Mike Bohanon

The Fort Bragg Pool League Championship match of Spring 2024 will be over by the time you read this. It was held at Welcome Inn to handle the crowd, and a Noyo River Grill pool team won. Both teams pulled out all the stops this past week, and hope it will be enough to win. Players were being reminded to look after themselves as anyone can become sick with the flu and not be available. Both teams match up nearly even, and it should be the season's best match. I hope we were there to enjoy it.

Rack ‘em up, The final match for Spring League 2024 pitted Noyo River Grill Teams # 1 and # 2 against each other.

The awards party at Welcome Inn was packed with pool players, their friends, family, and other patrons.

Jamie Carey and Josh Palmer are the latest pool players in our league to have their first 8-ball on-the-break games. Making an 8-ball on-the-break by playing to hit the second ball in the rack from one side of the table is not easy. It is much harder to make the 8-ball on-the-break when playing to hit the first ball of the rack from down the middle of the table. Palmer's was days ago. Josh also ran a table, had five wins in a row, and the 8-ball on-the-break. Wow! Josh made his by playing down the middle to the first ball of the rack, which made it unusual Jamie was too excited to say much but said she, too, started her break from near the center of the table. And bang! Down went the 8-ball, and her Statewide Celebration Tour began. Well, “Big John” Nordahl makes 8-ball breaks occasionally, but always by hitting the second ball. Ed Eisen was the only league player I knew who had made an 8-ball using a head-on break from the center table. It has been at least twelve years since then, and now, we have two center-of-table 8-ball on-the-break shots in two days.

July 9, 2024, will be the Captains' meeting, and the 16th will be the start of the Winter Session of the Fort Bragg Pool League. We should accept that the Tip Top Lounge is closed and will probably stay closed for a long time. It may never open as a bar again, meaning we will continue to be unable to accommodate all pool players who want to play in the Fort Bragg Pool League. This problem has existed for a while and has many supporters who hope something happens to alleviate the problem.

Rack ‘em up, When Hugh's daughter, Molly, was asked if she knew what a Nene was, she had been exposed to one and even knew what a silly Nene was and, even better, where to find one.

Well, here we go again: the Winter Season of the Fort Bragg Pool League is starting July 9, 2024. The Captain's meeting was on July 2, 2024, and Linda Long will post changes before the start of play. Fees that started last season may result in fewer players on rosters as alternates this season. Many players can play well but not well enough to replace a regular player already on a team. Their high numbers might help make something change for them this season. Be part of a group of players that began another night or style of pool league. It might take seasons to be fully operational, but you can brag you were involved before it was popular and people were standing in line. Fort Bragg visitors in the future will have fun because of your humble efforts to provide entertainment for the pool players of the world. Well, maybe not the whole world. But, gosh, it is theoretically possible. And we won't know until we see what happens, right? So gee, either create an unknown solution or have another day or night of league. Otherwise, players interested in playing the Tuesday night Fort Bragg Pool League won't play often without some changes being made.

Rack ‘em up Look to the bulletin boards near pool tables for updates and sign-up sheets for any tournaments for upcoming pool challenge matches. Gabe Medina brought in power tools to mount Welcome …

Rack ‘em up: Everyone seems extra excited about the Winter Pool League, which is just beginning. The excitement had been a tad less since the pandemic interrupted the pool league.

Patience is a virtue, and when playing pool with someone who can't play as well as you, patience becomes important. Have you ever scratched the cue ball while trying to hit your 8-ball when the opponent still has 5 or 6 balls on the table? Patience would have been effective if it had delayed you from shooting your balls down. When you purposely leave a ball or two on the table, it eliminates the sudden death from a scratch on just the 8-ball and harder for an opponent to get a cue ball in hand.