Best of RSB - February 1998
The "Best of RSB" Committee

Each month a distinguished Committee of one unnamed rsber presents the official "Best of rsb." This monthly highlight is in recognition of those very special posts that simply stand out from the crowd. The guidelines are far too complex to go into, but suffice it to say that originality, content, humor, and - most importantly - the whim of the Committee play a large role in the selections. As always, the Committee's decisions are final, and intentional groveling will be looked upon with much disdain.

On to the awards for February....Your Committee marches on, and has now completed its landmark sixth month of weeding through the muck and the merely excellent to uncover the pearls. This month's top honor goes to Darwin Clegg who set the standard for rsb tournament reporting. Thanks to the contribution of many following Darwin's lead, the excitement of the "Allison vs. Grady" show has been brought to all of us. (Excerpted below because we're sure you've all read it many times over!)

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Subject: 1st ALLISON FISHER vs GRADY MATHEWS match is history!
From: D.E.Clegg
Date: 1998/02/17

1st ALLISON FISHER vs GRADY MATHEWS match is history!
The Results may surprise you!

For those Men vs Women threaders......

I just got home from the first of 21 matches between Grady and Allison! It was an entertaining event with just the right atmosphere to cap off a great One-pocket tournament!...

Game 1 - Allison Breaks, runs two and misses an easy 3 ball. Grady takes off and runs this rest of the rack. Score: Grady 1 - Allison 0...

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For the past few months, David Sapolis has graced rsb with his insightful thoughts on the mental side of the game. This piece, in particular, caught the eye of the Committee because it's about staying close to the winners - and, after all, that's exactly what Best of RSB is all about. Well deserved runner-up honors, David! (In its entirety...)

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Subject: Sticking With the Winners
From: David Sapolis
Date: 1998/02/25

Read this post here.

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On to the other "posts of note".... We suppose we have to give some credit to Joe Van Buren for asking the question, but this honorable mention goes to "Stoney" with his entry for "cosmic brain dump" donor. (By the way, Joe, if you can just figure out how to make the brain dump happen, we can guarantee you a Best of RSB award of your own.)

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Subject: If you could........
From: Stoney
Date: 1998/02/21

Joe Van Burn wrote:

If you could transfer anyone's knowledge of the sport to your own mind..
who would it be?? Dead or alive doesn't matter.

Stoney Replied:

Romaine Scherschlight. A snooker player and a fine gentleman of the old school. A professional musician and businessman until retirement, he was also my billiards mentor. A reluctant teacher who taught by example, never pretending to have all the answers but posessing a natural knowledge and ability few could match.

I met Romaine after he had retired and bought a small store, the kind we call a quick shop today. It was in the same row of converted Army barracks which housed several other businesses, including my Mother's beauty shop. One day, during summer break, I was off to the local pool hall carrying my custom two piece pool cue with a nylon wrap and painted points purchased from 'came apart' (K-Mart) for the princely sum of $8.99 plus tax, vinyl plastic soft case included. Romaine's wife saw the cue case and said, "Romaine likes to play pool, why don't you see if he wants to go along?" Yeah, right, like I want to take some old geezer along to spoil my 'action'. But I poked my head in the door of his store and asked. Of course, he was minding the store so he couldn't go just then but, noticing my cue case, smiled and said he would like to on Saturday morning if I wasn't 'too busy'. O.K. I replied and off I went. 16 and totally clueless. Clueless. Totally.

That Saturday will remain the day of infamy in my pool career. Sure, I've seen some great men play pool, been hustled a few times and outshot many times. But I was never so humiliated before, or since, that day. To make it worse, it wasn't intentional. In fact Romaine was almost appologetic as ball after ball went down the drain, the cue ball miraculously seeming to stop 'just so' for effortless perfect position. The control, such draw, such spin, such combinations! I didn't know these things could be done! I began looking for mirrors and magnets as surely there must be some trick, a hustle on me, something wasn't kosher here. I became self-aware that day. Gaining sentience while a man three times my age opened and emptied a brand new can of whip ass all over me. Later, as we settled up for the table time (50-50, he insisted), I vowed silently vowed to never play the game again, find someone to take my revenge on, never play the game again, learn all I could from this 'old' man, go pick a fight, never play the game again and finally, say "Want to play again next week?"

Of course, he did and we did. I wish we still could. There is more to the story. How he got started playing snooker, the war years (WWII for you young'uns), his cues, ring games we got into and on and on. Maybe I'll settle up on all of that when the next rsb question comes along that makes me think of him again. Right now though I think I'll screw my cue together and sit down and stare at the table just like I used to do and remember.

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Another honorable mention goes out to Ken Bour for reminding us about the special and different contributions that can be made by those who can *and* those who can't explain what they know.

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Subject: Zero Deflection Meucci's
From: Ken Bour
Date: 1998/02/03

Ed Mercier's original message excerpted...

I know George [Pawelski] well, and one thing about George is he has got one of the biggest strokes of anyone I know. I have seen him do things on a pool table that I can honestly say I doubt many of the top pros today could do....I asked George about his stroke, and what he can do with a cueball. I told him that there is a theory out there that the amount of draw is solely dependent on contact point, and cue speed. That there is no such thing as "stroke" that is anything more than hitting the cueball low and fast. Does he agree with this theory.

George does not. He does think there is something to putting some stroke on the cueball. He told me that 90% of the pool players have no idea what stroke is....

Ken Bour replied:

I think that we should respect and admire those who can PERFORM in any endeavor (e.g. George Pawelski), but we should be careful not confuse those who show with those who know. To illustrate, I am acquainted with several phenomenal and gifted jazz musicians who do not understand, in any rigorous sense, what they are playing (a few don't even read music!); yet, their artistry is inspiring. These players can obviously perform jazz through their instruments, but they know little about the underlying chord progressions, scale fragments, or other elements that make up their improvisations (i.e. theory). Unfortunately, as good as they are at their craft, they have difficulty explaining what they are doing or why it works so well, and, as a result, they cannot teach others.

In your post, you mentioned that "He [George] told me that 90% of the pool players have no idea what stroke is..." No doubt that George is correct in his assertion, especially if the concept of "stroke" is solely his own. How can the rest of us ever hope to understand what stroke is, if no one person, including George, will explain it? If George really understands the underlying mechanics, in addition to his prowess as a player, please ask him to describe and explain what he knows so that the rest of us can learn and emulate. If he cannot or will not, I suggest that we continue to admirehis skill, but leave the theory to others more qualified.

There is an important place for those who research, study, and explain the mechanics of pool. They may not be able to perform as well as certain "feel" shooters, but they add immeasurably to the game by helping the non-gifted players improve their competency.

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We couldn't help but laugh at this sob story (sorry Alain). Thanks to Trubbelsum for reminding us what a strange place this pool world really is (excerpted somewhat for space reasons):

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Subject: On The Subject Of Cuemakers......
From: Trubbelsum
Date: 1998/02/20

LAST August will live with Alain Robidoux for the rest of his life. He was back home in Toronto a contented man. The season had been a success: German Open finalist, World Championship semi-finalist, Grand Prix and UK Championship quarter-finalist and a personal-best No 5 in the provisional world snooker rankings.

Thinking of the season ahead, he sent his cue to Marcel Jacques, an oldfriend in Montreal who had made it for him 15 years earlier, for a simple repair on its ferrule, the metal ring which surrounds the tip. When it had not been returned by the end of August he phoned Jacques. His reply was, in Robidoux's words, "the most distressing thing I have heard."

"I could not believe it when he told me: `You will never see your cueagain. I have broken it into little pieces,'" said Robidoux. Jacques had taken offence at Robidoux, 37, placing a Riley sticker on the butt of the cue. "He is mad. On the strength of me using one of his cues he has sold hundreds, so I owed him nothing. It was worth just #80, but to me it was priceless. Any player will tell you that the cue is an extension of an arm. Jacques might just as well have torn out my heart," he said.

Since that day the French-Canadian has not won a match, his girlfriend of 18 months has left and he has fallen into a deep depression. "It's as if I have fallen into a deep hole," said Robidoux.

He has tried and discarded at least 30 different cues....

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And finally, in kind of a "Lifetime Achievement" category is our old friend. We're quite sure everyone's seen this one, but if you haven't, here's a teaser from Carl's story 'bout "Unk." If you missed it, go back and read it. In fact, go and re-read it if you already have!

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Subject: Uncle Henry - Cowboy
From: Carl M. Pearson
Date: 1998/02/12

Great post! Go here to see all of it.

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See you next month.
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