and see how my game improves.

I am reminded of Paramahansa Yogananda's quote:
"The results can not be achieved
unless the experiment is made."

So, with some humility,
and great determination,
I agree.

He challenges me to a race to 7 in 8 ball,
followed by a race to 7 in 9 ball.
In complete silence, and total focus.

We go hill-hill in 8 ball,
and in the last game I do an offensive safety.
He kicks at his 8 and sinks it cross corner for the win.
My focus was not shaken even though he
visibly marked the cushion with chalk
where he needed to kick at the ball,
(totally illegal)
and even though he did not call his pocket.

In 9 ball, I won 7-2.
Again, in complete silence,
even though there were several times
when he sharked me by moving in my field of view
while I was shooting.

His antics, of course, were a test for me,
and not his usual style of competition.

---

Concentration, in the world of El Maestro,
is what is needed at the time of shot-making.
If something happens to interrupt the concentration,
then, without losing focus,
one simply restarts the shot routine.

So, maybe Focus is "big picture"
and concentration is "little picture".
But you can't have concentration without focus.
Lose concentration, and you will probably miss the shot.
Lose focus, and you will probably lose the match.

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Mini-Table Blues

Played APA league 8-ball last night,
on tiny (6') tables in tight quarters.
Although we play with a red-dot cue ball
which a team member brings with him,
we were stuck using the house object balls.

The three ball had some gnarly schmutz on it.
Caked-on, yet thick enough to cause zany rolls.
The others weren't much better.
The table was recently recovered,
but it sure wasn't Simonis!

The cloth was slow,
but the rails were quite lively.
That made an interesting combination.

You would think that they would re-level
the table when they re-clothed it,
but this table showed no evidence of level.
Ball behavior was bizarre.

I might be missing some subtle differences
between 6 and 9 foot tables
and how strategy is played.
I am definitely feeling that
position play must be more precise.

Since we are using a smaller table,
but the balls are the same size as used on larger tables,
then isn't a snooker-safety
more effective because
more of the table area is covered
when stuck behind a ball?

Does this mean that
safety play has greater rewards on tiny tables?
Or is this possible benefit discounted
by the requirement for more precise position?

Including last night,
I have played on mini-tables
only twice in the past couple of years
and I came in second both times.

I like the 9' tables
because you can let your stroke out,
and that makes for more beautiful shots.

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From One Thing Know All Things...

This past Thursday night was another APA match.
The ball re-arranger was Joel,
who I have played before, and won,
but it was close.
He shoots fast and true,
so El Maestro's advice was to slow down,
and the strategy was working,
but the best of strategy will fail
if I miss, and I did.
He didn't.
He won.

It was the tiniest of tables, a toy.
Lots of clusters in 8-ball.

As soon as I entered the place,
I wanted to get outta there.
(It's the hermit in me!)

The night before I played straight pool
and had some good runs
and overall I played well,
winning both matches by wide margins.
So I should have been strong for Thursday.

I was jittery and apprehensive on the drive north,
but with controlled breathing exercises
I was able to calm my body/spirit
in time for the match with Joel.

I haven't seen him for at least a year,
and as he walks up to me to say hello,
he's coughing and gravelly-voiced,
explaining he's been sick as a dog for weeks,
and me being a germophobe,
the last thing I want to be doing is
breathing his exhalations and getting his bug.

What's with all the head trips?
Why do I allow myself to think other people's thoughts?
El Maestro's advice has always been
to not look them in the eye,
not communicate with them,
ignore them.
It's not about them,
it's only about me, the table, the balls.
He has told me more than once
that I have some need to be seen as a nice person,
and that this is a weakness
which will lead to defeat.

I must learn to completely ignore my opponent,
my surroundings, my past, my future,
everything that is not
Here
(on the table)
and
Now
(preshot routine to follow-through and stay down).

As Miyamoto Musashi said, so wisely:
"From one thing know all things,
From all things know one thing."


(Miyamoto Musashi, the greatest of the samurai)
and one of my favorite philosophers

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Be Prepared

Fast Mikie, as a Boy Scout!

Another Saturday at the pool hall...

I hardly had a chance to warm up
when El Maestro matches me up with Ken J.
who I have faced before
most recently in my Big Win
of almost exactly one year ago.
I won both matches at that meeting,
on the way to winning the tournament.
(click here for that story)

This time Ken J. evened the score
with a 7-3 victory (9-ball).
Ken J. is a very strong player.
I did not play well.

I have noticed in the last several weeks
that my performance curve seems
to start out low and then improve
as the games wear on.
This means I need a way to get into
total focus mode right from Jump Street.
Gotta work on that...

We took a break for some severe gluttony
at the Mexican restaurant nearby,
and upon returning to the pool hall
there was PJ (last Saturday's match)
waiting for a chance to even the score.

I was not expecting this.
I figured I had competition done for the day.
And here I am fat and sluggish again
after an enormous meal.

In the Wild West
a victorious gunfighter
never had to face the same opponent twice.
Not so in pool.
Opponents keep coming back.
There is no peace.
Eternal preparedness is mandatory.

So, again I am caught unaware.
I'm thinking this is El Maestro's plan
to teach me some lesson
in the psychology of the game.

PJ wins, 7-6.
Again, I did not play well.
This pretty much gets PJ even
after my win last week at 7-5,
so El Maestro calls for a "rubber match"
to settle it once and for all.

At this point, I'm almost dead on my feet,
but I can see that there is no escape,
and I will just need to find the strength.
I was hot, dehydrated, low blood sugar,
and very tired.

One of my favorite general-purpose solutions
to unexpected circumstances is to
"Do what you can, and fake the rest"
so I took some water,
a bit of hard candy to re-energise,
and tried to imitate a focused pool shooter.

It must have worked
because I won 7-2.

My day of pool lasted 10 hours
and my back was killing me.
Thirty eight years ago I had spinal surgery
in a failed attempt to fix a herniated disc.
Since then, just standing for any length of time
is a painful challenge.
So pool tournaments are a love/hate thing with me.
It's just another excuse for losing, if I let it.
I gotta get over it, don't I?

As a Boy Scout,
I learned to "Be Prepared"
and I need to bring that into my game.

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