The mind boggling events that made me ‘Sir Scratchalot’
We all have these days things don’t seem to work out the way we want to. Some more often than others. It might manifest itself in missing shots, bad speed control and position play, not feeling the shots, or not getting in the flow. With me, it often manifests itself in scratching. Not just scratching, but scratching in the most ridiculous ways you can’t predict with any form of common sense. Such mind boggling events can be described as ‘unlucky’, although I don’t think such a thing as unlucky exists in pool. I think it’s just a lack of control. Anyway, scratching has become a thing. It made me ‘Sir Scratchalot’ at the local pool hall. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing. Probably not.
You need quite some imagination to see the scratches coming that I make. The cue ball would slide off a ball, hit another after two rails and scratch. It would go through the smallest gaps you wouldn’t even consider trying to shoot a ball through. It seems to get worse when I start playing bank pool. Then it happens more often that the cue ball hits a few rails, double kisses somewhere, and disappears at the other side of the table.
We all also know these days that double shimmed pockets are absolutely no problem. They normally spit out every ball that’s not 100% clean, especially on the Sam tables I’m playing on. My cue ball must be flawless, because it disappears just as easy as on any other table. I’d better start paying more attention to whitie. As Alex Lely told me:
“You must be more paranoid about the cue ball, like I am.”
It were just a few of those days that got me this new nickname. Other knights of the famed order of chivalry flourishing under Hague 5 are Sir Bankalot, Sir Strokealot, and Sir Firealot. We also have king George and king Arthur, who happens to be my father. Yes, their names really are George and Arthur. The other empty places at the round table (the dinner table in front of the bar) still have to be filled by those who’ll get the honor to be knighted for their unique skill, or by those who’re just hungry.