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On an irregular basis, the Drifter imparts the wisdom of pool, whether applied to the game or to the world at large.
One never knows when or what the Drifter will add to these bits of billiard brilliance. Check back often.
November
12, 2011 - Oh, those technical difficulties. The past week has seen trouble with the website, which also means trouble
with the newsletter. Hopefully, the newsletter will be out later today.
Broomstick open was a raucus affair.
It was a lot of fun. Kurt Sabin and Jake Stollar had the best broomstick and it showed. They won minature brooms
and a little cash as well.
We were disappointed with the Queen Drifter Open. No one showed up. Hopefully
next year!
Looking forward, we have some weeks coming up with no pool leagues. We are looking into pitch,
poker, pool, and dart tournaments. Hope to see you there!
We are really excited to have Stefano Pelinga coming
to Drifters! He is one of those guys you see on TV all the time. His VIP special is a real deal - $100 for a fine
cooked meal, a meet and greet with Stefano, special prizes, and entry into the clinic. Well worth the money!
Finally, we really appreciate the teams that play for Drifters. We hope you come in on December 10th for our No Entry
Fee tournament and player appreciation party.
October 5, 2011 - Well, not much to report. I was sad to have to raise prices, but
the supplier companies raised them on me. Got to pay the bills.
Drifter teams are doing really well.
I have been trying to do a little writeup on Facebook each week, but so far have been stymied a bit by delays in getting the
info from each team. It will get better. If you want to report on your team's play, feel free to use the Drifter
page on Facebook. Love to see your posts.
My team (and particularly me) has started slow. Poor decisions,
timid play - the usual things that impair competing at the highest level. We will improve. I hope the same is
true for all the readers.
August 23 - Dr. Cue, coming to Drifters!
I have long wanted this to happen. Dr. Cue is the best billiards showman in the world today. His show is entertaining,
as he mixes his sense of humor with his remarkable ability to produce a show anyone (even non-poolplayers) can enjoy.
I am absolutely glowing!
There is still time to sign up for fall-winter leagues! Some nights are filling
up fast, so make sure you get your paperwork in!
The new menu is looking really good. The food has gotten
mostly high reviews and we really hope we can provide an outstanding level of service.
Thanks to all of our
players for helping keep Drifters around for three years now! Very exciting!
July 25, 2011
-- Well, we are halfway through the summer. It is our toughest time of the year, but we are soldiering on. The
CSG Foosball was great! We enjoy having those folks coming in. Although we are primarily a pool room, we try to
give as much attention as we can to darts and foos and video golf. Players that play in our bar have had some success,
and we are proud for them.
August is shaping up to be another very exciting month for us. We will host the
Lady Drifter team tournament. We will re-open the kitchen. We will host the VVS sign-up party. We can't
say enough about our customers and how much they mean to us.
After that, fall and winter season is on us!
We hope all of you will consider playing for Drifters this fall. We have some exciting promotions we think will be a
lot of fun for the players.
June 12, 2011
Welcome to summer! We have many great events planned for the summer. Something for everyone! A tournaments,
B tournaments, Masters tournaments, fun events, you name it, we've got it! We are even going to host a Swap Meet
on July 16. and if there is an event you think would be popular, please let us know!
Look for some exciting
changes coming to Drifters in the fall. First, we are revamping our kitchen and menu. We apologize that this means
some time this summer with little or no food in the bar, but better now than in the middle of the league season! Second,
we are going to offer more perks and incentives to teams playing out of the bar. We are very excited about the things
we will be able to do. Look for some announcements in July and August. Finally, we are expanding the selection
of entertainment in the bar. We started offering poker, and it was so successful we have added a second night each week.
More options will be offered as we go along.
As always, thanks for being a customer of Drifters. We hope
to keep making the Drifter experience better and better!
Whew.
Time to take a deep breath. The level of preparation that goes into an event like Archer-Strickland is incredible.
In the end, we fell short on having the kind of table we really wanted. Still, there was no denying the energy in the
room during the event. Thanks to everyone who came. If you bought the match on PPV and had problems, we sincerely
apologize. We had some technical difficulties of our own - our upload speed wasn't as high as we hoped it would
be, so we had to shut down "non-essential" things in the bar that tap into the internet. You don't know
how the internet has impacted life until you realize how much connects to it. But we learned a lot, and next time things
will go better.
And there will be a next time. Details are still up in the air, but there is a definite desire
to keep bringing this type of event to Drifters. We handle it well, we have a good facility, and the players and their
promoters like coming here. Our customers are a large part of that.
But we can't sit still for long.
The Drifter Invitational is just a few days away. Other events this summer include the Cornhusker State Games Foosball,
the Chris Wilken Tournament, the Lady Drifter Team Tournament, and who knows what else.
On July 16 we will hold
our first ever Bar Games Swap Meet. Bring your old cues, darts, foosball tables, shuffleboard pucks - whatever - to
Drifters and see if you can trade or sell them. Or come on down if you are looking for those things. No promises.
But we've invited all the pawn shops, and we are trying to get some out of town dealers to come in as well. We are
interested to see if this gets going. Tell your friends.
March 4 - a great day in military history!
(March forth, get it?) Ok bad joke.
Some of you have noticed that there has not been a newletter since
January. There has been lots going on behind the scenes, and time has slipped away, but the newsletter should return
by the end of next week. Watch for a coupon!
Very excited to have Johnny Archer and Earl Strickland in house
for the Bad Blood Challenge. This is a preeminent event for only $25! I hope to see lots of people there.
This event is being put on the internet, and we want to convince all those viewers out there that Lincoln is passionate about
pool! A good crowd will surely make that happen.
Watch the Facebook updates during the City Tournaments!
February 9,
2011 -- Wow, what a great show put on by Johnny Archer and Nick Varner last Friday night! And what a great turnout!
Thanks to you all.
I was especially pleased to see the way Johnny and Nick stuck around and signed autographs for
everything presented to them. Consummate pros! Then they came in early Saturday to talk to the Junior Pool players
and even played a few challenge matches! We can't thank them enough.
And Thanks to Mark Cantrill and
his Legends and Champions Tour for helping arrange it all.
Now a deep breath, because the next couple months are
going to be busy! We are entering the stretch run for leagues, and Drifter teams are poised to gather in some hardware
- Go Get 'em! Then the city tournaments in March.
April is also filling up fast for the pool enthusiast.
The 2nd & 3rd will see Johnny Archer return to Drifters for a challenge match against Earl Strickland. This $10,000
event is sponsored by AirArt1 (Bob Finke and company), and we are honored to serve as the host. Tickets will be $25
and will go on sale February 18.
The next weekend is the Drifter Invitational. The top 64 players off the
Drifter Rankings and others who buy in competing Final Four like. We hope to have a huge prize this year - stay tuned.
NEW THIS YEAR: Womens Division! The top 16 women will be invited to their own tournament on Sunday. If possible,
both finals will be videoed and highlights run on drifterspoolroom.com.
The next week is the 45th Annual Midwest
Pool Tournament. I will be conducting a referee class on Thursday the 14th - $25. But the real event kicks off
with the Hall of Fame banquet that day. Come see if anyone you know is being honored!
Jan 30, 2011
-- As I write this, we are finalizing the last minute details for Archer-Varner this coming week. Interest has been
great, and I hope to see you there!
Leagues are going well and we appreciate your business. In many leagues,
the usual teams are fighting for the top spots, but there are some surprises out there! Keep it up, you underdogs!
One thing that gives me mixed emotions is the young people playing in leagues now. I am glad to see the young
people that are taking up league pool. New blood is always welcome. But I worry that there are not more.
I think there are a great group of Junior players on their way, but the large group is a few years away. If you have
any suggestions on getting more early 20s players into leagues, let us know!
Jan 5, 2010
-- Very, very excited to have Johnny Archer and Nick Varner coming the first week of February! We are very please to
bring this great show to you, our customers.
Hoping this weekend to see lots of you at the Deb Murray/Penny Woodside
Memorial. This is always a fun time with excellent action.
The Tips from the Drifter will continue in Star
City Sports. Hope you are all getting better from reading those.
December 14, 2010 -- Well it has been a while, so I won't
be surprised if few of you see this, but what a great start to the pool season! Drifters has been hopping and our tournaments
are truly exciting. the best thing for me is that I see players of all skill levels and abilities showing up.
No matter what your skill level, we have events for you!
Very excited about the coming professional event
in February. We haven't signed the contract yet, which is the only thing keeping us from announcing the participants,
but trust me, they are great people to have in house. They will do a show and then host a school. Unfortunately,
we will have to charge a small fee for the show, and the cost of the school is set by the professionals, but I promise it
will be worth it!
April 28, 2010
Midwest
is done. My team played well. In the final game, I needed a runout for us to win. I had it right in front
of me, but I missed a shot I probably make 95% of the time. Why? I lost focus for
just a minute, and it was enough. It started me thinking - I can remember about ten times where I needed to runout for
my team to win. Not just a win, but a big win. I figure I have been successful about half the time. I can't
thank my teammates enough for giving me that opportunity to succeed or, as in this case, fail. That challenge - to remain
focused in the penultimate game - is a lot of what the game is about to me. Like the vast majority of players,
I will take this lesson and apply it again next time.
March
21, 2010
As I sit here at the VVS Midwest Singles competition, I am reminded how thankful we are (or should
be) for the pool atmosphere in Lincoln. 48 tables, top notch organization, enthusiastic players. Is it any
wonder we boast so many accomplished players? And more on the way.
Excellent showing by Drifters Teams in
the Great Plains Tournament! Numerous 1st and 2nd place showing. Five of the top six in the Masters Division were
Drifters Teams!! If you are on Facebook and a fan of Drifters, you saw the results posted earlier today.
If
you are on Facebook and not a fan, become one! There is a button on our homepage. If you have an e-mail address,
sign up for our monthly e-newsletter, also using a button on the homepage. We will be listing all the Drifter Champions
there when the VVS Midwest team Tournament concludes.
3/9/2010
Congrats
to the Nebraska Women's Basketball team on an undefeated season! Awesome!
One of the biggest parts of the game
of pool is the mental game. The ability to remain "in the moment" and not let the last shot or the last game
or the possibility or a future result impact what you are doing is highly valued. How easy it is to start daydreaming
about winning the tournament after a big win, only to blow the next match! For the observer of pool, the Husker women
can teach a lot about not getting caught up in the aspects of winning!
Another good lesson for the aspiring pool
player taken from the Husker women is their attitude as a "practice team". They don't consider themselves
perfect. They attack each practice as an opportunity to get better. The work is done during the week - the game
is just for show. For those of us with jobs and families, it is hard to carve out practice time. But it is oh
so vital if we are going to perform our best at the coming tournaments. Make each practice session efficient and effective.
Don't just screw around - proactice your focus as well as your shot making ability.
2/18/2010
I watched with interest the national sportswriters hue and cry about the overtime in professional football.
They are dismayed that one team gets to play offense first, and if they are successful, the other team doesn't get to
play offense. Most pool players probably said "Bah" to that.
Pool is one of thevery few games,
maybe the only one, where you can get beat and NEVER get to show how good you are. The other guy or gal might be
making a sloppy runout, but if he or she completes it, tough luck to you. You don't even get to play defense.
Many a match has been decided on who won the flip. Pro football teams get to have their defense on the field.
Interestingly, it is mostly the sportwriters, not players, that you hear complaining about it, especially when
their favorite golden boys are the ones who don't get to strut their stuff. Maybe some of them should drop on into
Drifters for a game of pool now and then.
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