Embracing the fund kind of stress
- Mar 6
- 3 min read
The podcast has returned from its winter slumber, coming alive with a celebration of new sports. I've been hard at work. And by "hard at work," I mean, "milling around pool halls."
Right now, you're imagining hard-scrabble Scaia lurking in the darkened corner of a pool hall, a cigarette hanging from my mouth all night, just reading the room. Then when it's late, I throw down my marker when I spot a pigeon and make a few quick bucks so I can pay for my lady's perm. In this situation, I will either have a pack of cigarettes rolled up in the sleeve of my t-shirt or will be wearing an unusually nice suit for the neighborhood. Your call.
In reality, though, I was not much of a player. Some of my earliest memories of billiards was at a bowling alley. After our kiddy league wrapped up, my older brothers would play pool while I would play Super Mario Brothers in the arcade. I'm not sure where our parents were, but I'm sure everything was fine.
But sometimes I did the kiddy equivalent of sitting in a darkened corner: to look tough, I'd grab a cue, stand near the table and spend the time just rubbing the cue with box after box of chalk.
This year, the US Open Pool Championship is moving to Frisco, Texas from Atlantic City. The world's best nine-ball players will come to town, so for the announcement, I met some of them at a pool hall in Frisco.
A previous champion gave me some tips. First, he explained, don't overthink. I was already at a disadvantage. Loyal Scaiaholics will recall my penchant for overthinking almost got me kicked out of a library.
In college, I continued playing. We had a table in our dorm, and there I learned you can find an over-the-counter remedy to prevent you from overthinking.
But I suspect that may not be a successful strategy for professionals.
He explained how much strategy is used in nine-ball. He needs to make sure he hits the lowest numbered ball first, but he's also trying to set up his next shot.
Jones says pool is getting more technical, similar to the way "you go to a driving range, there will be two or three iPads filming this, giving you numbers on that. That's where pool is headed."
He says pool cues are getting more specialized like golf clubs where you might use different cues for different shots.
"Back in my day," I might explain. "Pool was what you used to get away from math and science."
But Jones was playing with some folks from Visit Frisco, and I was heartened to see some of the amateurs were at roughly the same skill level as me.
Matchroom Pool is running the US Open, and they're trying to entice the next generation of kids who might just learning to chalk up cues now. They're starting a junior event that'll run alongside the US Open that'll have 32 kids 16 and younger.
Jones says kids may not like geometry or physics, but the game has become popular enough that some can make a living at it. The US Open has a $500,000 prize pool.
Visit Frisco is glad to have nine-ball, too. Frisco is known as "Sports City USA," and I suspect--in Texas in August--the best sport is one that can be played inside an air conditioned resort.
I talked to their director of sports and entertainment. He says the US Open Pool Championship adds to the list of things they need to get ready for. FIFA just picked Frisco for a team's base camp, and next year, the PGA championship will be played there.
He said it's stressful to coordinate city departments together with FC Dallas, the PGA and Embassy Suites, but "it's the fun kind of stress." I, meanwhile, am really focused on that plan to not overthink.
Comments