SPetty
05-21-2002, 09:05 AM
Hello,
Boy, I went through a heck of a CCB withdrawal last week. The phone rates at the Riv are outrageous, and I found it hard to justify that kind of expense via my slow modem just to keep in touch with you guys! If there are any threads that shouldn't be missed, please let me know.
First off, I'd like to mention that Tony from Talisman was just playing a joke on us with this Big Jeff thing. I spent 10 days looking for this joker, and I had at least a half dozen operatives on the lookout for him as well, but there was simply no Big Jeff there. If there was, I would have found him.
Fran Crimi is just gorgeous in person. And obviously smart and talented as well.
Rip rocks! That says it all. He knows everything and everybody. It was my honor to have the pleasure of his company during many of those times that I wasn't being pampered up in the sky box. (Sorry about the puke on your shoes, dude...)
The winner of the men's open, Bobby Pickle from Tennessee, is very fun to watch. I'm accustomed to watching thoughtful players - those who walk around the table, decide what to do, plan their runout, take their time. Bobby just ran it. All action. "Freestroking" is what Chris Cass called it. Wow. I know you've already heard that this guy knocked Chris into the losers bracket... what you may have missed is that it took all of about 15 minutes, maybe 20, tops. 5-0 in less than 20 minutes. Wow. BTW - this score is absolutely no reflection on Chris, who plays really really well. He did everything right. Chris' wife Heidi and son Chris are a joy. I hope they were good to that child, because he sure was well behaved.
BTW, I bought a used Bunjee jump cue for $40. Good deal?
Carol was just as fun as usual. Makes me feel welcome every time I see her.
Barbara was great. It was nice to have a little time to chat with her since she didn't have any time available at all in Valley Forge. We watched one of Spiderman's matches together. Yep, the boy's got legs!
I mentioned elsewhere, Fred's energy level *almost* matches Carol's. He is a joy to know and I'm glad I had the chance to meet him.
RandyG's team, Texas Xpress, came in 5th, I think, in the team opens. We all have heard that Cuechick's team came in 1st in master women's team. RandyG's wife's team came in 3rd. I think Chris Cass was the highest placed CCBer in the individual standings, although Spiderman and Fred Agnir have nothing to be ashamed of there! Cuechick did very well in the individual matches as well, making it to the final board.
One of the main problems I had was the scheduling - they scheduled many of the matches at the same time, so you kinda had to pick and choose which match to visit. Of course, I was hobbling around with a post-surgery cast, often in a great deal of pain, so couldn't run from match to match to match. I missed quite a few!
I hope I'm not offending anyone by not mentioning them. Suffice it to say that, along with Carol, I had one helluva time. Pool players are the best!
And in the "why can't you just keep quiet" category: I do have to mention, in the past 15 years or so, it is only at pool tournaments (and, now that I think about it, at every pool tournament), that I've seen people cupping cigarettes in elevators thinking that no one knows they are being rude and breaking the law and making it uncomfortable for other elevator riders. Can't you just put it out, or wait for the next elevator? It's those smokers that give smokers their bad name. Not to mention smoking in the bathrooms... (please please please don't make this into another anti-smoking thread - it's just an observation...)
Speaking of smoking, for the most part, the Riv did a good job of keeping the smoking areas free of smoke. I don't know where they sent it, but they generally had a good breeze going in the hallways that was keeping the smoke clear.
It was awesome to watch the pros play. As I mentioned elsewhere, I was sitting with Rip watching Allison Fisher, Karen Corr, Jeanette Lee, Corey Dueul, Buddy Hall, Efren Reyes, Mika Immonen and a lot of others ALL AT THE SAME TIME! I leaned over to Rip and said "This is cool". He replied "Yeah, it is". And it really was.
Thanks to all the CCB'ers for making my trip lots of fun. It was great meeting all you guys and I'm glad you were there. My team spent their time at the slot machines rather than watching people play pool. How weird is that??!? It's great "knowing" and sharing with so many people who "get it".
Again, I don't think I'll ever catch up on the postings when I was away, so let me know if there are any worthwhile ones that I need to see!
SPetty
Boy, I went through a heck of a CCB withdrawal last week. The phone rates at the Riv are outrageous, and I found it hard to justify that kind of expense via my slow modem just to keep in touch with you guys! If there are any threads that shouldn't be missed, please let me know.
First off, I'd like to mention that Tony from Talisman was just playing a joke on us with this Big Jeff thing. I spent 10 days looking for this joker, and I had at least a half dozen operatives on the lookout for him as well, but there was simply no Big Jeff there. If there was, I would have found him.
Fran Crimi is just gorgeous in person. And obviously smart and talented as well.
Rip rocks! That says it all. He knows everything and everybody. It was my honor to have the pleasure of his company during many of those times that I wasn't being pampered up in the sky box. (Sorry about the puke on your shoes, dude...)
The winner of the men's open, Bobby Pickle from Tennessee, is very fun to watch. I'm accustomed to watching thoughtful players - those who walk around the table, decide what to do, plan their runout, take their time. Bobby just ran it. All action. "Freestroking" is what Chris Cass called it. Wow. I know you've already heard that this guy knocked Chris into the losers bracket... what you may have missed is that it took all of about 15 minutes, maybe 20, tops. 5-0 in less than 20 minutes. Wow. BTW - this score is absolutely no reflection on Chris, who plays really really well. He did everything right. Chris' wife Heidi and son Chris are a joy. I hope they were good to that child, because he sure was well behaved.
BTW, I bought a used Bunjee jump cue for $40. Good deal?
Carol was just as fun as usual. Makes me feel welcome every time I see her.
Barbara was great. It was nice to have a little time to chat with her since she didn't have any time available at all in Valley Forge. We watched one of Spiderman's matches together. Yep, the boy's got legs!
I mentioned elsewhere, Fred's energy level *almost* matches Carol's. He is a joy to know and I'm glad I had the chance to meet him.
RandyG's team, Texas Xpress, came in 5th, I think, in the team opens. We all have heard that Cuechick's team came in 1st in master women's team. RandyG's wife's team came in 3rd. I think Chris Cass was the highest placed CCBer in the individual standings, although Spiderman and Fred Agnir have nothing to be ashamed of there! Cuechick did very well in the individual matches as well, making it to the final board.
One of the main problems I had was the scheduling - they scheduled many of the matches at the same time, so you kinda had to pick and choose which match to visit. Of course, I was hobbling around with a post-surgery cast, often in a great deal of pain, so couldn't run from match to match to match. I missed quite a few!
I hope I'm not offending anyone by not mentioning them. Suffice it to say that, along with Carol, I had one helluva time. Pool players are the best!
And in the "why can't you just keep quiet" category: I do have to mention, in the past 15 years or so, it is only at pool tournaments (and, now that I think about it, at every pool tournament), that I've seen people cupping cigarettes in elevators thinking that no one knows they are being rude and breaking the law and making it uncomfortable for other elevator riders. Can't you just put it out, or wait for the next elevator? It's those smokers that give smokers their bad name. Not to mention smoking in the bathrooms... (please please please don't make this into another anti-smoking thread - it's just an observation...)
Speaking of smoking, for the most part, the Riv did a good job of keeping the smoking areas free of smoke. I don't know where they sent it, but they generally had a good breeze going in the hallways that was keeping the smoke clear.
It was awesome to watch the pros play. As I mentioned elsewhere, I was sitting with Rip watching Allison Fisher, Karen Corr, Jeanette Lee, Corey Dueul, Buddy Hall, Efren Reyes, Mika Immonen and a lot of others ALL AT THE SAME TIME! I leaned over to Rip and said "This is cool". He replied "Yeah, it is". And it really was.
Thanks to all the CCB'ers for making my trip lots of fun. It was great meeting all you guys and I'm glad you were there. My team spent their time at the slot machines rather than watching people play pool. How weird is that??!? It's great "knowing" and sharing with so many people who "get it".
Again, I don't think I'll ever catch up on the postings when I was away, so let me know if there are any worthwhile ones that I need to see!
SPetty