Watch a golf Tourny sometime on TV, if they were to just follow one specific player the whole time it would be boring as hell. So they swap back and forth to the different shot. ( and now over to the 3rd hole, moments ago on the the 8th, his last shot to get here...Ect. Ect.)...snip...
That's the best idea in years about promoting interest in watching pool. Switch to different matches, commenting on the match, the standings, the personalities or careers or recent wins. Or maybe comment about the drama of a shot choice, or a tough match, or even an obscure foul or ball placement ruling, like golf does when a guy is taking a drop in the rough.
fantasy commentators
Play-by-play: "and over on the one-loss side, Players A and B are fighting for their tournament life. B is one game ahead at 9-8 in this race to 11; now he has the choice of a difficult cut into the side or shooting for the corner pocket with a chance of a scratch and probable loss of the game. He could play a safety but he's the kind of player who shoots at the hole almost every time."
color comment: ".. and you know, Jim, that's exactly the choices that B had earlier in the year at Turningstone; many say he should have played safe, because his shot choice did not turn out well for him at all, not at all. He's taking an extension to think it over."
(silence while B shoots)
Play-by-play: "And B made the 7 in the corner, a fantastic shot that somehow forced the cue ball to nick the rail and avoid the potential scratch. Now he's in fine shape for the last two balls and the win!"
Color: "that will put him on the hill, breaking to win the match, and for the chance to stay in the tournament. Why don't you explain the road to the Hotseat for the fans?"
Play-by-play: "Yes, in a minute, but now we turn our attention to a controversial shot in another close match, this on the no-loss side between the top seed and a player who has given him all he could handle in past matches... and in today's match as well."
end fantasy commentators
The only thing is, current commentators focus too much on how they would play a shot, or a run, or a safety.
They use the same words or phases ad nauseum, saying "reposition the cue ball" three or four times in the same sentence. They often argue with each other about tangential topics such as who remembers an ancient gambling story the best, thus losing all sense of the match in front of them.
Current commentators can't seem to remember how many games each player has won in the match they are watching, and argue among themselves about that. They talk and party so loud and so stupidly that they distract the actual players, then laugh about the fact they distracted and angered a player, and talk even louder about that players personal issues.
There are so few good commenters compared to the ancient crew of bad commenters who think it is party time at old home week, instead of a serious part of the fan's potential enjoyment of the matches.
Worst of all, several current commentators (and many players, backers, gamblers etc) have absolutely no respect for the fans. The fans maybe can't make three balls in a row, maybe never played for more than two dollars a game, but they are the ones who advertisers will reach out to, if pool is ever to come out of its doldrums.
