Golf more exciting than Pool?
- Thread starter jaybanthony
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Taste Great ...Less Filling ...
Hmmm
Yes, for the record. I play golf but don't take it seriousy. It is kinda boring but my friends like it so I tag along and can hang with them even though I golf no more than twice a year. No adrenaline rush what so ever. The same could be said for pool, but we are comparing golf to the toughest sports to play.
I'm not discounting the game of golf. Heck, badmitton is not easy as well. Though folks with quick hands and good lateral movement will find it rather easy. But the problem is considering a game that can't break the top 50 and throwing it out there against the toughest of the tough is the problem I have. Heck, I like pool and It's only a step above fishing. That doesn't bother me one iota.
I think pool is harder than bowling, even though ESPN says No, but there is gonna be a few that could be argued, but not 50th against and the top 10. Baseball, football, hocky, boxing, tennis would be a very good argument and I would even know where to begin. I mean, returning a serve at 130 mph? OK, take an amatuer at 90 mph and it is still tough to teach that kind of quickness. You can't teach speed? Either you have it or you don't. You can improve what you have, but slow is NEVER going to be quick. There is a reason why most pro baseball players will never steal more than a few bases in their entrie career.
Heck, Sports Illustrated rated Baseball the toughest due to the talent needed to hit fastballs, curveballs, sliders, etc. But their top 10 is reasonably close to each other and you could make a good argument for any of them as being toughest. Heck, I would have to think football could make a pretty good argument as well.
But you could teach someone to hit a golf ball straight before you could hit a slider or curveball.
And I guess my son is just a phenom how well he has picked up golf, but not baseball, or football. He's a little bit below average baseball player but we are working on it,,but golf, jeez, he's killing the ball !
Heck, most pro athletes play golf for fun and recreation, and some are pretty darn good at it. I'm not thinking Tiger could play baseball on the weekends for fun and recreation?
What would be easier; turning Albert Pujols into a pretty competitive golfer or turning Tiger into a pretty competive baseball player? Heck, even Jordan could not play baseball (.200 average in the minors) and he is just a tad more athletic than Tiger Woods and by far the greatest basketball player of his generation, and to prevent an argument at least in the top 5 or all time.
I do think it is a little presumptious to think ESPN folks don't play sports, I'm sure most of them did, and that was an interest for them to work for a sports program. But I'm pretty sure almost most of them golf. And they do see the other sports close up and personal. So, forgive me for giving their opinion too much weight.
But if GOLF is your thing. Go for it. Enjoy it. Tell me it is the most relaxing, most fun sport you ever played and you believe it to be the best game ever invented, just don't tell me it's the toughest sport EVER........
Yes, for the record. I play golf but don't take it seriousy. It is kinda boring but my friends like it so I tag along and can hang with them even though I golf no more than twice a year. No adrenaline rush what so ever. The same could be said for pool, but we are comparing golf to the toughest sports to play.
I'm not discounting the game of golf. Heck, badmitton is not easy as well. Though folks with quick hands and good lateral movement will find it rather easy. But the problem is considering a game that can't break the top 50 and throwing it out there against the toughest of the tough is the problem I have. Heck, I like pool and It's only a step above fishing. That doesn't bother me one iota.
I think pool is harder than bowling, even though ESPN says No, but there is gonna be a few that could be argued, but not 50th against and the top 10. Baseball, football, hocky, boxing, tennis would be a very good argument and I would even know where to begin. I mean, returning a serve at 130 mph? OK, take an amatuer at 90 mph and it is still tough to teach that kind of quickness. You can't teach speed? Either you have it or you don't. You can improve what you have, but slow is NEVER going to be quick. There is a reason why most pro baseball players will never steal more than a few bases in their entrie career.
Heck, Sports Illustrated rated Baseball the toughest due to the talent needed to hit fastballs, curveballs, sliders, etc. But their top 10 is reasonably close to each other and you could make a good argument for any of them as being toughest. Heck, I would have to think football could make a pretty good argument as well.
But you could teach someone to hit a golf ball straight before you could hit a slider or curveball.
And I guess my son is just a phenom how well he has picked up golf, but not baseball, or football. He's a little bit below average baseball player but we are working on it,,but golf, jeez, he's killing the ball !
Heck, most pro athletes play golf for fun and recreation, and some are pretty darn good at it. I'm not thinking Tiger could play baseball on the weekends for fun and recreation?
What would be easier; turning Albert Pujols into a pretty competitive golfer or turning Tiger into a pretty competive baseball player? Heck, even Jordan could not play baseball (.200 average in the minors) and he is just a tad more athletic than Tiger Woods and by far the greatest basketball player of his generation, and to prevent an argument at least in the top 5 or all time.
I do think it is a little presumptious to think ESPN folks don't play sports, I'm sure most of them did, and that was an interest for them to work for a sports program. But I'm pretty sure almost most of them golf. And they do see the other sports close up and personal. So, forgive me for giving their opinion too much weight.
But if GOLF is your thing. Go for it. Enjoy it. Tell me it is the most relaxing, most fun sport you ever played and you believe it to be the best game ever invented, just don't tell me it's the toughest sport EVER........
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OK, I got excited enough about golf (viewing) to post about it here - http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=220404 - I admit it 
Someone get Bill Murray to a couple of big pool events a year
Someone get Bill Murray to a couple of big pool events a year
So after having this conversation with alot of my golf buddies, we have all agreed that driving the ball 350yds is more "doable" than running 100 balls. Just out of the group I was with (8 of us) two were able to drive the ball 350yds when they really really went after one. None of us can run 100 balls. I admit I was wrong, and sorry for all the hoopla
It's obvious: pool does not have water hazards, sand traps, and rough. And no one at pool is shooting five-railers -- the equivalent, I suppose, of golf's 300+ yard drive. Instead, at pool, everyone is putting. AND, everyone who has ever picked up a cue believes with all his soul and will say to his buddies, "Yeah, I used to be pretty good like that." Or, "I hustled pool to put myself through college." Or some other inane variation.
Let's face it: the pros make the game look too easy. It's boring, even if you love the game. 1pocket is the exception, but you have to have a far more profound familiarity with the game than the average TV viewer will ever posses to appreciate it.
Good TV is about good drama: success and failure, or as the ABC WWoS intro goes, "The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat." There's none of that at pool. They just break, maybe play a safe, run a rack. The victory part is getting perfect position on a 9ball that a drunk Girl Scout could make. The agony part is jarring a ball because it was mis-hit by an inch. It certainly does not help that pool is *the worst* commentated sport on TV. Curling has better commentators than pool.
Pool, to be successful on TV, needs drama and that means the possibility of failure on a grand scale, be it fortunes won or lost like the WSOP, or tougher challenges that go beyond running nine balls. It means presenting something that Joe Average Pool Player cannot do, and, for the love of God, I do not mean more trick shot competitions.
Lou Figueroa
Let's face it: the pros make the game look too easy. It's boring, even if you love the game. 1pocket is the exception, but you have to have a far more profound familiarity with the game than the average TV viewer will ever posses to appreciate it.
Good TV is about good drama: success and failure, or as the ABC WWoS intro goes, "The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat." There's none of that at pool. They just break, maybe play a safe, run a rack. The victory part is getting perfect position on a 9ball that a drunk Girl Scout could make. The agony part is jarring a ball because it was mis-hit by an inch. It certainly does not help that pool is *the worst* commentated sport on TV. Curling has better commentators than pool.
Pool, to be successful on TV, needs drama and that means the possibility of failure on a grand scale, be it fortunes won or lost like the WSOP, or tougher challenges that go beyond running nine balls. It means presenting something that Joe Average Pool Player cannot do, and, for the love of God, I do not mean more trick shot competitions.
Lou Figueroa
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Hmmm
Gotta admit this makes pretty good sense to me. Even watching golf as painful as it is most times, but when somebody has to come with two great shots to take the cup and knowing he might choke adds some excitement to the game. There are some pool tourneys like that, just not enough. Heck, I really hate soccer, (please take no offense my Euro pool brothers) but if a championship is on the line, and it is for all the marbles, it does add a ot to the game to make it watchable.
Yeah, I hate when I go channel surfing and see the words, POOL, and then get really happy until I click on it and its trick shot competition...what a disappointment to say the least....unwatchable..
Gotta admit this makes pretty good sense to me. Even watching golf as painful as it is most times, but when somebody has to come with two great shots to take the cup and knowing he might choke adds some excitement to the game. There are some pool tourneys like that, just not enough. Heck, I really hate soccer, (please take no offense my Euro pool brothers) but if a championship is on the line, and it is for all the marbles, it does add a ot to the game to make it watchable.
Yeah, I hate when I go channel surfing and see the words, POOL, and then get really happy until I click on it and its trick shot competition...what a disappointment to say the least....unwatchable..
lol, lets face it: we all like to see people under the heat and either come with it or choke their nutties off. I went to the 10Ball Open in Vegas last year and one of the most interesting matches I saw the whole event, and one that got almost everyone's attention in the room, even though Efren was on the TV table, was a match with a relative unknown threatening to blow a huge lead he had built up against a world beater:
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While watching the Efren -- Baraks match, I was also watching the Oliver Ortmann -- Tyler Edey match. First off, I guess I’ve never watched Ortmann play that much before. I was shocked to see that he plays with the most pronounced chicken wing stroke I’ve ever seen. I mean, it is really out there. And what makes it even more striking is that he is usually holding the cue right at the very butt, so that he looks very much the gladiator holding a sword, about to administer a kill shot.
Edey plays a very clean, precise game. It’s almost as though he is playing 14.1 instead of 10-ball. And, he ends up on the hill in no time flat. In fact, it’s something like 8-4 when Edey starts to experience some "in-flight" problems. First, he corner hooks himself in the side pocket with just four balls left on the table. Game to Ortmann. A game later, Edey fails to apply enough draw and leaves himself on the eight straight into the rail and misses a table-length bank. Game to Ortmann. He then runs down to *the match ball.* Now this is when you knew it was time for someone to go knock on the cockpit door and ask if everything was OK, because this is a 10 ball that "the drunk Girl Scout" makes four-out-of-five. He misses. Game to Ortmann. Ortmann wins a game without assistance from Edey and then Ortmann makes a mistake in the next game. Edey is running out, but then misses a six ball. Game to Ortmann. The Efren match is over by now and everyone is watching to see if this meltdown is going to go “all the way.” Ortmann is now on the hill too. One of his safeties leaves a six-eight carom for Edey. He makes the carom but leaves the cue ball in the jaws, with an ugly back cut on the six. After lengthy due diligence, Edey steps up and everyone holds their breath as they watch the six ball slooowly slide into the corner pocket, while the cue ball gracefully travels two rails and comes up perfect for the seven, with the nine and ten nearby hangers. Edey gets out and saves himself from a very, very long and sleepless night.
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Pool on TV needs drama, as opposed to here, where we have plenty to spare
Lou Figueroa
The Steve Mizerak 10 Ball Championship with Earl Strickland and Shawn Putnam was aired on select channels and times. I was there to watch it live . It was what I though a greatly entertaining match..it was butchered on the editing table..I really thought that after seeing in person , it would have gotten what pool needed , some good press and more coverage. Very disappointing.
lol, lets face it: we all like to see people under the heat and either come with it or choke their nutties off. I went to the 10Ball Open in Vegas last year and one of the most interesting matches I saw the whole event, and one that got almost everyone's attention in the room, even though Efren was on the TV table, was a match with a relative unknown threatening to blow a huge lead he had built up against a world beater:
#####
While watching the Efren -- Baraks match, I was also watching the Oliver Ortmann -- Tyler Edey match. First off, I guess I’ve never watched Ortmann play that much before. I was shocked to see that he plays with the most pronounced chicken wing stroke I’ve ever seen. I mean, it is really out there. And what makes it even more striking is that he is usually holding the cue right at the very butt, so that he looks very much the gladiator holding a sword, about to administer a kill shot.
Edey plays a very clean, precise game. It’s almost as though he is playing 14.1 instead of 10-ball. And, he ends up on the hill in no time flat. In fact, it’s something like 8-4 when Edey starts to experience some "in-flight" problems. First, he corner hooks himself in the side pocket with just four balls left on the table. Game to Ortmann. A game later, Edey fails to apply enough draw and leaves himself on the eight straight into the rail and misses a table-length bank. Game to Ortmann. He then runs down to *the match ball.* Now this is when you knew it was time for someone to go knock on the cockpit door and ask if everything was OK, because this is a 10 ball that "the drunk Girl Scout" makes four-out-of-five. He misses. Game to Ortmann. Ortmann wins a game without assistance from Edey and then Ortmann makes a mistake in the next game. Edey is running out, but then misses a six ball. Game to Ortmann. The Efren match is over by now and everyone is watching to see if this meltdown is going to go “all the way.” Ortmann is now on the hill too. One of his safeties leaves a six-eight carom for Edey. He makes the carom but leaves the cue ball in the jaws, with an ugly back cut on the six. After lengthy due diligence, Edey steps up and everyone holds their breath as they watch the six ball slooowly slide into the corner pocket, while the cue ball gracefully travels two rails and comes up perfect for the seven, with the nine and ten nearby hangers. Edey gets out and saves himself from a very, very long and sleepless night.
#####
Pool on TV needs drama, as opposed to here, where we have plenty to spare
Lou Figueroa
Hmmm...maybe you should do some commentating...
I read this post ,moved on, and then realized you had me on the edge
of my seat.
BTW
Tyler Edey was top North American finisher in a World championship in
the Phillipines not too long ago.He is subject to beat anybody.
..taking a break from the game right now to further his education
Thanks for all the replies
Hey guys,
Thanks for all the replies to this post. It truly turned out to be a very interesting topic. you all have very great insight on the matter.
Great Pool and Success,
Jay
http://mypooljourney.blogspot.com/
Hey guys,
Thanks for all the replies to this post. It truly turned out to be a very interesting topic. you all have very great insight on the matter.
Great Pool and Success,
Jay
http://mypooljourney.blogspot.com/
Funny to see Track and Field listed as an easy sport (and "easier" than table tennis). Sure it's easy to just run, but it takes a LOT of training and dedication to excel at it. Also, field events are not as easy as one may think. I was a high jumper in high school and college and my personal best was 6'11". And I GUARANTEE 99% of the population will hit a golf ball 350 yards and/or run 100 balls before they high jump 6'11".
Thus, why Track & Field was rated a few spots higher than both Golf and Billiards..... but have you ever rollerskated before??