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Was pool better 50 years ago?

sjm
JAM said:
Sigel most definitely is a tournament soldier, as evidenced by his portfolio of major wins. He also is known in some circles as Mike the Mouth, and there's a reason for that. He definitely had his own unique personality and brought a lot of entertainment, still does, on and off the table. But his other moniker is Captain Hook, and that's his tournament persona because he was capable of hooking anybody in competitions.
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Thanks for your input. Mike Sigel was my favorite player in the early 1980s. I was glad to be present for his first world championship. I knew him just a little back then, but now he's a close friend. I had breakfast with him as recently as November 2025.

I have suggested on this forum that if Mike had not, for practical purposes, retired from competition in 1993, he, not Efren, might be remembered as the greatest player of all time. He was still one of the best few when he retired and had a lot of titles left in him. For me, he remains the only player that I'd call a top five straight pooler and a top five nine-baller of all time.

I really enjoy reflecting on the 1980s when Mike was doing his very best work ... and when I was about a thirty-year-old young man, LOL.
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Experiments in looking at the cueball while delivering the stroke.

T
I'm a firm believer that if something works for you, then keep doing it. If it doesn't, then don't do it.

I have always been a CBL player with some exceptions.

Considering all pool teachers encourage proper fundamentals in lining up your shot, going down onto the shot and being in the correct line for the shot when down on the table, it should not make a difference where you look. You should be making no further adjustment; you should simply be stroking the ball and it should not matter if you close your eyes (which I have tried to prove a point) I look at the cue ball because I imagine the cue going through the cue ball in a straight line and looking at the cue ball keeps my focus on hitting it exactly where I want to hit it.
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Was pool better 50 years ago?

M
mikemosconi said:
I also think that people here either forget or are too young to remember that 50 years ago and all before that - straight pool was always the most visible pool event to the masses in the U.S. via Wide World of Sports on TV and the major event mostly held in NYC large hotel ball rooms. Johnston City tournament was not a broadcast event.

Major 14.1 events were “sterile” in nature as players were in a Tux, tables were refereed, fan attendees sat in utter silence except for applause occasionally on great shots. You could hear a pin drop in the ballrooms in NYC during play- I attended a few of the events held toward the mid and late 70s in NYC.

Even the 1989 US open 14.1 revival held in Chicago’s Palmer House Hotel( I attended) the players were in a tux and the room was extremely parochial from a game and player behavior standpoint. This was the last one that I recall being so formal. The subsequent events in NYC in the early 90s were much less formal in structure.
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While that was a particular format, at the same time 9 ball tournaments were happening all around the country, with the same players. I watched Crane win a 9 ball tournament at Weenie Beenie's.
ABC did show the occasional pool tournament, it was rare. It was so edited as to be unwatchable. Not the kind of coverage they gave other sports.
They did do an interesting coverage of Johnston City once. Probably their best treatment of a pool tournament.
I know most have seen it but here is a small clip of the ABC showing of it.
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