Island Drive
Verified Member
Before I share this moment, the SSII event at Bogies was the first time in years, I truly enjoyed playing with gentlemen.
Love hate with pool....I know at times I get under one skin with my statements, but it's because of my background in sports and competition that I act in such a manner. The only reason I even started to play this amazing game is because my father was very strict, and one time grounded me for two months. During that time he thought I'd hit the books and get my grades above a C average. We had a wet bar in the basement, and a 4x8 pool table with clay balls, so instead of reading books, I started hitting balls to pass the time. About a month went by and my dad realized I was NOT studying. I came home from school and the table was gone! He sold it. Shortly after not being grounded I found out there was a pool room in town right next to the bowling alley off Roosevelt Rd in Glen Ellyn IL. I went in there and that's where it started, I was probably 12. My father played for the Chicago Black Hawks farm team before WWII and his father ran a mash unit and then became the team doctor for the Hawks. I was supposed to be a doctor, so my father would not let me play hockey (broken fingers etc) as he knew a surgeon needed dexterity. I started speed skating, and in 1963-64 became the Apollo Ohno of my age group for indoor short track speed skating. Winning the Nationals in West Allis Wisconsin and then flying in a DC 10, I won the North American Championships at the hockey arena in Buffalo NY. Flying to NY was exciting as a young teen, and guess who was sitting next to me as my mentor. Terry McDermott olympic skating gold medal winner, one Jim McCay the tv announce adored because of his attitude and the way he lived life. Another sports figure was also in my life, permanently. My dad graduated from Northwestern University, and was roomed with a young man named Otto Graham who also became part of my inner psyche and such. Otto was and is still considered one of the best QB of all time in pro football before the NFL, then went in to the NFL and played for the Cleveland Browns during it's greatest years. Fast forward to college.
So I'm playing Varner in the Midwest Collegiate finals 14.1 tourney at IU in the bowling alley on orange cloth with no overhead lights, losing 150-148, he then went on to with the nationals beating Carella. I kept playing and getting better, with very limited instruction or help, just a desire to win and compete and it kept my interest. Oh I also in 68 ended up in college giving the finals in my Badminton class as no teacher or student could compete with this long armed competitor.
What's happened to me over five + decades is my disgust for how the sport I chose is looked upon, how many players actions diminish the sport, my support of 3 pro tours that ended up a dead end street, and then the pool drool, and how gambling effects and hurts, and plays out within this demographic thru mother time. Me being surrounded by the right people at the right time growing up, has made me lash out at unsportsmanlike actions of adults in competition. I flunked English class in HS and took makeup courses to graduate and also had a good friend of mine take/pass and sign my name to not flunk my history exam, as I hated history and was more concerned about what's going on today or tomorrow.
So as life played out, I thought working for the BCA would help me get something good going for the sport when they moved to CO and close to the USOTC (Olympic training center) in Colorado Springs, only to realize their pipe dream of getting pool into the Olympics was poorly planned. Soon thereafter the BCA bank account got milked after their move to CO from IA, and in turn the BCA pulled away from supporting the sport like they had in the past, which made them a force within the industry.
So that's my rant, and since I flunked freshman HS English I'm not the best at putting sentences together, but there's something within me, probably from Otto Graham & Olympic Speed skater Terry McDermott and my sporting background, that makes me ''grind my grits'' when I see childish, selfish, egotistical, me me behavior with no respect for the sport or one's opponent. To those of you that are this way you were raised by someone who knows what's right/wrong, I admire you and know you'll do well in life.
Sincerely,
BM
Love hate with pool....I know at times I get under one skin with my statements, but it's because of my background in sports and competition that I act in such a manner. The only reason I even started to play this amazing game is because my father was very strict, and one time grounded me for two months. During that time he thought I'd hit the books and get my grades above a C average. We had a wet bar in the basement, and a 4x8 pool table with clay balls, so instead of reading books, I started hitting balls to pass the time. About a month went by and my dad realized I was NOT studying. I came home from school and the table was gone! He sold it. Shortly after not being grounded I found out there was a pool room in town right next to the bowling alley off Roosevelt Rd in Glen Ellyn IL. I went in there and that's where it started, I was probably 12. My father played for the Chicago Black Hawks farm team before WWII and his father ran a mash unit and then became the team doctor for the Hawks. I was supposed to be a doctor, so my father would not let me play hockey (broken fingers etc) as he knew a surgeon needed dexterity. I started speed skating, and in 1963-64 became the Apollo Ohno of my age group for indoor short track speed skating. Winning the Nationals in West Allis Wisconsin and then flying in a DC 10, I won the North American Championships at the hockey arena in Buffalo NY. Flying to NY was exciting as a young teen, and guess who was sitting next to me as my mentor. Terry McDermott olympic skating gold medal winner, one Jim McCay the tv announce adored because of his attitude and the way he lived life. Another sports figure was also in my life, permanently. My dad graduated from Northwestern University, and was roomed with a young man named Otto Graham who also became part of my inner psyche and such. Otto was and is still considered one of the best QB of all time in pro football before the NFL, then went in to the NFL and played for the Cleveland Browns during it's greatest years. Fast forward to college.
So I'm playing Varner in the Midwest Collegiate finals 14.1 tourney at IU in the bowling alley on orange cloth with no overhead lights, losing 150-148, he then went on to with the nationals beating Carella. I kept playing and getting better, with very limited instruction or help, just a desire to win and compete and it kept my interest. Oh I also in 68 ended up in college giving the finals in my Badminton class as no teacher or student could compete with this long armed competitor.
What's happened to me over five + decades is my disgust for how the sport I chose is looked upon, how many players actions diminish the sport, my support of 3 pro tours that ended up a dead end street, and then the pool drool, and how gambling effects and hurts, and plays out within this demographic thru mother time. Me being surrounded by the right people at the right time growing up, has made me lash out at unsportsmanlike actions of adults in competition. I flunked English class in HS and took makeup courses to graduate and also had a good friend of mine take/pass and sign my name to not flunk my history exam, as I hated history and was more concerned about what's going on today or tomorrow.
So as life played out, I thought working for the BCA would help me get something good going for the sport when they moved to CO and close to the USOTC (Olympic training center) in Colorado Springs, only to realize their pipe dream of getting pool into the Olympics was poorly planned. Soon thereafter the BCA bank account got milked after their move to CO from IA, and in turn the BCA pulled away from supporting the sport like they had in the past, which made them a force within the industry.
So that's my rant, and since I flunked freshman HS English I'm not the best at putting sentences together, but there's something within me, probably from Otto Graham & Olympic Speed skater Terry McDermott and my sporting background, that makes me ''grind my grits'' when I see childish, selfish, egotistical, me me behavior with no respect for the sport or one's opponent. To those of you that are this way you were raised by someone who knows what's right/wrong, I admire you and know you'll do well in life.
Sincerely,
BM