The future of pool
- Thread starter buckshotshoey
- Start date
There's a "New Age" coming and it may come as a complete surprise
It will be done......
There's a "New Age" coming, and it won't be what anyone's expecting.
'The Game is the Teacher'
It will be done......
There's a "New Age" coming, and it won't be what anyone's expecting.
'The Game is the Teacher'
Tight Lips mean ships
You're being awfully tight lipped, I really hope there is some substance to the allusions you're making, that would be nice.
It will be done......
There's a "New Age" coming, and it won't be what anyone's expecting.
'The Game is the Teacher'
You're being awfully tight lipped, I really hope there is some substance to the allusions you're making, that would be nice.
Take a trip to Battle Creek Mi, the world junior champs are there this weekend.
NZ has sent the most players this year and hope to have more next year of the same level or higher. I am very proud of all the juniors who have made it to not only represent their countries, but they are the future of world wide pool.
These young players are all keen and very motivated to learn more.
Neil
NZ has sent the most players this year and hope to have more next year of the same level or higher. I am very proud of all the juniors who have made it to not only represent their countries, but they are the future of world wide pool.
These young players are all keen and very motivated to learn more.
Neil
It will be done......
There's a "New Age" coming, and it won't be what anyone's expecting.
'The Game is the Teacher'
That's cryptic, but (since we are both carsons) I may know what you mean.
I'm pretty sure I know where sponsors for pool can be found for example, but it isn't going to be the Nike's or Apple's of the world but also not nutcases like Kevin the Felon, or some bored oil sheik who hates his money and could pull the plug at any moment. Sponsors need to benefit in some way...pool has an image that is tough to sell, but there are ways if you are clever enough to mine them.
Pool needs to embrace and emphasize what it is, and not try to be what it isn't. In other words trying to "pretty up" pool would be losing the best thing it has going for it.
Not everybody is gonna like it, but if pool wants some exposure you have to look in places others might not. I've yet to read anything in this forum remotely realistic. I suppose I could do a search, but I highly doubt I'd find anything or it would already have been done.
lost
The best chance we ever had of gaining sponsors was through the Pool League System....but that didn't pan out for the most part. Most leagues hang onto the all of the money, try to get the owners to provide free practice time and do more taking than giving. That seems crazy to me, we don't even support ourselves. Everyone is Independents and there is no organization that means anything. That's the biggest problem that we have....no organization, no one to say...hey you cant do that because they have absolutely no authority to.
The Room Owner is the only Angel, Advocate and Ambassador that we have. If he wants it done, it will get done. Otherwise all he is going to do is turn the key in door and let in Alcohol Sales.
When we figure out that we have to cater to the Room Owner, then pool will start a slow climb back..
The best chance we ever had of gaining sponsors was through the Pool League System....but that didn't pan out for the most part. Most leagues hang onto the all of the money, try to get the owners to provide free practice time and do more taking than giving. That seems crazy to me, we don't even support ourselves. Everyone is Independents and there is no organization that means anything. That's the biggest problem that we have....no organization, no one to say...hey you cant do that because they have absolutely no authority to.
The Room Owner is the only Angel, Advocate and Ambassador that we have. If he wants it done, it will get done. Otherwise all he is going to do is turn the key in door and let in Alcohol Sales.
When we figure out that we have to cater to the Room Owner, then pool will start a slow climb back..
I didn't read the other posts but can give my view and my view alone.
The Leagues and local tournaments are the thing holding Pool togeather at present.
One of the killers to me is the extra loud Head Banging Juke Box at night. I do understand the room owners need the customers and need them to buy drinks to stay open. I don't think just charging time on Pool Tables is enough for a Pool Room to stay open.
On Pro Level - Pretty dead in the water, the Pros make it look to easy for anyone watching TV.
IMO there can be life. Change the game of 9 ball to 15 Ball. No ball in hand with scratch, cue ball goes behind the line.
Player gets same option as after the break on every shot, push out or shoot the shot.
IMO this would add excitement to the game. No one is stringing racks like todays play. The viewers sit at the edge of their seats seeing if player pushes or takes the shot. Did they choose right or wrong?
We need change as whats being done today can not keep up. Just an Old Guys opinion.
The Leagues and local tournaments are the thing holding Pool togeather at present.
One of the killers to me is the extra loud Head Banging Juke Box at night. I do understand the room owners need the customers and need them to buy drinks to stay open. I don't think just charging time on Pool Tables is enough for a Pool Room to stay open.
On Pro Level - Pretty dead in the water, the Pros make it look to easy for anyone watching TV.
IMO there can be life. Change the game of 9 ball to 15 Ball. No ball in hand with scratch, cue ball goes behind the line.
Player gets same option as after the break on every shot, push out or shoot the shot.
IMO this would add excitement to the game. No one is stringing racks like todays play. The viewers sit at the edge of their seats seeing if player pushes or takes the shot. Did they choose right or wrong?
We need change as whats being done today can not keep up. Just an Old Guys opinion.
That is a good opinion Tom Hay. Accurate(I fear) as well.
The more I read of these posts, The more I think pool may just die a slow, deliberate death.
There are too many demographics it seems to build a paradigm to let pool flourish.
How is pool going to attract the banger, AND the player at the same time? It is NOT going to happen in a loud poolroom where a buncha drunks congregate for happy hour.
There needs to be an "entity" willing to take pool in and mold it to the point that it pays a "dividend" for everyone. I don't see that happening with just the bar/room owner, or with just a league set-up at regions in local colleges. Frankly, it needs both. Concerning the room owner and business willing to invest in pools' future, there needs to be some that are willing to take the risk. They should be (rightfully in my mind), rewarded for doing so as well. NASCAR went public after it gained a lot of popularity. Could pool one day do the same?
There is a chain of entertainment stores,(I forget their name) that have all kinds of "carnival games" for ppl to play. It is a chain of stores, as one is in the local mall here. I walked in and the place looked like a Casino w/o the gambling. No shortage of ppl sinking $$$ into these machines. I asked the attendant if they had a pool table here,...... she said , "NO!" I didn't have to ask why,
The more I read of these posts, The more I think pool may just die a slow, deliberate death.
There are too many demographics it seems to build a paradigm to let pool flourish.
How is pool going to attract the banger, AND the player at the same time? It is NOT going to happen in a loud poolroom where a buncha drunks congregate for happy hour.
There needs to be an "entity" willing to take pool in and mold it to the point that it pays a "dividend" for everyone. I don't see that happening with just the bar/room owner, or with just a league set-up at regions in local colleges. Frankly, it needs both. Concerning the room owner and business willing to invest in pools' future, there needs to be some that are willing to take the risk. They should be (rightfully in my mind), rewarded for doing so as well. NASCAR went public after it gained a lot of popularity. Could pool one day do the same?
There is a chain of entertainment stores,(I forget their name) that have all kinds of "carnival games" for ppl to play. It is a chain of stores, as one is in the local mall here. I walked in and the place looked like a Casino w/o the gambling. No shortage of ppl sinking $$$ into these machines. I asked the attendant if they had a pool table here,...... she said , "NO!" I didn't have to ask why,
The "out of sight, out of mind" phenomenon is powerful indeed.
Anything that disappears off major TV networks would suffer the same fate.....it isn't just "TV," it far deeper than that.....TV is connected to the universal subconscious....and many people are under too much "mental bondage" to even real eyes it.....or even realize it for that matter.'The Game is the Teacher'
I am not sure what you said had anything to do with my comment but there is a major problem you seem to be over looking. Once you generate all this excitement about pool, where are they going to play? There are so few pool rooms anymore that that in-itself prevents the game from growing. You put pool on TV and some kid says, "Hay dad I would like to try that lets go play", Ok, where?
Regardless how you debate this, only when the business of a pool room becomes a viable investment again will pool begin to return on a grass roots basis. Pool has always been a "Build it and they will come" business. The game is not a fad and in my town when a pool room opened people came.
Later these places closed but not due to no business, due to not enough business to support a bad business plan, a sky high nut and sky high prices. Even as they were closing the doors business was not bad, but it could still not support such a poorly conceived business plan.
This was the bubble after the COM and when all these rooms began closing it created a perception that pool was dying. Not true, it just went dormant due to no place to play again. People like to play pool and always have. You seem to be under the false impression that if people don't want to watch pool they don't care about the game. Heck, people have never wanted to watch pool, they want to play it.
The trouble with something like a reality show is, even if you could make it interesting to watch, would it translate to someone wanting to play the game themselves. I would say no.
We have become a society of watchers and not much more. I don't think because someone watches American Idol they sign their kids up for singing lessons. No they just watch in a disconnected way, it is mindless entertainment and nothing more.
I also however feel we are moving into a different time and the reccesion is lifting fast.
Today it is possible to buy a building and hope for break even years. If we don't hit another reccesion you buy cheap and sell the building and land high at future date.
Renting (?) IMO you might just as well burn your dollars.
Today it is possible to buy a building and hope for break even years. If we don't hit another reccesion you buy cheap and sell the building and land high at future date.
Renting (?) IMO you might just as well burn your dollars.
That is a good opinion Tom Hay. Accurate(I fear) as well.
The more I read of these posts, The more I think pool may just die a slow, deliberate death.
There are too many demographics it seems to build a paradigm to let pool flourish.
How is pool going to attract the banger, AND the player at the same time? It is NOT going to happen in a loud poolroom where a buncha drunks congregate for happy hour.
There needs to be an "entity" willing to take pool in and mold it to the point that it pays a "dividend" for everyone. I don't see that happening with just the bar/room owner, or with just a league set-up at regions in local colleges. Frankly, it needs both. Concerning the room owner and business willing to invest in pools' future, there needs to be some that are willing to take the risk. They should be (rightfully in my mind), rewarded for doing so as well. NASCAR went public after it gained a lot of popularity. Could pool one day do the same?
There is a chain of entertainment stores,(I forget their name) that have all kinds of "carnival games" for ppl to play. It is a chain of stores, as one is in the local mall here. I walked in and the place looked like a Casino w/o the gambling. No shortage of ppl sinking $$$ into these machines. I asked the attendant if they had a pool table here,...... she said , "NO!" I didn't have to ask why,
Boy, the snooker forum has been dead for weeks so I can't help but find myself lurking in the Main Forum lately....
macguy, I have been watching your posts, I am occasionally entertained and I nearly always agree with your perspective. But I have to say, you missed it on the one quoted above....I think it is just a bar joke, "If you have nothing else to do, hang around here and do nothing". Not particularly funny, but I think it is just trying to be cute. Kind of like the one that says, "I never drink until after 5" then every digit on the old analog clock is a "5".
Since the thread is The Future of Pool, over in Snooker, there are always those who want to change this or that about the game going to the future. I am a traditionalist so one of my humorous responses (at least I think it's humorous) was:
I had no idea I was so far ahead of the curve. When you come up with "Eleven Ball", I want the royalties.
Maybe the pool should look to my beloved snooker for the future. It has already taken by storm the two most populous nations on earth--China and India. That's over a quarter of the world's population right there. The game has been virtually unchanged for 125 years and stronger than ever both in terms of those who play it (usually from 8 to 80 years old) and those who watch it (from 105 year old great-great-grandmothers admiring the talented, swarthy young men down to simple house cats that like to watch the balls bounce around the tv screen). Perhaps the snooker should be the Future of Pool in the US. Or at the very least, take a look at how the snooker has been marketed so successfully worldwide.
Behind the Line
I agree Tom. Its time to make some rule changes and make 9-ball a little more difficult for Professional Play sure its great when any of us can run out a rack but when it gives players the edge to the point that if you miss once and youre screwed that is discouraging to beginning players and that's precisely the reason people want such a spot.
Skill is being over emphasized in one area of the game and nothing would be wrong with creating a balance of safety play against an obviously more skilled shot making opponent because with ball behind the line.....the safe shooter still has to come with something or they rightfully lose.
I agree Tom. Its time to make some rule changes and make 9-ball a little more difficult for Professional Play sure its great when any of us can run out a rack but when it gives players the edge to the point that if you miss once and youre screwed that is discouraging to beginning players and that's precisely the reason people want such a spot.
Skill is being over emphasized in one area of the game and nothing would be wrong with creating a balance of safety play against an obviously more skilled shot making opponent because with ball behind the line.....the safe shooter still has to come with something or they rightfully lose.
Snooker
A lot of the pool rooms I played in had Snooker tables when I was child and it was an awesome game just in the fact that it was snooker and not pool. I fear pools problems have a lot to do with just about everything surrounding it and not just the game itself although the professionals have become shot making monsters that run out so often its boring to watch but at least you start to understand when is the proper time to go safe playing at that level. That's a very dry lesson to learn and it appeals more to a learned audience and definitely is beyond the beginner.
It appears that pairing pool businesses with alcohol sales businesses in the present have done nothing to help promote the sport as a way for more people to become emotionally attached unless they want to take someone's money or win money in a tournament who is again promoting it only to sell alcohol, because many don't even have food.
A lot of the pool rooms I played in had Snooker tables when I was child and it was an awesome game just in the fact that it was snooker and not pool. I fear pools problems have a lot to do with just about everything surrounding it and not just the game itself although the professionals have become shot making monsters that run out so often its boring to watch but at least you start to understand when is the proper time to go safe playing at that level. That's a very dry lesson to learn and it appeals more to a learned audience and definitely is beyond the beginner.
It appears that pairing pool businesses with alcohol sales businesses in the present have done nothing to help promote the sport as a way for more people to become emotionally attached unless they want to take someone's money or win money in a tournament who is again promoting it only to sell alcohol, because many don't even have food.
I am not being sarcastic. I have been following this thread. Other than CJ's call for a national conciensness through the media, for the most part, the ideas put forth on this thread are so far off base. They have all either been tried or they are not implimentable but they do sound good. It is a good thing that nothing posted here really matters and nothing really happens here. I do admit, it is fun to talk about these things.
Boy are you right about that. You can pick up commercial real-estate pretty low. Even though I have no real interest in opening or owning another pool room I do find myself looking at locations. I can't tell you how many I have found that would make great pool rooms. Nice free standing building in a good location with parking and it is just sitting there empty for years.
Yup, you're right, Paul. You and CJ are the only ones who "execute" or make things happen around here. At least you like to think so, right?
Phil Capelle, or Dr. Dave, or Bob Jewett, or Mark Griffin, or Jim Wych, or any of the large number of real movers and shakers who *do* actively read here "aren't" influenced or are made to think about what they read here. Nope. They just read for entertainment's sake. Yep.
You might want to know there's another world outside of your glass dome.
-Sean
Realistic Changes
Paul,
I understand what youre saying and pool itself is quite complicated because no one controls it but it is controlled by a consciousness that seem right now to be completely out of control. Sometimes just a small tweak can have a lot of effect but it seems this industry needs a lot of them and the questions asked here and the answers given are introspective and sometimes accurate but....if the room owner has to implement the changes as the governing body...well when do you think that's going to happen. Likely in my opinion only after extremely proactive room owners emerge.
I think either pool goes a different direction abandoning alcohol or we continue to see a decline...because of the pressure created by the court system on alcohol consumption, sales and abuse.
Its not as popular a thing with the law abiding to go to the bar and spend $40 and have a great time because of the dwi laws so bars and sportsbars are under more pressure for business.
However if someone here comes up with a nice formula perhaps it will be something repeatable and that would help things.
Anything here is idea only until someone finds a way to make a profit from it and that's possible.
Im looking anyday for the great consulting company in the sky to swoop down and covet its little pool bird and protect it from harm...lol
Now wouldn't that be nice? Its some great secret anyway that is coming because as we all know....they are working on it.
Paul,
I understand what youre saying and pool itself is quite complicated because no one controls it but it is controlled by a consciousness that seem right now to be completely out of control. Sometimes just a small tweak can have a lot of effect but it seems this industry needs a lot of them and the questions asked here and the answers given are introspective and sometimes accurate but....if the room owner has to implement the changes as the governing body...well when do you think that's going to happen. Likely in my opinion only after extremely proactive room owners emerge.
I think either pool goes a different direction abandoning alcohol or we continue to see a decline...because of the pressure created by the court system on alcohol consumption, sales and abuse.
Its not as popular a thing with the law abiding to go to the bar and spend $40 and have a great time because of the dwi laws so bars and sportsbars are under more pressure for business.
However if someone here comes up with a nice formula perhaps it will be something repeatable and that would help things.
Anything here is idea only until someone finds a way to make a profit from it and that's possible.
Im looking anyday for the great consulting company in the sky to swoop down and covet its little pool bird and protect it from harm...lol
Now wouldn't that be nice? Its some great secret anyway that is coming because as we all know....they are working on it.
Won't someone please help the future of pool.
For the cost of a cup of coffee every day, you too can sponsor a desperate pool player ......call 1-888- LOL - pool.
You guys with all the sad pool dying talk. lol
It ain't dying people.
It's a cycle. Don't sweat it, it's happened before and will happen again.
Just play your game and enjoy.
For the cost of a cup of coffee every day, you too can sponsor a desperate pool player ......call 1-888- LOL - pool.
You guys with all the sad pool dying talk. lol
It ain't dying people.
It's a cycle. Don't sweat it, it's happened before and will happen again.
Just play your game and enjoy.
Well said. I was thinking about a response and you stated it perfectly. Active discussions about the sport, as in this thread, are healthy and needed and shouldnt be dismissed
How long does it have to be until its no longer a cycle but a dead sport? It was 25 years between hustler and color of money. Now its been 27 years since color of money.
Im not saying a movie saves all, but if the cycle lasts more than three decades, pool is in trouble.