A Small Observation

Shannon.spronk

Shannon.spronk

Anybody read this?
Silver Member
So I like watching pool. I have many players that I enjoy watching. The biggest difference i have noticed personally between pool and other sports I enjoy is that other sports I need to watch live.

I can know the outcome of a match between two pro pool players and it does not matter. I want to see them play. In other sports like football or basketball if I know the outcome I have no interest in watching the game.

I am not really sure the reason for this. In pool I want to see how players play each shot. I want to see the hard shots, the breakouts, the runs, the easy shots. Every single shot. In other sports I may want to see a few highlights, but it is not the same at all. Maybe it is the fact that I am a pool player and I want to see the things I am trying to do myself. I am also a golfer, but I dont want to watch that after I know the results. I bowl, but I dont care to watch when I know the outcome.

Anyone else ever notice this about themselves?
 
You hit the nail on the head. Same reason that soccer will NEVER be a major sport in the USA. You already know the outcome....it's 1 to zero. Maybe even a tie. :confused:

Some sports, we can admire the grace and agility of the athletes. For me, hockey is fascinating though I can barely stand on skates myself. Can't bear to watch basketball even though I understand that it does require tremendous talent.

Watching some sports, I think we enjoy watching for the "armchair quarterback" aspect: If I were coach, what play would I call with that 3rd and 3 to go situation? or perhaps, what would be better with one out, man on third....suicide squeeze or sacrifice fly? We compare our opinion on the matter to the play actually called though we can't test our theory if the coach goes the other direction, so why bother watching if you already know the outcome? As for something like bowling, would you really look at a situation and think, "Ooooohhh! He got a split! Now what would I do in this situation?"

On the other hand, watching pool also allows us to "armchair quarterback" every single "play" of the game. We merely observe the lay of the table and decide what we would do in that situation. And unlike decisions of a coach or manager in other sports with whom we often have legitimate disagreements, when the professional pool player decides on which is the correct shot, he is probably correct 99 times out of a hundred. And even if we disagree with the actual shot chosen (and unlike the other sports), we can go ahead and test our own "theory" for the situation next time on the table by setting the balls up the same way.

For me as presumably for you, watching pool/snooker is a learning experience as well as entertainment whether I know the outcome of the match or not. Unlike, say, football, which I enjoy watching, but at my age, I don't thinking watching it will make me a better player.
 
Shannon.spronk said:
So I like watching pool. I have many players that I enjoy watching. The biggest difference i have noticed personally between pool and other sports I enjoy is that other sports I need to watch live ... Anyone else ever notice this about themselves?
Click to expand...

EXCELLENT perspective, digestion, and post, Shannon.spronk!
Pool is indeed replete with intricacies.

You are truly a student of the game like me.:)
 
All

All excellent points, I to love watching replays of certain matches. It seems you can always pick up new things with certain details.
 
excellent point OP.

I will even watch great pool matches more than once (almost never do that with other sports)
 
Game

beneath_the_sur said:
No sports are fun to watch afterward

Pools not A sport it's a game
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So is Monopoly but I would never watch a tape of that. Playing Pool requires hand/ eye coordination, touch, speed control plus knowledge, while it may not require skills needed in games like Football or Basketball there is still a lot more physical skills needed then playing cards etc.
 
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