Beware: A Spam of Posts Are Coming

Hey! I have been reflecting on my blog considering that the big Ted Talk is coming up, and I felt that I was lacking in some areas. Mainly the videos and pictures of my progress stuff, so I'm going to try to fix that.

In the next few days I plan on posting a bunch of videos and helpful guidelines and stuff to liven up and inject some personality into my blog. Hopefully, that'll be helpful for you all to learn and see more about me and my personal journey. If not, who cares, I do what I want, so watch anyways.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the oncoming spam!

- Allison

Week Five: Cutthroat is Basically Monopoly and You Can't Convince Me Otherwise

First things first, I would like to apologize for the horrific video I posted earlier today. As always, it was extremely awkward and I cringed the entire time that I made it, but I think that it illustrates the rules of the game pretty well, so it should be educational nonetheless. If you want to spare yourself the cringe, just don't watch it and find another PBS (I shudder just saying the three letters) video that will enlighten you on the subject.  Anyways, sorry about that.

So, onto this week's topic: Cutthroat billiards. To describe the game in one word, I would choose intense. Okay, so that might just be a Michaels thing. My family is known for turning everything into a competition, and most of us aren't a fan of losing. As we always say, "If you aren't prepared to lose everything you hold dear during a competition, you aren't trying hard enough." Don't get me wrong, absolutely nobody takes the game seriously or has any lingering hatred, it's all just about the fun of the game, I swear. However, during said game, it can become very intense. So word to the wise, the faint of heart should not play this game.

Long story short, Cutthroat billiards is a story of alliances won and lost, blunders made and avoided, triumphant victories, and agonizing defeats. To compare it to something most people know about, I would say Cutthroat is the billiards equivalent of monopoly. Both games are way too long to be enjoyed in one night, and after both games you'll have lost at least two friendships (once again this might just be a Michaels problem). In my opinion, a random tumblr post sums it up well enough "Nobody ever reads the monopoly rules until an argument breaks out."

                                     

This is the same with Cutthroat billiards, which in itself is simple, but in practice can actually be somewhat challenging. The first step to understanding Cutthroat is simply to understand eight ball billiards, as many of the rules in the two games are the exact same. Afterwards, it's just a matter of sounding as official as possible before someone breaks out the rule book so people believe how you just cheated is actually entirely legal. 

                    

So, onto what I've learned in terms of actual stuff this week. I've got to be honest, I learned more this week about ball path from playing the game then I did in research, so I'll just relate to you my experiences on the matter instead of giving you another boring link. If you want to scratch, hit the ball more on the top. This will eliminate some of the spin placed on it, and will allow it to travel faster in one straight line. If you aim more to the left, often the cue ball will veer off to the right, and vice versa, as the ball will always move away from the cue. From what I've known to be true, you should aim to hit either a bit above or a bit below the center of the ball for the best shot, which is backed up by Colorado State University, my billiards bible of sorts. (I know I said I wouldn't link it but here you go anyways)

                           

Considering that I've already posted today, I figured I should keep this short and sweet, so I hope that it wasn't to long for al of you. Thank you again for reading!

Video Blog: Allison's Unofficial Guide to Cutthroat Billiards

For those of you who have been reading about my love for cutthroat billiards and have no idea how it works, here's a handy guide to show you all how it's played. While this is a simplified version of the rules, it will provide you with enough information to play the game yourself if you so wish. Hopefully this helps you in your future billiards endeavors!

Quick Disclaimer: My camera broke the day before I wanted to start editing my footage, so I had to re-film the footage in a short time span, leading to potentially bad image quality (I had to use my phone). I apologize if this bothers anyone, but as hard as I may try I could not get the image quality to improve for my video. 

Interview: Maybe all Billiards Players are Actually Mean?

So, we've finally arrived at the expert interview, which was a real struggle for me. Some people have found experts with PhD's or college positions, but as far as I know there isn't really a PhD in billiard sciences. However, what I did find was a college level billiards player, and part time professor with advanced degrees in engineering and science, so I think I came as close to academia as the subject would let me.

For the expert interview I interviewed Mr. Alan Shell, a past member of his college club billiards team at the University of Delaware. He has a Bachelor of Science, and an MBA along with a degree in Quality Science from Drexel, and has worked in predominant companies such as Lockheed Martin and L3 Communications, where he is currently employed as a quality engineer. His time as a billiards player along with his extensive knowledge in the field of science, allowing him to understand the properties of the game and manipulate them to his advantage have made him a great billiards player.

As for his billiards experience, Mr. Shell first learned how to billiards at about ten years old. He used a billiards table in his own basement to play amateur games with his own family before beginning to challenge friends and classmates. This turned into a love of the game leading him to join a prominent club billiards team at the University of Delaware, where he would compete in the game. Now in his fifties, he has won awards and amassed a bit of money as well over the course of his long career.

Now, onto the interview itself. Here I have embedded a few of the questions and some of my commentary. If you would like to read the rest of the interview, I will link it here. 

1. What made you decide that billiards was something you would like to pursue in college? How serious was college level billiards?
I was one of the best in my college, so it was the next logical step. I was the best at my fraternity and was constantly winning competitions in my house, and at one point someone came up to me and asked me to join the club, as he thought we could both really benefit from my being on the team. Being on the team really helped me to step up my game, and I really enjoyed the camaraderie that I experienced on the team. I wouldn’t say it was very serious for me at least, as I was more focused on my education and found it to be more fun than anything else, but for some people it was very intense. I liked to be there as moral support for them, and just be around the team in general.

2. What are your greatest takeaways from college billiards? Has it helped you in any other areas of your life?
The greatest takeaway from college billiards for me is the friendships, as so many people on the team are great people who I still keep in touch with today. We just bonded over a common interest and found that these people who were just like you were funny, and often very fun to hang around with. It has also helped me with my confidence, as when you’re on a team like the one I was on, you get used to winning which is a real ego booster if you ask me. In terms of other areas of my life, besides the friendships and confidence is the ability to keep calm under pressure. I use this all the time, and it is a skill that has really helped me.

3. Okay, final question. What are the top three things I should do to improve my chances of winning the game? Any pregame rituals or billiard traditions I should know about?
Okay, so the top three things are as followed. One, practice, obviously. Two, relax and focus. Three, practice some more. As for rituals, I think it’s more like free throws and see what works for you, not everyone has one, but some people swear by one so you never know. All I can say is just take your time when you’re playing, and don’t always take the first shot you see, as there could be a better shot on the horizon. 

4. Okay, I sense that you’re getting tired of the more in depth questions, as am I. So, do you know any trick shots? What’s the coolest thing that you can do?
I know tons of trick shots! Are you even a real billiards player if you don’t claim to know any? Even the most basic shots could be considered cool trick shots if you pull them off correctly. The coolest thing I can do is putting a ball on top of a beer bottle and shoot another ball so it knocks the first ball off of the bottle and into the hole. I can also balance two balls and hit the bottom ball with enough force that the top ball drops straight down. Physics is extremely important in trick shots, and lucky for me I got my degree in engineering so I know a great deal about physics.

5. Over the course of this project I have been asked about hustling people to win money. What is your opinion on the subject? If not to hustle, then what is the point of the game?
In my opinion, hustling is wrong. I’m more a fan of just winning straight up and shoving it into your face. I love talking smack, and I hate to lose so I enjoyed more dragging the game out and making fun of you as I soundly beat you, if that doesn’t sound too horrible. When I used to see hustlers at bars I would play them in an effort to put them in their place, and sometimes it worked out and sometimes it didn’t, but at least I had more of a challenge. However, I feel that the point of the game is to win, just kidding, but it is nice to win. The point of the game is to enjoy yourself and learn focus and discipline, which can help you anywhere in your life, not just in the game.

To synthesize, I feel that my philosophy on billiards line up with his, which is both reassuring as he is an expert but also somewhat frightening. I would like to thank Mr. Shell for his time and honesty in answering these questions, as it was a very helpful insight to my projects. The most important thing that I have gathered from this interview is that while Mr. Shell played billiards to win, he also made many lasting friendships from his experience, and has come to the conclusion that this is the most important aspect of his journey. To him, the hours he spent in the very beginning of his journey playing with his siblings was the highlight of the game, showing that the point of billiards is to have a good time, but maybe you'll win something on the side as well, which is always a plus.

Week Four: Things I Severely Dislike

I really dislike math. Like really really. In my opinion, math may be one of the worst things I’ve ever tried to do in my entire life. It all started in fourth grade after I hit my math peak by winning the math award, and it was all downhill from there. However, I would like to make it clear that I have absolutely nothing against math teachers (who have actually been really helpful in my math career) or people who like math (as many of my friends are much better at it then I am). Many mathletes I know are actually super cool people, but that doesn’t change the fact that I don’t like math.

I think the reason I so strongly dislike math is because there’s one right answer, and there are very limited ways of getting there. I’m 100% that person who would throw away the IKEA rules and try to build the furniture on my own (how hard can it be?), so this whole math philosophy thing just doesn’t really work for me. Instead of black and white, I prefer operating in the shades of gray that History and English class offer me. Anyways, back to the point. I hate math, and math hates me. It’s a hate-hate relationship.

You probably don’t care at all about anything I just said, and probably care even less about what I’m saying now, but I figure I should at least show you why it matters. Billiards actually involves math. I know, surprising right? Well to be a good billiards player, you have to be able to estimate angles, find pathways, and contemplate about those angles and pathways so math is involved often in the game. This has been a real struggle for me that I was finally able to overcome this week through help from Mr. Walsh, my math teacher.

     

In class the other day Mr. Walsh had said something about angles before we left, and for some reason it stuck in my head. Later that night when I was playing billiards, I remembered what he had said and incorporated it into my game somehow, and got much better at estimating the angles I needed to begin to call my shots, so thanks Mr. Walsh!

So, onto the research that I’ve been doing on billiards, which is running out fast as there really isn’t all that much to know about the subject. This week I went back to the trusty Colorado State University website and learned about speed and distance in reference to billiard balls. I found a super cool table that details both how fast and how far each certain shot would travel, allowing me to better choose the type of shot that I shoot in different situations.

Touch: 1.5 mph = 2.2 fps
Slow: 3 mph = 4.4 fps
Medium-soft: 5 mph = 7.3 fps
Medium: 7 mph = 10 fps
Medium-fast: 8 mph = 12 fps
Fast: 12 mph = 18 fps 
Power: 15-20 mph = 22-29 fps
Powerful break: 25-30 mph = 36-44 fps

I learned what each of these shots look like in week one with the giant quizlets, so now it was a matter of implicating each of these shots into my game. What I learned through reading these resources is that my shots were actually much too hard, and when I was attempting to shoot about a medium speed, it was actually firing at more of a fast, which was covering too much distance at a greater speed, messing up my aim. Surprisingly, this means that my vision was less at fault that I thought it was, and that I’m better at the game than I had originally thought, so that’s definitely a plus. In my opinion, this week was my biggest growth in terms of overall billiards proficiency. 
        

I guess now would be the time to get to nine ball, the game I learned how to play this week. It was just like eight ball, but more stressful because you had to hit the balls into the pockets in a specific order, and there were way too many rules and regulations for me to actually enjoy the game. Long story short, I’m glad that this week was over, though I would assume my brother who has soundly beaten me all week is not. However, cutthroat is a three player game, so I might have a chance for redemption.  

                               

On that note, time to look to the future! Cutthroat billiards is up next, my literal favorite game ever because there are three people and it involves less math and more strategy. For this week I think it might be best to change my goals, as instead of focusing on winning (by the way, I gave up last week’s resolution literally like thirty minutes after I made it) I’d like to focus on my strategy, and making it to the last two (mostly cause I’m not entirely sure we’ll finish a game). This week my goals are to eliminate someone from a cutthroat game, get to call my set of five every other game, and to avoid hitting one of my set into a pocket/scratching. At this point, I’m just hoping I can even achieve these goals, but we’ll see how it goes. 

So to conclude, math is the worst, Mr. Walsh is the best and super helpful, and I am going to be a force to reckon with when I learn cutthroat next week. Thanks for reading, and see you next week with hopefully better news! 

Week Three: The Game is On

So, I am here today to proudly declare that I have officially won a game -- by default. Honestly, I'll take the win, but its not as great as I thought it is, and I think this might be because I didn't really earn it. This made me rethink some of my goals when it comes to this project, and I have come to the conclusion that while winning is important, it is no longer my primary goal. From this moment on I am going to take the high road and aspire to improve my game and my overall skills instead of beating my family. Hopefully getting rid of this resentment and anger that has since plagued my billiards games will help me to focus instead on getting better, so I can win more games learn some tricks for future games. 

Onto the research, which was much more fun to do this week than last week, but still had math. First I’d like to give a huge shout out to Phil Capelle, Pool’s #1 Instructional Author. A family friend on his college billiards team lent me a copy of his book, Play Your Best Eight Ball, which has been a huge help. It has everything from motivation to personal experience from his competitive billiards career. The most helpful aspect of this book is the ABC system, which gives instruction to three classes of players, C, B, and A (I fall in the C category). 

Link to the Colorado Site

It shows you the difference between offensive and defensive play strategy, and helps you to learn the criteria which will determine which version to use. He even included practice methods and drills for eight ball to practice when you aren’t competing, which I have used all week. Other than Phil Capelle, the only other source I’ve really been using this week is Colorado State’s website with more information on billiards to look into and improve my overall game (which needs a lot of work). So, long story short, my game has been greatly improved by Phil Capelle’s book and my life will never be the same.

Now to the part you’ve all been waiting for, the train heading for a cliff that at the last moment turns away but catches on fire (aka my life). Let’s talk about failure, which has come to be a close companion of mine. This week we got to play five pool games, and I lost four and won one (which was only because it was late and we gave up, but I was ahead by one so I won). Anyways…I haven’t really accomplished any of my goals. Well technically I did improve my skills and learn how to better play 8 ball so that was a lie, but the whole winning and calling pockets thing definitely didn’t happen.

                          

Backstory time: I’ve worn glasses since I was two years old, and I’m both nearsighted and lack in the depth perception department. While the winning is my lack of skills, my lack of skills is mostly caused by my lack of vision (in my mind), because I can’t really visualize angles when I can’t tell where an object is in space. Point is, I’ll think that I aimed it to the right enough to call the top right pocket but then the ball will go to the left a bit and bounce off the wall instead, ultimately missing the pocket. 

So, besides my lack of vision and need for sleep (referenced in my earlier post this week), I should be a mediocre billiards player on my way to almost great. However, with these problems I'm a terrible billiards player on the way to...more terrible. Normally I'd be upset, but after embracing my new mentality I'm totally fine with it (okay, maybe slightly bitter). Whatever happens from now on will be dealt with as it comes, and hopefully with as little stress as physically possible. Besides, as they say "stress doesn't help you win billiards games", so to be true to this project I need to have the lowest stress levels possible.

Okay, so now let's talk about the positives of this week. Basically, there are none. Just Kidding! I learned some super interesting facts about billiard balls that absolutely nobody will care about, but are odd nonetheless.  Did you know some billiard balls float? Depending on the material the ball is made of and when it is made, some balls with float (don't try this at home though, it could go wrong). Also, there is a Billiards Congress, Tom Cruise did his own trick shots in The Color of Money, and billiards was the first sport to have a world championship. 

                           

Speaking of facts, on to my favorite topic, history! Billiards has a rich history that may or may not be factually accurate, but is super cool. Now that we've gone through that disclaimer, here are some historical facts about billiards from the Billiards Congress of America! 

1.  In 1586, Mary, Queen of Scots castle was invaded and conquered. After this, the invaders made a note in written records of the time of denying her the use of her billiards table.

1. Captain Mingaud (the inventor of the leather cue tip), was imprisoned for political opposition during the French revolution, but was able to procure a billiards table in his cell. He ended up actually asking for a longer sentence just so that he could continue his study of billiards. 

1. The earliest documented record of a billiards table was in 1470, when King Louis XI of France was said to have one in his possession.

                                      

Now it's time for the reflection, everyone's absolute least favorite part because all I do is just sum up what you were just reading about (boring, right?). If you're nodding your head, for shame, this is the part where you say "Oh no, we love this part, your blog is so interesting!"Whatever, I get it. Anyways, this week both taught me the game and how to lose gracefully and move on from that devastating, all encompassing loss.

Anyways, I've spent too long on this post as is. Hopefully you've read to this point, and hopefully you still want to come back and read again next week, but it not I don't blame you. For those who decide to stay, I'll see you next week!

                                      

Stage Crew: The Greatest Evil of All Evils to Ever Evil

This week, I learned that there’s something to be said about practice and hands on activity. For the first time over the duration of this project, I actually got to play a real game. While I’ve always regarded myself as more of the listen/read and remember type, over the course of this week I learned just how refreshing it is to abandon the text books and quizlets to just play the game and have fun.

You know what, let me just revise that statement because it’s not entirely true. There wasn’t really any fun involved, it was more stress and bad decisions made late at night. While the table and I have buried the hatchet and no longer have a personal vendetta against one another, a new and more formidable opponent has risen in its place…. stage crew (cue dramatic music and lightning flashes).

                                            

This entire week is aptly deemed Hell Week, which I learned very quickly has earned its name through days of no sleep and torturous run throughs. Don’t get me wrong, I love the play and think it’s going to be absolutely positively fantastic (buy tickets!), but it’s taken the time I had allotted for billiards and zapped it down to practically nothing. Every day this week I’ve arrived at school at seven, finished my school day, and worked on something or other until about 9:30, when I am finally able to go home. From then on I do my homework (which takes forever to do) until about maybe 10 or 11:30 before I literally fall asleep standing up, and repeat it for the next day. Sometimes I think it would be better to be in house management, but then I realize they have to talk to people and quickly force that thought out of my head and go back to reality. 

Now that I have all of your sympathy (the pathos is real), I figured I’d get to the part you’re all wondering about, the stress and bad decisions made late at night. So as I’ve mentioned before, my family are all billiards all-stars. I am also very good at manipulating people to help me, so I may have forced them to pick one poor unfortunate soul to stay up with me and play pool at like 11 at night. We didn’t play for long, but since my parents apparently are either really really nice to me (thanks mom and dad) or don’t need sleep, I was able to squeeze in the bare minimum of practicing.

                               

This is when my problems started. As you can probably see when I come into school with a blank stare and practically fall asleep in class, I’m very tired. However, this tiredness is multiplied tenfold late at night when I’ve been securing mermaid tails or seahorse heads all night. At one point in the night I was handed a blue Gatorade because I was dying of thirst, but instead of drinking it I accidentally dropped it as soon as I had (not really) possession (in football I assume they would regard it as an incomplete pass), leading to a new blue stain on our rug. Then last night I forgot that you had to actually aim the ball at your set of balls and not the other players, and kind of just hit it into nowhere before helping myself lose.

                    

The stress part came in earlier, but was magnified at about the same time. When I’m tired or stressed my friends tend to avoid me (this is why I have no friends) because I get very annoyed very quickly. Someone might make a perfectly good natured joke but I’m so tired I hear it wrong, and feel like I’m being insulted which most of the time isn’t the case. Then add that to the spirit of familial competition, and you have a lot of tension, which is always a fun time.

                                         

At this point, I’m not sure I’ll ever win, but I guess we’ll find out in later weeks when we get to my favorite topic and goal, cutthroat billiards. Until the week three check in, see you later!