Who's Cooler Than Dad?

So, playing pool tonight, I decided to try something different. It was kind of arbitrary, for no reason, but anyway - oh! And BY THE WAY, let me tell you this was the most PATHETIC EXCUSE for an evening of pool I have ever had the misfortune to be associated with. Let me tell you what happened, you will either agree with me, or not know what you're talking about. Here's how it went down. After a hard-fought evening of close games and back-and-forths in the standings, the three of us ended up each tied. A three-way tie. And not only tied in terms of victories, I am talking everybody was at .500 (in the win-loss ratio). All three of us: three wins, three losses. Freakish. That has never happened. Probably because usually there's four of us. Trust Nick to screw everything up by flaking.

So, with the standings in that sorry state, naturally I took the high road and I insisted (and it wasn't even that late!) that the other two guys duke it out: one last game, for first place. So at least somebody ends up a winner, right? Right? And I thought that was very generous and self-sacrificing of me! I had just lost the last game, after a hot streak, I'd lost the game to bring everybody into this 3-way stall. And I was galled about it too, because let me tell you: I thought I had the whole night in hand. I was scenting victory. I was the presumptive gold medalist in my own mind! And there I was, saying: you two guys, I insist, play one more game, I'll watch, there's no longer ANY CHANCE of me being the big winner but rather than settle for this ignominious equanimity lets have some winner and some losers after a hard night of honorable combat.

Fuckers declined. We all tied for bronze.

Can you believe that? And me being so magnanimous about it! And I had nothing to gain, there. I just wanted a result. While these two guys, they were each fine with just not losing. They were fine playing a great, competitive night of pool only to end up with no result.

Has there ever been such a sad lack of competitive zeal? Such out-and-out absence of sportsmanship whatsoever? I don't call it bad sportsmanship. I don't call it good sportsmanship either, obviously! It was like...it wasn't unsportsmanlike, it was asportsmanlike. A total null patch in the sportsmanship receptors on these dudes' brains, at least for that moment in time. I will charitably credit it as a temporary lapse.

Pathetic.

I was going to call double-forfeit on 'em, but I decided I didn't have the moral standing.

Anyway, before that debacle, as I was saying, I had decided going into the evening that I was going to try something different. I was going to try to act cool, during the games. Just to see if it made any appreciable difference to my gameplay. Sometimes a nice mindset shift, or a mantra or whatever, people say it can make a difference.

Well, it didn't make a difference, but in the process of it not making a difference, I noticed something that I thought was kind of cool. I realized that me trying to be cool, basically what it translated into, what I was doing was, more-or-less unconsciously I was trying to act like Dad. That was kind of a shock when I realized exactly what was going on! But I got a kick out of it, too though. It was kind of interesting to realize.

And really. The question can be legitimately be asked: who's cooler than Dad?

Man I should have won that last game. Pathetic.