Blair Dreyfus
Another month has flown by. I hope everyone had a special Fourth of July and an even more spectacular 250–year celebration. I remember our Bicentennial like it was just 50 years ago. I do remember that I enjoyed our Bicentennial far more than this 250 celebration but I can’t quite put my finger on why? I look back on the almost 80 years of growth I’ve witnessed for our country and wonder what is in store for the next hundred years or so. My children, grandchildren, and great–grandchildren have some amazing things to look forward to.
But for now, I guess I should concern myself with what I have to look forward to in regards to my pool game. As you recall, I have joined another sanctioned league through the BCA. It has proven to be quite the challenge. I now play in two BCA leagues, as one of my new friends from CantaMia had a team on Monday nights and they needed a player. I was informed that the players in this BCA league were considerably better than those in the Thursday night league. I thought to myself—good! I joined to challenge myself, and challenge it turned out to be. My last match of the evening was against the league’s best player with a Fargo rating of 760, which made him the 27th best player in the entire state.
He was as good as his rating suggested. He had already had a break-and-run, two table runs, and his opponents only shot twice each in his other two victories. He had the break against me and I was prepared to watch him do his thing. He broke and sunk two striped balls. Per BCA rules he could either continue on with the stripes or take the solids. The solids were laid out a bit better so he chose them. He ran them out methodically until he got to the eight ball and then—he rattled the pocket and it hung there.
Long story short, I had my chance. I started out nicely but on the ball that I needed to make to set me up for my last ball before the eight—my nemesis, ball control, reared its ugly head. I stroked it too firmly and it rolled up the table a foot farther than I intended. This meant not being able to pocket my ball in the opposite corner but needing to pocket it into the same pocket as the eight. There was barely enough room between the eight and the pocket. Turns out my aim was slightly off and my ball caught a piece of the eight and didn’t fall. He put me out of my misery quickly. Moral of the story. If you have a flaw in your game. Work on it! I had an opportunity to beat one of the state’s premier players and had I had just a little bit better ball speed control, I would have succeeded. I would have had bragging rights and a great story to tell—over and over and over (and I would have)! But, now, I’m just another notch on his gun.
Here are the winners from this past month’s club tournaments. Congratulations to them all.
Short-Rack 8-ball on Monday noon-2 p.m.: Blair Dreyfus (3), Mike Finnegan, and Jim Padgitt (1)
Tuesday 8-ball 8 a.m.-noon: Lynn Warren and Johnny Henson (1)
Thursday 9-ball 10 a.m. to noon: Blair Dreyfus (2) Lynn Warren (1)
Friday 10-ball 8 a.m. to noon: Bill Frustaglia (1)
Player of the Month: Blair Dreyfus