I just need to get something off my chest.

People are pissing me off.

People piss me off all the time I suppose, but in this particular case they're pissing me off about break cues. Specifically the heavy vs. light debate.

As the argument goes, a lighter break cue will allow you to generate more speed with the cue, and that increased speed more than makes up for the fact that there's less mass hitting the cueball.

Well, lah dee dah.

I suppose, if I were so inclined, I could grab myself a light break cue and wind myself up like a softball pitcher, maybe even get a running start like Happy Gilmore, and really *WHACK* the damn ball. I might even be able to get an accurate hit every now and then.

Allow me to hit the cueball with less speed, however, and I'll hit the damn thing accurately every time I break. There are two components to a power break, and I'm going to list them in the order of importance. Pay attention here:

1. Accuracy.

2. Speed.

This shouldn't be news to any of you. If you know enough about pool to be reading this 'blog then you know I'm right. All the speed in the world does you no good if you can't hit the head ball correctly.

The point I'm trying to make here is that a slightly slower speed, combined with a more accurate hit, can result in a better break than an inaccurate hit at 100 miles per hour.

Just because somebody (I bet it was Sigel) said years ago that he preferred a lighter break cue because he felt it improved his break, that doesn't mean that every other self-professed expert else has to start parroting his words until the end of time.

Some people lose too much accuracy when they try to break at full speed. Some people are better off with a slower speed.

And those people are probably better off with a heavier break cue if their goal is to break the balls the hardest.

Don't argue. You know I'm right.

Okay, so I guess I'm switching cues.

I'm banking so much better with my Predator than I am with my Schon - I just can't ignore it any longer.

I don't know if it's the weight, or the balance, or the thinner shaft, or what the hell it is.

All I know is that banks with the Predator, whether they go or not, feel completely effortless. With the Schon, I feel like I'm having to really work at each and every shot.

Now, if I could only transfer some of the Predator ease to my 9-ball game.

A short while ago a friend of mine from my old RSB days posted in that group about a wonderful new product for cleaning shafts.

Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser is, as Fred suggested, one of the best things for shaft cleaning EVER!

Of course, as is usual with RSB, the blowhards had to start ripping at the concept before they'd even tried it.

Well the blowhards are wrong, Fred is right. I made my 15-year-old shaft look like new in about 15 minutes - and I did not raise the grain at all.

Thanks, Fred.

In Omaha I bought a cue.

I'd spent Thursday night playing with either my friend Mike's old Predator or Awesome Larry's Meucci.

Believe it or not I liked the Meucci better. It delivered a very solid hit and very little squirt.

On Friday I found myself at Alkar's and bought myself a Predator Sneaky Pete, hoping that it would help my 8-ball suckiness.

It didn't.

I've noticed a big difference in the way I play when I shoot with my Schon and when I shoot with my Predator.

I still plan to cover that subject, but a big part of that was going to rely on my experiences with this X-10 anti-vibration thingy I ordered for my Predator last week.

The thing was ordered on Tuesday, and now it's Tuesday again, and the thingy has not arrived.

I called today to see what was up and they told me that it should ship by the end of the week.

This type of thing is exactly why I hate ordering things. I hate waiting. I especially hate waiting for pool gimcracks.

I took my good shaft to Bryan Roberts for a new Moori tip today. My old tip wasn't really that worn, but I almost always get my tips replaced sooner than most people would.

After Bryan replaced the tip, I had him buff out a small ding and clean the shaft up really well.

So anyway, seeing my nice clean shaft, and knowing that it would quickly get dirty again, made me do something I thought I'd never do.

I bought one of those dorky pool gloves.

I figure that if I only wear the glove in the privacy of my own home my shaft will stay cleaner longer. I doubt that I'll ever get up the nerve to wear the thing in public.

At least I hope not.

I shipped my cues to Gene in Seattle today so I don't get hassled by any airport security this weekend.

I guess I'm a little worried about them getting lost or damaged. It's happened before. I did insure them for quite a bit though.

So anyway, for the next couple of days I'm stuck with playing with my Predator cue. Not that I hate it or anything - it's just not the same. Tha balance is all wrong and it's too light. I was originally going to ship it to Seattle instead of my regular cue but at the last minute decided that to have the best chance of doing well there I'd need my most familiar equipment.

Today, to go with my nice new cloth and retightened pockets, I cleaned and polished my set of Aramith Super Pros with some Karseal polish. I also cleaned my cue's shaft with Larry's cleaner and finished it off with some CueSilk.

While waiting for the polish on the balls to dry I went ahead and drew my standard lines on the table. First I used string to very accurately determine the footspot and drew a 3-inch "+" at that point. I drew a line across the headstring, another from the footspot straight to the end rail, and another set of lines around where a rack would be placed. For the footspot itself I used a hole-reinforcement sticker like I used in the connect the dots practice.

After taking a towel and buffing the balls off I was finally ready to play on the best equipment available.

I got my table back today as promised!

Actually all I "got back" was the rails with the new-improved tightened pockets and some new 860 cloth.

I can't wait to get down there and miss for a week because of the slick cloth and tight pockets.

The pool table has been dismantled so the cloth can be replaced and the pockets tightened. I have to wait until Friday to play again. Woe is me.

For a year and a half I've been saying that the pockets on my table got wider when I had the Artemis rubber installed.

I was right.

The pocket facings that were installed were 1/8" and the old ones were 1/4" facings.

So there.