Many good points-
While one person or a couple of people may make no difference in your eyes, sometimes it's exactly that one person that makes a difference.
I submit for your reading, my Op-Ed piece on my Mosconi Experience from last year for your reading and viewing pleasure at the end of this message.
It's a good idea for us all to pool our money, but then what?
I have given away tons of time and money in sponsorship and purse money.
Money gets attention but doesn't keep it.
I gave 2,500 toward the 14.1 at DCC one year and had someoone match me another 2,500. So 5K added to the 14.1 Challenge at Derby...AND? And nothing, it's going to take more than one or 2 or ten of us giving away money from our hearts.
It's not the only solution to the problem albeit, it is a component.
I'm glad you played
I guarantee you none of them will turn their back on whatever support you offer, and you'll feel damm good about what you did, especially if you attend the event.
I do and I have, all the time
After all, you're just another pool nut, but one who can help make a difference.
[/QUOTE]
Yes, I believe I can and do, make a difference
Enjoy the read.
The Power of One
What motivates people to do things?
Basic needs like hunger and thirst will cause a person to look for food to eat and water to drink.
What of the other needs of a person that must be fed, the emotional needs, the things that feed our ego and our psyche?
I have been asked more than once, why would I bother to make a film about the game of pool and the people who play it.
The game itself is fun, but the people and the culture that surround the game are just "no good", is how it's usually explained to me.
I've decided to share with you some of the expressive ways the world of pool has been described to me by some of my closest friends of long standing, both from outside of pool and from within. It goes something like this-
"You're trying to plant roses in Chernobyl Angel."
"Are you making any money at it?"
"Nobody cares about pool, let it die, it's not worth saving."
And then it gets a little more personal.
"You know I love you, right? But you are pool's battered wife. You make excuses for all the bad actions of the people you're trying to help."
That last one made me both laugh and cry at the same time, partially because I can see exactly why that may be said of me and partially because I'm perceived as a victim.
I am not a victim.
I am a willing and active participant in what my friends see as some sort of fool's errand.
Even after watching and experiencing a change in the feeling at this years Mosconi Cup 2015, the fact remains,
pool has far to go.
Many people simply just look at me, pat me on my head with a "bless her heart" on their lips, which kindly translates to, poor dumb girl and watch me toddle off to the next leg of the journey. They see me dressed down, they see me dressed up, camera in hand and at the ready.
They can conceive nothing of the reason why.
What could possibly be the payoff?
I see us as more than we see ourselves.
You've shown me and I can't unsee.
I see our broken and twisted routes we stray down, like trying to make a straight shot on a table that rolls to one side, it's hard to get away from.
Only because I've ventured down those paths both in my own life and in pursuit of your story that I have firsthand knowledge.
I've made the time to learn and study what was before and what is now.
That is why I understand when those around me don't, because when I asked why and got the answer, I asked why again.
I'm not afraid of work.
If there was one thing I wasn't expecting to find, it was support. I was told not to expect it.
In any form.
Players and even people in the industry told me not to expect it.
Even when I provide them with a substantive argument backed by fact and said with all the emphatic passion in my heart,
I'm met with-
"They don't care. You can't make them care."
This is true. No one person can make someone do or feel what they don't want to.
But then, should I stop caring for those who don't care about themselves or others?
That would be the thing to do in most situations, except I must ask,
"Well why don't they care? It's their industry and sport, why wouldn't they?"
Why am I always told that no one will give help to anyone or themselves? That's a bit of logic that fails me.
I think people in the industry do care, in fact I know they care, they have cared, but they've been "bit", repeatedly,
they've been hurt on personal as well as professional levels usually prompted by greed or ego or both by the people they called friend. That's enough betrayal of trust to fill a hundred books and make a thousand films.
I too have had my share of trust betrayed.
Very unkind blows indeed to deal to someone who wants nothing more than to alleviate the burdens made by those whose sights are short. This is no small feat and the problems are many.
Patterns repeated.
The one thing pool players recognize in abundance is patterns. This extends to human nature, and psychology with pool only being the tool used as a means to an end. I get that some people have no love for the game or respect for the talent, not that talent and character go hand in hand. It's just about what they can get out of it, nothing more.
Maybe once, long ago, they loved the game, but they watched the game and their friendships go sideways, so to save themselves, they pulled away from the detritus.
I see it played out over and over again, the stories stay with me. I can't hide from what my experiences have shown me nor can I deny what my camera has captured. So I don't. I embrace it and I hold the lessons close not only so I don't forget but so something good can be salvaged. In this way, you are all made dearer to me. Even the ne'er-do-well's and the jerks. Yes even them.
"There's no money in pool and everyone's just scraping by, rooms are closing everywhere."
While it is true that rooms are closing and there are next to no new rooms opening to take their place, that doesn't mean pool is dying. It means things are changing. Fighting change is unreasonable, it leads to a cessation of growth which is unhealthy. While recognition and preservation of the old is and should be regarded and remembered,
things change and so too must we change, adapt and adjust. If you play pool, you know how to adjust all the more.
"Why should I want to help my competitors?"
and
"Because if there's a "Hooray for me, the hell with you." attitude, it resides in the pool world and you better get used to it."
Practically, collaboration and goodwill doubles market share and advances growth throughout the entirety of the companies involved. When I say goodwill I mean that goodwill takes the form of consideration and courtesy and is an overall reflection of good sportsman's conduct brought to the boardroom, tempered with the understanding that we needn't slit each others throats to make a buck. We have some of the greatest analytical minds in the biz and still we must be smarter. Being smarter includes working together.
"Yeah, yeah, is Cumbaya and hand holding next?"
I may be sans testes, but I guarantee you, if I had them, they'd be bigger than your head.
I post my own because I have the nuts, period. Maybe this only makes me crazy.
The definition of crazy is continuing to do the same thing and expect a different result. I continue to do different things and approach pool from different perspectives, so I don't think crazy is an appropriate adjective to use when describing myself and pool.
I know I can paint a bowl of fruit, but I go to the museum to see how Picasso and Rembrandt did it.
Perhaps insane would be better suited to describe me.
But am I really? I'm subjective, so here's the definition to base your conclusion on and my response to it.
in·sane
inˈsān/
adjective
"In a state of mind that prevents normal perception, behavior, or social interaction; mentally ill."
What's my normal perception?
That everybody is inherently more good than bad, therefore they have the capacity to do more good than bad. What's my behaviour? I am steadfast in my work ethic, maybe not always as efficient as some but certainly effective..
Does my state of mind prevent normal social interaction?
Only when frustration and over caffeination are on the menu and grief, happiness or the amoral prompt a response from me. No I don't believe I'm insane, just determined to lay a foundation to make cue sports self sustaining.
We've always had our hand out, waiting for that magical unicorn "the sponsor" to rescue us.
The sponsor isn't coming folks, we are our own best sponsor, time to help ourselves.
Maybe no one has ever shared a perspective on the subject of pool like this.
Maybe nobody's ever pointed out just how pool is entirely interconnected to everything else before.
Or maybe it is easier just to let it die than to trust that the people who can and should take action
will now or when asked or ever.
But it's the times when I'm saddest that I find my resolve and continue.
So what is the payoff for me?
Simple answer- hope.
Sometimes hope wears a t-shirt.
From the over 1,000 people in the crowd at this years Mosconi Cup in Las Vegas, there was one person high in the stands wearing a promotional t-shirt that I did for my documentary on pool, "Raising the Hustler."
I think I sold about 100 shirts, so seeing this man donning my shirt in support of the film made me very surprised and of course, very happy. So much so, that I waited for him and his wife so I could thank him and shake his hand, because he had no idea how much of a powerful impact his choice of clothing for the day would make in my life.
It wasn't just that he was wearing the shirt, it was the reason "why" he was wearing the shirt.
He believes in us also. In spite of all the bad and all the b.s. he believes in us, just like me.
I believe that pool/billiards is more than just it's hustler stigma, it is a part of who we are as players,
it is not all that we are.
I believe that pool is more than the game we play or the heads that govern the body of pool/billiards, it is not one or two, but all, cumulatively.
I believe that pool is more than one player or face. It is the face of every weary road player, elder statesman, and every smiling child when they're at the table.
And though we're supposed to be a game played by individuals, at no other time has it become more apparent that we are changing into something more akin to a sport and growing our individual viewpoint to include room for group input from countries across the world because we are now more than ever, globally connected.
I've seen battle and brotherhood happen at the table.
While many may say there may not be very much chance that pool will ever be the success I envision it to be,
I know that I have a gamblers mentality, which is "there's always a chance" and I only gamble on myself.
I'm not betting on pool. I'm investing in it.
Kenneth, thank you for being 1 in 1000!
-Ms. Angel Levine
"Raising the Hustler"
@Raisingthehustl
#raisingthehustler
#pooldocumentary
#poolordie
