What is wrong with pool having a seedy image?

Rasta

Rasta

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Silver Member
Why do so many people want to see pool become mainstream and popular? What is wrong with pool having a seedy image? Personally, I don't mind the seedy image, and am not sure I would like it as much if it were "popular."

Now I understand the benefits of popularity for the industry, but for the average player, I just don't see it. Life has taught me that popularity is often not what it is cracked up to be.

What are your thoughts?

Good Rolls,
Rasta
 
Its usually in a safe location, parents and kids can do it without the parents becoming overly tired to quickly and it requires gentilty as opposed to physical feats. Not to mention its great for pacing yourself.

Most kids I see nowadays are in such a rush to get everything done in little amount of time. They gloss over the details and miss out on the meaning of it all. With pool you can seductively plan out your path and eliminate the luck factor, eliminate waiting for that break or that last chance, just prepare and execute.
 
the seedy image gets old after awhile

Youngsters are sometimes impressed with being lumped into a group, especially if the group seems a bit dangerous or anti-establishment. It gets old after awhile though. It would be nice if it was on the level of bowling, not really glamour or a fad, but not disrespected by most either.

Hu
 
The seedy image is part of the appeal. But its not dangerous unless you do something stupid, like stealing or not paying your debts.
 
that fool KT actually tried to advertise it with hustlermania sense. A bunch of guys with suitcase looking items and then pan out to a table full of cash. It looks like a dealer convention.

The BEF has the right idea they are probably just short on the budget to make a strong campaign.

Another nice one was the Laurance pool party, that seemed cute and playful. Thats something Id invite into my home. But if that Crazy lady Corr keeps asking for milk im going to act like Im not home.
 
In modern times, it isn't so bad to have the so called seedy image. In fact a little bad boy factor can do wonders. One of the problems is that decades ago, that factor influenced lots of people and corporations, i.e. they wouldn't touch pool with a 10 foot pole. It wasn't so much bad boy factor as it was looked upon as a waste of time by people who were looking to involve themselves with crime and no good. This has cost pool big time. Perhaps this is changing and this "seedy activity" will become "herione sheek"
 
The Hustler and The Color of Money are both movies that focused on the "dark side" of pool, gambling in a pool hall (shocking!!); and yet they did more for the sport's mainstream popularity than any ten tournaments.

It seems to me that for years pool has tried to supress one of its most attractive selling points. Americans love to gamble, or at least watch other people do it :) .

DRawls
 
justnum said:
Its usually in a safe location, parents and kids can do it without the parents becoming overly tired to quickly and it requires gentilty as opposed to physical feats. Not to mention its great for pacing yourself.

Most kids I see nowadays are in such a rush to get everything done in little amount of time. They gloss over the details and miss out on the meaning of it all. With pool you can seductively plan out your path and eliminate the luck factor, eliminate waiting for that break or that last chance, just prepare and execute.
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I think if more people would take the time to think about pool that way the game would be booming. The perfect way to get out of today's 60 second attention span way of life.
 
Da Poet said:
Because it is a stereotype that gets cast upon all the people who love the game.
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Da Poet doesn't fit those negative stereotypes, I can assure you of that... :)
 
Dark rooms with big ornate heavy pieces of furnature, mahogany panelling on the walls. Guys in rumpled business suits smoking cigars, drinking straight whiskey, sitting in high chairs, stone faced watching the men work the green felt......A sort of gangsteresque, 50's, old boys club with men gambling whlie they should be out in the real world, in the sunlight making an "honest" living....This is the image of pool swimming around in my mind... Guys looking like Edward G. Robinson sweating the action, an old guy in a visor with sleeve garters, keeping score on the hanging beads....What's wrong with this picture??? It has a certaqin mystique about it, out in the open with it's seedy underbelly exposed proudly for all to see, and men to admire.....That is pocket billiards....

McCue Banger McCue
 
DelaWho??? said:
Dark rooms with big ornate heavy pieces of furnature, mahogany panelling on the walls. Guys in rumpled business suits smoking cigars, drinking straight whiskey, sitting in high chairs, stone faced watching the men work the green felt......A sort of gangsteresque, 50's, old boys club with men gambling whlie they should be out in the real world, in the sunlight making an "honest" living....This is the image of pool swimming around in my mind... Guys looking like Edward G. Robinson sweating the action, an old guy in a visor with sleeve garters, keeping score on the hanging beads....What's wrong with this picture??? It has a certaqin mystique about it, out in the open with it's seedy underbelly exposed proudly for all to see, and men to admire.....That is pocket billiards....

McCue Banger McCue
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Your image is exotic, sinister and magnetic and while I like it and enjoy living on the fringes of this picture it is not good for the industry as a whole. Corporate America has to be willing to put up their BIG BUCKS in advertising fees and I don't see them doing that with this image.

TV advertising dollars is what is needed to bring pool into its own. Hell, Corporate America has even been scared of putting their advertising dollars behind a show with a little gay girl in it so until the image changes and it is a-changin (see WPBA) don't expect the advertising dollars of CA to get behind pool.

Maybe we need a little more Efren Reyes, Corey Deuel, Rodney Morris, Earl Strickland, Dennis Orcullo and a little YANG type movie characters thrown in. The days of trying to woo the advertising dollars using deceit (hustling) as the main story line are over, IMHO. It will have to be about excellence and prestiege to get CA on board.
JoeyA
 
I don't know about you , but I always think of old martial arts flicks when I think of pool. These roaming bands of pool masters... seeking each other out for a battle. Could you imagine kung fu master Reyes vs. aikido master Archer? Monkey stance vs. Snake stance?! That would be so sweet! They should totally filk TV pool with those old crappy noises too... it would make it all mystical and stuff...
 
DelaWho??? said:
Dark rooms with big ornate heavy pieces of furnature, mahogany panelling on the walls. Guys in rumpled business suits smoking cigars, drinking straight whiskey, sitting in high chairs, stone faced watching the men work the green felt......A sort of gangsteresque, 50's, old boys club with men gambling whlie they should be out in the real world, in the sunlight making an "honest" living....This is the image of pool swimming around in my mind... Guys looking like Edward G. Robinson sweating the action, an old guy in a visor with sleeve garters, keeping score on the hanging beads....What's wrong with this picture??? It has a certaqin mystique about it, out in the open with it's seedy underbelly exposed proudly for all to see, and men to admire.....That is pocket billiards....

McCue Banger McCue
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I think this vision of pool is great, and I think that picture could potentially help sell pool from an exotic standpoint.

People, voyeurism if you will, want to look into the circle and see the seedy side. But when they step back into their "reality" they want to see their heroes as the common man/woman.

Personally, I think that is why the women's pro series has been more successful than the men's. The general public can picture the women as the girl next door not some cigar smoking, whiskey drinking hustler. I am not sure why the men's side still carries that baggage around, unless we truely embrace that philosophy.
 
pool is whatever you make it. there are many sides to the game that you can avoid or divulge into such as gambling, tournaments or just plain recreation with friends.
 
I still have the vision

of players and hustlers being like gunfighters in the old west, meeting in the ole saloon where whiskey and women are plenty. Sizing each other up, one of them makes a remark, the other replies, and the gun fight (pool match) is on.

The winner living to see another day (or town), while the loser, if not dead ..LOL, scampers off to obscurity somewhere to lick his wounds.
 
Snapshot9 said:
of players and hustlers being like gunfighters in the old west, meeting in the ole saloon where whiskey and women are plenty. Sizing each other up, one of them makes a remark, the other replies, and the gun fight (pool match) is on.

The winner living to see another day (or town), while the loser, if not dead ..LOL, scampers off to obscurity somewhere to lick his wounds.
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yes!! gunfighters = martial arts masters
 
While I also see an appeal in DelaWho???'s description of the seedy pool room scene, I think my answer to the OP's question has nothing to do with stereotypes or reputations: I want to watch pool on TV, the way tennis or golf is covered. I want to be able to turn on the TV during a big tournament with all the sport's heavyweights waist-deep in competition, and find out who's doing well, who's been knocked out, what the upsets were, what the highlights are (good safety battles, especially impressive outs), and be able to watch some of the matches in their entirety, live. And I want the players I admire for their determination, professionalism, and most of all immense skill, to become celebrities like the top golfers or tennis stars. That's why I want pool to have a marketable image. I love pool, and I want to be able to follow it like I follow other professional sports, not just on obscure websites with a brief video clip of actual play every now and then.

-Andrew
 
The question I have, and maybe the international AZBers can fill us yankees in, is whether pool has a seedy image in their country? Some of the things I hear going on in Taiwan, with huge new pool rooms everywhere in the cities, lead me to believe pool over there is viewed as hip and an active lifestyle past time. The fact that pool can be broadcast in primetime live on the Asian ESPN tells me something different is going on over there than here.
 
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