Can someone, anyone, PLEASE tell me why?

[jimmyg]

Just caught about 15 minutes this show called "Pool Party", or some name similiar to that - eight pros; Allison, Jeanett, Ralf, Tony etc, playing eight ball in an informal setting. What a pathetic joke!! Couldn't watch it, made the game look so boring and simple. How could you ever explain to someone seeing pool for the first time in that manner how you could actually play it for hours at a time, several days a week. They would think that you're brain dead.

Aside from inside, political issues, maybe THAT'S why pool has never been able to go mainstream. Unless you're a die hard player AND it's also a great match, it really sucks to watch most of the time. And that includes the televised IPT matches, that although they really tried to present it as best they could, also sucked to watch. Plus, most of the time it takes place in abasement or medium sized, dark rooms with only a handfull of standing spectators applauding on cue like an old soap opera, instead of a massive stadium with thirty thousand fans, yelling and screaming, many times outdoors in the sunshine, having tailgate parties and feeling as though you just experienced something that the entire world would have liked to have attended.

Why does pool, one of the greatest, most difficult and challenging games ever invented come across as almost retarded on television? Just not fair. Makes me sick!

 

[Dhakala]

Just caught about 15 minutes this show called "Pool Party", or some name similiar to that - eight pros; Allison, Jeanett, Ralf, Tony etc, playing eight ball in an informal setting. What a pathetic joke!! Couldn't watch it, made the game look so boring and simple. How could you ever explain to someone seeing pool for the first time in that manner how you could actually play it for hours at a time, several days a week. They would think that you're brain dead.

What makes you think the show's target audience is first-timers?

Unless you're a die hard player AND it's also a great match, it really sucks to watch most of the time.

I have absolutely no trouble watching the likes of Allison and Jeanette bend over a pool table.

And that includes the televised IPT matches, that although they really tried to present it as best they could, also sucked to watch.

Yet, those who watched in person seem to think it was well worth their money. And it is not uncommon for a shoot-out in a local pool hall to attract rapt attention. Perhaps it is poor videography that makes the difference.

Why does pool, one of the greatest, most difficult and challenging games ever invented come across as almost retarded on television?

Itsy-bitsy balls. Pleasures of small motions. Analog TV lacks the resolution to show the balls' colors, spots, and stripes accurately, let alone show the fine details that make play exciting. We'll have to wait a few more years, until the entire nation is forcibly converted to HDTV.

 

[pooltchr]

Personally, I enjoyed watching it. Pro players, all having fun, laughing and joking, and yet still showcasing their talent on television. Not everything pool related has to be serious. It is, to the majority of players, a GAME!
Steve

 

[worriedbeef]

any chance of seeing this online somewhere? i wanted to watch this - got a few of my favourites in it. and jimmyg's post seems so negative i don't believe it was that bad - and makes a change from the usual pool on the tv (what little of it there is).

 

[straybullet]

That show could not have been worse than that silly show Tom Greene and Debra Wilson were on about a year ago. I felt so bad for Jeannette. When Debra Wilson said "Shoot it in my hole, baby!!!" Jeanette looked like she wanted crawl under the table and hide.

 

[jimmyg]

When I first posted this I didn't think that it was a negative thread, I was just upset that no one seems able to produce a televised format worth watching. Or is that pool is just so different than all the other sports in that it really suc*s as a spectator's sport. If someone like me, who's been attached to pool for over thirty years and could easily have been a pool room junkie if life didn't get in the way, can't stomach watching some of this crap, then how can anyone expect enough of the general public to watch to generate the TV ratings that would attract major sponsorship. I think that suc*s!

Look, I don't play baseball or football, but they're still enjoyable for me to watch, especially the playoff and championship games. I think that proves that someone doesn't need to play a game in order to be interested enough to watch it, if it's made interesting and fun enough. And to actually go to one of those games in person, absolutely great, it's a major event. Even a circus is great to watch and I'm not a lion tamer. But when the biggest pool tournament with the largest prize money ever takes place and is broadcast on TV, the production and format is so bad that no one watches. It looks like no one wants to watch pool, and after seeing some of these productions, I wonder whether we can blame them that much.

Someone's always trying to MAKE pool into something it's not - mimic wrestling or poker, or make pool seem 'family friendly" but then fill the show with interviews with some of the biggest road gamblers pool can come up with. I really just don't it. Why not just let pool BE POOL? I can watch the "color of money" series with Reyes and Stickland over and over, it's great pool, interesting, fun and its real. Even the best pool movies that have inspired people to actually pick up a cue are attempts at reality. Look at the "Hustler" and "Color of Money", those movies didn't try to color over pool, and the public LOVED them.

All I'm upset about is that either pool is simply not a spectator sport for the masses or the promotors just can't get it right. And that just plain suc*s. I love pool.

 

[Sargo]

Too much background/environment noise.

 

[Gregg]

Sounded like a good idea, but didn't work out well. It was very boring, and not really competitive they way they did it.

 

[Banks]

I bet there'd be a heck of an audience for a great live match-up, with betting and everything. Have it done in a way that would make it legal (something in Vegas, maybe?) and maybe offer it pay-per-view. That way you'd get all of the people wanting to see the serious action and the added bonus of home/bar/hall railbirds sweating the match.

Football is a tough, manly sport and they treat it as such. Baseball is manly, but not exactly bang-em-up rough, they try to market the skill and occassional good plays. Golf is a sport of the more sophisticated and rich and they also market their game as such. And without care for any flack that can be sent my way, pool is a game of cigars, cussing, gambling and drinking ... and damnit, that's what I want to see!

I don't want to see 2 prim and proper guys sitting around and shooting balls in boringly.. I want to see someone take a shot of whiskey, cuss about the leave, take a deep drag off a cigarette or a puff a cigar and stroll on up to that table and try for that grand game-changing shot, and I want to see it as it happens, too ... "Hey man, $5 says he makes this shot."

 

[Sensation]

The play area is too small. You couldn't fill a stadium of spectators... Whatever the tables display is.

-Sensation

 

[cardsfan]

Even the best pool movies that have inspired people to actually pick up a cue are attempts at reality. Look at the "Hustler" and "Color of Money", those movies didn't try to color over pool, and the public LOVED them.

All I'm upset about is that either pool is simply not a spectator sport for the masses or the promotors just can't get it right. And that just plain suc*s. I love pool.

OMG not another comparison to golf but...maybe pool needs a Tiger Woods figure to revamp its image and get the "masses" interested. I agree with you, pool on TV is boring for the non-pool player, you're too far away from the action. IMO the IPT is trying to change that by offering different angles from the tables and mic'ing the players. I'm curious how the IPT moving to Asia will impact the pool world. The talent is there, maybe Asia IS the answer??? Maybe it's not a "how" but a "who".

 

[justnum]

my town was so boring the only thing to do was hangout at the YMCA it only had a laminated wood floor for basketball and a bar box pool table. It had computers but it was before the internet was as commercial. Those days memberships was granted to us because we went to public school.

Long story short nowadays a handful of kids from my past crew are really good at basketball and billiards. That and annoying girls. Few years later it changed to being friends with girls.

yes I mean really good really!

 

[justnum]

related to this thread

As a fan and player I always preferred more exposition from the players about who their characters are. And just the highlights or amazing runs, nothing that looks easy it just kills tv time.

I would youtube an edition of what Im talking about but there is little audio of the players saying pretty much anything. I have considered a voice over but I wouldnt have the stories at my disposal like the pros.

Why do they have to attract a new audience they've always known it doesnt work? Damn fresh college grads working the industry, can't they ever just listen.

 

[gregory]

I just serached for a torrent of "pool party" and all I could find was "Lesbian Pool Party Threesome." The only threesome pool I know of is cutthroat. No wonder you didn't like it.

 

[jimmyg]

I just serached for a torrent of "pool party" and all I could find was "Lesbian Pool Party Threesome." The only threesome pool I know of is cutthroat. No wonder you didn't like it.

Gregory, when you are through watching "Lesbian Pool Party Threesome" would you mind lending it to me?

 

[Scott Lee]

The play area is too small. You couldn't fill a stadium of spectators... Whatever the tables display is.

-Sensation

It can be done. You should see some of the matches in China and SE Asia. There are THOUSANDS of fans watching just one table.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

 

[Icon of Sin]

Personally, I enjoyed watching it. Pro players, all having fun, laughing and joking, and yet still showcasing their talent on television. Not everything pool related has to be serious. It is, to the majority of players, a GAME!
Steve

I agree, I watched the first Semi-final last week and cant wait to check out the finals this weekend coming up.

 

[Icon of Sin]

I just serached for a torrent of "pool party" and all I could find was "Lesbian Pool Party Threesome." The only threesome pool I know of is cutthroat. No wonder you didn't like it.

Next best thing

 

[Ruthless]

It can be done. You should see some of the matches in China and SE Asia. There are THOUSANDS of fans watching just one table.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

Scott - That is very true. I know people that have played all over S.E. Asia where just an exhibition at a shopping mall would gather 5K spectators and tournaments with 15K people. Some of them even had escorts when they moved around certain cities.

I believe the only way pocket billiards will gain a TV audience in the U.S. is a way to hold people's attention. Like someone stated earlier about players being players as they really are. I have played a lot of the larger tours over the last 20+ years and they have become more and more bland. RE: The IPT Tour - Who the hell has ever seen Scotty Townsend in a suit, tie, and a haircut (I have known him for ?? . years and never thought he would even be buried in that dressed up fashion....)

Personalities help make pool exciting and removing them takes out the "wow" factor that drives most players and rail birds (a.k.a. Doug ) to the poolrooms. Americans love drama and that's just a fact of life. I would rather watch a bunch of A.P.A. teams emptying pitchers of beer and bitc.ing about the rules than most of what they show on ESPN. Hiding the drama that really surrounds the game will keep the game as it is today.

"Politically Correct" is a phrase that doesn't fit any poolroom I have seen. The tournaments now could be compared to Hockey with the fights edited out. Example: If you made a 5 rail jump kick shot to win a match just Earl being the way he really is would get more attention from the fans.

Just a few thoughts from me.............

 

[cardsfan]

Scott - That is very true. I know people that have played all over S.E. Asia where just an exhibition at a shopping mall would gather 5K spectators and tournaments with 15K people. Some of them even had escorts when they moved around certain cities.

I believe the only way pocket billiards will gain a TV audience in the U.S. is a way to hold people's attention. Like someone stated earlier about players being players as they really are. I have played a lot of the larger tours over the last 20+ years and they have become more and more bland. RE: The IPT Tour - Who the hell has ever seen Scotty Townsend in a suit, tie, and a haircut (I have known him for ?? . years and never thought he would even be buried in that dressed up fashion....)

Personalities help make pool exciting and removing them takes out the "wow" factor that drives most players and rail birds (a.k.a. Doug ) to the poolrooms. Americans love drama and that's just a fact of life. I would rather watch a bunch of A.P.A. teams emptying pitchers of beer and bitc.ing about the rules than most of what they show on ESPN. Hiding the drama that really surrounds the game will keep the game as it is today.

Just a few thoughts from me.............

YOU HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD!