No Sniveling

Our policy here at Diary of a Pool Shooter is "No Sniveling". That means "Fair and Balanced" reporting, and when the balls do not roll favorably, then it will reported as such.

Last night: APA league 9 ball team match. Our team had a "bye" for this week, until a last minute (about two hours before match time) phone call announced that a new team had formed out of the ether and now want to fill the bye with a match. After some discussion amongst our team, via phone, we decided to give it a go. My vote was that we should play a make-up match at an agreeable future date. I felt that our energy as a team who was NOT expecting to play and who then was expected to change their spirit to a warrior spirit with so little notice... well, that was a recipe for loss. It is an Unsettled Spirit. The spirit of the other team was one of the Warrior, because they had just recently put their team together, and was looking forward eagerly to playing their first match. In our team, we thought our first match was still a week away, and we were then struck with The Element of Surprise.

I did not get my way. The team voted to play. I had to support them.

I expected a challenging test from an experienced and highly skilled player, the captain of the other team. In another surprise, they put up a player of a lower skill level. I won against her 7-0 in a different format (8 and 9 ball, not handicapped) a few weeks earlier. This is a handicapped match, so I had to get 55, and she had to get only 25 points. I was at 40 when her last ball found a pocket.

It was agreed by onlookers that it seemed as if a substantial percentage of my turns at the table I was presented with either a snookered cue ball, or some other very low percentage shot and/or safety. I agree with the onlookers. Additional comments by onlookers revealed that my worthy opponent's turns at the table were presented with either ball in hand, or some easy shots, or even something horrible was turned into a very fortunate outcome. Luck favored the lady tonight.

Again, No Sniveling here, just honest reporting.
I was the guy with the stick in his hand. I'm the one who missed more than one opportunity. It was my unsettled spirit.

In this match, I was the student. What can I learn from this? Go with my gut when answering a challenge. I should be the one to choose the time and place.
Let there be no random events. Overcome the effects of the Element of Surprise. (Must ask the Master: "How"?)

Every match is a learning opportunity.
Thank you, Fiona, for your lessons.


PS: for those who enjoy good excuses, Click Here for an audio of John Belushi in the movie "Blues Brothers" explaining to his former bride-to-be why he left her at the altar!

Joey Pool

Student 5-7-05c (center)

Last night, Joey stopped by the Fun House with a six-pack of Guinness long neck bottles, which disappeared along with a few cans of Murphys and Guinness from my own stash. Joey is a rather active invidual so it wasn't long before he suggested a game of pool, which I seldom refuse anyone.

Joey lines up fast, if at all, shoots fast, and shoots hard. Position of the cue ball after the shot is of no consequence to him. If he gets ball-in-hand, he simply shoots from where the cue ball stopped, or from in front of the pocket where it dropped. That saves a lot of time thinking, and gets right to the shooting. Sometimes he makes some absolutely incredble shots. But most of the time he will miss, even very easy shots. His attention is constantly wandering from the game. He talks non-stop on several subjects at once, loses track of where he put his stick, knocks it over, forgets to chalk, has to ask if he has stripes or solids... It's really a fascinating experience when playing Joey in pool. But then, Joey is a true perpetual motion machine. You never know what's going to happen next when Joey is around. I guess that's one reason we have been friends these past 20+ years.

In the photo above, that's Joey in the center of things, naturally, with me on the left and Peter Green on the right. This was the party celebrating the 25th anniversary of my 25th birthday. That same day, our soccer team won the season championship, hence the trophy. There was much Guinness consumed that evening. In fact, Joey is holding a pint in his right hand (over my head), and the trophy is filled with Guinness.

Morning Balls

The first balls of the day are important.
Before my morning coffee jolts me out of my half-asleep state, I take short, easy shots and focus on the quality of the hit, giving it the least possible energy and still have the object ball drop.

It's beautiful to watch the slow motions...

Miltonio, the cue maker

Students #5-7-05a and #5-7-05b

This past Saturday afternoon found me making the pilgrimage to Miltonio, the cue maker, to discuss having a cue made for me. He's the handsome fellow on the left. On the right is Ashi, a Miltonio customer, fan, and builder of the Miltonio web site. On my way to Miltonio's home/shop, I picked up my instructor, Tony Sorto, to get his read on Miltonio.

Four pool shooters in one room, and a nice 9' table next to Miltonio's shop. Of course there were a few games, strictly for bragging rights. Those fellows chose to be a team and play Sorto and me in 9 ball Scotch Doubles. As it is said by the monk in the Indiana Jones movie: "He chose poorly". It could also be said that any team with Sorto on it will be close to invincible. Of course, we won. Did they really have a chance? It was a purely social game, and it would be good to play again.

Miltonio makes some seriously fine cues. He is an artist first, so he makes what he wants to make, the way he wants to make it. I was thinking that what I wanted was to have some input into the design and execution. Can the Miltonio way merge with the way of Fast Mikie? Stay tuned...

Cue Search

My current playing cue is a Predator with Z-shaft and Limbsaver. Was intended to be a temporary piece to bridge the transition between my 47 year old Willie Hoppe cue and my "Ultimate Cue". That's the one I'm looking for now, a cue of my own design, most likely. I feel ok about the way the Predator cue hits, but I haven't experienced a lot of different cues to really know that much about them.

I have been thinking of getting the newest SE5 Special Edition Predator, built by Samsara, in a limited edition of 100 pieces. I like the Zen theme. I would like to bring that to my game.

Maybe Miltonio could build one for me. I like his spirit. And he was a Corsair pilot in Korea. How awesome is that! We should be able to share some flying stories.

I'm thinking I would want to migrate to a wider diameter shaft. Now using 11.75 mm. Would like to cut a 314 shaft down to 12.25 and finish it with a Moori soft.

There are many new technologies, electronic, harmonic, and mechanical, which can be applied to pool cues, and I look forward to experimenting with various innovations.



My current break cue is the Predator BK, with 314 shaft, and Limbsaver. Some weight was removed from this cue. It uses a Moori hard tip. I get an ok break in 9 ball. I'm learning 8 ball breaks.

Given these two sticks as a baseline, what suggestions would you have to evolve to the Ultimate cues?

The Case for Straight Pool

Straight pool (14.1 "continuous") is the purest form of the game. Nine Ball and Eight Ball are greed-based mutations of the game, designed to earn the most money for room operators and TV producers.

However, straight pool allows players to continue shooting balls without missing, for long runs and challenges that exceed what most players today have experienced.

Straight pool is a gentle game, without the violence of smashing breaks inherent in 8 and 9 ball. And it is usually accompanied by more civilized music, or none at all, rather than the abusive racket usually found in poolrooms and bars.

Straight pool is a game of intellect, patience, focus.

Where are all the straight pool players?

Ten Games Down looks like this

Student #5-5-05

This is what it looks like to be Ten Games Down in 9 Ball. Notice the white beads (ten of them). Notice, also, that there are 11 beads at the 10th bead marker, but that is just an anomaly. Notice the brave face despite having to sit still for a photo which he himself suggested, when the score showed him only 3 down. What could he have been thinking!? That's just the sort of challenge that gets me all fired up with a spirit-crushing persona which makes me invincible.

This man was trounced. And yet he calls back today and wants another go! What a dreamer! I need to savor the joy of the win for some time before I win again. If we were to play again so soon, another thumping might break his spirit forever. I wouldn't want to be responsible for that. Let's wait a while for your wounds to heal.

I was going to wait until I got PhotoShop fired up so that I could put one of those perp bars across the eyes, to protect victims. That gives me an idea: I'll have to start a collection of photos of those who have had a lesson in humility with my instruction. This is where the evil laugh should start, but instead we have this goofy little logo that won't go away. >>>

It's good thing that nobody knows about this blog, which I just started a few days ago. If I were this man above, I sure wouldn't want any of my friends to see this or I'd hear about it forever! Hey, it's all just good clean fun anyway, right? I mean, he'd do the same thing if he won, I'm totally sure.

Ten Ahead 9 Ball

Tonight's match wanted to play 9 ball, and keep score by how many games ahead rather than total games won for each player. When I got 3 ahead on him, he bravely suggested that I should take a photo of the scoring beads, because that was as far ahead as I would ever get on him. I immediately agreed on the condition that he stand in the photo with an appropriate expression.

I now have a full set of photos, from 3 ahead all the way through TEN ahead, and he's looking appropriately sad in all of them. I told him I'd sell him the photos anytime. I'll publish them here, but I have to use Photo Shop to put a black bar over his face. We gotta protect the identities of victims...

Masters Triple Play Tournament

Played the Masters Triple Play match tonight. Won 7-4. Solidly in first place for the next couple of weeks at least. Time to bask in the glory of victory. I love being me!

It is also a time for humility, but basking in glory is more fun.
For current details showing the entire Player Performance List, click here.

Welcome

This blog is all about shooting pool, hosted by "Fast Mikie" McCafferty, a shooter who lives in SoCal when he's not on a road trip in the Jag. Fast Mikie likes pool. Mostly, he likes shooting pool, real quiet-like, late at night when all the other sounds are gone from the day, not even any music playing, just pure silence, except for the click of the balls, and the clack as they drop. It is music to Fast Mikie's ears. He lives for the ecstacy of the moment when the table top becomes his entire universe, and it behaves as he wishes. His intention is made real by a sense of touch which, at times, can appear beyond what a mere mortal should be able to do... it is almost surreal.

He also likes to write about pool, as if you can't guess from the previous paragraph, and about his personal relationship with pool. There may be others like Fast Mikie. Maybe they will find this Diary. Maybe they like to write too...

The Singing Pig Award

"Never try to teach a pig to sing
It's a waste of time and annoys the pig."

Anonymous

Last night was my first match in the Masters' pool tournament.
I was feeling pretty smug going in
just thinking that I would be playing only the best in San Diego.
With no handicapping. Mano a mano. A true test of my ability. An opportunity!
The pool gods were with me last night,
and I won every game.

Needless to say, I slept well,
and awoke with a smile.
And now, in my morning email,
words of praise from my Instructor (and pool legend) Tony Sorto:

"I teach and wonder if I'll ever see
anyone learn how to play the game,
but I never thought I would see
someone reach the level of excellence
that you displayed last night.

We can now say without hesitation that
you can play great pool Fast Mikie."

Tony Sorto

(Original email on file at Mikie's Fun House)

There is no trophy more valued than those words.

But in the grand scheme of things, this moment is fleeting.
It is simply a milestone along the Way.
While I now "can play great pool", it still must be done.
One ball at a time.

Many times in the last year of instruction
Tony and I would laugh at the ridiculous situation of
trying to teach me to shoot pool.
I would liken it to trying to teach a pig to sing,
and Tony thought that was just hilarious,
probably because, from his perspective, there was so little evidence that
his pig was learning anything at all.

But eventually, almost glacially slowly,
the faintest evidence of understanding would appear.
And with it, Hope.
Hope for the teacher, and Hope for the Pig.
And with more Time, and Practice, and Attention,
yes, even a pig can be taught to sing.
But it may be more to the credit of the teacher than the pig,
especially in this case.

I have Googled "Singing Pig Award",
and it seems there is none at this time.
But I think Tony should be recognized as the
Singing Pig Teacher of the Year.

9 ball Division Championships, Winter Session

Hey! Look What I Got!

Yesterday I was awarded this addition to my trophy cabinet.
It's a small one, but I like it anyway.
The 9-ball is in the photo for scale.
(Standard billiard balls are 2.25" in diameter.)
However, what the trophy lacks in size,
it more than makes up for with durability,
as it is made entirely of plastic,
and that means that it will not rust away
here at the ocean...

The inscription reads:

Division Champion
Fall 2004 9 Ball
Michael McCafferty

I finished the 12 week session with a record of 83% wins in my matches.
So far this session, my record is a lot lower,
but I'm still learning...

US Amateur Championships - California Preliminary

I made it through undefeated. I am one of five finalists from California who will participate in a field of 128 players from all over North America to determine the US Amateur Championship.

For the full story on my participation in this event, click here.