Let your conscience be your guide?

I have heard it said that pool is a poor manís golf, and see many similarities between the two.  First, both are individual sports.  Yes, there are team variations of the game, but essentially it is a sport that during actual participation you are the only actor involved.  No teammates are blocking for you or getting into a better position for you to pass the ball to them.  Individually you either succeed or fail based on your own performance. Make a shot or not. Run the rack or not.

The other similarity that I find interesting is the conditions under which pool and golf are played.  Yes, I realize that golf is played outdoors and pool is played indoors.  Both games are similar in that you can never really play the same game twice.  Imagine if you could break the balls every time and always have the same layout.  By the same token try standing on the first tee and try to hit your first drive to the very same spot twice in a row, especially when you account for wind and other factors that affect the ballís flight.

Another factor that lends itself to the similarities is that there are no referees, judges, officials, or umpires in your average match.  Until you get to the high profile tournaments or exhibitions these matches are self-governing.  So if this is the case, then why is it that golfers routinely call penalties on themselves but pool players do not?

Pool has suffered an image problem for the last 70 years that it is populated with people that are of moral character that is less than stellar.  It is my belief that this is in part due to the predominant opinion in our game is that the opposing player is supposed to notice infractions and that if they do not, then there is no foul.  Remember the philosophical question about a tree falling in the woods and no one is there to witness it.  Is there still a noise when it crashes to the ground?

I would like to put forth the idea that if it is a foul then it is a foul.  I am a big believer in looking at myself in the mirror every day and find it easier to do with a clear conscience.  Is there something morally wrong with my thought process or is there a fundamental flaw in the way we govern our game?  It is my belief that laying the responsibility of calling a foul on the sitting player leads to a spirit of larceny.  This perpetuates itself to the point that it has become the rule as opposed to the exception in our chosen pass time.  This spirit of larceny comes from the thought that if my opponent did not notice the foul, then I got away with committing the infraction, or even that the foul did not exist. (Back to that tree thing.)  Then there are the times where the foul is questionable and the sitting player calls the infraction, then an argument often ensues, further contributing to the dark image of billiards.

This boils down to a personal issue. Are you a person who is willing to call a foul on yourself? Or are you the one who will call a foul only when you know there are witnesses in order to lend credibility to yourself when no one is watching? Perhaps you are the person who will never call a penalty on yourself, as it is always questionable as to whether or not your opponent noticed.

So there is the enigma.  What is right?  Is there an issue with the way some of us act?  Am I a fool for believing one should always act as though a conscience is always looking over their shoulder, or that we even have a conscience in the first place?  The Golden Rule fits in this equation somewhere as I see it and do realize that there are those who will never adhere to this belief system.  However, does this give us license to become like them?  Is it an ìIíll get them before they get meî mentality?

I canít operate that way.  That is a train I donít have a ticket for.  Maybe Iím fighting a battle that canít be won, but I will tell you that Iím not alone.  There are honorable gentlemen in this game.  I have met many of them.  My point is that they appear to be the minority, and the only way to make it a majority is for us to police our game in a different fashion.

As a manager of a billiard establishment for 10 years, I have encountered this situation more times than care to count.  My preferred method of dealing with this is positive peer pressure.  I normally wait until an opportune moment before speaking with the person privately, mentioning to them that it was noticed.  Sometimes I will put forth that their personal integrity is not worth the gain.  Other times Iíll ask how they might feel in their opponentís chair.  There have been occasions where I have told the person that they have degraded themselves in my eyes.  Often Iíll ask if they enjoy having to be constantly on their guard and point out that they are now contributing to the situation.  Their answer to this is usually no.  It makes the game less enjoyable.

And the truth be told, isnít the reason why we all play is to enjoy ourselves?  Letís face one fact; very few people count on this game to pay their bills.  So if we are in this game for enjoyment, why then at the very least do we need to not add fuel to the fire?  And at the best we need to apply that positive peer pressure to those who need it to rid ourselves of a virus infecting our pass time.

Hey Iím not always right, and Iím not trying to be anybodyís dad, but itís the way I feel.  Do you see yourself anywhere in this equation?  You should.  The question is ìWhereî?