Rude Players Create a Stigma

Competition can really bring out the worst in us sometimes.  Right?

But what's interesting is, it's not who we are away from the table.

Take John McEnroe as an example.  He LOSES it on the court.  Yet when he commentates, you can tell he's not emotional and mad all the time, lol.

Here's the thing about competing.  If we are an extrovert and we wear our feelings on our sleeves, we may be a sore loser when we lose.  We may quip as we limply shake your hand, "I'd say nice game, but you only got lucky."

Ouch!

However, if we are an introvert that keeps our feelings inside, we would shake our oppoents' hand when we lose and bite our tongue.  We may vent to a friend, blog about it on the internet, lol, but we wont make a crappy, uncalled for comment to our opponent.

Here's another situation - many players learn or figure out eventually to not act that way (rude).  I know numerous players who used to act crappy after they lost, and now they are cordial.  Sometimes it's takes great self-reflection, control and learning to stop that "habit."

But this leads to an interesting point I'd like to share.

Because again, many people who spout off, are rude, or make crappy comments, they aren't that way all the time.  Competing brings that out.  Their emotions of losing, the sting of the loss, the bite of feeling embarassed - THOSE are the things that causes most of the rude comments to come from our mouths lol.

However, what this does is it is causes an unfortunate observation from people who don't know them personally.  And then they get a vison in their head, "Wow, that girl was a bitch and rude."  And then we immediately don't like them.

This is normal.

But what you pleasantly find out when you get to know them away from the table is how great they actually are!  Almost 95% of the players I thought were rude and obnoxious, were actually really great people.  Sure, there are 5% of the players who really are rude assholes and bully's.  But 95% of them are really cool, dependable, nice, people!

So, while it's normal to judge someone on how they react after they lose.  What is more surprising is when you get to know them and they become your friends.

Many of the rude players happen to be top players, right?  Not all, obviously, but many of them play good.  So when I joined their team or I formed teams (because we want the best teams, right?), that's when I learned most of the "rude" players were actually great people!  Many even became good friends.

Don't get me wrong - I'd still not like to compete against any of them because of their attitude on the table lol.  But if you get a chance to maybe have dinner and get to know those 95%, it actually becomes a surprising blessing.

Introducing, Project Hunger Games!

Taking a cue from the Danielson Series, which has been well received, I am adding a new series:   "Project Hunger Games"!

This is the same concept - a player shares their experiences / questions before or after a tournament / league night, and I share our discussion and learning experiences all directly to you, via my blog!

The difference this time is the player is a chick.  A girl?!  Yep, a female player. :)

When her and I were trying to come up with a name for the project/series, we were looking at strong, leading women who are quick learners.  You know, like Uma Thurman or Clarice/Jodie Foster.  She thought of Katniss of the Hunger Games movies/books and what even made that choice even more perfect, she shared, "I have been told by some players that they wish they still had the hunger and drive like I have.... even though my pool journey is just starting to where they have many years of experience."

So, "Project Hunger Games" it is :)

I'm excited to share her growth through this blog so others can learn, too!

While she is not going to be identified, I want to publicly applaud her for her courage to have this journey out in the open to share her thoughts, pains, learning experiences, excitements!

Keep It Simple Method

A lot of us think that the top players are good because they make hard shots all the time.  Right?  They can execute them much more consistently than us average players.  Damn them!  j/k :)

However, that is actually not true.

I wrote a few years back how I noticed a top player was always leaving shape in the middle of the table (on a bar box).  Us amateurs try and get perfect shape all around the table (and usually fail from trying to move the cueball all around).

A top player recently told me, "When we play good, it's not the hard shots we make; it's the shots we make easy."

I asked him to clarify:  "Great pool is about making things easy, and making every easy shot.  It's not making hard shot after hard shot.  Playing the simplest of shape always makes the game much easier."

And he's right!  Think about how many times we have heard, "This pro makes pool look easy."  Or how about how we secretly kinda wish the players on tv would miss more - to show the general audience that this is truly a tough game!

But the key is - pros are pros because they ensure they make all the easy shots (a lot of us amateurs taken them for granted and rush the easy ones) and they also keep things simple.  They notice the patterns and the correct side of the object ball to be on, otherwise it IS harder and tougher on them.  However, they have learned the secret:  keep it simple, make it easy.

How are you playing today?  Making it hard on yourself or easy?