How to Increase Pool's Television Ratings

[BigLip]

People have to get excited about Pool. Us dedicated Players find excitement
within the game being played, but outsiders want more.

For example, Earl 'The Pearl', love'm or hate'm he is a character, watch his
1 foot skip with hands on hips, and he's damn good.
Kid Delicious - Another character people are curious about, fun personality,
new 'Fats' for the game, and did you see him choke match 8 ball on ESPN?
Danny Harriman has a style and auro that is fun to watch.
Other players need to bring it on a little without getting too out of hand.

Women need someone else than the top 3 make to the final door. I am
getting so tired of seeing Snooker stances when Pool is being played .. Allison or Karen's butts don't look that good ...

Do you hear that English guy narrating the Mosconi Cup?

Youth programs have to be established. I would like to see billiards offered
in Jr and Sr High as a competitive sport, or at least a youth program working
with the schools. You want a good example of the influence a good youth
program can have, look at Tulsa .... wow ... The kids down there are really
good ... and they are winning scholarship money for college.

Build the stands up more, higher, like a mini bowl. Spotlight more on players,
give bios, have interviews with family and friends on players.

ONE thing you all can do, and I have done it. Go to www.espn.com, and
submit a comment to their TV section telling them that you want more
billiards on their programming, and maybe some snooker matches.

I liked the skins competition, and I absolutely love to watch the
Mosconi Cup. The Scotch Doubles was a good addition this year.

even w/in pool...i love to play pool but dont know anything about snooker...i would look ONLY b/c i wanna see what it would be like...i doubt id set the dvr to record it....i dont watch the trick shots either b/c it just isnt interesting...

on a flip side...id never have ever picked up a stick if it wasnt something that was held at my summer rec when i was a kid...even then that was only when i was there and never at a pool hall until last year.

 

[matthew staton]

I have found the solution. What is it, you ask. Well, in reality, there is none. You see I finally realized something that I'm sure most of you already knew. 99.9% of the people that tune in to an ESPN billiards telecast from the beginning and watch all the way to the end are either pool players or pool enthusiasts. The average person will hardly ever sit through an entire match. That is because they do not play the game, and therefore cannot appreciate the difficulty of the game. I want to ask the younger players that post here a question: before you started playing pool, how often did you watch pool on television? how often would you do a search for "billiards" on your cable box, or satellite dish? I am 20 years old, and I started playing pool when I was about 17-18. I can say with confidence that before I started playing pool, I never ONCE watched pool on television, other than when I was channel surfing.

I can only see two ways of increasing pool's popularity when it comes to television:

1. Allow trash talking and verbal confrontations. Allow sharking moves. Allow fights, nothing major, just a few thrown fists, and then have the ref. break it up. Allow sidebets.

2. Go out and get more people interested in the game of billiards (not just 9ball). That way, more people will watch, and the ratings will go up.

You all can make up your own mind on which is more suitable, but for me, I'll go with the latter.

Good day.

A way to improve it NAKED CHIC"S LOL BARRETTA AND JENETT LEE I WOULD LIKE TO WATCH THAT...

 

[Renegade]

boy, have you guys got it all wrong.

The answer is....STATS, man, STATS!!!!

It's what makes baseball, basketball, etc. interesting. After a big game, you'd like to overhear people talking about it at work or in school:

office worker 1:"Man, did you see the game?"
OW2:"Yeah, can you believe that earl? won his 6th world championship with that one! only person to have done it in sixty years!"
OW1: "you said it! and he ran 11 straight racks to get it! a world record!"

office worker3 overhears and head over to OW1 and OW2 at the water dispenser.
OW3: "i heard somewhere efren holds that record."
OW2: "Oh yeah? Well I'd like to see you prove it!"
OW1: "Guys! Guys! It says here in my billiards record book that the record for most racks run is 15 held by this steve guy..."
OW3: "Yeah but that's not in tournament play, you nincompoop! there's no pressure there!"
OW1: "Who're you calling a nincompoop? " POW! He let's OW3 have it. OW2 accidentally gets hit by a wayward arm and kicks OW1 in the shin. Other office workers rush to see what's going on. They start betting on who'd beat the crap out of the other person....
And that's how you make billiards popular.....

schoolboy1 has these pool trading cards with the player stats printed at the back and he's reading them intently.
schoolboy2 comes over and looks over his shoulder and notices he had two archers.
SB2: "i'll trade my varner for your archer."
SB1: "well, tell me why i should do that."
SB2: "for one thing, nick has won more tournaments than johnny. and during the 90s, nick won almost everything there was!"
SB1: "hmmm, let me think about it. ..... no, i think i'll hang on to my johnny. he doesn't look like a shrimp."
SB2: "oooh, i get it. you're in loooove! didn't take you for a fairy!"
SB1 stands up and knocks SB2 down. : "you take that back! mommy!" SB1 runs leaving his card behind.
SB2 picks them up, and walks out of the park towards the sunset:"hehe. works every time."

 

[Renegade]

the poker guys got it right, too. they have a nice production going there. what with the poker trivia, poker lingo, player stats, poker history, money won, you know, things that would get people talking about it afterwards. and then they start using the poker lingo and dispensing poker trivia to their friends while drinking beer and playing poker themselves.....

people need their heroes. the organizers should hype the players' accomplishments. edify them. think wrestlemania. explosions everywhere. players esorted by babes. but if they can show fantastic shots that the player has made in the past, so much the better!