Friday, February 25, 2011

Presenting Your Gay Nine-Ball Champion

**It's nice to look back sometimes.

Saturday, September 10, 2005 (3:30 AM, Doro's Place)

It was more like a four-nine combination to the left side pocket.I am my own inspiration. Ladies and gentlemen, the local pool hall now has a new nine ball queen. You ever saw a gay guy champion a nine ball tournament? You ever saw a gay guy best 44 straight males in a game that's dominated by straight men? You ever saw a gay guy emerge victorious in a game that's not usually championed by homosexuals? Exactly. I saw all that in myself, and that was a mighty proud vision if you ask me.

It was a long twelve hours of nine ball pool. I can't say that it was an easy field since some of the fiercest competitors I've played with are in the roster. There were shotmakers who made it clear that they were very skillful while making practice shots before the tournament. There were players who intimidated without having to wield a cuestick. As a matter of fact, the person who taught me how to play good pool also registered for the same tournament, the same tournament I won. I beat them. I beat them all, and though I was drop dead tired beyond description, I was still waving my pool cue at the end of the day. And everybody was congratulating me at the end of the day, too.

Three years ago, in 2002, I had no idea that I'd be a nine-ball champion. Back then, I was so thoroughly clueless with the game, I wouldn't know a sidepocket from a hole in the ground. Before learning the game, I had the impression that a tiririt (bridge) was a playful reference to a guy with a small penis. I was so foreign to the game that the terms doblete (bank shot), sargo (break), and kumpiyansa (pool-wise confidence) were more than Greek to me. They were ngongo Greek spoken by a retard with a harelip. I was so lame with the game that my friends waited in turns playing with me since they don't mind playing for free anyway. I always ended up paying for the game.

But then, I started taking an interest in the game. For some reason, I felt that billiards was a sport that I wouldn't mind getting dirty with. It had a certain suave-ness which appealed to my natural suave-ity (ha haa, lack of words, ain't it a bitch?), and I knew I had to go for it. Or at least die in the process of trying. So I started hanging out in the local pool hall, watched how the real players danced with their cuesticks, took down notes, and I rolled up my sleeves. In the long run, I became a spotter (racked balls up), and I started quoting (refereeing) for money games (pustahan). I watched and learned, and I began to understand how it is played. I then progressed to becoming in-hall (harang), and I played against people with no one to shoot pool with. I used to keep track of my scores and my win-loss average. I started okay with an average of three wins in five or seven in ten, but I started looking good when I started averaging with eight in ten.

Eventually, I started playing money games myself, but I got tired of it not because of the plain suckiness of losing. I quit gambling because they just wouldn't pay up. But I continued with my ongoing training since, like any sport, it gets more exciting the more you get better at it. I got involved with my playing group, and I'd go all around Pasig watching big time money matches just to feel the intensity of such competitions. It was terribly inspiring, and it made me want to have my own cuestick.

My first cuestick was this common looking wand which produced brilliant miracles. There's this running joke with pool players that they're only as good as the stick they're playing. And there's a good reason why it's a joke. See, I'm playing good on a secondhand stick, and I loved it like it was an extension of my arm. It served me good for two years until it was donated to the pool hall. I then graduated to a prettier maple stick which went on to help me win my first pool championship. That's nothing more than a striking coincidence. It is true that I won with a better looking wand, but I kept and improved on the same skills that I learned with my first cuestick. If I were to acknowledge my victory with my prettier cuestick, then I might as well start claiming that a writer's as good as his pen. Or that a referee's as good as his counting skills.

I'm not world class, and I'm not good enough to be playing in TV. There's a whole army of better pool players out there who can easily beat me with one hand tied behind their back. I may have won my first tournament, but I'm not good enough to go on ahead and brag. But then, I still won my first tournament, and if anything, that's the best validation I could ask for. I get to be this accomplished in one of my better passions, and nothing, for the time being, could be as remarkable. Come to think of it, it's not that bad. I am better than myself three years ago, and I am loving the game with as much interest as I had the first time I met with it.

See, this was the only love affair I've had that actually did me good. I now know how it feels like to champion a pool tournament. I've never been this awesome.

I stopped playing when I fell in love and lived in with J. I still keep at it, from time to time, and I still remember how fierce I used to be.

17 comments:

  1. What a talent: a pool hustler and i-do-all-my-shopping-in-60-minutes gay guy

    i dont play pool, but i sure spend a day just to organize where will i shop

    Whoa...

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  2. Very nice post! When players go head-to-head on the pool table, everyone is equal. Only their skills matter and their will to win! And I kid you not!

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  3. Tarush, Momel!

    Pinagpala ka ng talento sa pagtira ng bola lol.

    I, for one, would also wish to become a great one in a battlefield I've never been to.

    I love watching wrestling, WWE in particular. So, may hint na. :)

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  4. pang MMK ito teh...

    naalala ko tuloy ang mga Roma, Marlon's, at Gutson's days ko hahahahaha may nalalaman pa ako noon na pagsampa sa pool table at de-kuwatro bago tumira, lagi namang sablay... ahahahahaha

    ikaw ang nag-iisang reyna ng bilyaran... tara na at PASARGO na tayo hahahaha

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  5. Amigang Bry -- I used to hustle, but not to gamble. I did those table games, mesa mesa lang, to help with my friends' pool hall revenue. Looking back, yes, that's how I went about it.

    AnitoKid -- Aw thanks. This would mean a lot to me were I still playing, but I am just watching from the sidelines now. Hell, I can't even discuss safety and positioning much these days. Another gay guy in the audience? What's up with that, right?

    Ronnie -- Thanks! Kung yan talaga ang gusto mo eh simulan mo nang mag-practice. Pag nagustuhan mo yung ginagawa mo eh hindi mo mamamalayan na maya't maya ang clothelines, DDT, chokeslam at tombstone mo.

    YJ -- Wahaha, malaman yan pag um-aura ako sa inyo!

    Cheers Amigang Bry, AnitoKid, Ronnie, and YJ! Mabuhay Kayo! Muahness from Pasig Citehh!

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  6. Anonymous8:53 PM

    curious, just curious. what's with J that you had to kill a fond hobby in a supposed anthesis?

    re: ribblestrop

    currently digesting stephen king's under the dome. in the mean time, please do keep ribblestrop's pages crisp for me, momel. XD

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  7. Lio Loco -- J was The One. He's the love of my life, and we lived in together for close to five years until that day in December 2010. The pressures and new found responsibilities of domestic cohabitation, like the rent and utilities and most everything else, consumed what time I have devoted to that most faithful hobby. Thanks for asking!

    Oo, nasa akin lang yung Ribblestrop. Sabihin mo lang kung kailan mo gusto hiramin.

    Congratulations on your first four months together!

    Cheers Loverboy Lio Loco! Muahness from Pasig Citehh!

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  8. Anonymous11:07 PM

    sheesh! only just recently? whatever happened during that fateful day? apologies for being offensively curious. of course, you can choose to keep it privy if you want to.

    thanks for the cheers! just as J is the love of your life, i am hoping Dude is likewise The One for me.

    at natawa ako bigla dun sa loverboy. lol! XD

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  9. love this, momel.

    makapagpaturo nga sa yo minsan... i never liked playing pool or i always thought that the pool table is best only for...

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  10. Now that's something you don't see everyday... although I have seen a gay guy playing billiards before. I had this gay officemate who liked the game so much that he paid for the whole thing just so we would play with him.

    Labasan ba ito ng talent??? I have a champion moment rin no! Nung college, we had a pingpong tournament. Lahat ng nakalaro ko, ako ang talo. Ang huling game ko, nakatapat ko yung undisputed champion. At natalo ko sya ahahaha. So that makes me boss. The only person I beat was the champion, and the champion lost to no one else but me.

    Any other games you excel in??? Yung kinky in nature ahahahaha

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  11. khie so proud of you!!feeling ko mudra mo ako..dede ka na,hihihi

    gusto ko yang laro na yan kasi parang ang cool ng mga player,kaso di ako marunong,ahahah

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  12. ang galing naman. Naglaro (sumubok maglaro actually) din ako nung college. Masaya kahit di ako magaling.

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  13. This was five years back, punks. I can still play, but I can barely pocket three, four balls consecutively these days.

    Lio Loco -- He found someone else. A girl. And that was that. The one thing that this break up taught me was to never ignore a valid opportunity to be sweet. And the other one thing that this break up taught me was to have sex in regular intervals.

    Be in love, do it with abandon, and make it count.

    Kiks -- Ahaha, may dot dot dot ka pa ha. Pero alam mo fren, di ko pa nata-try yun, yung dun mismo. Feeling ko kasi eh sacrilegious. Siguro nga iba ang feeling ng kumakaskas yung tapete sa hubad mong likuran habang naka-missionary kayo sa ibabaw ng Kangaroo na table ano?

    Glentot -- Sabihin mo dian sa fren mo na maglaro kami minsan, sabayan na namin ng aura sa bilyaran. Tutal siya naman magbabayad eh. Ahaha!

    I love your champion moment. Ikaw na ang kontrapelo!

    Rape-rapean. That answers your last question. Of course I kid.

    Powkie -- Huy fren, April 1 ba yung labas natin? April 1 ba? Ha? Ha? Ha? Naka-file na kasi ako nun eh. Friday yun diba? Diba? Diba? Diba?

    Ahaha, kulit ko.

    Dibee -- Whoa. From Madame's blog? For real? Thanks for dropping by, keep dropping by, and why is it that pool playing's mostly a college thing? I learned when I was in third year college, kept at it, and fell in love.

    Cheers Lio Loco, Kiks, Glentot, Powkie, and Dibee! Mabuhay Kayo! Muahness from Pasig Citehh!

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  14. Hell, I wasn't even sure what a Nine Ball was! Haha. You go, Momel! Although the first image looks a little scary.

    I swear I was reading Greek. Vajayjay and sports doesn't go well together, Momel. Sorry. I once got hit with a basketball and I shrieked like a banshee. Kidding.

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  15. Momelllllllllllllllllllllllll! I love. I could feel your passion for this sport and how you really must love it.

    But the real question is: did you ever sleep with any of the guys?

    Kane

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  16. Vajarl -- Ahaha, why am I not surprised? This was one of those things that I loved going back to, from time to time, because it was the best therapy I had then. Yes, writing had nothing on playing pool when it comes to expressing a bitchfit. The sound of those balls breaking and the clunk of those colored objects as they sink into the pockets are a recommended refreshment.

    Poging Kane -- Aw thanks! Nope, never slept with any of the guys. They smelled like sweat and they smelled like healthy competition, so it never occured to me. But the people I shot with outside of my playing group are a different story altogether. There was this kid, Daniel.

    Nothing happened!

    Ahaha!

    Cheers Vajarl and Poging Kane! Mabuhay Kayo! Muahness from Pasig Citehh!

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  17. Wow, couldn't believe may alam kang moves sa wreslting haha. Fave ko GTS, google mo lol.

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