While most of downtown Chiang Mai languished in its
second worst flood in 40 years, all of last week Pool League venues luckily
stayed above water. Matches among the top teams saw Half Moon Pub maintain
pole position, Blue Sky Bar move up to second, but Chiangers and Bangers,
Rock Hard Bistro and Out Back all lost valuable ground.
League leaders Half Moon Pub went with the flow in their
home encounter with luckless Happy Bar, and although the away side showed
some resistance in the singles, they lost all their doubles games to give
the frontrunners a 7-2 win.
Here’s
Alex, 62 and still breaking his balls.
With players absent, a weakened Chiangers and Bangers
lost second place by missing out at home to The Wall, who climbed one spot
to sixth. Nip and tuck during the singles saw scores level at the break, but
Chiangers capsized in the doubles to come out losers 3-6.
The performance of the night, however, came from Blue Sky
Bar, who went second after whitewashing No.1 - 9-0. But thoughts of No.1
being out of their depth could be regarded as shallow thinking, because all
games went close to the wire.
Rock Hard Bistro continued their disappointing run and
sank to eighth in the league when handing Blue Sky Garden their second
triumph of the season, and Out Back always chasing the game went down 3-6 at
Friends Corner.
A quick look at the table shows that while Half Moon are
the team to beat, only two points separate the top nine sides, with The
Local and La Villa beginning to surface as serious contenders for the title.
A very confident local side shrugged off early challenges
from a spirited Enjoy Place to go into the break 4-2 up and then seal the
match in the first game of doubles. While at Rachadamnern Road, La Villa
sailed home against lowly December Bar, 8-1.
Interestingly, this set of results failed to produce a
5-4, and there is some speculation as to whether Blue Sky Bar clean sweep
was the first ever in open play. Some pool league vets claim that all
previous 9-0 have resulted from default. Can anyone out there remember
differently?
A few weeks ago I featured the youngest players in the
league and asked for your help in finding the oldest. Well, that appears to
be Alex from Toronto, Canada, who at 62 plus has lived here for nearly three
years and plays for Chiangers and Bangers.
He takes up the story. าThe boys call me the Silver
Hurricane but I seldom live up to the name. Too many young eyes in this
league but I do win the odd one here and there. It is fun for me more than
anything and I really enjoy meeting new friends as we do the circuit.
Good on you Alex, I guess that what the Chiang Mai Pool
League is really all about and you win two free tickets to watch The Wall in
their next home match.
Incidentally, the oldest current player I could find on
record is 92 year old Joe Cunningham, who plays for the Cedar Falls Senior
Center Billiards Activities Group somewhere in the USA - and apparently he
just bought a new cue.
Email bobby.k0@lycos.com
