I have a few vivid memories that involve pool tables. The one that I am going to relay to you now is kind of bitter sweet. When I was in college, I got up the nerve to go on stage during a brewery sponsored stand up comedy contest. This first part has very little to do with pool tables, so bear with me. Anyway, I used my guitar as a bit of a crutch, and I managed to pull of a pretty good performance. I played a sweet sounding song about Montezuma’s revenge. Actually, the song was typical of the late eighties, with soft verses and a jarringly hard chorus.

But I digress…Anyway, I one second place. The top act was two guys with guitars.

One of these guys asked me to team up with him for a serious musical performance later that year. There were technical difficulties at this second performance and we choked and left the stage. I was fairly stoic about the episode, but my partner was in a state. I played pool with him as a form of therapy. It was like the cue ball was our failed gig. I have never seen anyone turn anger into bank shots so effectively. When he was fully recovered he was very grateful to me for helping him calm down. I was a little bit bummed that he beat me so badly so many times, but hey, I may have saved a life.

Pool tables are very useful for office perks in 2.0 businesses. I have met at least one programmer who mentioned a beer fridge and a pool table as institutions in his place of work.

If you get a table for your home or office, be sure to get a good looking pool table lamp to hang above it.