Billy Thorp Interview

9ballscorpion

Active member
View attachment 585103

Here’s a group picture of a group of pool players taken several years ago. You would never know they were pool players by today’s lack of a dress code.

I see Earl in the front row, and Johnny Archer in the back row, and I believe that I see CJ Willey in the middle row.

Yeah, I would never have thought that was a picture of a group of pool players, unless you told me so.
 

ShootingArts

Smorg is giving St Peter the 7!
Gold Member
Silver Member
Nice photo up there.

Suits and ties make you look good. I could go from left to right and find you some problems in that room. Problems that a professional sport shouldn't have to deal with.

I think pool is taking on the feel of bass fishing, where players (anglers) wear sporting gear when they are playing (fishing) and should have on suits when they are anywhere else where a sanctioned event is happening, if they are participating or not.

I don't think they even need to go as far as a suit but if you wouldn't wear it as a sales representative for most any company, not the high end ones, then you are underdressed to represent a sponsor or seek one. Even if you aren't actively seeking a sponsor, pool needs all it can get and you are representing not only yourself but pool too.

You need to dress and act respectable, whether you are or not! Never more so than in today's silly world, image matters. If you are going to play the game you gotta learn to play it right.

Hu
 

jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
Gold Member
Silver Member
That's Mike Xiarhos between Kim and Rempe.., Bobby "Pags" Pagliarulo to the left of Kim and a young Mike Rinella to the left of Bobby Pags.

Correct on all counts, thanks. I think Mike is living in either Thailand or Cambodia now.
 

chitownnorth

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Exactly, he was dressed to the nines only because they told them to go home and dress appropriately. But, then got upset because the talent was not dressed to the nines too. And then wrecks his evening out because someone did not dress up, just like he didn't when he arrived ;) lol
So how did I wreck my evening since you seem to know so much about me? Tell me what I ended up doing.
 

Straightpool_99

I see dead balls
Silver Member
If you're not wearing flip-flops, a tank top and shorts that fall down, how are people going to see your glorious ass-crack and 100 tattoos? Those tattoos cost money, you know, much more than proper clothes. It's only fair to show them off.

This is never going to be a classy sport. The best you can do is be the best person you can and be an example for others by your actions. Be a gentleman, follow room- and game etiquette, dress as well as it is practical and affordable to you. Your clothes do not change the game, however. It's a reward of its own. The people who think they can change this sport are due for many and serious disappointments. I do think there is some hope for change at the highest level of tournament competition, as far as dresscode and overall behaviour is concerned, maybe some sponsorship could be possible. It's a remote possibility, but it does exist. Not even 3 cushion or snooker are inherently played by classy people, there are plenty of riff raff in those sports as well, but they have managed to create classy "cultures" at the top of the games, which have positively influenced the games overall. That's the best we can hope for in pool.

But don't think for a second that you can play pool in an average poolroom and not occationally wonder where your opponent or person on the table next to you did time or if he has a knife on him. It goes with the territory, unless you join a private club.
 
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KRJ

Support UKRAINE
Silver Member
Says the flip flop and t-shirt generation.
Which is what folks wear to fly on an airplane today. Good, bad or indifferent, it is what it is.

But, in some folks mind, professional pool players who play a fringe sport and other than handful of players, don't make as much as a Truck Driver and certainly not the health benefits, retirement, sick days, etc. But, they are suppose to dress better than most of the population in a sport that very few watch, not to mention, even fewer companies actually put on TV.

Put Earl in a tutu, I'm I will still be paying for front row seats.
 

Brookeland Bill

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
If you're not wearing flip-flops, a tank top and shorts that fall down, how are people going to see your glorious ass-crack and 100 tattoos? Those tattoos cost money, you know, much more than proper clothes. It's only fair to show them off.

This is never going to be a classy sport. The best you can do is be the best person you can and be an example for others by your actions. Be a gentleman, follow room- and game etiquette, dress as well as it is practical and affordable to you. Your clothes do not change the game, however. It's a reward of its own. The people who think they can change this sport are due for many and serious disappointments. I do think there is some hope for change at the highest level of tournament competition, as far as dresscode and overall behaviour is concerned, maybe some sponsorship could be possible. It's a remote possibility, but it does exist. Not even 3 cushion or snooker are inherently played by classy people, there are plenty of riff raff in those sports as well, but they have managed to create classy "cultures" at the top of the games, which have positively influenced the games overall. That's the best we can hope for in pool.

But don't think for a second that you can play pool in an average poolroom and not occationally wonder where your opponent or person on the table next to you did time or if he has a knife on him. It goes with the territory, unless you join a private club.

In 1964 when I was in high school in East Texas I played a couple of strangers in town who were dressed like a couple of guys right out of “Rebel Without A Cause”. Nice guys but out of their element. The next day I went to the pool room after school and the room proprietor came over to tell me that the two strangers I had played had robbed the Elkhart State Bank which was about 30 north of where I lived. You don’t know and may never know who you’re matching up with in a pool hall.
 

Sunchaser

Belgian Malinois
Silver Member
Billy dresses ok and he will be fine. I hear he has a shot at a jumper cable sponsership now...wait for it...
 

The_JV

'AZB_Combat Certified'
Another point I would like to make about the whole Billy Thorpe saga is the culture of envy that we exist in. No honest person could ever claim enough moral high ground to declare Billy a bad person especially when we live in an age where there is no good or evil.
I thought the Billy Thorpe saga was about his lack of professionalism...? When did someone declare him a bad person...?

...and not directed to you but as a general statement. This was the second installment of Billy being a lousy 'professional representative' within my horrible memory. Have we already forgotten the live stream drunken commentary he and I think Skylar performed a short while back...?
 

Baby Huey

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I don't think pool has as bad an image as some have suggested here. We have murderers from professional football, basketball and other sports who aren't so nice a people doing serious time in prison. So, some folks had a little too much to drink and it got out of hand. It's not the end of the world. Billy will figure it out and be better for it as time moves forward.
 

skogstokig

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I thought the Billy Thorpe saga was about his lack of professionalism...? When did someone declare him a bad person...?

...and not directed to you but as a general statement. This was the second installment of Billy being a lousy 'professional representative' within my horrible memory. Have we already forgotten the live stream drunken commentary he and I think Skylar performed a short while back...?

it's the third thing i've heard on stream, but i see no reason air that one. i think and hope billy will come back stronger and, most importantly, shoot good pool. fire in those bank shots. in the end that's the only measure; winning.

regarding clothes i think clean dark pants and shirt with a collar is enough. no orange sneakers, no hats.
 

lfigueroa

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
The pros provide a role model.

Everything from equipment, to air pumping, to dress, to behavior. Our next generation of players see how pros operate and follow their lead.

Which at this point is generally a sad thing.

Lou Figueroa
 

jasonlaus

Rep for Smorg
Silver Member
The pros provide a role model.

Everything from equipment, to air pumping, to dress, to behavior. Our next generation of players see how pros operate and follow their lead.

Which at this point is generally a sad thing.

Lou Figueroa
If that's the case then your generation provided the lead Billy and others are following today
 
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