Thursday, January 27, 2011

Pool rooms are not what they used to be

There was a time when you could walk into a seedy pool room and have absolutely no problem finding a money game. Thirty years ago if you walked into McGirrs pool room with a cue case under your arm, it was the same as ringing the dinner bell at a pig farm. You would have been swarmed within a minute or two. People would walk up to you and say; You wanna shoot some? Or, you wanna play for something? Some would be even more daring and just say; how much? Yeah, those were the good old days. Now it’s more of a screening process. People are a bit more leery about playing a stranger they’ve never seen before.

Now they’ll go around the whole pool room asking questions about you.
“You ever see him play?” “You know this guy?” “ Who has he beaten?”. I don’t know, I guess you can blame it on the economy. Nobody wants to lose their money. I guess it’s better to be safe than sorry nowadays. Well maybe things will get better in the near future and can go back to the way they were-when you could really appreciate a seedy pool room. When a seedy pool room lived up to its reputation.  Now you walk into a pool room and your biggest worry is how much they’re going to charge for a table. Whether they are charging by the person or by the hour or both! What’s next, are they going to start charging by the amount of cues you’re carrying?  Some places even have a dress code! Yeah you heard me, a dress code! No jeans allowed. No sneakers allowed. No cut off sleeves allowed. Man, times have really changed. I think I’m going to reminisce and sit down and watch a good movie like, The Hustler or The Color of Money. Till next week everyone. Hope you had  a safe and Merry Christmas…..that’s right I said CHRISTMAS! I don’t give a s..t how many Muslims are offended by that!
Happy New Year!