Death of the road runner
- Thread starter Michael Andros
- Start date
True there! I could watch a guy play one rack and I knew whether or not I could beat him. :thumbup2:
I will add this. If it looked like he was a close match for me I would still play him. I always wanted to test myself and I discovered that being a stranger had certain psychological advantages. I beat a lot of guys who played my speed or even slightly better.
Last edited:
Youse guys are too smart for me.True there! I could watch a guy play one rack and I knew whether or not I could beat him. :thumbup2:
I will add this. If it looked like he was a close match for me I would still play him. I always wanted to test myself and I discovered that being a stranger had certain psychological advantages. I beat a lot of guys who played my speed or even slightly better.
I've had at least 10 sessions where the winner wasn't established till the third day.
Most sessions were 12 hours a day, mind you.
Technology and inflation due to greed killed the road warriors, 90% of them at least. The survivors don’t live off pool alone.
Hey Stake - Can you explain what you mean by "Technology and inflation due to greed"? Thank you, sir. :help:
I was never a road player but living in a small Iowa town as a kid walking a soybean field hoeing weeds paid $2 dollars. Not $2 dollars an hour, $2 dollars for the field. Bailing hay was $5 dollars. Not $5 dollars an hour - $5 dollars when the job was finished and the hay was bailed and in the haymow.
Or you could go to the pool hall after school ( snooker tables only) and if you were patient you could make a dollar or two off other kids and your arms didn't get scratched up like they did bailing hay. People gravitated to the pool hall because there wasn't anything else to do especially in the Winter when you couldn't play outside. Go home, go to the library, go to the pool hall - those were the options. At home television was terrible. You watched whichever channel you could bring in after you turned the antennae in the right direction.
Today the pool hall in that town is long since closed and the kids are all playing video games or watching one of 85 channels on satellite tv. I was never a road player or a serious hustler but I suspect that town is a microcosm of what has happened nationwide. Not as many people playing pool and not as many pool halls = not as many road players. More likely to get a big crowd for a video game tournament than a pool tournament.
Or you could go to the pool hall after school ( snooker tables only) and if you were patient you could make a dollar or two off other kids and your arms didn't get scratched up like they did bailing hay. People gravitated to the pool hall because there wasn't anything else to do especially in the Winter when you couldn't play outside. Go home, go to the library, go to the pool hall - those were the options. At home television was terrible. You watched whichever channel you could bring in after you turned the antennae in the right direction.
Today the pool hall in that town is long since closed and the kids are all playing video games or watching one of 85 channels on satellite tv. I was never a road player or a serious hustler but I suspect that town is a microcosm of what has happened nationwide. Not as many people playing pool and not as many pool halls = not as many road players. More likely to get a big crowd for a video game tournament than a pool tournament.
Sadly enough...
Technology being cell phones and the internet for the most part. Every era/decade has its own contributions to the demise of something and the 80s/90s was the beginning of the end for the roadman. As most have said, when you can find out anything you want to know on someone in a matter of seconds or minutes with a cell phone, its virtually impossible to stay under the radar. As for the internet, its the mother of all knock artists. Someone wins a tournament or matches up with someone and no sooner are they unscrewing their cue and they're already a household name online. Now, the driving force behind those who survived off pool and its accoutrements was money obviously. Gas prices havent always been a travelers worst nightmare but post 2000 they have become a complete criminal act of greed, which most things can stem back to. Oil companies couldnt unload their money with a leaf blower faster than they make it. Hotels and food have doubled or tripled and that alone is enough to make someone look for a 9 to 5. Heres a good example, not that long ago, when the DCC was at the executive you could stay there for the duration for about the price of 3 days at that shithole casino its at now. The food might not have been Wolfgang Puck but it wasnt $27 for a low rent buffet either. The big three on not just a pool player but any travelers expense list is gas, lodging and food. All of those do not have to be as high as they are today, but the management needs that jelly and cant get by playing on the average joes golf course. Pool rooms who could survive 20-30 years ago on pool alone cant do that today in most places. Rent is through the roof these days and rather than give a business a chance, its dead before it gets started. In my town alone, there are lots of buildings that will set empty and the owners will continue to pay taxes and upkeep rather than take $1000-$1500 a month instead of their $2000 price. How about equipment, sure the quality may be better these days but why are tables $5000, and if you dont want to buy them you could always opt for the Diamond plan of leasing and give them most of your money and when the pool room closes they'll move them on to the next spot. Its a shame the up and coming generation will never know what pool was like even in the 80s or 90s...let alone in the glory days.
$TAKE HOR$E ~-~ Opening a 24/7 free pool room when he hits the PB
Last edited:
I agree with with every word. Yeah, I was aware of the internet aspect with queering everyone's action, I just wasn't sure what you meant by greed but, oh yeah, again, I agree with every word. And even though I feel sorry for those not old enough to have been there in the "glory days", to know what it was like, at least they have one advantage over us. They have no "point of reference". They've no idea what they're missing, except to hear it discussed in venues like this. And then they just slough it off on brainless chatter by people who drool alot as they sit in front of their tvs, wishing for the old days again... meanwhile we have to watch the way it is now, and shake our heads at it. Ah, well. Whatareyagonnado?
S'a good one, yup.
[/QUOTE]sent you a greenie because you deserve it...:thumbup:
I still think there are lots of games to be had if you do it right. If you're looking for big money games I've had calls from places wanting to know if I wanted in on something and how much. I think it's also easier to find the smaller games that add up depending on how much time you want to invest. It used to be harder to find a pool bar with 'players', but now you can just go to a league website and act like you're someone who wants to join and they'll list all the establishments that currently have leagues in that zip code which usually means a lot of players around just depending on how much speed you want to display.
Another possible reasoning why people won't bet is they don't want to be con'd. (i probably butchered the spelling) A lot of people are now smart to what hustling is and they just don't want to go through the BS of it.
There was a quote on here on how people don't know what pool was/is. I would agree. Take it back even further and it was a gentleman's game played by royalty. It has changed so much since then, for the better and the worse.
There was a quote on here on how people don't know what pool was/is. I would agree. Take it back even further and it was a gentleman's game played by royalty. It has changed so much since then, for the better and the worse.
:thumbup:
Most "gambling" in pool back then ( and today as well, for as much as there is these days ) wasn't "hustling" by and large. It was people who liked betting, playing each other. Were there a lot of curve-balls tossed around? Oh yeah... did players "lay down" to get played or get a certain game? Yup. But outright hustling? Not so much. It's been romanticized in pop-culture far beyond the reality. Was there some? Sure. But mostly it was one guy matching up with another, with both intending to take the other's $$$.
This right on the money
Back then a lot of really good players would go broke frequently. They wanted to stay
in action. But even if they did go broke there was so much action they knew that
they could pump right back up in no time. Getting busted came with the territory.
At worst you would drive around and hit the bars,there were zillions of them with
the little bar box'es and quarters lined up. Most did end up broke or with very little
to show for all of those years, but I would bet that if given the chance most would
do it all over again in a heart beat. Those times were really something.
jack
Back then a lot of really good players would go broke frequently. They wanted to stay
in action. But even if they did go broke there was so much action they knew that
they could pump right back up in no time. Getting busted came with the territory.
At worst you would drive around and hit the bars,there were zillions of them with
the little bar box'es and quarters lined up. Most did end up broke or with very little
to show for all of those years, but I would bet that if given the chance most would
do it all over again in a heart beat. Those times were really something.
jack
Amen. I opted for the 9-5 when I got married but I just as easily could've stayed in the pool room. I know which one would've been more fun. By a country mile and then some.