You can either jump right to the laughs, or, if you've got an extra second or two, you should probably read the prologue to the story below. So, who wants some laughs?

I knew you would. Well, just give me a few more seconds of your time for a quick explanation and then we're off to the races. Okay? As some of you out there may know, I am an avid pool player in my area. In October of 1995, I joined up with the local "St. Thomas Pool League." A fabulous 22 week pool league, run by Pierson Enterprises. "The Bar Room Bandits," consisting of myself, Kevin Haight (team captain), John Curtis, Adrian Peters, and Dan Kennedy (my father), had an amazing season this past year, which ended with us in first place.

It was quite an honour, especially for me, as this was my first year ever in a pool league. Well, the prize for first place was an all expenses paid trip down to Las Vegas, Nevada to compete in the Billiard Congress of America (BCA) North American 8-Ball Championships, held May 10-18 at the sensational Riviera Hotel & Casino right on the strip.

So, with fabulous support from league convenors Cliff, John, Tracy and Linda, and of course all of St. Thomas, the Bar Room Bandits set off to sunny Las Vegas on May 12th.

Well, to make part of this story a bit shorter, the Bandits didn't fare too well. We were eliminated in the third round of the double knockout tournament after facing some very stiff competition, including a team consisting of members of the Nevada State Champion team!!

But there was also an unknown member of the team that accompanied us on our trip. A member who, although didn't play much pool, had a wonderful time none the less. This member was Bobo Kennedy. Bobo is my stuffed dog. He's about three or four inches high, and normally resides in the cup holder of the Kennedy family pickup truck spreading goodwill wherever he goes.

Bobo pleaded to come to Vegas with me, and, well, with that sorry "puppy-dog" look of his, I couldn't resist. So what follows, is a "photo-essay" of Bobo's trip to Las Vegas.

So now that that is all out of the way, let's move on to the good part!

---

---