Barbara
08-04-2002, 10:58 AM
First, a little background. I have 5 brothers and two sisters. (Catholics, can you tell?) My one sister lives in Scotland and she comes over every summer for a fortnight and a half. I have one brother who lives in CA and and another who lives in Dallas and didn't make it out this year from something that happened at the last minute. (this would've been the first time in 14 years the whole fam would've been together, rats!) The rest of my siblings live in the immediate area of my folks. We all have been gathering at my folks' house this past weekend where they have resided for the past 52 years. In fact, my father designed and had the house built in 1950. In '56 he added a 3 bedroom addition to the house (we still to this day call it "the addition") and in '77 he added a pool room to the back of the house. We could never figure out why he did this back then since we never knew he played. He never told us that he used to work with Jimmy Caras in the Philly shipyards during WWII and that Steve Mizerak was his favorite player. But the mystery of why he had this room added in '77 was revealed to me yesterday.
So I call up last Thursday night to talk with Mom and see what the agenda is going to be for the weekend. My brother from CA answers the phone and immediately says he hasn't picked up a cue since we battled on the table last year when he came from behind, 6-2 to beat me 7-6 in a match of 9-ball. He's chompng at the bit to crush me again. A little background - he's my second oldest brother, 52 years old, highly competitive, will never admit that I swim faster than he does (25.4 for 50 yd freestyle), and a COO of a newly started up cell phone game company in the Bay area. Did I mention highly competitive? This guy's a shark. Has to win at everything. C.C. would have a blast with him. And if he had moved to LV instead of CA I would set something up for them next May. I would even sell tickets.
So he's already got the excuse out that he hasn't been playing.
I bring my Ted Harris S/P over Friday. No action, just conversation and catching up with each other over the year.
Yesterday was action day.
My little bro and Paul go into the pool room. Instead of going down to the swimming pool, I decide to watch a little action. Rack Boy (my term of endearment for my little bro) is losing to Paul in a game of 8-ball. Paul is playing exceptionally well. Making great cut shots and generally getting okay shape. He does know how to play pool and used to play a lot while at Cornell.
After that game's over I retrieve my cue from the house and suggest a little game of Cut Throat. So we lag and I win so I break and make nothing. Here's where the nieces and nephews sniff that somethng's goiing down in the pool room and they start to dribble in one at a time. Paul and Phil proceed to unify against me and declare their set of balls and shoot my set off the table. And in the first game, they succeeded to eliminate me from the game before I got a chance to shoot. Until Philip scratched, that is. I got one ball spotted and came real close to winning and shutting them down when Paul got good shape on my ball and knocked me out again. All the while my two brothers are saying, "Remember who the better pool player is and let's knock her out." And all the while my nieces and nephews are saying. "Just miss the ball already and let Aunty Barbara shoot."
Nieces and nephews. gotta love 'em. After all, I can't leave it all to the cats.
So it ended up I won 5 games to Paul's 2 and Philip had a doughnut. He left the room and Paul, still hungry to wallop me, challenged me to a single game of 8-ball.
I break, make nothing and Paul misses his first shot. He makes some excuse that he's getting bothered with some water stuck in his eardrum. The nieces smell blood (they're 10 and 8) and start woofing at Paul that excuses are weak and to just miss already so Aunty Barbara can shoot.
Eventually I give BIH to Paul and he runs down to the 8-ball but misses, leaving it along a short rail. I missed a rail shot but left the CB not in a verys good spot where Paul has a really bad thin cut on the 8. Paul knows how dicey this shot is already making excuses. The nieces are getting restless. Paul overcuts the 8-ball, and proceeds to leave me in perfect shape to get out with my one ball left on the table. Paul then proceeds to sweep the 8-ball in the pocket to concede game while my nieces cheer me on.
We clean up the table in silence (I know better than to rattle the cage of a tiger) and lock up the pool room. We join the others by the pool and I let Paul's wife know how badly I kicked his tail. She giggles. She knows how much that stung. Philip's wife even remarked, "What were you thinking?".
So this is why Dad had this room built. I finally got my revenge on my brothers that used to repress me with their achivements all through my life. Ha!!
Sorry this was so long. I'm going back there now. More humiliation is coming.
Barbara~~~the look on a 52 YO COO's face when he misses - PRICELESS!!!
So I call up last Thursday night to talk with Mom and see what the agenda is going to be for the weekend. My brother from CA answers the phone and immediately says he hasn't picked up a cue since we battled on the table last year when he came from behind, 6-2 to beat me 7-6 in a match of 9-ball. He's chompng at the bit to crush me again. A little background - he's my second oldest brother, 52 years old, highly competitive, will never admit that I swim faster than he does (25.4 for 50 yd freestyle), and a COO of a newly started up cell phone game company in the Bay area. Did I mention highly competitive? This guy's a shark. Has to win at everything. C.C. would have a blast with him. And if he had moved to LV instead of CA I would set something up for them next May. I would even sell tickets.
So he's already got the excuse out that he hasn't been playing.
I bring my Ted Harris S/P over Friday. No action, just conversation and catching up with each other over the year.
Yesterday was action day.
My little bro and Paul go into the pool room. Instead of going down to the swimming pool, I decide to watch a little action. Rack Boy (my term of endearment for my little bro) is losing to Paul in a game of 8-ball. Paul is playing exceptionally well. Making great cut shots and generally getting okay shape. He does know how to play pool and used to play a lot while at Cornell.
After that game's over I retrieve my cue from the house and suggest a little game of Cut Throat. So we lag and I win so I break and make nothing. Here's where the nieces and nephews sniff that somethng's goiing down in the pool room and they start to dribble in one at a time. Paul and Phil proceed to unify against me and declare their set of balls and shoot my set off the table. And in the first game, they succeeded to eliminate me from the game before I got a chance to shoot. Until Philip scratched, that is. I got one ball spotted and came real close to winning and shutting them down when Paul got good shape on my ball and knocked me out again. All the while my two brothers are saying, "Remember who the better pool player is and let's knock her out." And all the while my nieces and nephews are saying. "Just miss the ball already and let Aunty Barbara shoot."
Nieces and nephews. gotta love 'em. After all, I can't leave it all to the cats.
So it ended up I won 5 games to Paul's 2 and Philip had a doughnut. He left the room and Paul, still hungry to wallop me, challenged me to a single game of 8-ball.
I break, make nothing and Paul misses his first shot. He makes some excuse that he's getting bothered with some water stuck in his eardrum. The nieces smell blood (they're 10 and 8) and start woofing at Paul that excuses are weak and to just miss already so Aunty Barbara can shoot.
Eventually I give BIH to Paul and he runs down to the 8-ball but misses, leaving it along a short rail. I missed a rail shot but left the CB not in a verys good spot where Paul has a really bad thin cut on the 8. Paul knows how dicey this shot is already making excuses. The nieces are getting restless. Paul overcuts the 8-ball, and proceeds to leave me in perfect shape to get out with my one ball left on the table. Paul then proceeds to sweep the 8-ball in the pocket to concede game while my nieces cheer me on.
We clean up the table in silence (I know better than to rattle the cage of a tiger) and lock up the pool room. We join the others by the pool and I let Paul's wife know how badly I kicked his tail. She giggles. She knows how much that stung. Philip's wife even remarked, "What were you thinking?".
So this is why Dad had this room built. I finally got my revenge on my brothers that used to repress me with their achivements all through my life. Ha!!
Sorry this was so long. I'm going back there now. More humiliation is coming.
Barbara~~~the look on a 52 YO COO's face when he misses - PRICELESS!!!