Seriously.... there is such a thing as ediquette...

There is. Etiquette. And there is a line. Do you know the line? You should. Because if you don't know the line, you'll only be guessing if you are right... or wrong. Pool hall etiquette. Sounds like an oxymoron. Or just plain moronic. Take your pick. Here's a quick run down:

Never place the chalk upside down on the rails.
Never chalk your cue when it isn't your turn.
Don't break down your cue until it's over.
Don't talk, move, sneeze, wiggle, jump, tweak, breathe or blink in the line of your opponents shot.
Tip the house man when you win a bet of significant amount if you are new to the room.
Shake your opponents hand when you are done.
Don't pick up someones cue unless you've asked first.
If you are a rail bird... don't talk loud enough to bother the players.

Oh and that's just the start of the list. I could go on... but really... why bother? I mean, when you are loosing... we don't follow them right? We wig out and don't follow all the rules. Or do we? I know lots of people that do. I know people that are so nice, that during a major tournament a player was down on a shot, another player next to them got down on their own shot practically bumping into the 1st person... the 1st person in an attempt of not getting knocked over, hit the cue ball with their stick. Oh screw it. It was Tauss playing Val. And Val hit the cue ball. Tauss didn't take ball in hand. He let Val continue to shoot. I get it.. the rules are the rules... but some things that happen are just accidents. In a wonderful world that player that almost bumped Val would have not been so selfish and would have looked around him before he bumped into Val. As far as I'm concerned... the opponent of the player that almost bumped Val should have gotten ball in hand due to the fact that he was playing an obnoxious son of a B***H that only thinks about himself.

And here we go... a player was shooting the best pool of his LIFE. His opponent was mumbling 'under' his breath that he wasn't a '5'. Rocky... oh... DAMN... did I just say that???? YES Rocky... who pulls NO PUNCHES... stopped shooting and said to the guy "F**K you, you F**KIN son of a B***H." And finishes his run out. Does anyone run up to Ed and Angela at Diamond Eight to complain about Rocky? Nope. Why would they? One, Rocky OWNES his own pool room and two, Ed and Angela aren't running the tournament... the APA League Operator Matt MacPhail is.

Can you feel the point getting close??? lol... it is ... trust me... wait for it....

I get DESTROYED by this 6 in 9 ball. I mean this kid is OUT OF CONTROL!!!!! The BEST shooters in the local rooms don't give me a run like this kid. After two racks I start playing this kid as tight as I know how. I mean I moved to the 90% rule. Ok... for those that don't understand that... I wouldn't take a shot unless I was 90% sure it would go... if I wasn't? I'd play safe. Trust me when I say that I have a tight safe game. Didn't matter, this kid was kicking in everything, banking everything, I don't think I've EVER been actually shooting GREAT and gotten whacked like that. Kid could have been a nine for all I cared, he still would have housed me. And that isn't the point... I really didn't care that he was underrated, and never even said a word to the league op. about this kid. I shook his hand and guess what I did? I told him we should get together and play sometime. He said "all the girls say that.." to which I said "no, no sweetie... I'm married.. I just want to get you on a pool table." Everyone standing around laughed. I just want to see what this kid can do on a 9 footer... I mean... I might be able to make this silly league player a GREAT player.

The last thing on earth I am is a sore looser. Geeezzz.. I mean... after shooting for 20 years, if I was a sore loser... I would have given up a long time ago. I mean think about it. It's getting close... can you feel it????? lol

So. Down 2-0 in the match, 1-1 in the game spotting a kid 3 games in a race to 5. Seriously... what are our chances? Not good... in fact, so not good, the rest of my team is watching 9 ball, in which we still do have a chance. I never give up. EVER. This kid has ball in hand and is being coached to put the cue ball down to shoot his ball that is tied up on mine. The space between the two balls is smaller than a ball. My ball overlaps his by at least 5mm. sighting it into the EDGE of the corner pocket. A good hit means my ball doesn't move. A good hit means his ball misses the pocket. HOWEVER... he could play safe and play a good hit putting his ball in FRONT of the pocket off the short rail. A bad hit means... my ball moves. The only way to make his ball is to carom off of mine. This isn't a SPLIT HIT because there isn't a balls width between the balls. But this is the type of hit that you have to sight at table level and know about pool. I try to tell them before they take the hit, that he can't make it because it'll be a bad hit. I tell them more than once. Then I call a ref.

The ref. never gets down to LOOK at the shot at table level, as a matter of fact he came over and never looked at the shot in LINE. He just stood by the side pocket and called the hit a tie hit because my ball and his ball moved. Ummmmm... really? My ball is BEFORE his ball... HOW on EARTH does my ball MOVE and it be a good hit???? See.. most people try to judge this by actually watching the HIT. That is the biggest mistake you can make. Sometimes it's obvious that a ball moves first. MOST of the time you actually have to know enough about pool to judge the hit by what happens to the balls AFTER THE HIT.

The ref. called it... I didn't say a word. But how disappointing. Am I supposed to tell a ref. before the shot how to watch a hit? Geee... that would make me a bitch. I loose that game, which ends it. I shake the kids hand. I'm steamed about the hit. Could care less about the loss. The hit is driving me mad. I'm soooooo over the top fair. I call bad hits on myself. I'm over the top fair... and this coach just straight up ignores me, doesn't even want to listen.

I still have 9 ball going on at the next table... I can't think of anything but the hit. The coach who set up the bad shot is standing over me wanting me to shake his hand and 'CONGRATULATE' him. How obnoxious is that anyway??? Go up to the player and be like.. "oooohhhh... nice try... now shake my hand and tell me how great we are..." Really??? I mean Really??? Ok. I shook the PLAYERS hand. Freaking SUE ME that I don't feel like shaking the whole freaking teams hands!!!!! I just put my hands up, shook my head and turned around. Later (5 min. or so) as he's walking by, he says "It was a good hit." Oh. And that's ok to say and get me going right?? I should know better not to bite, but I did. I told him I know enough about pool that it was a bad hit. He tells me that obviously I don't know enough about pool. Huh. REEEEEEallY?????

10 min. later? I see him talking to Ed and Angela. Why? Because I work at Diamond Eight. What does Ed and Angela have to do with anything? What? Go complain to Matt. I'm not working, and compared to what I saw going on, I sure as shit didn't do anything wrong.

We loose 9 ball. Oh well... that sucks. But it was a great match and they played Norm which I thought was AWSOME... hugs all around.

I go to work and get Angela in my face telling me I was acting 'pissy'... blah, blah, blah. What??? Are you kidding??? I've gotten in 4 altercations in the 10 plus years I've been in league. And I don't even COUNT not shaking Scott's hand as one of them. He wasn't the player... he could tell I'm hot... for god's sake give me a freaking minute to cool down. So. Why do I have this bad rep? Because I tell people how it is. Straight up. I don't ever make a big thing about small shit. Ever. But when someone gets in my face I'm not one to back down either. Ever. And because 'nice' people tweak on me... it's MY fault. I've never once gotten in any ones face first. They may not like what I'm telling them, but I do it in a calm way. If they get snotty? Their bad. They get the sarcastic bitch I can be... and I'll win.

So... Angela doesn't get the whole story then straight up lies about my team going up to her and telling her it was a good hit... BAAAAAAHAHAhahahaha... my team wasn't even WATCHING my match!! ANNNNND... they would never call a hit that they didn't go look at. E.V.E.R. Buuuttt... it does make Angela look good in public to say that my team is saying that it was a good hit... it makes me look bad. Like an idiot really. Those around might just believe her. And what in GODS name did I do wrong anyway??? And why is she involved???? What she DOESN'T know.. is that the whole conversation was overheard by several people. And they can't believe I worked for someone like that for so long. Huh.

So. Learn the etiquette. And if you break it? You deserve what you get. Full force. I'll never back a player that is doing something wrong. As a matter of fact I've made my own player stop playing if they can't win fairly. Just who I am. Love me or hate me... just don't go complaining to people about me. Grow up.