Papa's Story.

About 5 years ago, I had one of those father and son talks about life in general, and I remember asking my pops, what he loved to play back in the Philippines. I somewhat had a feeling that he would say basketball or shit maybe chess, but instead I guessed wrong and he straight up said local pool. When he was young, he loved to play local pool (traditional makeshift billiards for the poor barangays in the Philippines), every single day and night. This was their hangout place, like most people in town. But as the years passed by, legit billiard shops were being built in the city, and this is where he continued to play pool. Never thought he would tell me this but, he used to be a mad hustler. A hustler who would badly beat up people in pool, taking their money and receiving free drinks. Gambling was too easy for him, and it was impossible to get him off the table, unless you paid him to get off. He played everywhere, especially in the heart of Manila, where most great pool players played. This is when he tells me he actually saw young Efren Reyes playing back in the Philippines, which in his eyes considered him to be weak. He told me he couldn't compete with him, and there was no chance this kid could play. Although he never played him, since Efren was basically a kid and at the same time was a complete no name, it just struck me that, Efren Reyes -- probably the best pool player in the world today, would probably get his ass kicked in pool by my dad. That's a shitload of bragging rights! He stopped playing pool after about 10 years because he had a position to be the mayor's personal officer, a right hand man in Pangasinan, Urdaneta. And about 3 years after, my mother petitions the whole family, and they were all bound for America. My pops then tells me that, just about a year in America, he developed a severe case of asthma, in which he couldn't do a lot of things because it would tire him quick. Sadly, he couldn't play pool anymore because of his complications.

About an hour has passed by he stops the story and leaves for work. At that moment, I had the "WTF" face on, because I just had a shitload of history just told to me. This was the first time he ever wanted to talk about his life. It was great. I loved him even more from those stories and I couldn't get enough of them.

I wanted to share this story with you guys, because first of all pool. When and were did that shit start in the Philippines. In the next week, I would like to research about Pool in the Philippines.

Passing away a few months ago, I felt sad at all the things my father would've done. The biggest thing was not getting a chance to see him play pool, and this is what is embedded in my head whenever I get a game of pool.

Even though pool is fun, I play because my fathered played, and I know that he would love any of his sons to continue his legacy. RIP POPS...

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Here is a clip of EFREN "BATA" REYES performing one of the greatest shots in billiard history!!! enjoy!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qq_2k-k0pd4