Injuries to pool players
Robert Byrne
I've been reading a fascinating book called THE BOOK OF RISKS--Facts About
the Chances We Take Every Day, by Larry Laudan, published by John Wiley and
Sons, 1994. In a chapter on sports injuries, the author writes: "The
proportion of professional boxers who suffer brain damage: 87%. The odds
that a hunter's gunshot wounds are self-inflicted: 30%. A million
Americans each year are injured by their sports equipment. In 1991, more
than 6,000 golfers were injured by their golf carts. In 1991, 5,744 people
injured themselves playing billiards."
By "billiards," we can assume he means pool. No other details are given,
but the injuries he catalogs normally are those serious enough to warrant
medical attention. How did so many pool players hurt themselves?
Lacerations and fractures when the grip hand hits the rail is a common one,
I'll bet. Getting hit by a flying ball or a flailing cue are others. Then
there are the fingers caught between cushions and speeding balls and cuts
caused by projecting pieces of metal. Doctors reading this may wish to add
their observations.
There have been several incidents in recorded history of players putting
balls in their mouths and needing the aid of a doctor or dentist to get
them out. In 1894, as reported by England's Billiards magazine at the
time, a man with a snooker ball lodged in his mouth died on the way to the
hospital. In 1834, two Frenchmen had a duel in which they threw balls at
each other from ten paces. One was hit between the eyes and died
instantly. Or how about Australian snooker player Raymond Priestly? In
1979 he tried to make a shot while hanging by his knees upside down over
the table. He was killed when he fell and broke his neck.
For more of this sort of thing, see the chapter entitled A Carnival of
Characters in Byrne's Wonderful World of Pool and Billiards (1996).
Mike Page
<b...@byrne.org> wrote:
snippage-
> INJURIES TO POOL PLAYERS
> In 1991, 5,744 people
> injured themselves playing billiards."
> By "billiards," we can assume he means pool. No other details are given,
...
Is it possible that 500,000 people were injured by falling over drunk in a
bar--and 1% of those happened to be playibng pool at the time?
--
mike page
fargo
Phil Freedenberg
refers to occur after the game, when the loser refuses to pay the winner.
Or when there is a dispute about who the winner is. Or about alleged
cheating.
--
O
/\
-\--\---o Phil Freedenberg
Robert Byrne <b...@byrne.org> wrote in article
<01bdd5f0$671d9060$02928ecf@big-bob>...
> INJURIES TO POOL PLAYERS
>
> I've been reading a fascinating book called THE BOOK OF RISKS--Facts
About
> the Chances We Take Every Day, by Larry Laudan, published by John Wiley
and
> Sons, 1994. In a chapter on sports injuries, the author writes: "The
> proportion of professional boxers who suffer brain damage: 87%. The odds
> that a hunter's gunshot wounds are self-inflicted: 30%. A million
> Americans each year are injured by their sports equipment. In 1991, more
> than 6,000 golfers were injured by their golf carts. In 1991, 5,744
people
> injured themselves playing billiards."
> By "billiards," we can assume he means pool. No other details are
given,
Ron Shepard
<b...@byrne.org> wrote:
>[...] How did so many pool players hurt themselves? [...]
Here's another one. A friend of mine was using a poorly maintained house
cue with a loose ferrule and, unknown to him, a split in the shaft. On a
break shot, the shaft apparently bent enough to expose the sharp point of
a wood splinter. The sharp point stuck through the fleshy part of his
hand, and then the wood sprung back together, making it painful to
extract. Yes, there was beer involved. The school medical center was a
couple of blocks away, so the group of players walked down to the center,
pool cue in hand (so to speak), to see what could be done. I believe the
treatement involved a tetanus shot, some antiseptic, and maybe a stitch or
two. The pool cue couldn't be saved, but other than that, no permanent
damage. He did have a small scar on his hand afterward, but he always
told people that he got it in a knife fight over a woman.
$.02 -Ron Shepard
Texas Express
I would venture to say...44 were injured by the table and/or the
cues....another 100 by flying balls...and the other 5600 got in some sort of
fight while intoxicated, drugged and/or both...while attempting to either
steal someone's money..or refusing to pay after having their egos
crushed...or in an arugument with the fella on the next table !!!!
Sad commentary........but most likely close to the truth
--
John McChesney
Texas Express
j...@texasexpress.com
http://www.texasexpress.com
http://www.national9balltour.com
Robert Byrne wrote in message <01bdd5f0$671d9060$02928ecf@big-bob>...
>INJURIES TO POOL PLAYERS
>
>I've been reading a fascinating book called THE BOOK OF RISKS--Facts About
>the Chances We Take Every Day, by Larry Laudan, published by John Wiley and
>Sons, 1994. In a chapter on sports injuries, the author writes: "The
>proportion of professional boxers who suffer brain damage: 87%. The odds
>that a hunter's gunshot wounds are self-inflicted: 30%. A million
>Americans each year are injured by their sports equipment. In 1991, more
>than 6,000 golfers were injured by their golf carts. In 1991, 5,744 people
>injured themselves playing billiards."
> By "billiards," we can assume he means pool. No other details are given,
>but the injuries he catalogs normally are those serious enough to warrant
Ross Ulmer
Robert Byrne wrote in message <01bdd5f0$671d9060$02928ecf@big-bob>...
>INJURIES TO POOL PLAYERS
> There have been several incidents in recorded history of players putting
>balls in their mouths and needing the aid of a doctor or dentist to get
>them out.
This happened only two weeks ago to a local pool player. He became upset
over missing a shot, and for some strange reason, decided that the solution
to his frustration was to put the cue ball in his mouth. He couldn't get it
out. The fire department was called (don't ask me why!!!). They of course
didn't know what to do (I don't think it is part of their training). The
guy was taken to the local emergency room and they had to remove two of his
teeth (or so I was told).
He is a really nice guy, and everyone was embarrassed for him. Some players
wanted to go to his house to see him the next day to show their support, but
decided not to because it might increase his self-consciousness.
Surprisingly, he was back at the pool room two days later playing like
nothing ever happened. No one mentions it, again because people like him
and don't want to rub salt in the wounds.
When I was talking about this incident to a local pool owner he recalled a
previous similar incident 20 or 30 years previous. I found this all rather
bizarre, but it is the gospel's truth!
Ross Ulmer
Patrick Johnson
> put the cue ball in his mouth. He couldn't get it out. The fire department
> was called (don't ask me why!!!). They of course didn't know what to do (I
> don't think it is part of their training). The
> guy was taken to the local emergency room and they had to remove two of his
> teeth (or so I was told).
They also dried him off and removed the axe from his back.
Pat Johnson
Chicago
John Ahlstrom
It may sound strange but the exact same thing happened to me back in 1979.
In my case the splintered piece pierced the webbing between my pointer and
middle fingers and was about 8 to 10 inches long. The splinter that was
lodged in the webbing was about 3/8 inches wide and about an 1/8 inch thick.
I saved the splinter as a momento. I can still remember everyone wondering
why I was screaming so much. They thought I was screaming because I didn't
like the way the balls scattered.:-)
JohnA (kent,WA)
Ron Shepard wrote in message ...
Robert Raiford
> In 1834, two Frenchmen had a duel in which they threw balls at
> each other from ten paces. One was hit between the eyes and died
> instantly.
Seulement en France...
Rob
Laura Friedman
rack on my forehead. It's the custom around these parts to keep the
rack hanging on the light (we live dangerously in LA). She went to pull
it off while I was retriving the balls from under the tabel. Her hand
slipped, the heavy rack fell, and the corner impacted my head at a high
rate of speed. The bruise looked pretty nifty, though, and it was kinda
fun to tell everyone that I got it in a poolroom.
Maybe Ron or another one of the engineers could figure out exactly how
fast that rack was traveling when it made contact.
Still, I count pool as slightly less dangerous than my other major
activity: riding horses. Last mishap I had with that hobby landed me in
the hospital.
Laura
Redeye
the history of roller coasters. The narrator made the following comment (in quotes
because it is verbatum as far as I can remember, but may contain slightly different
wording since my memory is *not* unerring):
"According to the [some federal agency which collects data on safety issues], riding
roller coasters is safer than using toothpicks or playing billiards."
This struck me as a strange thing to say in a forum which had not mentioned billiards
before that moment, or after it. Why pick billiards - is it one of those activities
which seems safe on the surface but contains many dangers? What could possibly
happen when playing pool?
Then I thought back to some of the things which I have seen or have done myself while
playing, and I remembered the old prank that I had been subjected to when I first
started playing with serious players: place two balls on the foot rail of the table,
each about 2 or 3 inches from the corner pockets, and then place a quarter on the
foot spot. Place the cue ball on the head spot. Tell the schmuck (prankee) to stand
about 1 or 2 feet back from the foot rail and watch the balls. Tell the schmuck
(prankee) that you are going to make both balls *at the same time*, and that the
quarter is really the key to the whole shot. Of course, if you execute the setup
right, and the shot, the cue ball will jump off the table (when it hits the quarter)
and smack the schmuck (prankee) somewhere about the crotch area. If the schmuck
(prankee) is a male, then the popularity of this prank might account for many of the
billiard-related injuries.
--
Dave
Robert Byrne wrote:
> INJURIES TO POOL PLAYERS
>
[clip]
Mike Page
-snip- ... Tell the schmuck
> (prankee) that you are going to make both balls *at the same time*, and
>[snip]....the cue ball will jump off the table (when it hits the quarter)
> and smack the schmuck (prankee) somewhere about the crotch area.
Yeah, that one's pretty fun. But it still doesn't rate up there with
bludgeoning new players with a house cue. --or my favorite, telling the
unsuspecting schmuck the usual practice is to put the money in the SOCKET
of the light fixture--that one's a blast...
--
mike page
fargo
Bridget
Moved and seconded, Laura! There's something comforting about a
stationary table, particularly when you've glanced up during a fall to see
a thousand-pound horse coming down on you like a locomotive.
I think the only pool-related injuries I've had have been bruises from
launched cue balls.
-Bridget
Greg Savoie
>
>
> the table. He was killed when he fell and broke his neck.
> For more of this sort of thing, see the chapter entitled A Carnival of
> Characters in Byrne's Wonderful World of Pool and Billiards (1996).
--
Last August, I went with Mike Lambros to study pool with Bert Kinister
outside of Chicago. We played pool approximately 10 hours a day,
including 4 hours of drilling with Kinister. After about the 4th day, I
could barely move my bridge shoulder, and Bert had to send me for a
massage!!! The woman who worked on me said that my left shoulder was as
tight as she's ever seen!!!
For the record, Studying with Kinister was an amazing experience. Has
anyone else taken lessons from him?
*****************************************************
Greg Savoie
The Billiard Warehouse
http://www.billiardwarehouse.com
A virtual warehouse of Cues, Cases and Accessories
*****The best selection and prices on the net!!*****
Oakland, NJ 888-809-POOL
Gcrash
wrote:
>Laura Friedman wrote:
>
>> I got a nasty bruise recently when my friend dropped the wooden pool
>> rack on my forehead.
What has four legs, is big, green, fuzzy, and if it fell out
of a tree would kill you?
A pool table
I know it's bad, but I couldn't help it.
Gchappel
Ed Mercier
Gcrash wrote:
> On Wed, 02 Sep 1998 13:49:59 +0100, Bridget <brid...@earthlink.net>
> wrote:
>
> >Laura Friedman wrote:
> >
> >> I got a nasty bruise recently when my friend dropped the wooden pool
> >> rack on my forehead.
> What has four legs, is big, green, fuzzy, and if it fell out
> of a tree would kill you?
>
Me and Smorgass Bored!
SnookerUSA
I'm sure Smorgassbored would like.
As for the rest of you. . .
(It's never stopped me before).
What is
1. In the white house
2. Is green
3. Smells like (blank)_cat (minus the cat).
Mark Kulaga, CSE OBBVP
Web Art Director
<A HREF="http://www.tourboard.com/ieo/">IEO</A>
Webmaster
<A HREF="http://members.aol.com/snookerusa/snookerusa.html">SnookerUSA</A>
Both voted the top 70 billiard sites on the net by Billiards Digest
Roger Ballenger
When I was playing for days at a time in the early '80s (the calendar years,
not mine), I was working on lowering my head to the cue. I subsequently
pinched a nerve in my shoulder. I couldn't lift my left arm for about 2
weeks. Luckily this hasn't reoccurred.
The next injury I had was really stupid! While playing straight pool, I was
in the process of squatting down to see if an object ball would pass into
the side pocket through a group of balls in the rack area. I must not have
been paying too much attention, because I hit my chin on the edge of the
table right at the corner pocket. Owww!!
The next thing I knew, I was sitting on the floor with my head spinning, my
'concerned friends' laughing their asses off!
Roger Ballenger
BTW, great stories in your book "Byrne's Wonderful World of Pool and
Billiards". I especially enjoyed reading about Welker Cochran 'The man in
Willie Hoppe's Shadow'. You do a great service to the sport. Thank you.