Absolutely. My experience as well.
Could Joe Rogan help with pool?
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CaptainBly
Registered
For the most part in America, pool is a participation sport not a spectator sport.
For ever one player like us that watches and follows the game there are 100's of players who have zero interest in the game beyond their league night or once a week visit to the local bar.
For ever one player like us that watches and follows the game there are 100's of players who have zero interest in the game beyond their league night or once a week visit to the local bar.
again, absolutely! Of the 600 people in our local league, about 10% of them take the game halfway seriously.
I can go to the pool hall on Friday and Saturday night, and every table will be in play, and none of them are 'good' players. But they have fun. The trick seems to be to get more of them playing for fun, and maybe a couple of percent of them will go on to try to get better.
middleofnowhere
Registered
I have put on dozens of tournaments and every time the phone would be ringing asking when there would be tables open to play. These were steady customers that had zero interest in watching the tournaments.
I often had players like DiLiberto, Miz, jimmy Reid, Mike Massey, and lots of top road players. My customers could care less. They want to have a few beers and play themselves.
That has been my continuing experience. People love pool but not as spectators.
I will add this. My room had a lot of action. People did like that. The same people who would not watch a tournament, will sit there all night (I was open 24 hours) being late for work to watch guys gamble. What does that mean, who knows.
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80% of all golf played is on public access courses. Country clubs exist because people with money don't want to deal with a lot of the jackoff's that populate muni courses. That is their right. Doesn't hurt the game at all. I think private or co-op billiard clubs are a great idea. If i'm a room owner and i want a certain clientele in my joint so be it. Just getting rid of the water drinkers and lurker/watchers alone would be worth it to me.
I like your signature. Very true.
Races to 100 and other similarly long single sets are for players who can't handle pressure, for streamers that don't like views or revenue, and for fans that don't like exciting matches or the highest levels of play.
I think it means that people enjoy watching pool, but only if they have some emotional connection/stake in the game. They like watching people they know play other people they know. It's the same thing with leagues, I'll see people sit and watch league matches of their top local players but not know who SVB is. If you don't care about the outcome, then it's hard to watch just about any sport. I'm sure for them, DiLiberto vs. Miz is about as enticing as Tom vs. Harry from out of town. It's really only the die-hards that are entertained by great play no matter who is on the table.
Yes he could. Anything that gets more eyeballs on something helps to bring more attention to it.
Joe could get a bunch of pros and big time stake horses together and have a great show telling stories and pointing his audience towards videos of great play.
Look at it like a numbers thing, if you have 100 million people watching then even a small percentage taking action can be a large bump to a sport.
Disclaimer I have no clue what his audience numbers are.
Joe could get a bunch of pros and big time stake horses together and have a great show telling stories and pointing his audience towards videos of great play.
Look at it like a numbers thing, if you have 100 million people watching then even a small percentage taking action can be a large bump to a sport.
Disclaimer I have no clue what his audience numbers are.
Maybe Joe could interview Jayson. Jayson's a pretty good talker. Sometimes you need a translator to understand him, though.
dirtvictim
Ignore the entitled they haven't earned respect
I'm not sure but I hope Neil Young will remember that southern man don't need him around anyhow.
hayes1699
Registered
Pool needs a tv series like The Queen's Gambit. You can read about how Chess's popularity has skyrocketed since that show came out. Btw, Pool is on TV - i have the billiard network on my cable subscription via youtube tv.
www.insider.com
Chess enthusiasts are flocking to TikTok, gaining millions of views with comedy skits and tutorials about the centuries-old game
Key figures within TikTok's growing chess community explain the boom in online popularity surrounding a game that's over 1,000 years old.
www.insider.com
MMA stars back Joe Rogan in Spotify squabble
Several MMA fighters have offered their backing to Joe Rogan after his popular podcast has come under intense media scrutiny
I know pool pros ain't shit in the big picture, but would any publically support Joe?
Jeff Livingston
Yes, but the Queen's Gambit was the story of a young, introverted girl who was a social misfit and had substance abuse issues. Beth Harmon was the kind of person we all root for, because we all admire those who emerge from life's deepest trenches and find success of any kind.
In pool movies/shows, pool has never been presented as the outlet for a troubled introvert suddenly obsessed with the game's inner beauty but instead as a haven for those who want to win money gambling at it with less skilled players.
Beth Harmon, unlike any pool player ever presented in film, etched her entire legacy in the legitimate world of tournaments, and her journey helped us to understand, with great fascination, what serious chess is all about and what it is like to compete at the very highest level. We learned what it's like to sit across the table from the world title holder ready to try to match wits with a champion whose legend is both enormous and intimidating. We learned what's it like to win and receive genuine admiration and positive feedback from your opponent.
If a pool equivalent of "the Queen's Gambit" were made, unless it steered clear of the seedy world of action pool, the public would not be able to fully appreciate the world of legitimate pool and the true beauty of the game when played by the world's greatest players. As long as the top pool players are viewed by the public as predatory gamblers, pool will always have an image problem that will obstruct its wide acceptance.
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If it steered too clear of the underbelly world--ignoring it altogether, the story might have a credibility problem. Maybe if the interaction between the two world is a central tension the hero navigates, we the audience might be brought along with him or her on the journey to appreciating legitimate pool and the beauty of the game. There of course would be some hard lessons and betrayal along the way.
this thread aged well 
seriously though, any compelling storyline that gets eyeballs and sparks people's interest in the game will be good for pool. I don't think any of us can predict ahead of time what form that would take. If anything, only something surprising, new, and unexpected could actually work.
seriously though, any compelling storyline that gets eyeballs and sparks people's interest in the game will be good for pool. I don't think any of us can predict ahead of time what form that would take. If anything, only something surprising, new, and unexpected could actually work.
Agreed. Well said, Mike.