Earl Strickland's Vision of improving pool's tv ratings

Luxury

Luxury

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I did the pool school with Johnny Archer and Earl Strickland and loved it. I went to the show that night and watched Earl's Strickland's trick shot show and he stopped everything and went on a rant as to why pool wasn't successful and what he visualized as what pool on tv should be.

One of the things that I remember most about that rant was how there should be a big screen with numbers for all to see that had the shot clock ticking down. He explained how slow play in tournaments all over is killing pool and people would view it more as a sport if the play was speeded up and there was a visual shot-clock.

I think he is on to something. I think it's interesting when they show the time elapsing for a delay of game penalty and the quarterback gets the snap right as the time expires. Having a little shot of the time in the corner of the tv screen would give the viewer hope that it won't be taking forever to see the next shot.

More thoughts on this?
 
A shot clock won't hurt at all, but I don't know how much it would help. I don't think people would schedule their time around watching pool on t.v. now that there is a shot clock. There is no shot clock in golf that I know of, and golf's ratings don't seem to be hurting. Sometimes one just has to think there may be nothing we can do to boost pool's popularity.
 
I think a shot clock would certainly be better than the score being 2-2, coming back from a commercial, and the score being 5-4.

Mike
 
i'd like to see an cueball english monitor or tough shot percentage meter....plus stats on each player much like a boxing match with break-run numbers as well as other stats...
 
I don't see why this couldn't be easily implemented at tournaments with shot clocks. However there is also no question that fast "feel" players like Strickland are bound to want to see an agressive shot clock as it would aid them and put off slower, more methodical players.

I agree overall that slow play is tedious to watch even for a dedicated fan, so don't like to see a lack of shot clock being abused. However I also don't like to see Pros getting rushed into bad shots, so I'd personally suggest a 60 second per shot clock.
 
GordonRamsay said:
i'd like to see an cueball english monitor or tough shot percentage meter....plus stats on each player much like a boxing match with break-run numbers as well as other stats...
Click to expand...

I've seen at least one televised Pool tournament where they've done this, I think it was a recent WPBA tournament. They did not use it on every shot, but showed it when diagramming certain shots. Of course even another Pro can't always tell from watching exactly how much and what type of English was applied on every shot.
 
He's right...

Mosconi Cup uses it...the excitement does build as the time expires.

I think 60 seconds is too long....30, or 45 seconds max. Viewers don't want to sit there forever...
 
Rick S. said:
He's right...

Mosconi Cup uses it...the excitement does build as the time expires.

I think 60 seconds is too long....30, or 45 seconds max. Viewers don't want to sit there forever...
Click to expand...

The other thing I like about the mosconi cup is that the players get way more pumped up after every game. Team play really promotes celebration. That makes for better tv.

Microphones on the players and some charisma from the players would make them a lot more money too. Alas 99% of them remain silent emotionless machines and remain broke as well.
 
Luxury said:
Earl .... explained how slow play in tournaments all over is killing pool and people would view it more as a sport if the play was speeded up and there was a visual shot-clock.

I think he is on to something .... Having a little shot of the time in the corner of the tv screen would give the viewer hope that it won't be taking forever to see the next shot.
Click to expand...

Earl is absolutely correct. Slow play, and a tolerance of it that seems to be growing in recent years, is making pool unwatchable. Those who suggest that slow play is necessary because some of the decisions in pool are difficult to make overlook the fact that the really slow players are the ones with pre-shot routines that are so laborious that even the simplest shots take forever. Extensions exist for those few situations that require extra thought.

The only tournaments that are truly watchable are the ones in which the shot clock is used, or at least applied when matches fail to progress at an appropriate rate.

I think that many pro players would prefer to have a visible shotclock than to have the shotclock operator announce when ten seconds remain, and sharing that shotclock with fans would be a very good idea.
 
I would agree that 30 seconds is generally more than fair...maybe it could be like the WPBA does. Give a shot clock and allow a player an extension per rack, or something along those lines. As someone else pointed out, often times, even for the die hard pool fan, it can be extremely difficult to watch slow play.

I would not at all mind even less time than that, although I should preface that by saying I probably take 5-7 seconds per shot on average. I realize that is obviously on the very low end of the time one would take to shoot. But let's speed the game up.

However...this is far from the cure-all. This alone isn't going to win people over. To be honest, I don't even know what could do it. This would be a very small step in the right direction. Hopefully someone out there has some really good ideas to go along with the shot clock idea.
 
I watched a match Tuesday with Ralf vs Badstuebner. I've seen birth happen quicker (from conception on...) The race to 11 went 2 hrs 40 minutes. Thank God I was near the beer concession.

Shot clocks would be a godsend. JMHO
 
A Big Clock would be a good idea...


I do have to say...I watched a recent Mens event on TV recently and there was a warning buzzer that was so annoying I could not stand it and that was through the TV.

I can only imagine what it sounded like to them...and it was going off mid stroke ..

That damn buzzer is a horrible idea.
 
Watch the Guinness 9-Ball Tour, they have a 40 second shot clock, and I still get to enjoy great pool!
 
More Reasons and a Possible Solution

It's not just the slow play factor.

Where are the big shots in 9-ball? 70% of the shots being played look like shots your grandmother could pot. People watch that and think 'Big Deal'. Those who play realize the skill involved in getting into position and holding it, but we still know that once 'IN POSITION' the game is pretty much over. So the tension is at the start of the game rather than at the end in most racks.

We rarely get to see players attempt the kind of shots they are capable of, because if a shot drops below 70% makeability they'll often chose a safety option.

A game that I developed to make the game more interesting and more challenging is what I call '2-Rail 6-Ball'.

You break, if you make a ball you get ball in hand on the lowest ball. You must make 2 rails. Usually the CB runs off 2 rails but it can be a bank + 1 rail or a 2-rail bank. If you miss the pot or don't hit the 2 rails then the ball you played goes off the table and the opponent shoots ball in hand on the next ball. This makes sure players don't run their ball onto the next ball as a safety. There is NO safety in this game.

It is pretty hard to run the 6 in one visit, much harder than the 9-ball ghost imho, and often you start losing position toward the end so are forced to play some pretty creative shots with a lot of english. Shot choice is not that hard to decide so play is pretty quick. No safeties mean games take about 3 minutes each so can play a race to 11 in an hour. Anyway, I don't mind a player taking some time over a real big shot that will win or lose the frame. That creates some tension and gives the commentators some time to diagram the shot and explain what makes it hard.

In 5 racks you'll get more shots-of-the-day footage than you'll get in 100 racks of standard 9 or 10-ball.

This game is a test for the shotmakers, and that's what I think people would prefer to see.

Colin

PS. And people like to see players miss. This game provides plenty of agonized faces.
 
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ironic

maybe its just too early in the morning for me, but isnt it ironic that earl's solution is the shot clock and his partner in the "legends and champions" tour is notoriously one of the slowest players around? dont get me wrong i love watching johnny archer play but he could use the whole 30 second shot clock just picking "lint" off the table.

brian
 
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