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!