Ludba
09-13-2002, 03:58 AM
I was reading online about the Cardiff International that took place back in July. One story in particular caught my interest.
Cory Deuel, a betting favorite for the tournament, got knocked out of the competition early on in a 4-5 match to Robles. The story goes that Deuel, after a disagreement with the ref on the matter of racking the balls and the subsequent match loss to Robles, stormed away from the pool table, throwing his cue case and kicking a trash can. This is disappointing to me (if the story above is accurate), since Deuel is so talented a pool player and his successes at such a young age make him an exciting part of professional pool.
At my level of play, that is, the local amateur level of play, where the stakes and pressure are much lower, I have felt the same urge (though perhaps not in the same magnitude) to break my cue on the table and harpoon my "inferior" opponent with the splintered shaft, after I've completed an embarassingly low run or poor shot. But of course I don't throw a tantrum out of respect for my opponent and pool in general.
I would like to hold professional players to AT LEAST the same standard of self-restraint, though I understand the frustration of losing a match when I knew with god-like certainty that I should have won. Of course ego comes into play here, and that is one of the aspects of pool that I find so interesting. The more I play this game, the more it highlights those weaknesses and strengths of my character. I have found that I lose almost as much as I win, and I play bad seemingly twice as much as I play good, but after wading through an endless swamp of horrible games, there has always been that amazing game or handful of games that makes the struggle that much better and the fact that I maintained my composure throughout the bad times that much more rewarding. For me, ego has been a stumbling block to real improvement at this game.
As I said earlier, I am not under nearly the same amount of pressure as Deuel, so I may change my perspective on the life-affirming realization above as my level of competition increases. But professional players like Deuel may do well for themselves and this sport to adhere to sportsman-like conduct even when the referee was completely wrong and robbed the player out of winning a tournament.
Cory Deuel, a betting favorite for the tournament, got knocked out of the competition early on in a 4-5 match to Robles. The story goes that Deuel, after a disagreement with the ref on the matter of racking the balls and the subsequent match loss to Robles, stormed away from the pool table, throwing his cue case and kicking a trash can. This is disappointing to me (if the story above is accurate), since Deuel is so talented a pool player and his successes at such a young age make him an exciting part of professional pool.
At my level of play, that is, the local amateur level of play, where the stakes and pressure are much lower, I have felt the same urge (though perhaps not in the same magnitude) to break my cue on the table and harpoon my "inferior" opponent with the splintered shaft, after I've completed an embarassingly low run or poor shot. But of course I don't throw a tantrum out of respect for my opponent and pool in general.
I would like to hold professional players to AT LEAST the same standard of self-restraint, though I understand the frustration of losing a match when I knew with god-like certainty that I should have won. Of course ego comes into play here, and that is one of the aspects of pool that I find so interesting. The more I play this game, the more it highlights those weaknesses and strengths of my character. I have found that I lose almost as much as I win, and I play bad seemingly twice as much as I play good, but after wading through an endless swamp of horrible games, there has always been that amazing game or handful of games that makes the struggle that much better and the fact that I maintained my composure throughout the bad times that much more rewarding. For me, ego has been a stumbling block to real improvement at this game.
As I said earlier, I am not under nearly the same amount of pressure as Deuel, so I may change my perspective on the life-affirming realization above as my level of competition increases. But professional players like Deuel may do well for themselves and this sport to adhere to sportsman-like conduct even when the referee was completely wrong and robbed the player out of winning a tournament.