This Is Not Happening (OT)

So the only sport I play is pool. However, people sometimes point out that this is a photography blog, not a pool blog, and that is absolutely right. That's why I never write any pool-related posts here. And never will.

If I did ever write about pool, though, I might do what I do for my brother Scott, and pass along links to entertainingly spectacular shots that I run across while viewing old matches on YouTube. I'd never do that here, as I say, but here's an example of something I might send to Scott: in this 2004 9-ball match in Taipei between Jeong Young Hwa and Filipino Efren Reyes, the South Korean has no shot after the break and—at the 21:00 mark—hits a splendid defensive shot (much harder than it looks), leaving the cue ball fully blocked from the solid yellow 1 ball by the striped yellow 9 ball. Reyes, who by rule must make contact with the 1 ball first, does not even have a short-rail bank shot (running the length of the table twice) because there is a blocking ball (the solid green 6) in the way.

What Efren does next is a superb example of why they call him "The Magician" and why many consider him the greatest pool player who ever lived. Watch in awe.

And it's why I propose such shots be called "Efrens":

Ef • ren, n., A pool shot that you're trying for but that can't be made and that no one alive could possibly pull off, but that works anyway.

You'd call it a fluke except he does such things again and again. There are other phenomenal shots in this very match*.

His next shot on the solid blue 2 is routine, but he overruns position on the pink 4 ball (which is why he grimaces in embarrassment). His shot on the 4 is hilarious, passing the cue ball right in the path of the 4 just barely missing it (watch before the shot as he points with his cue to the spot on the table where the two balls might collide). Anticlimax: next, despite his heroics, Efren can't struggle into position, misses the long shot on the solid orange 5, and loses the rack.

But...whew. If you did want to read about pool, somewhere else, that unreal four-rail kick would be something you'd want to see.

Mike

*For instance at 38:00 when he massés around the solid orange 5 ball into a triple combination and makes it.

UPDATE: I set up Efren's shot on an empty table and it took me 23 tries to make it. Jeez!

Original contents copyright 2014 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Jim Simmons: "This has started my day with magic and a smile."

Pete F.: "OK, I'll admit, I enjoyed that."

Michael Roche: "Pity you didn't write about it Mike as I'm a big fan of Efren and would have liked to see the video should you have written about it, which you didn't. Ah well, one has to maintain standards I suppose!!! P.S. feel free to not write about pool anytime you get the urge."

Bill Tyler: "If I had read this piece, which I didn't, or followed the link to the match, which I couldn't have done, since I didn't read the posting, and couldn't have seen the link, I might have compared your occasional off-topic post to the spices I use on my food. They don't have the same flavor as the main part of the dish, but they add something well worth having. Please don't continue not writing about pool, music, or whatever fails to strike your fancy."

Comments

[Del]

Great, but what would you tell your brother about your latest thinking about Stereo/Hi Fi these days if he were so interested. As Gandhi said, "All men are brothers" .

[Wayne Pearson]

Well done Mike, well done!

[Steve Almond]

Do you ever watch snooker?

[Mike Plews]

Gad zooks

[Mark Sirota]

I'm like the way you continue to never write about pool. I also hope you continue in the same fashion to never write about dogs, homes, cars... (In all seriousness, it's all context for your writing on photography.)

[Rob Reiter]

And if I ever watched pool videos, that would be one to watch.

[toto]

"A pool shot... that no one alive could possibly pull off." Not only that, no one probably could even have thought of such a shot.

[ben ng]

hah, you've never written off-topic Mike. From the Dynamic Range of Music, to observations of canine capers, to the Pre-Visualisation of Pool, you cover the art of photography, far removed from people who take themselves too seriously, or people who fixate on technical measurements.
Just keep on not-writing about pool and music.

[John Robinson]

I think you should launch PoolOnlineVideography (POV). Indulge both passions. That shot you referenced was, well, amazing doesn't even start to describe it. There were several other similar shots in that video....

Years ago, in college, I played snooker. I got beat almost all the time, but I also didn't sit down between shots, so I got to watch and learn....

Treat some of those shots as chess problems. Set them up, then try to knock them down. Then try again.....you'll learn a lot....

[ctein]

Dear Mike,

OK, so if I tell you I didn't read the column that you didn't write does that mean I did or didn't read it?

confusedly yours,

Ctein

[ChazL]

I'm sure that Scott was very appreciative of the link (as I would be had you written about it on TOP). Even by Efren standards, those two shots were amazing.

[Simon Osborne-Walker]

Any more pool highlights you're not going to share? My favourite cueing action is still Ronnie O'Sullivan's fastest-ever clearance - worth 5 minutes and 20 seconds of anyone's time, I reckon. Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpeBugHSCnU

[HT]

I enjoy watching a master craftsman at work. Amazing!

[Jim Schley]

I find interesting (in light of the way TOP readers pounced on our Dear Editor) that we use the same term -- "shot" -- for a pool play and for a photograph. And to me (being a relative neophyte in both realms, billiards and photography) that everything Monsieur Mike says about the "Efren" could be applied to a superb yet improbable photograph: a "shot that you're trying for but that can't be made and that no one alive could possibly pull off, but that works anyway."

[Patrick Perez]

The title of this post reminds me of a sign on a (locked) door that leads outside (if it were to open) at my regular Sunday breakfast place (Shaka Brah, in Tacoma, WA, if you must know). The sign, a laminated 8.5x11 sheet declares "This is not an exit".

I have been variously tempted to sign it either J.P. Sartre, or R. Magritte.

Patrick

[jim dobbins]

Yes I second that 'not writing' about pool, dogs, audio, and anything else that isn't about the feeds and speeds of photography. Your writing is always enjoyable. Too much photo makes Jack and/or Jill dull.
-Jim

[Brian Chambers]

Hey I just got a great idea for your next OT. Everyone could link their favorite sports clip that few people watch. No Soccer, football, baseball allowed. Just those non prime time sports. Here is my suggestion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFty7To8oQk

Its Prefontaine in the 1972 olympics. I would never normally watch this kind of race but if you focus on Prefontaine and his effort and ultimate failure it is fascinating.

[Jamie Pillers]

Mike, you need to add two categories to your archive list in the right hand column: "Mike on pool" and "Ctein on tea". And put them at or near the top of the list please. :-)