Since half of this forum is so keen on giving ideas about reality shows which could potentially popularize pool, I'll do my part as well.
Choose 10 professional instructors and 10 random bangers from different parts of the world to participate in this. The bangers would need at least several years of experience in social bar pool, but still play on "banger" level (like that's hard to find
).
Each one of them gets a team of 5 complete beginners who never tried to play pool in their life. Every pro instructor and banger would then have to do their best to teach the new players as much as they can in a relatively short amount of time. Each team is isolated, even from other teams on their side, so all the knowledge and skills they get would come exclusively from their own leader/instructor.
The teams practice throughout the week. At the end of each week every pro instructor team randomly gets paired up with a banger team. Then they play each other. The team leaders/instructors don't play or assist in any way, they can only watch from a distance without body motions or signals. The side with more defeats has to nominate two weakest teams in their opinion. The votes of the audience would count as well. The two nominated teams play another match and the loser is out of the show.
In case of a draw between the two sides, each side has to nominate one team. The rest of the procedure is identical.
As weeks go by the number of teams on the two sides would probably become uneven (most likely in pro instructors' favor). In that case the numerically inferior side chooses their best teams to play more than one opposing team.
The game they'd play would certainly be 8-ball, as it's the only game that could potentially attract mainstream TV audience due to its popularity in bars. Also, it would probably be the only pool the banger team leaders know about.
When the teams get matched up at the end of every week, before a match they flip a coin. If the pro instructor's team wins the coin toss, the game is played on a 9 ft table by World standardized rules. If the banger's team wins, the game is played on a 7 ft bar box with a few differences in rules:
- slop pool (no shot calling)
- behind-the-line instead of BiH after scratch or CB off the table
- after a foul the player loses turn, but the CB remains where it is for the incoming player (again no BiH)
- Last Pocket 8-ball (the 8 ball goes in the pocket where the last ball was dropped)
The show ends when one side loses all teams.
IMHO it would be a useful and fun show as the audience could see how pool is supposed to be played by watching the pro instructors in action. And to prevent the non-pool-enthusiasts from getting bored, we would have the bangers as a comic relief to make people laugh.
Most importantly, the personalities of all the participants would have to be interesting, unique, funny and eccentric to some point in order for the audience to keep watching and supporting their favorite team. The people and the show shouldn't take itself too seriously. It wouldn't be world championship, everyone knows the professional instructors would win in the end. It's just a creative way of promoting pool and having a great time.
Choose 10 professional instructors and 10 random bangers from different parts of the world to participate in this. The bangers would need at least several years of experience in social bar pool, but still play on "banger" level (like that's hard to find
).Each one of them gets a team of 5 complete beginners who never tried to play pool in their life. Every pro instructor and banger would then have to do their best to teach the new players as much as they can in a relatively short amount of time. Each team is isolated, even from other teams on their side, so all the knowledge and skills they get would come exclusively from their own leader/instructor.
The teams practice throughout the week. At the end of each week every pro instructor team randomly gets paired up with a banger team. Then they play each other. The team leaders/instructors don't play or assist in any way, they can only watch from a distance without body motions or signals. The side with more defeats has to nominate two weakest teams in their opinion. The votes of the audience would count as well. The two nominated teams play another match and the loser is out of the show.
In case of a draw between the two sides, each side has to nominate one team. The rest of the procedure is identical.
As weeks go by the number of teams on the two sides would probably become uneven (most likely in pro instructors' favor). In that case the numerically inferior side chooses their best teams to play more than one opposing team.
The game they'd play would certainly be 8-ball, as it's the only game that could potentially attract mainstream TV audience due to its popularity in bars. Also, it would probably be the only pool the banger team leaders know about.
When the teams get matched up at the end of every week, before a match they flip a coin. If the pro instructor's team wins the coin toss, the game is played on a 9 ft table by World standardized rules. If the banger's team wins, the game is played on a 7 ft bar box with a few differences in rules:
- slop pool (no shot calling)
- behind-the-line instead of BiH after scratch or CB off the table
- after a foul the player loses turn, but the CB remains where it is for the incoming player (again no BiH)
- Last Pocket 8-ball (the 8 ball goes in the pocket where the last ball was dropped)
The show ends when one side loses all teams.
IMHO it would be a useful and fun show as the audience could see how pool is supposed to be played by watching the pro instructors in action. And to prevent the non-pool-enthusiasts from getting bored, we would have the bangers as a comic relief to make people laugh.
Most importantly, the personalities of all the participants would have to be interesting, unique, funny and eccentric to some point in order for the audience to keep watching and supporting their favorite team. The people and the show shouldn't take itself too seriously. It wouldn't be world championship, everyone knows the professional instructors would win in the end. It's just a creative way of promoting pool and having a great time.
Congrats to you and your son. As for the show, I'd be surprised as well if the banger side managed to win consistently, especially later in the show when the pro teams would've received a lot of training. But the alteration between big and small tables, as well as WSR and "bar rules" could make it interesting at least to some point.