Pool Players Testify before Senate Appropriations Committee

JAM

JAM

I am the storm
Silver Member
This just in. Today marks a milestone in the history of pocket billiards. Pool players will bravely trot before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Capitol Hill at noon. One by one, they are going to testify about the travesties in today's pool world. The agenda item is entitled: "Is it a game, or is it a sport?"
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APRIL FOOLS DAY! :D I just knew the title of this thread would pique some interest. ;)

I do believe the image of pool needs a change agent. I think the reason why pool suffers today in the U.S. is because it is thought of as a GAME, with the bulk of the pool-playing public being social shooters and recreational players.

Pro tournaments are not money-makers, as evidenced by the Hilton NAOT tournaments in Desdin, FL and Pittsburgh, PA.

The governing bodies of professional pool cannot make great strides until they have a product that will attract NEW and outside monies.

The current lot of high-caliber professional players is diminishing, many times because of the economical hardships encountered when competing on a professional tournament trail.

Events which include recreational players, i.e., Derby City Classic and Super Billiards Expo, generate interest and are successful money-makers.

Is pool a game, or is it a sport? Today, pool is regarded as a recreational game by most. I'd be interested to hear from others about WHY pool should even be considered a sport.

JAM
 
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JAM said:
I'd be interested to hear from others about WHY pool should even be considered a sport.

JAM
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here were go...........you sure know how to start off the new month with a flame thread.............LOL :D

VAP
 
JAM said:
APRIL FOOLS DAY! :D I just knew the title of this thread would pique some interest. ;)
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JAM, I have held you in a higher regard than just some prankster on a message board. Some people, like myself, actually have a job to do and when you post made up information then not only are you taking from my time, but you are taking from my boss's time too. Please post only pertinent information on here. Thanx!! :p :p :p





Oh and BTW, April fools to you too.
 
JAM said:
Is pool a game, or is it a sport? Today, pool is regarded as a recreational game by most. I'd be interested to hear from others about WHY pool should even be considered a sport.

JAM
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Since pool has a physical component (in addition to the obvious mental component) and it is a competitive event, it is a sport. The way you hold your cards or shuffle your chips in poker, or the way [not where] you move your pawn in Chess, does not affect the outcome of those events (therefore, those are Games, not sports). The way you hold and move your cue when striking the ball has everything to do with the outcome of the event. Therefore, those people who say that pool is just a game are simply wrong. It is that physical component that is critical. Games lack the physical component (at least physical components of any relevance to outcome).
 
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Just look at the olympics.

There are "sports" that are a joke IMO.

How many syncronized swimmers are there really out there? How about closet afficianados?

How many people are really into the sports that get all the headlines?

You, Me and a whole lot of *real* people are playing and practicing our art daily and I think as a whole, we are treated like Rodney Dangerfield : "We get no respect".

Worldwide, I think people everywhere would appreciate the best of the best shooting pool than doing their impression of a duck in a swimming pool.

Dave
 
Poker is a GAME and look how much money it is making now. It is just the format of the sport/game. You can play poker in your house on a 3x3 foot table. You need at least a 13.5 x 17 foot room to play pool at home. You can play poker online you could play pool online but it isn't the same. In Poker you can have ever increasing pots (going from qualifiers, to Cities, to States, to Nationals) and by the time you have got to the end you have a million dollar pot in pool there is no organization like that (except for the apa but none of that is televised). Poker has quality production companies taping their tournaments and if something doesn't fit they fix it. Pool still has Mitch Lawrence.

JV
 
Mr. Wilson said:
Just look at the olympics.

There are "sports" that are a joke IMO.
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Let's really look at the Olympic sports.

Shooting BB guns.
Skeet and Trap shooting, with shotguns.
Pistol shooting.

What makes these sports and not pool???? :confused:

Playing pool requires:
1. Extremely good eye to hand coordination.
2. Physical skill.
3. Endurance, to compete in a long tournament.

I'm sure there are other points, too.

Pool is a Sport.
 
Rich R. said:
Let's really look at the Olympic sports.

Shooting BB guns.
Skeet and Trap shooting, with shotguns.
Pistol shooting.

What makes these sports and not pool???? :confused:
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And let's not forget about flag-twirling and archery. Hmm, archer is a sport which requires hand-and-eye coordination, much like pool.

For that matter, though, so does golf. Golf ain't in the Olympics either, but it sure does enjoy a STRONG popularity in the U.S. and abroad. Yet, golf is deemed as a sport -- or is it a game?

Rich R. said:
Playing pool requires:
1. Extremely good eye to hand coordination.
2. Physical skill.
3. Endurance, to compete in a long tournament.

I'm sure there are other points, too.

Pool is a Sport.
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I tend to agree with you, Rich R. But for the life of me, I continue to be miffed as to why the game/sport hasn't advanced in the last three decades, at least from my vantage point.

The equipment sure has changed for the better, i.e., Simonis cloth, break/jump cues, chalk that doesn't leave a mess, cues that don't squirt.

The pool industry seems to make a profit. The member organizations, depending on which side of the fence you sit, are profitable. The pool players themselves, though, the ones who have acquired the necessary skills set to compete professionally and hold a strong passion for the game/sport, are still at the bottom of the heap when it comes to the Financial Gain totem pole, with the sole incentive for most to just be the best that they can be.

I am eagerly awaiting to read the press release about the tournament in England. It will be interesting to see how it is structured, and how it unfolds. At least it's something NEW!

JAM
 
JAM said:
I am eagerly awaiting to read the press release about the tournament in England. It will be interesting to see how it is structured, and how it unfolds. At least it's something NEW!

JAM
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so am i jam..........hell if that kind of thing takes off over there with the winner getting a 100 grand......i may be a resident before long :D

VAP
 
Pools unsavory past still has negative affects and effects...

JAM said:
And let's not forget about flag-twirling and archery. Hmm, archer is a sport which requires hand-and-eye coordination, much like pool.

For that matter, though, so does golf. Golf ain't in the Olympics either, but it sure does enjoy a STRONG popularity in the U.S. and abroad. Yet, golf is deemed as a sport -- or is it a game?



I tend to agree with you, Rich R. But for the life of me, I continue to be miffed as to why the game/sport hasn't advanced in the last three decades, at least from my vantage point.

The equipment sure has changed for the better, i.e., Simonis cloth, break/jump cues, chalk that doesn't leave a mess, cues that don't squirt.

The pool industry seems to make a profit. The member organizations, depending on which side of the fence you sit, are profitable. The pool players themselves, though, the ones who have acquired the necessary skills set to compete professionally and hold a strong passion for the game/sport, are still at the bottom of the heap when it comes to the Financial Gain totem pole, with the sole incentive for most to just be the best that they can be.

I am eagerly awaiting to read the press release about the tournament in England. It will be interesting to see how it is structured, and how it unfolds. At least it's something NEW!

JAM
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I firmly believe that the past images of pool as a dark under the stairs basement parlor game with characters like Fast Eddie as portrayed in the Hustler (one of my all time fave movies!:D ) with smoke filled environments (wait ! damn my fave spot still is smoke filled! :confused: ) has all combined to doom pool to unneccessary added years of being relegated to a last in as a sport that is accepted by the masses and qualified to be considered a top notch all american ? family event !

Now having said that I still have no explanation for the rising popularity and money making acceptability of POKER ! :mad:
 
MrLucky said:
Now having said that I still have no explanation for the rising popularity and money making acceptability of POKER ! :mad:
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i have an explanation.............

sit 5 players down at a poker table............lets say they are the equilavant in the poker world as the average joe shmoe "D" pool player.

well when they are playing poker, they just deal the cards, make bets, and show the cards...........they don't know how good they are at poker, to themselves they seem like every other card player.

now take the same 5 players and let them play pool.............well it will be apparent within about 3 shots that they can't play pool very well. the balls aren't falling in the hole, and some guy on the other table is running racks. well that doesn't make them look good so they don't play much pool....................on the other hand, they think they can play poker well so they play alot of poker, watch poker, talk about poker to their friends.

i explained it best i could, the basic idea is that its easier to LOOK like and THINK you can play poker, than it is to look like and think you can play pool.

VAP
 
JAM said:
For that matter, though, so does golf. Golf ain't in the Olympics either, but it sure does enjoy a STRONG popularity in the U.S. and abroad. Yet, golf is deemed as a sport -- or is it a game?

JAM
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Golf is a sport because it combines a couple of disciplines. When you're stuck in the back end of the golf course and lightening starts striking everywhere...you gotta run your ass of to get outta there or you gonna die. Track is a sport.

Additionally, you can get into some damn good races down the fairway or steep hills with the golf carts...NASCAR is a sport.

Occasionally someone in the group ahead has a ball hit into them by the group behind and the ones getting hit into go ballistic and get all pissed off. A fight ensues. Boxing and wrestling are a sport.

Every once in a while a golfer has waaay too many beers on the course and drives the cart into a lake. Swimming is a sport.

Need I say more?
 
drivermaker said:
Every once in a while a golfer has waaay too many beers on the course and drives the cart into a lake. Swimming is a sport.

Need I say more?
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When did you see me play golf???? :p
 
drivermaker said:
Golf is a sport because it combines a couple of disciplines. . . . . .

Need I say more?
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Occasionally, a golfer will "accidentally" lose his grip on the club while "tossing" it toward his bag after a bad shot, and said club ends up several hundred feet down the fairway or in a tree. Javelin is an Olympic sport.
 
Well......,...

vapoolplayer said:
i have an explanation.............

sit 5 players down at a poker table............lets say they are the equilavant in the poker world as the average joe shmoe "D" pool player.

well when they are playing poker, they just deal the cards, make bets, and show the cards...........they don't know how good they are at poker, to themselves they seem like every other card player.

now take the same 5 players and let them play pool.............well it will be apparent within about 3 shots that they can't play pool very well. the balls aren't falling in the hole, and some guy on the other table is running racks. well that doesn't make them look good so they don't play much pool....................on the other hand, they think they can play poker well so they play alot of poker, watch poker, talk about poker to their friends.

i explained it best i could, the basic idea is that its easier to LOOK like and THINK you can play poker, than it is to look like and think you can play pool.

VAP
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I was actually reffering to the history and images of pool versus poker ! :D
 
ScottR said:
Occasionally, a golfer will "accidentally" lose his grip on the club while "tossing" it toward his bag after a bad shot, and said club ends up several hundred feet down the fairway or in a tree. Javelin is an Olympic sport.
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Yes, that is correct. I've also seen the hammer throw technique used not only on individual clubs, but also an entire golf bag. Hammer throw is a sport.

When a player hits the most miserable shank of his entire life across the fairway and over a very wide creek with no place to cross over, and because he's such a cheap miserly prick to just let it go, I've seen some incredible long jumps across the chasms. Long jump is a sport.

I've seen a number of guys on the 18th hole putting to win a high stakes money game and choke their asses off with a 3-putt to lose and reach down and fire their golf ball about 200 yards into an adjoining lake like a Nolan Ryan fastball. Baseball is a sport.

Golf is probably the most demanding sport and requires the maximum versatility of anything else out there.
 
JAM said:
This just in. Today marks a milestone in the history of pocket billiards. Pool players will bravely trot before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Capitol Hill at noon. One by one, they are going to testify about the travesties in today's pool world. The agenda item is entitled: "Is it a game, or is it a sport?"

JAM
Click to expand...

Not too long ago I found out that my daughter (7) wears skorts, a combination of a half skirt and half shorts. Fascinating, what will they think of next? Actually, I didn’t believe my daughter when she told me. I had to confer with my smarter half, yep, it’s a skort.

Perhaps pool could apply the same technology, and refer to this competitive activity as a …… gamort.

Rick
 
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