Fibbar MaGee's team member Mick Freeman lines up a shot for a nine-ball tournament at Bank Shot.
By Anne Gelhaus
Does a pot of gold await seven Irishmen from Fibbar MaGee's? They hone their skills at a Murphy Avenue pool hall in hopes of Þnding out.
The lads from Fibbar MaGee's Irish Pub weren't shooting their best games during a recent Bay Area Pool League night. Padraig Keane had just lost his match and was watching teammate and brother Dominic Keane lose the following one.
"It really doesn't matter because we're already in the playoffs," Padraig Keane said. "We're just finishing out league play."
The "playoffs" to which he was referring are actually the national nine-ball championships sponsored by the league-affiliated American Pool Association. The team sponsored by Fibbar's won the regional tournament and will travel to Las Vegas Aug. 35 to play against other league teams from around the country. Meanwhile, the seven Irishmen aim to win part of the pot at the Bay Area Pool League's nine-ball championships, set for July 13 at Shoreline Billiards in Mountain View.
"We're thinking of investing in cues," Keane said wryly but seriously.
In fact, team members were surprised when Mick Freeman, who they all agree is their best player, showed up for league play with his own equipment.
"I bought a cue; I broke tradition," Freeman said.
Whether they use house cues or buy sticks of their own, league members play every Sunday night at one of 10 pool halls in the South Bay. On June 30, the matches were held at Sunnyvale's Bank Shot Sports Bar and Billiards, which Billiards Digest ranked one of the top 14 pool halls in America in 1994.
League operator Laura Wich-mann said she and her husband David look for more upscale pool halls when trying to find places for their teams to play.
"One of our goals is to change the image of pool," she added. "In movies like The Hustler, pool was seen as being played in dark, dangerous rooms."
"I worked in the computer industry for 15 years before I opened this place," said Paul Horne, who owns the Bank Shot with his wife Karen. "When my company did motivational activities, we'd play miniature golf or go bowling. There was no place to play pool that was female-friendly."
Wichmann said more and more women are signing up for league play every season.
"It's a handicapped league, so that levels the playing field," she added. "About 65 percent of our players are at the lower skill levels."
League teams are made up of five to eight players at varying skill levels. On Sunday nights, teams play five singles matches of nine-ball, starting with the lowest-ranked player from each team and moving up the roster. Players earn one point for each ball they sink; the nine-ball is worth two points. The score that's needed to win depends on a player's ranking: the higher the skill level, the higher the score.
Even though they're winning with it, Keane admitted his teammates are still a bit befuddled by the scoring system.
"We still haven't figured out how the handicapping works," he said. "We just come in and play when they tell us to."
The Fibbar's team was formed last year by co-captains Dominic Keane and Patrick Brennan, both of whom work at the Sunnyvale pub. Padraig Keane said the game of pool was somewhat new to all seven members.
"All of us used to play snooker in Ireland, but we never played over here at all," he added. "There are some good players in the league."
"Lots of people take the league very seriously," said teammate Mick Boyle. "We want to do well, but we also want to have a laugh."
If the Fibbar's lads do well at the APA nationals, they'll take home part of a $100,000 pot; the first-place team will win $15,900.
"As this team continues to climb the national ladder, they'll win more and more money," Wichmann said. "What they're going to do in Vegas will be as tension-filled as a World Series game."
Until then, though, the Fibbar's team is low-key about its pool game: The men's Sunday-night ritual involves plenty of beer, and they consider it teetotaling to drink bottles of Budweiser instead of pints of Guinness.
Team members are seriously grateful to the people who have helped them along the road to the national championships.
"We want to thank Laura and Dave for starting the league and Paul for putting up with us every week," said Dominic Keane.
"And to Fibbar's for sponsoring the team," added Freeman.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, July 10, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.