Work can occasionally get mundane and the only saviors, of such a lull, are a few corporate activities that aim to make the workplace, a fun place to be. Though few and far between, everyone looks forward for some fantastic events to be organised. And so when the memo for pool championship in my department was circulated, me and a friend sent out our nominations and started with some serious practice.
The tournament schedule was soon out and surprisingly not many teams were participating. A little turn down for the organizers as lesser participation did not serve the purpose of organising the event at all. But this came as a good news to us, it meant lesser competition favoring a better chance of winning. Then came a shock, if I should say so, there was but one team of girls participating and we were pitched against them for the eliminations. If I were to praise myself at the game, I am neither a novice nor a pro, which means luck has a lot bigger role to play if I were to win a game! The word soon went around that we are being challenged by a bunch of girls for the eliminations. It almost became a prestige issue for us to win this game because loosing to girls was just not acceptable! We had never seen them at the pool table before and so were apprehensive about their skills at the game.
The game started and pretty soon it was obvious, who was the champion at the table. No. It wasn't them. It wasn't us either. Both teams were equally pathetic at the game and it was becoming difficult to point out who sucked more at the game. Curious onlookers cheered on initially but were soon loosing interest in our game. Occasional cheers made us feel good, but another poor shot would dampen the enthusiasm. I could see fewer people watching our game, as most made their way to a more exciting game being played at the next table.
Gradually pocketing the stripes we made ourselves comfortable and started playing with some confidence. After a few hits and a lot misses, it was just the black ball on the table and for some reason it just refused to go into the called pocket. Now our best chance was to wait for them to make some mistake and use it to our advantage. We had had enough of this and wanted an end to the ordeal. The drooling game drew to an end when we had a golden chance to pot the black ball and register a victory, though not a well deserved one. My partner took the cue, called the pocket and hit it well. What followed was most unprecedented for, we did pot the black ball, unfortunately in the wrong pocket, forfeiting the game. Owing much to the poor show of talent, we were awarded with this unfortunate loss. I cannot say that the better team won, nor did they win on their merit.
After all that pooling around, pun intended, I can't help but put things in this perspective - Poor show of talent : Some sympathies from onlookers ; Losing to the only girls team : Some more embarrassment for days to come ; The look on the girls' faces when they won : Priceless!!
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