This is NPR

Okay, so this is how much of a pool nerd I have become.:

I saw the title "This is NPR " in the window of a bookstore and my first thought was not that this was a book about National Public Radio, which it is, but "Wow, someone's made a book from the Non-Pool Related Forum (commonly referred to as NPR) on AZBilliards." This may not be odd for some people, but I listen to A LOT of National Public Radio, and have only once actually read the NPR Forum on AZ Billiards. I guess that pool is just always there as a first response for my brain to make sense of the world. hmmm time to get out more, I guess.

Anyway, this is just a segue in to saying congratulations to my friends at Radio Lab (which you can listen to on NPR) for recently winning a Peabody Award. A good friend of mine was one of the original producers, and many years ago I made some small contributions to the show when it was just starting to find a following. If you love science and good storytelling, you'll enjoy RadioLab.

I was going to link to all the Radio Lab episodes I'd put a pool spin on here in the blog, but when I did a search I could only find two. Alas, many of the posts I remembered were among those I composed in my head while sitting on a bus or train, and just never got written. They do a lot of stories on the brain, which obviously apply to the mental side, but I find connections a lot of their material. ( I guess that pool is just always there as a first response for my brain to make sense of the world. hmmm time to get out more, I guess.)

Anyway, the two that made it from brain to blog:

• Are we crazy?
• Lies, lies, lies

Check out more episodes or subscribe to their podcast at radiolab.org. One of my recent favorites includes a story about a woman named Zelda used the Ku Klux Klan to help her stop smoking (Check out the episode Help!).

So congrats to Jad, Ellen & crew. You are masters of your craft!

The odds of three

I had some time on the commuter train this past week, and got around to reading through the 9-Ball section of Phil Capelle's Play Your Best Pool. Right in keeping with my nostalgic look back on the thrill of running 3-balls in my last post, Phil offers this analysis of the odds of running the last 3 balls on the table.

"You'd be surprised at how often the majority of pool players fail to negotiate the all important last three balls. One reason is simply the numerical odds of pocketing three balls in a row....Once you can regularly get out from the 7-ball, you'll be beating a lot of players that you thought were pretty good up until now."

So here's how he breaks down the math:

• If you make 70% of your shots, you have a 1 in 3 chance (34%)
• If you make 80% of your shots, you have a 1 in 2 chance (51.8%)
• If you make 90% of your shots, you get out most of the time, but still dog it in about 1 in four tries (73%)

These figures are a little depressing. Its pretty startling to think if I'm looking at an easy out with shots that I miss one out of ten tries (and that's including getting the right position in many cases), the stats say, I blow it a quarter of the time. That doesn't seem right, but if I was honest about it, it's probably true.

I'm not sure I really want this going through my head as I walk up to the table after my opponent has missed the seven. But, I guess its good inspiration to remember to never take any shot for granted, and bear down on the last three. It would be nice to be the kind of player who beats their average if its the three that can win you the game.

The good ol' days

I spent a little time tonight reading through some of my older blog posts (can't believe I started 4 years ago. Where does the time go?) One thing that really struck me was how proud I was when ever I had a three-ball out. (It was kind of my measure for success at the time).

It made me a little nostalgic for those early beginning days. I had to work hard for those three ball outs, and sometimes I still do. The difference is, now, if I fail, I'm much harder on myself. And even if I succeed, there's just not the same pay-off, because I'm supposed to get out. Successful execution is probably more of a relief than anything.

Can you think back and remember how satisfying it was to get any ball in the pocket the first time you picked up a cue stick? nothing like it..

I'm not exactly sure what my point is here....whether its to appreciate the little things (i.e. successful shots no matter how basic), and approach the world with the proverbial beginner's mind, or if its just to observe that the further up the hill you get, sometimes the steeper the climb. I do miss those little 3-ball victories.