LAZARUS

Lazarus as some of us know, was the guy who was a friend of Jesus Christ and that when Lazarus died, Jesus went to his tomb, said a prayer and raised him from the dead. 

Now that was some kind of miracle but I am going to share another one with you today.

This is the true story of a pool player who by all accounts was done...kaput.  The story takes place at Rackateer's Sports Bar in New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 1900's.   The pool room was owned by Gerald Huber, the author of  "The Green Felt Jungle" and "Humphrey" (as the locals liked to call him) had these very large pool tournaments with huge Calcuttas (player auctions) and top players came from all over to play in his events. 

1995 U.S. Open 9 Ball Champion, Reed Pierce and winner of other notable tournaments such as the 1998 Camel Tour Kasson Open, and the 1994 PBT Dallas Open was entered in this tournament.  As I recall there was a full field of 128 players. BTW, Reed was also selected to represent the U.S. twice in the Mosconi Cup, in 1997 and 1998.

I had lived in Jackson, Mississippi from 1974 to 1980 and watched Reed grow into the player he had become and knew he was the real deal.  The hangout back then in Jackson was "The Office" and many a big dollar match was played on those bar tables.

Anyway, Reed is playing one of the top local players, a guy named Eddie Brown and Eddie has Reed's ears pinned back pretty good, leading Reed 8-4 in a race to 9.  At this time the tournament is about 3/4 finished and Reed was a favorite to win the event but is getting spanked by Eddie Brown.  Well Reed goes on a tear, and starts playing like the U.S. Open 9 Ball Champion that he is and winds up beating Eddie 9-8 for the match.  Reed basking in his strong comeback bellows, "How you like it New Orleans?.....THAT'S WHAT YOU CALL SEASONING!"   It was an exclamation that might have been made by anyone coming back from such a large deficit.  Well, that boast didn't sit too well with a lot of New Orleanians, but it was a hell of a come-back by Reed so you just have to sit there and let the champ have his moment.

The very next match Reed has a match with top veteran pool player by the name of Joe Villalpando.  Joe lived down in New Orleans for several years at this time and was one of our own by then.  Reed is stoked from his previous come-back win and is playing with confidence and bearing down on Joe V (yeah, that's what we called him down in New Orleans, other places called him Little Joe and probably a few other nicknames here and there).  Reed is now playing hard and has Joe V stuck 8 games to 3 games in a race to 9.  With Reed needing only 1 game for the match win, it wasn't looking very good for Joe V.

Joe V was a pal of mine and he and I used to hit the local tournament scene quite often.  We would  play in as many as 3 tournaments a week back then.  I would be Joe's chauffeur, confidant, and student, learning the ways of the pool world.  While I would do the driving, I also played in the tournaments just not as well as Joe but I was learning all of the time.

So back to the story.  Joe is standing next to me watching Reed playing like the champion that he was, giving Joe very little opportunity to get back to the table and Reed is up 8-3. 

Well Reed misses and leaves JoeV a few balls to run. Joe cleans up the table and makes the score 4-8 JoeV.

While I am not a tall guy, but Joe is REALLY SHORT and he is looking up at me and he says, "You know Joey, one time way back when, I was playing this real good player, and he had me stuck just like this and I came back to win the match."  By this time, Joe had to be in his 60's and Reed could easily have still been in his twenties.

I immediately locked on Joe's eyes (hoping to put my two years of psychology & hypnosis therapy to work) and said, "Joe, I KNOW that if anyone has a chance of doing this, YOU DO. Let's see what's going to happen!" 

The next game JoeV makes the nine on the break, now 5-8 JoeV.  The next game he breaks runs to the four ball and makes a 4-9 combo making it 6-8 Joe V. The pool room was full of electricity. I could feel it in the air through the high humidity that Louisiana pool rooms are known for.  The electricity was palpable, but it was the humidity that was making it difficult to make a ball on the break or even run out.  The electrical feeling was all over me and I wasn't even playing. The next game, Joe breaks and runs out the rack making it 7-8 JoeV. The swagger had suddenly left Reid as he realized that there was a chance that he might lose this match.  JoeV is wound up like a little short spring, shooting at everything and making almost every ball he shoots at.  Again, Joe doesn't make a ball on the break.  Reed comes to the table and again has a very tough out and can't get there so tries to lock JoeV up with a good safety which turned out to be a mediocre safety and Joe kicks the object ball in and ties the match up hill-hill (8-8) racing to 9.  Now the electricity has redoubled and everyone is in dead sweat, everyone's eyes are glazing, everyone's perspiring and the tables are soaking wet.  The players are soaked with the humidity and constantly wiping their cues down with dry towels.  The sweaters are perspiring but no one is leaving this match. I can't remember how the last match went except the last 4 balls that Joe made were excruciating for me. LOL

As the winning nine ball fell in the hole, I could not contain myself and yelled as loud as I could, "HOW YA LIKE IT MISSISSIPPI!"  The crowd went nuts.  My yell was a reflex, and I couldn't help myself. Even though Reed and I have always been cool with one another, he came unglued and started screaming and yelling that he wanted to play me for two thousand dollars and give me the 7 ball or for whatever I could come up with, and he said a few choice other words that sometimes happens when the rug is pulled out from under your feet but there was no amount of money that I could have won that day that could have taken the place of the feeling that I had when my buddy JoeV stopped Reed in his tracks. Reed had always been a MUCH better player than me or even JoeV, for that matter, but not THAT DAY.  It wasn't that I was happy that Reed lost. I was just so jazzed with what had just happened to my buddy JoeV that I couldn't hold it in. It was that day when JoeV earned the nickname "LAZARUS"for a come-back victory of extraordinary proportions. 


GET SOME, JOE V!  Ooo-rahhhhhhhh!  Happy Birthday my friend.

JoeyA
New Orleans

Posted 21st September 2016

 

Playing World Champion Niels Feijen (TERMINATOR)

Todays date is December 13, 2016.

This pool story starts back probably a dozen years ago or more.   I was practicing my craft (pocket billiards) at Pickle's Sports Bar in New Orleans (Metairie) which was almost directly across the street from the then fading but still infamous Sport Palace of New Orleans.  Both pool rooms were located on Jefferson Highway and just down the street from world famous Ochsner Hospital.  Players would bounce back and forth across the street depending upon where the action was.  Pickels Sports Bar would stay open as long as there was action. The Sport Palace was open24/7.

Pickle's Sports Bar was created by Mr. Bobby Gomez.  Bobby had been given the nickname "Pickle"  by  James Leone, famous owner of Buffalo Billiards which eventually had 3 locations, one in Chalmette, LA, one on Airline Drive in Metairie, LA  and another to be opened in just a few weeks from this date (12-13-16) just off of Clearview Avenue in Metairie, Louisiana.

Pickle had designed the poolroom floor with beautiful but gaudy Italian tile, a few sports televisions, and several high-quality Diamond pool tables.  I never liked that hard tile because if you knocked a ball off of the table, it would roll and bounce clear across the room. Most of the tables were tight pocketed 9-foot tables but as I recall, he had two 7-foot Diamond tables there as well.   Keith McCready and Scotty Townsend, tied it up on the 7 footers one year but that's another entirely different story. The 9-foot Diamond tables were the same tables that were used in Grady Mathews' World One Pocket Event held at the Belle of Baton Rouge Casino in 1999.  I enjoyed playing on table number 5 and was practicing that evening when a tall white male walked up on me out of the blue.  Normally, I would spot a new face walking into the poolroom, but I suppose this day I was too focused on my practice.  The stranger had apparently already asked around if there was  anyone to gamble with and came straight up to me.  He concisely and carefully chose his words and asked, "Would you like to gamble at 9 ball for $200.00? Normally, I would have liked to play one pocket, but since he was very direct about wanting to play 9 ball, I thought I would be a little cautious and crafty and replied, "You must be a very good player to want to play for $200 with an absolute stranger." (This guy looked like one of the East Germany athletes from back in the day, when there was a divided Germany.  Those men and women athletes of East Germany had that ripped muscle look combined with a Viking look if you know what I mean.  If not, you will just have to Google photos of East  German athletes.) Anyway, I continue and said, "I'll play you with the wild 6 ball", thinking that I would have a good chance against most anyone that wasn't a known champion with that spot.  He countered with, "That is a BIG SPOT.   I will give you  the wild 7 ball."  I had $200 of mad money and have always enjoyed playing unknown players who happen to pass through town so I told him that would be fine.   We agreed to a race to 9 games for the set and I started off like an Olympic sprinter.   The score was 6-2 my way and the tall, fit player walked up to me and said, "You play like a machine." I didn't know whether to laugh or to appreciate the compliment, not knowing whether it was intended as a genuine compliment to flatter me or to inflate my ego and throw me off of my game.  I was playing well and had a couple of fortunate rolls go my way and didn't give much thought to anything as I was sure I was going to win because I felt there was no way he could stop me with this big of a lead.  Those next minutes passed like a blur with me remembering very little as he chipped away at my lead.  Before I knew it, the set was over and the score was 9-7 Niels.  At the time, I didn't know his name was Niels and didn't know he was already a European phenom.  I paid off the $200 and somehow learned that he was traveling alone.  This thought stuck with me because I respect road players who travel by their lonesome.  It's a tough world out there on the road and most rely on having a wingman to help with all of the obstacles that one has to face when on the road. When he asked if I wanted to play another set, I didn't have to think long and quickly replied "No" as I had deduced in that blur of time when he won 7 games to my 1, that I was no match for this guy, whoever he was.  It would be another several months before I learned who he was and years later, I would learn that he went on to become one of the best pool players in the world.

A few years later, I would meet Niels again, at the Derby City Classic, one of America's premiere events.  Again, the discipline would be 9  ball.  I had the good fortune to exact my revenge on him.  I had improved my 9-ball game  by then, and was confident that I was playing better than the previous time we had met.  Niels won the lag and broke first.   He ran rack after rack. The score was 6-1 before I knew it and Niels broke the next rack and my legs by then were feeling cramped from sitting in the chair for so long, so when Niels was not facing me, I stood up to stretch my legs but otherwise I remained motionless.  When Niels turned around and saw me standing, he immediately came over to me and said, "Excuse me, would you mind sitting down? You are distracting me." That  statement kind of stunned me. Now keep in mind I NEVER shark my opponent by movement when I am not at the table and did not move when I was standing. But I acquiesced and sat down, after all, Niels was a world champion by then and I hold great respect for those who have given their all in pursuit of the pinnacle of this sport.

Niels went back to the table to complete a run out since he as usual, had made a ball on the break.  The one ball was still on the table, but he had a difficult shot and finally missed it, leaving me a tough shot on the one ball. I was lining up the difficult one ball shot that Niels had left me and was getting ready to address the cue ball, when I noticed Niels was cleaning his cue with a long, white towel, rubbing it vigorously up and down its vertical length.  To me, it was like waving a white flag at a bull. He was sitting in his chair but was directly in my line of vision for the one-ball shot.  I politely walked over to him as he had done to me and asked, "Niels, would you mind not waving that towel all around when I am at the table?"  His reply came forth as a protest and he forcefully replied, "WHAT,WHAT? IS THAT PAYBACK?". Now while I respect the professional players, this response didn't sit well with me and anyone who knows me, I won't let you cheat me or undermine my game while we are competing and if you try to talk a little smack to me, you are likely to get more than your share back.  If you do try either with me, you are guaranteed to get an earful no matter who you are.   It's just the way I am built. Since I considered this situation a lack of "quid pro quo", I didn't hesitate to give Niels what I thought he deserved.  After all, I had given Niels  the courtesy of sitting  down without  protesting when he asked me to because it was "distracting" him?  Now that the shoe was on the other foot, he chose to protest rather loudly I might add. So at this point, I quickly decided to demonstrate as I was talking to him at the same level of volume as he had responded to me. As I replied with additional fervor,  "NO NIELS, YOU ARE DISTRACTING ME! (With intentional flare, I demonstrated his vigorous movement with the towel so the rest of the audience could know what we were talking about) You can't be moving that towel around like that while I am shooting!."  To his credit, Niels voice dropped in volume, and he said "Okay" and that was the end of our discussion.  I went back to the table and made the difficult shot on the one ball and ran out the rack without missing a ball.  The next game I broke dry and Niels continued his professional form and terminated me 9-2.  I don't  remember having any chances after that dry break but at least I held up well enough to run out on that rack after the distraction from Niels.  

Pool is a difficult game to master and some games seem more difficult than others.  9 ball, you would think that it is an easy game since the rules tell you which ball you must shoot each time.  Sometimes, it is not so easy when you are playing a world champion.  Now many of us on this side of the pond think that One Pocket is the greatest game of all billiard games since it utilizes all of the skills that are found in all of the other pocket billiard games and more. This past Derby City Classic (2016)  Niels proved he is not just a great rotational player but has improved his skills at one pocket to world-class level as well, coming in second place in the enormous field of great players in the one pocket event. Word on the street, is that Niels has been receiving coaching advice from Alex Lely, former top professional European player, European Mosconi cup player & captain, Master Coach Dutch Olympic committee and National Coach of Niels Feijen.  I think American players like myself and others need more pocket billiard coaches.  So if you see Alex Lely around your neck of the woods, you might see about getting some coaching lessons.  I know I will jump at the opportunity if he passes my way. 

Niels' numerous titles go back quite a way, and I'm sure him being around coach Johan Ruijsink didn't hurt either.  Besides being on so many winning Mosconi Cup Teams and being voted MVP more often than not a few of  his FIRST PLACE TITLES are:

Mosconi Cup XXIII American 14.1 Championship 2016 Mosconi Cup 2015 Euro Tour Austria Open 2015 Euro Tour Italian Open  2015 World  9 Ball  Championship  2014 Mosconi  Cup 2014 Deurne  CC 9Ball 2014 Longoni Benelux Open  2014 Longoni Capelle Open2014 Mosconi Cup 2013 World Pool Masters  2013 Euro tour Austria Open 2013 Hanger Open 2013 Mosconi Cup 2012 Mosconi Cup 2011 Eurotour French Open 2010 Eurotour French Open 2009 Mosconi Cup 2008 World 14.1 Championship 2008 Euro tour Costa del Sol Open 2008 Blackpool Open 2008 Challenge of Champions 2007 Mosconi Cup 2007 Derby City Classic 9 Ball Division 2007  Blaze Tour  #24 2007 Big Apple 9-Ball Chall. 2005 Viking Tour Nat'l Championship 2005 PP Tour  #3 Open Div.2005 Skins Billiard Championship 2004 Niels Feijen's other high finishes in tournaments around the world are far too numerous to mention. You have to admit that is a pretty sporty resume. Joey Aguzin 12-13-16

 

THE AMAZING & VERSATILE ENTRENCHING TOOL

                

Most of my time was spent patrolling around LZ Ross or LZ Baldy while in Vietnam.  I was with the Marine Corps, Lima 3/7 in 1970 and my squad spent almost all of our time on patrols.  If you were in the rear at the LZ for any reason other than to recuperate from patrols, you almost always had night guard duty, and I really hated that.  Squinting through those ghost-like, green, night-vision goggles was pure torture for me and I just couldn't stand being on night guard duty.  So if you got sick out on patrol or even medevac'd to the rear and weren't almost dead, you had to stand guard duty at night. 

Early on in my tour of duty one evening out in the field, I am preparing my sleeping quarters for the night which consisted of a heavy-duty dark green poncho for a roof, held up by four freshly cut bamboo sticks.   I normally used my entrenching tool to dig fox holes but that particular evening I got the bright idea of using my entrenching tool as an ax since I didn't carry a hatchet with me and was wearing out some fresh bamboo stalks by bending the bamboo stalks to the ground and holding them down with one foot and balancing with the other foot.  As I got to the fourth and last stick, I increased my adrenaline to finish the job and pounded the bamboo hard with my entrenching tool which was barely sharp enough to cut dirt,  but on  the last hit, it came bouncing off that last bamboo stick right into my shin bone.   We were out in an area where the enemy could hear us and so I crumpled to the ground, grabbing my injured leg.  As I went to the ground, I stifled a banshee-like scream and groaned and moaned very earnestly for about 5 minutes.   After about 10 minutes, the pain had subsided a bit so I didn’t want to call the Corpsman partly out of embarrassment but mainly because I didn't want to be medevac'd for such a silly mistake and hoped that I would be fine.  After all it was just a little pain. (Uggh, I can almost feel it today which is December 14, 2016) Still, I managed to fall asleep somehow.

We were physically fit, but it seemed like I was always tired.  Being stressed out 24 hours a day can do that to you.  We ate the best C-Rations the government could buy so I was never hungry, and they provided energy for our job.   The next morning, I woke very quickly, wincing in pain as I tried to stand but was unable to do so.   I sat back down and reluctantly told my buddy to send the Corpsman over to me because I knew I couldn’t endure this much longer. As I waited for the Corpsman, all I could think about was that we had been out on patrol for 13 days and we were going back to the LZ the following day.  If I got medevac'd back right then, they would have me standing wretched guard at night and I truly despised that.  As the Corpsman raised my baggy camouflaged pants leg, I saw what was causing my pain.  The entrenching too, while it had not caused a lot of bleeding, it had made a small dent in my shin bone and now my lower leg was twice its normal diameter.  Infection had set in the Corpsman recommended medevac, but I told him I won’t go, and he had to do whatever he had to do to allow me to stay in the field one more day so that I wouldn’t have to stand guard duty when I got back to the rear.  So he gave me what I think was a penicillin shot for the infection and a very weak pain pill but it helped me to stay out for that one extra day so that I could enjoy my rest back at the LZ without doing that despicable guard duty at night.  And that's how the entrenching tool lost me as a friend.  

Posted 14th December 2016