The Wise Guy

(Photo: Brian Tietz)

Who knows why Wiseman has begun thinking a certain way these days, whether it was that Bad Night at Boca or his divorce a couple of years ago from "probably the best thing that ever happened to me," or something else completely. But he's considering the possibility of living a very different life. Of taking himself off the road and finally giving up all the get-rich-quick schemes. Of settling down for good in Fort Myers, Fla., where he recently moved, and maybe opening up a poolroom.

"I still play pretty good for my age and I'm still fit, and people are amazed when they find out how old I am," he said. "But I'm at that stage now where I wonder if I can beat these young guys anymore. That's why I've made the transition, more and more, to these tournaments, and, believe me on this, I really try to win every one of them.

"I mean, I'll always love action. I'll always love the lifestyle of the road. The freedom of it. The travel. It's really a great life if you think positively and have a good bankroll. You can make your scores and have a lot of fun doing it, which I have.

"But I feel like I'm reaching that point where well, you know, I'm concerned about it. I wonder how long I can keep going."

He can't help but wonder, too, about that first night at The Rack, that mesmerizing dividing point in his life that triggered something inside him that he never even knew existed, and how he would've turned out, and where he'd be right now, if that night never happened.

"I guess if not for that night," Wiseman said, "I'd probably still be in Windsor, a normal factory worker living a normal lifestyle, maybe with a wife and a couple of kids, carrying that lunch bucket every day, worried about paying the bills on time, and still going nowhere."

He sighed. "There are days I wish I never saw all that action that night, but there are more days when I'm so glad I did, because, if not for that night, I probably would've never had all the happiness that I got through playing pool."

Without that scary but thrilling night, Ronnie Wiseman might never have become pool's Wise Guy, roaming the map with a wink and a bankroll, with that charming smile and gift-of-gab, but rather just another working stiff, another grim-looking, sold-out soul dragged along some assembly line.

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