Does anyone else try to gather friends to watch pool, but it's like pulling teeth?

[CreeDo]

So, our little group goes out to shoot 3-4 times a week. We're all "into" pool. We play decent. Some of us own dvds and books etc.

I have this crazy dream where one of us buys a tar match or some new accustats tape, calls up the others and says "let's all go to blah's house and watch it on the big tv, and order some pizza or something", and then everyone shows up and we're all interested and commenting on the shots and such.

Instead it's "I dunno man, my wife, she's kinda funny" or "I was gonna go out and shoot tonight" ...there's just no interest.

I can show them some tar matches and they're like "wow holy shit that's some high level play, he just ran six racks, damn I wish I could shoot like that"... then next week... "I gotta feed the dogs. I was gonna stay in tonight"

The few occasions I've gotten three people in the same room to watch pool, one of them gets bored and says "you wanna keep just watching? Let's go out and SHOOT man!"

Does anyone actually have friends who will get together just to watch pool, and they don't fall asleep or try to get everyone out the door?

 

[jhanso18]

I do this for almost every TAR event. I put it on the TV in my pool room downstairs, and we play pool while we watch TAR. It's a really good time.


best,

Justin

 

[JoeyA]

Does anyone actually have friends who will get together just to watch pool, and they don't fall asleep or try to get everyone out the door?

Occasionally, Buffalo Billiards in Metairie, LA will put on a live-stream and many people seem to enjoy watching the streamed matches but even BB doesn't do that on a regular basis. Why? I don't know.

As far as friends coming over to watch a match on the Internet or television, that's not going to happen at my house. No table and the wife doesn't care for pool or pool players.

I like to see who's really serious about improving their game. It's kind of a game for me to observe others to determine if they play pool for the competition or just for the social factor.

 

[macguy]

So, our little group goes out to shoot 3-4 times a week. We're all "into" pool. We play decent. Some of us own dvds and books etc.

I have this crazy dream where one of us buys a tar match or some new accustats tape, calls up the others and says "let's all go to blah's house and watch it on the big tv, and order some pizza or something", and then everyone shows up and we're all interested and commenting on the shots and such.

Instead it's "I dunno man, my wife, she's kinda funny" or "I was gonna go out and shoot tonight" ...there's just no interest.

I can show them some tar matches and they're like "wow holy shit that's some high level play, he just ran six racks, damn I wish I could shoot like that"... then next week... "I gotta feed the dogs. I was gonna stay in tonight"

The few occasions I've gotten three people in the same room to watch pool, one of them gets bored and says "you wanna keep just watching? Let's go out and SHOOT man!"

Does anyone actually have friends who will get together just to watch pool, and they don't fall asleep or try to get everyone out the door?

Used to be a guy who brought his new Accu-stat vids to the pool room all the time and put then on. No one would watch for more then a few minutes no matter who was playing.

 

[itsfroze]

I feel one of the reasons it's so hard to get a bunch of pool players to watch say a good Accu-stats match is because a lot of pool players have an over inflated sense of their ability. Instead of watching and saying wow how did he do that and trying to learn from the artistry they see unfold in front of them.

They are put off buy the tremendous ability being displayed, because it emphasizes just how far down the food chain their game really is. Pool is a funny game for some reason (at least it seems to me) people seem to take a competitive situation more personally in this sport.

Watching great players play forces people to take an up-close and personal look at their own abilities, and frankly a lot of people don't like to be put in a spot where they are basically forced to be honest with themselves.

I don't ever remember watching a match in a setting where there were a bunch of people, and someone wasn't so threatened by the tremendous ability they were witnessing, that they blurt out these guys aren't so good I could do that or something similar. When everyone there knows that what they said, was such an exaggeration (lie) that no one even bothers to dispute their foolishness.

Honestly how can a guy who pretends to know everything all the time, ask a question about a shot they just saw in front of their friends.
It's sad but that is way to much honesty for a lot of people who like to call themselves pool players.

If they don't watch great players they can stick their head in the sand and pretend their great, at least in their own mind. I know many people like this and so do you, I imagine.

Truthfully how many times have you heard someone tout their abilities, only to have to stifle your laughter when you see them try to play.
How often have you heard someone say I'm not that good, unless their trying to get you to play for some cash. LOL

That's why I think it's hard to get people together to watch a match it's just,

TOO HARD ON THEIR EGOS

 

[evanlockhart]

one of them gets bored and says "you wanna keep just watching? Let's go out and SHOOT man!"

This is me just about every time I watch pool, lol.

Life just gets in the way, and i'm sure we can all understand that. People prioritize, sometimes watching pool doesn't take precedent over other things.

Like Joey said, a stream at the pool hall while you're playing is a wonderful thing.

 

[fathomblue]

I feel one of the reasons it's so hard to get a bunch of pool players to watch say a good Accu-stats match is because a lot of pool players have an over inflated sense of their ability. Instead of watching and saying wow how did he do that and trying to learn from the artistry they see unfold in front of them.

They are put off buy the tremendous ability being displayed, because it emphasizes just how far down the food chain their game really is. Pool is a funny game for some reason (at least it seems to me) people seem to take a competitive situation more personally in this sport.

Watching great players play forces people to take an up-close and personal look at their own abilities, and frankly a lot of people don't like to be put in a spot where they are basically forced to be honest with themselves.

I don't ever remember watching a match in a setting where there were a bunch of people, and someone wasn't so threatened by the tremendous ability they were witnessing, that they blurt out these guys aren't so good I could do that or something similar. When everyone there knows that what they said, was such an exaggeration (lie) that no one even bothers to dispute their foolishness.

Honestly how can a guy who pretends to know everything all the time, ask a question about a shot they just saw in front of their friends.
It's sad but that is way to much honesty for a lot of people who like to call themselves pool players.

If they don't watch great players they can stick their head in the sand and pretend their great, at least in their own mind. I know many people like this and so do you, I imagine.

Truthfully how many times have you heard someone tout their abilities, only to have to stifle your laughter when you see them try to play.
How often have you heard someone say I'm not that good, unless their trying to get you to play for some cash. LOL

That's why I think it's hard to get people together to watch a match it's just,

TOO HARD ON THEIR EGOS

Ditto and perfect post.

If there's anything I try to do with pool.....it's that I try to be realistic with my personal assessment. I generally don't hustle or play for a lot of money, so I try to be as honest as I can with people.

That's what freaks me out about this website. People on here talk about running these crazy high packages, such as 6-7 racks in a row.....when the only people I see do that are legit pro's on TV/streaming. No one around here plays like that.

With that said, I've seen a few people post some videos on here for people to critique their game and they were running some small packages, so maybe I just live in a guppy-filled area.

But, yea, I can watch pool all day long. I signed up for the Accu-Stats Video of the Month club thing and while my very best friend will watch pool with me.....other guys I regularly play with seem to not have the attention span or ego that it takes to really dissect a pro's game and compare it to their own.

One fellow player I know says, "I just can't watch videos. They're kinda dumb and there's nothing to be gained by them. I have to get to a table and shoot."

I say......take the videos to the table and watch.....shoot.....watch.....shoot. Rinse and repeat. It's one of those things where I think, "How the heck could I be wrong on this?"

And Accu-Stats videos or any matches in general are excellent learning tools as well.

Getting down to brass tacks......some of us are hardcore about this sport and some aren't. I've made some tremendous strides this past year, simply by putting in as much time as my life currently alots me, watching matches, instructional videos, taking personal lessons, playing tournaments, matching up for very small stakes, etc. etc. At the same time, lots of guys I know play a few tourneys and for small stakes and their game is exactly as it was a year ago. The difference is.....a year ago, I couldn't hold a candle to them. Today.....I'm outrunning them a good amount of the time.

I WISH I had 10 pool friends that I could watch matches/instructionals with that we could all bounce ideas, strategies, etc. off each other.

 

[CreeDo]

That's why I think it's hard to get people together to watch a match it's just TOO HARD ON THEIR EGOS

That's an interesting point. I mean, even if some guys play pickup basketball, they'll never feel threatened by an NBA player, they can just admit... ok, that guy's A LOT better than I am. He's a professional and I just do this for fun.

And it's not like you can realistically play a bit against Kobe or Tiger just to find out how bad you really are.

But you can bump into a random A player (sometimes even an actual pro) at a local pool hall and get that rude awakening.

I had a buddy last night at Master's league get run over by a 9, and he was just in shock. He was like "I can't believe he just drilled me like that. I have to get better. I'm gonna improve, just watch." ...he has trouble understanding that even though the other guy is younger, that guy's just put in more serious hours, playing for real money and practicing drills.

Don't think my buddy is never gonna get there (and I probably won't either). And he can't sit still for more than 30 minutes of pool video.