Playing on Live Stream - Love it or Hate it

I find it very intriguing when players eagerly announce they will be playing a match soon on a live stream, yet others do not.

I am intrigued because I am one who does NOT want to share that information, so I'm curious why others do.  They seem to welcome the attention; while I shy away from it.

I would hardly ever let others know if I was about to play a match on the stream table.  I think it had a lot to do with confidence, but more so - increased embarrassment if I played bad.  I shied away from letting others know because I was scared of the negative ramifications.

I fully admit that I am not mentally strong.  Why?  Because I sometimes would start to play worse if I began to think about others judging my bad play, which means I wasn't focused on playing my best pool, right?  I do agree at the height of my pool career that I was mentally very tough and could deflect negative thoughts and focus solely on the shots at hand and not get distracted.  That's when I was winning a lot of trophies for those couple of years.  But, I still didn't share with people even then that I was about to play on the stream table.  I will also confide that's hard to be mentally tough every single match, every single tournament; it's truly exhausting.

My point is, during those trophy years (lol) I didn't mind I was on the stream and it didn't bother me, but I still didn't advertise when it was about it occur. But when I wasn't mentally strong or confident in my game, I would be nervous to be on the stream table.

I can tell you it's a pretty awful feeling to play badly on a stream, in front of everyone live on the internet for all to see.  There's not a worse feeling.  And, if you start to play bad and then add to it by thinking about all the people watching you play bad, everything goes downhill.  And it just becomes a car wreck. 

Just last month a friend of mine lost 0-7 in a match that was streamed live.  Her heartbreaking reflection right after was, "How do I recover from that?"

Instead of guessing on this blog post why some people easily announce they are about to play on a live stream, I decided to ask one of my friends about this!  No reason to sit here and try to guess - let's find out for sure!

My dear friend, and fellow player, Tina (Pawloski) Malm, is one who always advertises when she is about to play a match on a live stream.  Every time I would see this I thought, "Wow, look at her.  How is she able to do that so easily?"

And this is what she said during our great convo about the topic:

She said she figured out that her friends WANT to see her play.  Whether she plays good or bad, they still support her and want to see her play pool on a live stream.

She continued, "my friends are my biggest supporters.  And when I didn't tell them I was on a stream, they would ask me about it later and tell me they wished they had known.  I then started to let my friends on Facebook know ahead of time when I would be on a steam table because they like to watch me play."

I asked her, "but.... but... what if you play bad?"  (thinking of how I feel when I play bad in front of people)

She replied, "I just shake it off.  I know I don't play well every time; I know I can't win every time.  And I don't think about what others are thinking of me.  Do I want to win every time?  Of course. But, I know I will have some off days and I also know my friends still care about me, no matter if I play bad or not, win or not. "

Here is what is intriguing to me about her last statement:  She knows her friends still care about her and want to see her play no matter if she wins, losses, plays good, or plays bad.  Why is my mental makeup so different?  If anything, I worry about being embarrassed about playing bad in front of others.  Is it because of all the negative experience of crappy comments I have received in the past after matches?  Is it because I am not mentally strong enough yet every single match?  WHAT?

What I DO know is I love her perspective and welcome the attitude she has about it.  I think we can all learn from her thoughts and I'm very thankful she was happy to chat with me about this.

Here is another interesting thing:  I stated above, "I can tell you it's a pretty awful feeling, though, to play badly on a live stream, in front of everyone live on the internet.  There's not a worse feeling."

Pretty drastic difference comparing my concerns with her lack of worry about playing badly on a live stream.

Intriguing, huh?

She also shared another perspective and example.  She said she has a friend that plays a lot in different tournaments and although she isn't a top shooter, she still enjoys to watch her friend play on the live stream.  As she put it, "What else would I want to be watching on the weekends?  A friend playing pool is perfect."

I love her perspectives and thoughts!

Optimism

There is good in every situation.  Just takes time maybe to see it... but it's there.

Every loss, learn from. Every scratch learn from.  Every mistake, figure out why.  Learn - see the optimisms everywhere!

Glass is Half Full: Upset at Racking

I've always appreciated how different perspectives can enlighten me.  Especially when my thought process might be negative, and someone shares a different point of view that brings attention to things I hadn't thought of.

Case in point:

At a recent Omega Billiards Tour stop, two players were in the fight of their lives (okay, just playing a close and important winner's match on Sunday afternoon).  One of the players is a regular on the Tour and very well liked.  His opponent was new to the Tour, yet a seasoned player, but had already ruffled my feathers by his words and actions and my interactions with him on Saturday.

During their match on Sunday, the newbie was making so much racket, I went to the other side of the room to see what was going on.  Turns out he was upset at the racks he was given by his opponent.  He was so upset that he was throwing cues on the table and hitting the sides of the table because of it.

And then *I* became very upset at this point.  Mad, actually.  He was throwing a temper tantrum and also accusing his opponent of cheating (because he thought he was deliberately getting bad racks).  Because his opponent is very up-standing and I've never had an issue with him over the numerous years I've known him, I was not very happy at what was transpiring.

The match was very close and the only thing I could do at that point was move the newbie's friends away from the match, because they all kept talking to him and each other (which I was also upset about).  It is tough to interfere with a match that is close to finishing - you don't want to cause more angst by stopping the momentum of the match by talking to players when it's almost over anyway.

As I stood close by watching, trying to figure out how I should handle what was transpiring (i.e. his temper tantrum), I happened to stand next to a guy who had been watching matches all day long.  He was a player of the Tour and came back Sunday to watch matches.  I didn't say anything to him about my thoughts or that I was upset, I was just standing there near him.  All of a sudden, he leaned over towards me to talk....

He shared with me that we all know the regular player and we all know in our hearts that he would never cheat the guy or give bad racks.  But he also shared that he would be upset, too, if he was the newbie player.  He said the newbie had been breaking well all day long and to all of a sudden in one match go from making balls on the break every time to making no balls at all (and hardly any movement of the balls in the first few racks), that he understood why the new guy was upset. 

It was quite remarkable how I went from a scowl on my forehead and tense shoulders to a calm face and relaxed shoulders after he shared his perspective.

The match went hill-hill and so I never talked to the newbie about his slamming of cues, but I am really glad that that player shared his thoughts with me.  It calmed me down and made me see things from the newbie's point of view, not just a Tournament Director (even tho I have to do that, too).   Sure, he still shouldn't have been slamming things around and causing a ruckus, but even I admit I was only focused on his reactions and bad actions mostly because of the issues I had had with him the previous day.

Good learning experience for me.

Effects of JUST a HandShake

I have written numerous times, and experienced this numerous times lol, when after you lose someone says something that just ticks you off.

• "You gave that to me"
• "You didn't want to win"
• "You had me"
• blah blah blah

Just walk away people!  Shake their hand and walk away!

A friend reminded me the other day how I told a league-mate years ago not to tell me after I missed the 8 ball three times, "you gave that to me."

Why do people even talk?  lol

And then my friend said something refreshing that I had never really realized before:

"Do you remember that time during State we had to play each other and I was up 3-1 over you?  I missed the 8 ball, and then I couldn't recover.  Then you beat me.  And, you never told me, "you had me" or "you should have won."  Instead, you simply shook my hand after wards.  I didn't understand that day at league why you got upset at that girl, but now I do.  And now I appreciate so much that you DON'T say those things to anyone (or me) because it would have stung SO much more had you have said something." 

Funny how I have written before about how I feel when people say things that sting right after a loss.  When instead I should have also written about the other side of that:  how appreciative people are when we are cordial and understanding and that a simple handshake with no words is sometimes the best course of action after a tough loss.

Complaints As Blessings

A friend of mine was all up in arms on Friday.

I asked her why, then walked away from my computer for a meeting, and came back to all this venting in my chat window:

• My dang Tuesday night league keeps blowing my phone up!  
• I told them I was super busy with my side job and am preparing for a wedding tomorrow.  
• I have so much to do!  
• One of my teammates was like, "just shoot a few games and then leave."  
• And I'm like really, WTF?  
• Okay, let me drive 40 minutes away to shoot "a few" games and then drive back home and waste 2-3 hours of the time I need to prepare for this wedding.  
• No, no I can't do both.  
• I have to choose.  
• These playoffs are just bad #%^!@# timing!
• grrrrrrrrrrrrrr

So I reply with:

"Awwww, you're so wanted!"

And she replies:

"LMFAO!  I'm over here in this turmoil and that's what you find out of the convo!  I just ADORE you!"

:) 

 

New Team, Hurt Feelings

One might think it's pretty freaking awesome to put together a new team.  The players on the team are elated and stoked!  It's awesome, really!

But, what I have witnessed lately is nothing but heartbreak.

I have seen the players who didn't get asked to be on a new team feeling left out, hurt, offended even. 

It's really a sad thing to see.

It's also a sad thing to hear later.  Why didn't you pick me?  Do you not think I play good enough?  Why wouldn't you ask me to join the team? 

I have witnessed this recently more than once and it broke my heart. 

It's so weird because the people asked to be on the new team(s) are all excited, pleasantly surprised, and elated!  But the ones who didn't get asked, look and feel physically hurt.  You can see it in their eyes and on their faces.

Breaks me heart, really. 

Shaking

I was watching one of the late round matches on Sunday at the Omega Billiards Tour here in the Dallas-Fort Worth area two weekends ago.  It was a close match, and for 5th place at least.  Both players were very strong players and it was a treat to witness.

At one point, one if the players makes a fantastic out!  He then moves his coin and the score is now 5-5.  He had been down 5-3 before making this little comeback to tie it up. 

It was a crucial win.

He then racked and I noticed that his hands were shaking a little.

I turned to a friend sitting next to me and whispered, "he's shaking.  I guess he's nervous."

His retorted, "I don't think he's nervous, I think he's excited."

WOW - what a perspective!  I honestly hadn't thought of it that way!

It makes total sense, too, because they are top players and *shouldn't* be nervous, really.  I mean, I know everyone has some nerves, but you know what I mean.

And it makes sense it would be more adrenaline and/or excitement.

I love different perspectives like this!

Recent Spankings

I am in a women's league and I fair pretty well in it.  But, I recently played in a few open events, and I was pummeled.  Beat.  Deflated.  Kicked in the groan.

This is coming off my women's team win in playoffs and my Queen of the Hill win.

I played in a tournament Nov 3rd with 27 other men, no other women.  I won only one match - the match I'm suppose to win.  On the winner's side, I'm playing okay, but nervous, but go up 2-0 in a race to 4, playing 8ball on bar tables.

The guy I'm playing tells me he may have to quit.  His shoulder is really bothering him.  Was it bothering him more because he was down 2-0 against a girl?  I was well aware of what was going on - status was on the line.

I admit, I wanted to win badly, status or not!  (for personal reasons)

He gets ball in hand in the 3rd game and runs out.  I then miscue on the 4th game and he only has an 8 ball left and he makes it.  He now has more life, while I no longer have a comfy lead.

However, it's the 5th game that really affected my mental attitude.  We were playing a safety game and neither one of us would break out this big cluster until we had a clear shot.  I finally was left with a shot where if I go for the obvious hit, he will then be left an out.  So, I know instead I need to kick at a dif ball and play a kick safe.  This is after about ten innings EACH at a safety shot.  I know what is best.  So, I do the correct shot, but I don't hit a rail after I kick safe.  Ugh!  I pick up the cueball because I fouled, and drop it on the table in disgust.

I'm SO upset with myself for showing emotion (the cueball dropped on the table seemed exponentially loud!).  I can't recover.  I also get super upset at myself for shooting the correct shot but failing to hit a rail.  I felt like I didn't get a good deed for shooting the right shot.  I was upset.  In the last game, he wins and I am PISSED.

I then win 4-0 and then lose 0-4.  I'm more than upset about my performance in this tourney. :(

Then the next Friday, I play in a weekly 9ball event and again I'm the only female.  I go out in two.

I am upset and disappointed.  I missed several shots and got beat.  The guys got out; didn't miss much.  There were a few rolls they got, but bottom line is I didn't capitalize and/or got beat.  Simply put, they got out well.  They outplayed me.  They made less mistakes.

Then On Nov 11th I play in another bar table 8ball tourney.  I feel pretty pumped.  I feel ready.  But, I evidently was not.

I played a REALLY tough player my first match, but after being up 2-1, I miss an 8 ball.  Then I hook myself when he's on the hill.  I had one fantastic out, but other than that, I really, really messed up!  OMG....

Then I play a NOBODY and lose 0-4!  WTH?!  I couldn't get my head out of my butt.

I honestly do not know what happened this tourney.  I finally wasn't out played, but I made too many mistakes.  Once I figure it out..... 

But I am grateful for getting spanked.  I need to get beat.  I need to be humbled and reminded that I need to work on my game.  Doesn't matter how upset I get, getting beat is a good thing.  Winning is good too, but getting beat is even better (no matter how painful at the time).

Cheering Against You

Two night ago I went to Vino's in Hurst, Texas where they have a little 8-ball bar table tourney on Sunday nights.

They pay Last Lady (LL), so it's a cool little tourney for me.  The prize for LL is $5 per female who enter the tourney, and on this night out of 31 players there were 10 of us.  Wow!  That's $50.  :)  Also, Vino's adds $5 per player, too, so it's a tough tournament.

I played in this tourney a few weeks ago and beat a kinda cocky guy so I'll call him Mr. Cocky.  I play pretty good eight ball, so to beat a cocky player is always cool, I admit.  :)

Since I didn't drink this particular night, I had a good shot at getting LL, but I still had a tough road ahead of me and had to play smart.  It was definitely no gimme.

I won my first 3 matches, but one of them was a bye, so I didn't get credit for that for the LL tally.  LL is decided by how may games you win.

So, for my first one-loss side match, I'm tied for LL with one other girl and I feel some pressure, admittedly, to get that $50.  I'm also playing for 5th place (and they only pay 3 spots).

I play a real tall fella (Mr. Tall) whom I hadn't seen before, but he knew all the people by our table, who were watching him.  It's a race to 1.  Yes,  I said One.  Lol.  So, it's an important game - I either move on AND win LL, or tie LL and have a playoff with the other girl. 

I am playing pretty good and smart, but he only has two balls left on the table when I try to play safe.  He goes for the only shot I left him (a cut shot in the side) and he makes it and all of a sudden his friends start clapping and cheering and carrying on!  Mr. Cocky is cheering loudly and they are all going crazy over this cut shot.

I was trying to figure out what was going on and why they were so excited.

I could feel the adrenaline rising through my body as I tried so hard not to let it get to me.  It *felt* like they were against me, but I knew in my heart that wasn't the case.  But it still didn't mean the cheering didn't pierce my heart and hurt.

He missed the next shot and I ran a few balls but had to play safe again, this time on the 8-ball.  I thought I would leave him a bank, instead it was a cut in the side.  I knew as soon I was walked away from the table he could make it.  I hoped he would still miss it, though (lol), but instead the 8-ball went right into the side pocket.

And his friends start to cheer and clap again.  Mr. Tall high-fives Mr. Cocky as Mr. Tall is celebrating and I stand there with my hand out ready to shake, and my blood starts to boil from my emotions of them going crazy over the stupid 8-ball shot.  Everyone over there is cheering him and saying what a great shot it was and he finally comes to the table to shake my hand.

I go to the bathroom to wash my hands before my playoff for LL and as I stand there rinsing my hands, I tell myself, "Don't let if bother you, Melinda. You know they weren't rooting against you, they were just rooting for him."  While I was told this golden nugget of information a long time ago, and while my brain is aware of that (esp since I reminded myself of it), it still doesn't mean it didn't sting.  :(  It hurt my little heart.  :(

I was nervous I'd have to play on the same table in front of all those guys for my LL play-off, but I recovered and I won that $50.  Yay Me!

As I stayed around til the end of the tourney to watch my boyfriend capture First Place, one of his teammates comes up to me at the end of the night and says, "You are the one to beat, obviously.  Those guys went crazy when he played you, all that cheering and stuff."

"Yea, and it bothered me."

"But it just means they are trying to beat you badly.  That you are a tough opponent."

"Do what?"

He continues to explain, "They went crazy clapping, but only when he played you.  It shows they all wanted him to beat you.  Because you are a good player."

I liked his perspective!  I hadn't thought of it that way and that made sense why it seemed they cheered more when he played me than his other opponents.  :)

I love differing perspectives that help me figure out situations, because as we all know - we can't read minds and we take others actions wrong sometimes.

Maybe I need to give myself more credit as a top female player in these tourneys.

And I hope I remember this golden piece of info also the next time people cheer and clap for my opponent.

Ahh... perspectives!

Prevail in Spite of Fear

Fear can hold us back from reaching goals or fully experiencing new opportunities.

From Jane Powell:

Accept your fear – there’s nothing shameful in it. Next time you shy away from a situation, stop and say to yourself, “I’m scared, but I’m still going to do it!”

I KNOW you can recall vividly your body shaking with fear while in a pressure match.  But when you calm down your adrenaline by breathing slow, deliberate breathes, and you realize you can still play well under pressure, then can see you were meant to be in that situation!

Pressure and fear only means it's an important match to you.  As Jane says, nothing is wrong with that! 

Jane adds:

As you acknowledge your feelings and keep going forward in spite of them, your self-worth and self-confidence will rise. The adrenaline from fear will change to the excitement of anticipation. Suddenly, you’ll realize the emotion you’re feeling has turned into sheer enthusiasm!**

What powerful reminders! 

One more tid bit I'd like to share about fear that I just read today. This is from someone who commented on the above Jane Powell column about fear:

"I once read a book that compared fear to an alarm clock – when we hear an alarm clock, we don’t get paralyzed, we do something — whenever I am afraid, it reminds me that fear is a call to action — turn it off, get up and get moving. I don’t make progress by hitting the snooze button."

I love learning, don't you?!  :)




**(excerpts are from Jane Powells' Daily Meditations for Women)

Clutch

Last year at the Texas BCAPL State 8 Ball tourney, I had a chance to play a tie breaker match and immediately turned down the invitation because I had just lost a brutal game.  Teammate Ashley played it instead and ran out!

This year, 2011, Ashley was not able to join us because she moved out of state from us all (cry, cry, tears, frownie faces) and I joked with my teammates, "Who's gonna play the tie breaker game if we need it since Ashley isn't here?"

We all laughed, but it was a serious question.  Eeeek!

Last year, I played a match that would result in either us squeaking by 9-7 or head us to a tie breaker game.  I played that decision game and lost, so a tie breaker was needed (the one Ashley ran out for us).  I wouldn't play the tie breaker game because I had just come off a severely high-pressure, embarrassing match.  It was a lot of invisible pressure I put on myself and I was literally shaking from nerves because so many people were watching and it was a very important game.  Instead of being confident, I was scared and stressed.  It didn't help that I missed the 8ball so badly, I went into serious embarrassment mode.  I felt humiliation I missed the case shot, discouraged because I let my teammates down, and the anxiety was full force in my mind and veins.

So, when I was asked right after I lost that match if I wanted to play, I immediately stated, "No Way.  I'm too embarrassed now!"  I was so disappointed I let the team down.  :(

Move forward a year.  Ashley isn't there.  We might reach our first tie breaker moment during the women's team event on the second day, while we are on the one-loss side.

My boyfriend says to me, "You know if this goes hill-hill, they may ask you to play."

I reply, "yea, they might."

It was a huge confidence booster that he said that to me.  :)

I very vividly recall the match I lost so badly due to stress and anxiety the year before.  I can feel even the emotions as I type this just how painfully embarrassed I felt to lose that match like that.

So how would I feel if the tie breaker game was needed and they asked me to play?  Would I crater like last year or would I play confident?

The other issue was, we all knew which girl the other team would put in for their tie breaker match.  She's the best player on their team.  And, she's intimidating as hell.

I wrote about her last year.  Tough opponent.  Dominating. Intimidating.  Talks back.  Talks crap.  She's actually the type of player that I swear, if women had balls, she would grab them while we played to inflict more pain.  She has pure drive and her intimidation is full force in her style, stature, words, and she acts aggressive.

How does she play?  She plays good.  She makes a few mistakes that I wish she would work on, but otherwise in order to beat her, it's normally because you have to outplay her or let her make a mistake first.

No matter how much I don't like to play her because she can get on my nerves with her careless words and her mean demeanor, when my teammates asked if I wanted to play against her in the tie breaker match, I didn't turn this opportunity down and was proud to represent the team in the clutch game.

I was ready.

I honestly felt *I* was the player on our team who would intimidate HER the most. 

I felt confident.  In my game, in this position.  I wasn't nervous.  I was ready and confident.

Long story short, after her failed runout, I safety played her in numerous innings til I saw a run out.  She tried to safety me back, but I am better at it.  I finally saw an out, with my first shot being a short rail bank and nailed it.  I then pocketed my last three solids and looked forward to the long rail bank on the eight ball (because her stripe blocked my pocket).  But I dogged it!  Ugh.  But - I still was very happy with my run and smart play!  I played my best and was still confident and not upset.

She went for the run to win but scratched!  I got ball in hand as she said to me WHILE I was down on the shot, "Do you think you can handle that?"

Beotch.

So, even though we won because she scratched, I honestly feel where I left the cueball after I banked my 8ball helped her scratch.  I feel my shot selection led to it.  I really do.

I am glad I played that nervous game last year full of anxiety and stress.  Because it allowed me to NOT let that happen in this clutch game.  :)

BTW, our team finished in third place!!

Connie, Monica, Jennifer and I.  Team "No Holes Barred"!

Pro-A$$

I saw an unfortunate "thing" at the pool hall this week. I was sitting there with friends, watching some one pocket action on the middle table while I drank 25cent draft beer for Fat Tuesday for Mardi Gras.

On the left table, another gambling match of 9ball was going on. On the right table, a group of barely-21-year-olds were oddly holding the house cues and trying to make any ball they could with their funky stances.

I then saw something that disturbed me. You may not think it's a big deal, but it was to me.

One of the guys playing one pocket was checking out his options on the table, but realized he couldn't shoot his shot because one of the young girls to the right was in his space. She was debating what to do on her own table, and was just standing there. The real pool player looked at her (with a "come on, get out of my way" look on his face), and realized he could not shoot because she was in his way. He didn't even take 5 seconds to think about it or to see if she was gonna shoot soon. Instead, in the blink of an eye, he leaned into her and touched her back with his body to catch her attention so that SHE would move. She politely moved out of his way, he shot fast, and then she returned back to her table to try and make her shot.

I still can't believe I witnessed this. Again, it's prolly no big deal to you. But, he didn't tap her on the shoulder to ask her to move, he didn't wait for her to shoot, he simply kinda forced her out of his area. Now, being the blogger that I am with the Glass is Half Full Section in her blog, I am trying hard to find the half full/positive in this scenario. IMO, he was rude, he wasn't cordial, he didn't care. He wanted to shoot, she was in the way, let's lean into her so she will move out of MY space so I can shoot MY shot that is obviously WAY more important.

I could go on about how she was a female and he should respect chicks, but that would seriously bring out those guys on AZB that don't like me talking like that. I will say that if it was a guy, he would have done the same thing.

As I reflect on this post the next day (I wrote it last night), I now maybe see a Half Glass Full part! Admittedly, this next part will make the post less controversial, lol, but maybe, just maybe I SAW it wrong. Maybe when he leaned in he whispered to her? Maybe what I thought I saw was not what I saw at all. Instead of me seeing him touch her back with his body to get her to move, maybe in that moment, he was really leaning into her space and said, "excuse me" and I just didn't hear it because I was a table away.

Hmmm...

Glass is Half Full - Forfeit

Here's another edition of: The Glass is Half Full.

As a reminder: I have come across a few enlightening moments in pool that have been "a-ha" moments for me - and they have helped remind me that I am looking pessimistic at things. I love realizing that I could have looked at a situation in a positive way. Therefore, I decided to start a section in my blog about this: "The Glass is Half Full"


At the White Diamonds tournament this past weekend in Lafayette, Louisiana (a heck of a large bar table tournament with lots of big action), a guy named TJ bought himself during the Calcutta. While this may not seem unusual, what is unusual is he went for $900! As you can imagine, a lot of people commented about this on the live stream (and I'm sure in person, too!) that he bought himself for so much money. The calcutta money ranged from $1,700 to $50, so $900 wasn't completely out of line, but because he kept bidding on himself and then finally 'got' himself for so much money was kinda unusual. I know TJ and have seen him do this at other tournaments, but those calcuttas were a quarter of this amount, lol.

On Saturday night, TJ was still on the winner's side and checked out when he played. Unfortunately, he looked at the chart wrong and thought he played at 8am on Sunday. Turns out, he had a match around 2am Saturday night, not 8am. Eeeek! He was to play the defending champion Jeremy Jones at that time and TJ was at the hotel so Jeremy got the win by forfeit. You can imagine his surprise Sunday morning!

Jeremy was commentating a match on the BigTruck live stream on Sunday afternoon/evening and someone from the chat asked Jeremy about that forfeit. Jeremy stated that he felt bad for TJ - they have known each other a long time. When he spoke to TJ Sunday morning, that's when Jeremy found out he misread the match time.

On the stream, someone pointed out that what sucked even more for TJ was he bought himself for so much money and had to forfeit. [Here comes the half empty/half full] Jeremy replies, "well, in hindsight it's good he bought himself tho. No one else bought him in the calcutta. I mean, I feel bad for him; no one feels worse than he does. But, at least there's not TWO of them that feel really, really bad."

Ahh.... good point. I love half full's. :)

The Glass is Half Full - Racking

Is the glass half empty or half full? The purpose of the question is to demonstrate that the situation may be seen in different ways depending on one's point of view and that there may be opportunity in the situation as well as trouble.
I pride myself in thinking positive about situations and seeing the best in things. But, I fully admit I have inner demons like everyone else and sometimes seeing things as the Glass Half Full takes work on my part. And, to be honest, thinking optimistic doesn't always come naturally for me.

I have come across a few enlightening moments in pool that have been "a-ha" moments for me - and they have helped remind me that I am looking pessimistic at things. I love realizing that I could have looked at a situation in a positive way because I love learning! Therefore, I decided to start a section in my blog about this. This will be the first contribution to this blog section: "The Glass is Half Full"

Racking:

I was sitting at the Mosconi Cup next to a very good friend of mine in the front row and it was the first day. At the Mosconi Cup, each match had a dedicated ref. Sounds pretty cool, huh? (it was!) :) They would rack for the player, they would ensure extensions were incorporated, and they would ensure no balls were touched (it was an all-ball foul tourney).


As I sat there, I noticed that some of the players would check the racks. What?! I was shocked. I mean, these are pro players who have played in a million tournaments and they should know that the refs would not give them a bad rack! The refs were seasoned, well-known refs, too! I was perturbed every time one of the players checked the rack.

I finally said something to my friend sitting next to me and she replied so non-chalantly and non-judgmentally: "they are probably checking the rack to figure out which side to break from."

I sat there, embarrassed. "What? OMG. Good point."

It then donned on me I forgot that some players check racks for little gaps so they can figure out which side to break from to have a better chance to make balls. So, the players weren't checking the rack for a bad rack. It made so much more sense, lol!

I love enlightening moments!