Captain’s Log, May 19th, 2013 

Ladies 8 Ball divisions are taking on a whole new look for the Summer Session, and their session begins on the week of June 9^th. Teams will consist of 3 to 5 players with 3 playing each week. The team handicap limit for a match is 13 and we will be using the new 3 point scoring system for awarding team points in each match. Weekly team fees for the Ladies divisions will be $24.00 per team. Contact the league office if you would like to participate on a team in this format or if you would like to put a team in. South Bay is setting up a Wednesday night division and the other divisions are playing on Friday night. We do have a very relaxed schedule where you only play a few times a month. This is a great way to make some new APA friends and get done much earlier than the typical 5 match night we play every other night of the week. J 

I’d like to spend a little time this week explaining innings and defensive shots this week. The winner of the lag goes in the top half of the score box and the loser of the lag goes on the bottom. When the loser of the lag misses a shot, or ends a game because of an 8 Ball scratch or 8 in the wrong pocket, an inning should be marked. Basically any time the loser of the lag ends their turn at the table, an inning gets marked. An inning does NOT get marked if the players turn doesn’t officially end. For example, if I lost the lag in my match and I made the 8 Ball to win game one, an inning does not get marked in that box, because it is still my turn at the table. When I break in the next game and don’t make a ball, then I get marked for an inning, and in the game we are currently playing, not games that are already over. If I make the 8 Ball to win the match, you don’t mark the inning because if another game were to be played, I’d still have the table. You only mark them on misses and losses of game where the loser of the lag missed or attempted the game losing shot. Picking up the cue ball instead of taking a shot and handing it to your opponent is an inning if it’s the loser of the lag doing it, and it should also be marked as a safety. Safeties are defined as no intent to make a ball. Marking defense is how we prevent dishonest teams from getting away with manipulating their skill levels or their score sheets. Each shot where there is no intent to pocket a ball should be marked as a safety. Players should call their own safeties so that it is clear. Safeties are subjective and each team should not rely on the other team to inform you that they have attempted a safety. After each shot where the player did not pocket a ball, ask yourself if they were making any attempt to pocket one, and if you can’t say they were, mark a defensive shot. 

After each game, I typically hear teams comparing the amount of innings that happened in each game. That’s all well and good, unless the other team is purposely trying to convince you that there were more innings than what was actually played. Purposely trying to negotiate more innings is just as bad as any other form of cheating. There will be times when you are off occasionally, because you aren’t paying attention as closely as the other team. But, if they always have more innings than you, it could be there is something more to it. That is why each team gets a score sheet and each team is expected to keep accurate score of their matches. If the other team tells you it’s 4 innings and you only have 2, leave your sheet at 2. The sheets absolutely do NOT have to match. If they had 4 and you only had 2 because you lost track of what was going on, it’s quite possible that it is actually 4. The goal is to get an accurate portrayal of what actually happened in each game of each match so that we can assess the most accurate skill level rating to each player for each match they play in. Our goal is to create the most fair and competitive league we possibly can, thereby creating a much more enjoyable experience for you and your team. If you know of a team that is purposely trying to run up innings on the score sheet or on the pool table, or is doing something else to help keep their skill levels in check, please let the league office know. We are very good about keeping complaints anonymous, and we launch investigations on each complaint we receive. Our biggest concern is that you walk away from your match, win or lose, with the impression you had a fair chance to win.

I know Team Captains usually get these score sheets and newsletters in the mail or in their packets and they are typically the first to see these newsletters, but please share these with ALL of your teammates. We provide a lot of important information that isn’t just for Team Captain’s eyes only. All of our league members deserve to stay informed of what is happening in the league that they play in, and it gives them something else to do when they aren’t playing a match or keeping score. The Captain’s Log is also posted on our web site.

Our web site is really taking shape these days. If you need help logging into or creating your online account with APA, please call the league office. We want to help you get access to all the information that APA provides, and these days its an awful lot of info. We provided applications in each packet last week. Please have your new players fill these out and submit them back to us as they pay their membership fees. They can also do an online application along with a credit card payment for memberships at our web site or at www.poolplayers.com

We saw a few 23 rule violations last year, and we don’t ever like seeing those. All 23 rule violations will be enforced, whether the other team notices or not. Please double check to make sure your weekly line up can meet the 23 rule.

Shoot Pool Good!