If you are like me, you have a spouse or significant other who has no interest in playing pool.
As a pool junkie it is difficult sometimes to grasp their lack of love for our chosen sport, but usually they seem to understand that we need our time to play so that we don’t go through withdrawal and they are sympathetic (if not supportive) when we grab our cue case and head out the door.
However, even if you don’t have someone at home who grabs their cue and is eager to go with you, I know that most of you are still spending quality time with your baby.
How do I know that? I know because more times than I can count, when someone shows me their cue for the first time or posts a picture of their cue on a pool related forum or Facebook page, they refer to it as their baby. You see, to someone like me who is devoted to this sport it seems only natural to feel that way because that cue is your partner. You love it because it shares one of your true passions in life—shooting pool—and it is always ready for another rack.
Your cue doesn’t get tired and want to leave the bar or pool hall, it doesn’t need to stop and rest or take a bathroom break and it never complains that it’s too cold in the establishment where you are shooting. When you are ready to stop, that is fine with your cue and it will be waiting for you when you are ready to shoot again.
You can’t find a better partner than that, can you?
Imagine if you wanted to have steak for dinner three times a week and your spouse said “That’ll be great. Even though we had steak on Tuesday and Thursday, now that it’s Saturday, I’m ready for steak again!” Or, imagine that you were trying to decide on a movie to watch and your significant other said to you “Sure honey, I’m up for The Color of Money again, I just can’t get enough of it either!”
Stop dreaming guys, I can just see you nodding your heads and smiling right now.
Even though it will probably never be like that with your spouse or significant other, you do have another partner—your cue—that is eagerly waiting for you to once again head to the bar or pool hall where you both play. You may even have a name for your cue and why not? Car enthusiasts will give a name to their favorite car and baseball players will pick out a name for their favorite bat. What’s wrong with having a name for your cue?
These possessions of ours seem to take on a life of their own when they become a partner to us in something we love to do, so go ahead and give her (sorry, Freudian slip there) give it a name. Give your baby a name and show the love you feel for your cue because it is your partner during that special time you get to spend playing pool, when you can focus on something other than all of the difficult things you have to do in your no doubt busy life.
Don’t ever be ashamed about your feelings for your cue. It’s a good thing, so embrace it.
This way, the next time you want to watch The Hustler, The Color of Money or The Shooting Gallery and your spouse or girlfriend/boyfriend takes a pass at joining you, consider taking your baby out of the case and setting her right next to you while you enjoy that movie. Your cue won’t mind that you are about to watch it for the tenth, fifteenth or twentieth time. In fact, your baby might be the only one in your life that understands the depth of your passion for pool and is always ready to share it with you.
Of course, if you take this last bit of advice, your spouse or significant other might think you’ve finally gone off the deep end….
William Hurst was born in Philadelphia and grew up in a small suburb southwest of the city until the age of fifteen. For the last thirty-five years he has lived in Florida, and currently resides in a small town called Crawfordville located in the big bend area of Florida’s panhandle. He is married and has a teenage daughter who used to play pool, but—unfortunately for him—gave it up. He is a simple man with a passion for this wonderful sport and enjoys sharing that passion with like-minded people. Photo: TheADDproject/Flickr Editor: Dana Gornall