Damn 3C players...

Black-Balled said:
Sorry to go out on a tangent...

My limited exposure to billiards' history leaves me with the thought that the US had the best players in the World (up to the 50's?), but the game has obviously fallen out of favor domestically. Why is this?

It is an awesome game- equally as cool and possibly more tortuous than pocket billiards- and the advances in technology that billiards equipment has seen puts pool to shame. Point being, R/D $ is there because there is a market for it. Why are the Euros the only ones who are keeping the flame burning?

And for those who don't know, check out what I just bought!
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3C is a triple cool game, LOL seriously I dont understand why it's dead here, perhaps stupid average americans just cant see the beatuy in it because it isnt in neon colors.
 
Bob Jewett said:
I've seen him play pool when he wanted to play well, and he is not inefficient. I've also seen him play when he was not interested in playing correctly, as in the video. I'd like to see him in a pool competition.
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Bob whats your high run in 3C? thanks in advance. :)
 
the demise of both carom and 10 ft pool tables (they often went hand in hand) is very sad

I would like to hear some of the historians chime in on this
 
smashmouth said:
the demise of both carom and 10 ft pool tables (they often went hand in hand) is very sad

I would like to hear some of the historians chime in on this
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I don't know if I am a historian, but in my youth nearly every poolroom of note had a Snooker table and a Billiard table. And that was in Ohio. By the 70's these tables were being removed and replaced with pool tables. As a proprietor you didn't want empty tables on a busy Saturday night.

In my first poolroom in Bakersfield, I had two Snooker tables and 20 pool tables. On busy nights I would actually rent them out with pool balls on them, and people would take them! I finally broke down and replaced them with four bar tables. It boosted my income by $200 a week, serious money in the early 70's.

In business, the customer gets the biggest vote.
 
jay helfert said:
I don't know ...I finally broke down and replaced them with four bar tables. It boosted my income by $200 a week, serious money in the early 70's...
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Based on available info, I have determined that Jay Helfert is responsible for the demise of 3c.:wink:
 
I'm going to put that in the wikipedia entry for billiards: "The decline of billiards in the U.S. can be directly attributed to Jay Helfert".
 
Black-Balled said:
Sorry to go out on a tangent...

My limited exposure to billiards' history leaves me with the thought that the US had the best players in the World (up to the 50's?), but the game has obviously fallen out of favor domestically. Why is this?

It is an awesome game- equally as cool and possibly more tortuous than pocket billiards- and the advances in technology that billiards equipment has seen puts pool to shame. Point being, R/D $ is there because there is a market for it. Why are the Euros the only ones who are keeping the flame burning?

And for those who don't know, check out what I just bought!
Click to expand...

Well, one reason might be the fact that billiards is popular in continental Europe. In the early part of the 20th century there were well-known European players. In 1914 some events happened in Europe, and Sayginer's home country for that matter. When pool and billiards were hugely popular in the US in the '20's, things maybe weren't as good there. And then the second war came along and affected all the billiard playing countries probably proportionately worse than the US. Billiards was slipping in the US in the '50's, but you had by far the richest country around in the post war boom. When did Ceulemans come into prominence? Early '60's maybe? OK I wikied him and he was born in 1937 and started winning titles in 1961. So he was too young to fight in the war and obv wasn't killed in it and then grew up in a more peaceful era. So then billiards died in the US and the European billiards playing countries got back to normal life. I don't know how much of an effect the wars had, but IMO it is necessary to look at world events when American dominance in a given era is discussed. As for really gifted players, you just need a population base and the game to be popular, and once in a while a great one will be there. Wars that kill off huge percentages of a population or disrupt life will have an impact on how many great players in any sport will develop. I don't know the casualty numbers, but in glancing at some stats saw France lost 1.4 million soldiers in WWI. Oh, yeah, and the flu epidemic killed 50 million I read. So no wonder the best players for a while were in tthe US, which while we fought the wars and lost people in the epidemic, had an ocean on each side, neighbors that couldn't overthrow us, and more prosperity during these periods. And once the game fell out of favor here, it is no surprise that the best players come from elsewhere.
 
i was at about 33 last night got distracted and ran alot more-shame i lost count so the record is now unknown. ;)
 
JPB said:
Well, one reason might be the fact that billiards is popular in continental Europe. In the early part of the 20th century there were well-known European players. In 1914 some events happened in Europe, and Sayginer's home country for that matter. When pool and billiards were hugely popular in the US in the '20's, things maybe weren't as good there. And then the second war came along and affected all the billiard playing countries probably proportionately worse than the US. Billiards was slipping in the US in the '50's, but you had by far the richest country around in the post war boom. When did Ceulemans come into prominence? Early '60's maybe? OK I wikied him and he was born in 1937 and started winning titles in 1961. So he was too young to fight in the war and obv wasn't killed in it and then grew up in a more peaceful era. So then billiards died in the US and the European billiards playing countries got back to normal life. I don't know how much of an effect the wars had, but IMO it is necessary to look at world events when American dominance in a given era is discussed. As for really gifted players, you just need a population base and the game to be popular, and once in a while a great one will be there. Wars that kill off huge percentages of a population or disrupt life will have an impact on how many great players in any sport will develop. I don't know the casualty numbers, but in glancing at some stats saw France lost 1.4 million soldiers in WWI. Oh, yeah, and the flu epidemic killed 50 million I read. So no wonder the best players for a while were in tthe US, which while we fought the wars and lost people in the epidemic, had an ocean on each side, neighbors that couldn't overthrow us, and more prosperity during these periods. And once the game fell out of favor here, it is no surprise that the best players come from elsewhere.
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Say again?
 
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