Consecutive S-8s

Talk about a fluky ending to an otherwise well-played match, I had two S-8s in a row on Monday night. I was playing a SL4 so I needed four wins and my opponent needed three. I got ahead two games, then my opponent won the third. I won the fourth game to put myself on the hill, then I blew it two games in a row when going for the 8 ball. In the first one (above), my opponent totally got lucky with this leave. I think he was going for some bank shot and when the balls stopped rolling he had inadvertently gotten a near-safety out of the leave. I should have shot this much more softly than I did. But the gap between the rail and the 15 was pretty narrow and I worried about the ball straying off line if hit too softly. So I rammed it and the cue ball went straight in after the 8. Since I was so close to the head rail I had to hit center-high on the cue ball, plus I think having to hit it rail first, a little left spin was imparted onto the cue ball and it just got sucked into the pocket. In the final game I totally take credit for this horrible cut angle. I had a pretty easy runout but I hit one ball too hard and was left with this severe angle. The 8 ball didn't even go in the pocket. Just awful. So combined with my loss from last week I'm already at 0-2 for the season.

Historic Pool Footage

I have to give another long-overdue shout out to R. A. "Jake" Dyer, who's been digging up some excellent material over on his blog, Untold Stories: Billiards History. His most recent post is a must-see. It's of Jim McKay from ABC's Wide World of Sports paying a visit to Johnston City, Illinois, home of the storied Jansco Brothers pool hustler tournaments of the 1960s. Just watch it. McKay talks briefly about the history of the region, known as Little Egypt, and in particular a local legend about a gang war that took place in the 1920s. Fascinating stuff. But the real gem is Luther Lassiter's amazing two-ball runout in a game of one-pocket at the end. Priceless.