I had a really weird moment the other day.
What was bizarre about this moment, was I got embarrassed, but it was after a positive gesture.
Normally I get embarrassed over a negative thing that happened, but this time it happened after something good happened.
I had played a couple of safes against a really good player on the men's league in our playoffs. I hooked him on my last safe by snuggling the cueball up to one of my balls behind a stack of balls. He tried to hit one of his balls; any one of them; but he didn't.
I saw the layout and even though my balls were close together in clusters, they were still make-able. I saw the run (made a plan) and started to execute the run of 7 balls.
I took my time.
My heart was beating out of my chest because this guy was their top player and I had a chance to win the game against him.
I had a combo two balls before the 8ball and admittedly, didn't know if I would have a shot or not left. Instead, I made both balls. Yikes!
There were so many of his balls around my combo, I got lucky to even see the 8ball!
This left me with a table-long shot on the 8ball. I didn't take a lot of time on it but I DID tell myself to stay down well on it. I nailed it! I was so happy about the run and that I beat the guy and made the tough 8ball, that I jumped up and down a few times, lol, before shaking his hand.
I was excited!
My teammates and our teams' fans were clapping as I walked back to our side of the room and declared, "I beat the good guy!"
Then, though, I realized how my jumping up and down a couple of times was really poor conduct.
Although he should take it as a compliment (lol) that I was excited to beat him, it really was unsportsmanlike conduct.
Then, I felt embarrassment about it.
I got over it btw, but it's ironic to me that I normally feel embarrassed over missing shots in certain situations but this was a positive situation. Although the outcome was positive, I suppose in my mind I felt my gesture was negative, though.
I couldn't believe I had the same feeling as negativity even though I won!
BTW, I got over that embarrassment pretty quickly by sharing to my boyfriend I felt bad. Which, by the way he has tried over and over to convince to stop being embarrassed over missed shots.
At least this one was kinda positive.
2 comments:
I'm just a random internet person/league banger but I completely disagree with you. What you did was NOT unsportsmanlike. If you had jumped up and down and shouted "in your FACE"... then we have unsportsmanlike conduct. But being excited about accomplishing something difficult and showing it should not be bad.
A handshake is just a simple gesture and does not convey respect and sportsmanship by itself. I won a league match a few weeks ago and the guy couldn't look me in the eye and he only mumbled "nice game." What's the handshake mean then?
I have a guy on my team who jumps up and down when he makes a difficult shot and no one cares because he's a genuinely nice guy who respects everyone and wants to see everyone play well.
If you show your opponent respect before, during, and after the match, it should not matter if you celebrate a little "in the moment" before shaking his hand.
But those are just two cents from Ithaca NY (land of liberals).
-matthew
Thank you Matthew for the comments. I see where you are coming from and I feel better.
BTW, I always wondered if you lived close or not. My Mom was born in UpState New York. :)
Thank you again for the comments!
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