Another Difference Between Snooker and Pool

AuntyDan said:
Whilst it is true Snooker in the UK has a generally higher social status than Pool in the USA, one big factor to it's success that may not be obvious to those of you living in the Revolting Colonies is that it gets state-subsidized television coverage. Yes those evil socialists at the BBC televise Snooker tournaments live and in full. This both gives fans the ability to follow the game and elevates it's status to "As Seen On TV" so that even non-players might watch it.

The US equivalent would be PBS broadcasting the DCC. (Heck, I might give them a pledge for that!)
Click to expand...

Most coverage is on Eurosport, not BBC.
Skysports and ITV have a couple each.

BBC and Eurosport share the big three - UK Championship, The Masters, and the World Championship, with Eurosport providing more complete coverage.
BBC has a nasty habit of returning to regularly scheduled programing. :angry:

The Masters starts this morning - 8 a.m. EST
http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=386908
 
SakuJack said:
For the last time, that is utter bollocks. Do you think all of those people in attendance (or watching at home) are only interested because they have a bet on?
Click to expand...

Pidge said:
Very few fans gamble on it. I've never placed a bet on snooker.
Click to expand...

Exactly. Not sure why Johnny keeps saying that.

You can't [legally] bet on the NFL in New England, yet the stadium was packed for the game yesterday, and most days.

If you have a game that is interesting like snooker, and market it well, then you're going to draw viewers. Pool isn't interesting outside of fans, and it isn't marketed well at all.
 
AuntyDan said:
Whilst it is true Snooker in the UK has a generally higher social status than Pool in the USA, one big factor to it's success that may not be obvious to those of you living in the Revolting Colonies is that it gets state-subsidized television coverage. Yes those evil socialists at the BBC televise Snooker tournaments live and in full. This both gives fans the ability to follow the game and elevates it's status to "As Seen On TV" so that even non-players might watch it.

The US equivalent would be PBS broadcasting the DCC. (Heck, I might give them a pledge for that!)
Click to expand...

The beeb's support of snooker is the ONLY reason why i continue to pay my license fee.
 
Johnnyt said:
For the last time. Only reason snooker gets fans in the seats and TV coverage is because you can legally gamble on it. Take that away and the ratings will drop like a rock. Johnnyt
Click to expand...

One tournament in China drew over 59 million total viewers I hardy think they were only watching because they where betting ,,
They have tremendous interest on players representing thier country ..

1
 
Johnnyt said:
For the last time. Only reason snooker gets fans in the seats and TV coverage is because you can legally gamble on it. Take that away and the ratings will drop like a rock. Johnnyt
Click to expand...

Nope, you are mistaken. You cannot legally gamble on snooker in my country, yet it is shown all the time on tv, and the ratings are good. Snooker is a wonderful game to watch visually. The size of the table and the pockets show off the difficulty. Even a complete idiot can see that the game is hard. The colors, the well dressed players, full crowds..It is a beautiful spectacle all around. The game itself has it all: Offense, defense, couragous shots, lucky flukes. Pocketing a ball is so hard that a shot can be missed at any time, which adds to the suspense. The suspense in pool is more subtle. Personally I prefer to watch snooker, but to play pool (even though I do play some snooker).

I remember once watching a stream from a world pool championship where a player was studying an elementary 4 ball out for what seemed like 5 minutes and I thought that if anybody I know outside of the poolhall had watched they would have changed channels 4 minutes and 30 seconds ago. I realized then and there that without shotclocks pool will not get anywhere. Snooker has very few of these stalling idiots that pool seems to be plagued with, and I believe that much like straight pool, snooker is a game of rhytm and without some rhytm in your game you won't get far.
 
Snooker has an almost hypnotic quality to it that pool lacks. The game goes steadily in a nice rhytm, the commentators are soft spoken and do not talk to much, mostly because there is very little explaining to be done. The colors are there for everyone to see and the shots are usually all variations on a couple of themes. While you may think this sounds boring, it gives the audience a sense of being competent, and draws them in. You are right there, next to the player, if not playing the game in your mind. It is hypnotic and it's hard to turn off the tv.

In pool even seasoned commentators call the wrong shots, and camera crews make mistakes as well. Until recently, even telling the balls apart on tv was hard. If that was not bad enough the current favoured 9 and 10 ball are not rhytm games and the players take forever shooting hangers. There is no hypnotic quality to it, just pure boredom coupled with confusion when the commentators confuse you by calling the wrong shot or even the wrong ball. The commentators talk about all sorts of uninteresting stuff as well as talking to loudly and too much.
 
Lets see snooker played without a ref like pool is in the US. How fun would it be to watch someone make a red ball, then a colored ball and have to go around table to get the colored ball out of the pocket and spot it. On every other shot. Stupid game unless you have a ref to spot balls. Kinda like watching the Philippine players play without a bug picker.
 
Another quickie on the commentators...most are ex pros from the good days of snooker and the older generation know who they are and see the as minor celebrities. They will.mention to their kids and have their kids watch it even if they don't play. They also run little explanatory bits on the tv when its on between games explaining the colors, how it works and so on. The ex pros also go through instructional bits and all stuff like that makes it interesting for grabbing new players into the game.
 
Straightpool_99 said:
Snooker has an almost hypnotic quality to it that pool lacks. The game goes steadily in a nice rhytm, the commentators are soft spoken and do not talk to much, mostly because there is very little explaining to be done. The colors are there for everyone to see and the shots are usually all variations on a couple of themes. While you may think this sounds boring, it gives the audience a sense of being competent, and draws them in. You are right there, next to the player, if not playing the game in your mind. It is hypnotic and it's hard to turn off the tv.

In pool even seasoned commentators call the wrong shots, and camera crews make mistakes as well. Until recently, even telling the balls apart on tv was hard. If that was not bad enough the current favoured 9 and 10 ball are not rhytm games and the players take forever shooting hangers. There is no hypnotic quality to it, just pure boredom coupled with confusion when the commentators confuse you by calling the wrong shot or even the wrong ball. The commentators talk about all sorts of uninteresting stuff as well as talking to loudly and too much.
Click to expand...

KISS.............................red/color/red color.................It ain't broke.
 
Ty-Tanic said:
I would love for snooker to get more popular here in the US. I personally love the game but there are only maybe 5 somewhat decent snooker tables in all of Oregon and I haven't found a 6 by 12 yet. They are practically impossibly to find in the US.
Click to expand...
There's a 12 foot snooker table at classics of 122nd.
 
So who are the American ambassadors of snooker? Why do we not have a showing in this sport. Seems the logical thing would be to get this rolling in the U.S. Maybe we need more 6x12 tables to play on. Heck if the money is in Snooker then it seems like it would be the logical way to go.

On another note, I am sure that 9 ball will benefit from the playing of snooker, just as English 8 ball and 9 ball has benefited from the snooker boom in the U.K. The benefit is you put cue sticks in the hands of more players, they get better skill sets playing on a bigger table and cue sports as a whole grow...

Sounds like a winner to me.
 
Albatross Cues said:
So who are the American ambassadors of snooker? Why do we not have a showing in this sport. Seems the logical thing would be to get this rolling in the U.S. Maybe we need more 6x12 tables to play on. Heck if the money is in Snooker then it seems like it would be the logical way to go.

On another note, I am sure that 9 ball will benefit from the playing of snooker, just as English 8 ball and 9 ball has benefited from the snooker boom in the U.K. The benefit is you put cue sticks in the hands of more players, they get better skill sets playing on a bigger table and cue sports as a whole grow...

Sounds like a winner to me.
Click to expand...

New York Athletic Club teams play in the amateur International Snooker League.
http://www.internationalsnookerleague.com/
 
This is good news, now it would great to see a American take on the Crucible...I can see it now. Would make the Country pride during the Mosconi cup seem like child's play if an American ever made it to the finals.
 
I absolutely love watching snooker. I was in England during the last Mosconi cup and there was a big snooker tournament on at the same time, and I was able to watch it on tv at the hotel. I was impressed, and engaged. It a sharp contrast to the football hooliganism that occurred at the MC.
 
I'm none America, and not from Europe either.

I'm a pool player, and I almost never play snooker.

But I would watch a snooker game over any pro pool game, sometimes I sit and watch US Open or Derby City, but I really would rather watch snooker at any day.

I almost never miss the UK championships, and the Cruicible world championships, and the snooker Masters, but I can miss any pool tournament out there if i'm busy.

Why? I don't know, something about snooker that is interested and make me wana watch. pool is lovely to play, but there's so much luck factor I think, can't exactly pin-point why snooker is more watch-able for me.

And here's the thing also, my parents arent into either pool or snooker, but when I put snooker on tv they don't mind sitting and watching and they think its exciting, they even know ronnie osullivan and mark williams, they never touched a cue mind you. But when I put a pool match they either leave or yawn and sleep in the sofa, so yea why do you think that is, go figure.

it has nothing to do with America, or country, trust me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top