Mainstreams Can't Tell Which Ball is which

Johnnyt

Johnnyt

Burn all jump cues
Silver Member
Couple of friends of mine that don't play pool, but were trying to watch/learn it on streams said, "how the hell can I follow a game that I cant tell which ball is which"? They're right, if you don't know the colors, you can't see the numbers most of the time. Also, going by colors is very hard too with different brands have different colors for some #'s. IMO streaming brings zero new people to pool. It just confuses them more, trying to follow a match. It seems the U.S goes out of their way to discourage new blood.

Black ball, plus many other countries pool games are much easier to follow. Johnnyt
 
I don't think streamers are intending to bring new people on, they're just trying to serve those of us already here. I find it really unlikely that people are going to stream a pool event online when they don't play themselves and I think it'd be silly to try and cater to them.

ESPN did that because then you had a platform people could stumble upon pool with no effort and maybe watch for a bit before moving on. I just don't see the same happening with streaming. You have to Sarah out a pool stream, it's unlikely something a non player will just come across.
 
What's funny is I find the TV ball colors even harder to distinguish than the traditional colors.

Take it from someone that used to do stuff like machine vision for a living: Assuming you could get a decent camera angle, it would not be difficult to write some software that could reliably distinguish the balls and pop up a little graphic for a few seconds after the break, just like they used to do with ESPN coverage.
 
Mosconi Cup, World Pool Masters and World Cup of Pool would surely bring the most new players/viewers to the game worldwide, and they have a ball colour guide at the bottom of the screen from memory.

Streams are for more hardcore fans and shouldn't really need it - the added technology would take a lot of time to keep updated throughout the match


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Herbie86 said:
Streams are for more hardcore fans and shouldn't really need it
Click to expand...

Ha. I watched a match in which Steve Miserak was commentating, and he miscalled a shot because he couldn't identify balls from his position in the broadcast booth. Making the balls easier to identify would help everyone.

Thank you kindly.
 
Explain it them?

When my friends come by and I am watching a Pool match, and there is always one playing on some TV in my house, I explain whats going on during the match to whatever degree they are interested in knowing, nothing hard about that.

Those that really want to know and or knock them around get more detail, those that only want to know because they are amazed that I have such a love for the game get basic stuff.
 
Even if an event was on big screen network TV you can't read the numbers and you'd need to know what ball is what color. Most televised sports are not conducive to the person who doesn't know the game. I suppose the announcer could say he needs to go for the orange ball next but I can only imagine the crap he would take from knowledgeable pool players for talking to us like we're first graders. :grin-square:

So far as being a player and not being able to tell which ball is which, it usually takes only a rack or two to figure it out. Heck, wasn't pool pretty popular on TV back in the old black and white days?
 
Last edited:
DogsPlayingPool said:
I suppose the announcer could say he needs to go for the orange ball next but I can only imagine the crap he would take from knowledgeable pool players for talking to us like we're first graders. :grin-square:
Click to expand...

Grady Matthews used to do that when he was commenting a 9-ball match. As a new player (3 years ago) I REALLY appreciated it because I didn't know the ball colors well enough yet to quickly spot the next ball.
 
DogsPlayingPool said:
I suppose the announcer could say he needs to go for the orange ball next but I can only imagine the crap he would take from knowledgeable pool players for talking to us like we're first graders.
Click to expand...

Since most of the televised games are some form of rotation, why would you be less insulted to be told that next is the 5 ball?

Or you could just get over the illusion that commentators are talking to you personally.

Thank you kindly.
 
easy-e said:
Is it the intention of the streamers to bring new people to pool? I thought it was to show pool fans a pool match.
Click to expand...


Yep, but there's always something to complain about. Some folks need a stronger prescription


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
easy-e said:
Is it the intention of the streamers to bring new people to pool? I thought it was to show pool fans a pool match.
Click to expand...

So all the streamers and TV pool programs are maxed out on viewers that they don't want any new ones...right? They all must be making a ton of money NOT to want to help new viewers understand and get more enjoyment of the PPV stream or TV. Johnnyt
 
Corwyn_8 said:
Since most of the televised games are some form of rotation, why would you be less insulted to be told that next is the 5 ball?

Or you could just get over the illusion that commentators are talking to you personally.

Thank you kindly.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't.

You haven't been here very long. Stick around and you will find out that a significant percentage of pool players are nits and whiners.

You're welcome.
 
It's similar to john madden. Football enthusiasts are annoyed by his obvious commentary but occasional fans appreciate it.

Sent from my SM-G900R4 using Tapatalk
 
Can someone tell me why they went to the tv set of balls?

I am newer to pool and I am not very familiar with the tv sets and it definitely throws me off watching 9 or 10 balls and not knowing which ball was next.

I have even ran into a little confusion watching old efren and earl matches. The camera quality isnt the same as today and I would easily confuse some of the darker color balls. The 4, 6 and 8 could all look the same.
 
You are right about the generally poor video,quality of most streaming. However, a few of them are good enough to avoid the problem you note.

I just finished watching the free live streaming of the finals of the Seniors Invitational One Pocket tournament on Xtremepoolchallenge.com. The quality was very high, including zoom close-ups of the balls when in an interesting position. It was every bit as good as a TV broadcast.

So it is possible. I suspect the problem is that so much streaming is low-budget, low-tech, "guy with a video camera" stuff. Especially the free streams, although a lot of pay streams are of poor quality too.
 
Lou Loulacy said:
It's similar to john madden. Football enthusiasts are annoyed by his obvious commentary but occasional fans appreciate it.
Click to expand...

Mitch Laurence would get fried by pool fans for asking dumb questions of his color commentator and making obvious comments. I believe he was doing it for that exact reason, to explain to the casual viewer how the game is played. I sort of thought it was rather good of him to throw it out as a form of a question to the expert to let him look good supplying the answer. I'm sure he already knew the answers to most every question he asked. He's been around pool long enough and he's married to a professional pool player. But for those who understood the game it would try one's patience at times.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top