Nationalism in pool!

Fleece3

Fleece3

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
OK,

We have talked AROUND this for quite some time now. Let go directly at it. How important is national pride in pool? For example....If Efren is playiing Earl in the finals of the World Championships, who are you rooting for? If you are rooting for Efren, is your love of Efren (or hatred of Earl) more important than national pride? Conversely, if you are rooting for Earl is it because you want Earl to win or because you want an American to win? And not just Efren and Earl. What if it was Busta vs Rodney?

In the US Open when on the final day it was Alex, Parica, Busta and Earl, who were you rooting for, and why?
 
Man, is this a loaded question! :D

I was there. I adore all four of those players, BTW, but I was pulling for Earl Strickland. When he was at the TV table pit, I was cheering, applauding, rooting for Earl. I must admit, I got a few nasty stares from some pool purists in the stands, one of them a top media mongul who looked at me in disbelief, why I am cheering for The Pearl, "Come on, Earl. Go, Earl. Let's get it going, Earl." I remember it well! :p

USA, all the way, I say, and then when faced with defeat, I go for the next best thing. "Come on, Alex. Go, Alex, Let's get it going, Alex." :D

JAM
 
JAM said:
Man, is this a loaded question!

USA, all the way, I say, and then when faced with defeat, I go for the next best thing. "Come on, Alex. Go, Alex, Let's get it going, Alex." :D

JAM
Click to expand...

Do you cheer for Alex because:
- He has a home in the U.S
- He is a friendly Canadian
- He was born in Efren's country

:D
 
Scaramouche said:
Do you cheer for Alex because:
- He has a home in the U.S
- He is a friendly Canadian
- He was born in Efren's country

:D
Click to expand...

I cheer for Alex because he's one of the good guys. It don't matter if he's Canadian, Filipino, or Hawaiin. Pool needs more players just like him.

When he's playing against my road partner, though, that's a horse of a different color! :D

JAM
 
Probably get shot for part of all of this opinion but it's a genuine objective observation:)

1. It's surely a given that you should always support your home town and your home nation player(s)/team(s) whatever the sport. The only exception being if you have very personal and very good reasons for disliking a particular individual or team.

2. A lot of neutrals (nationality wise) in many sports will support just about anyone playing against a USA individual or team. In reality this has little to do with dislike or envy of the USA as a nation or a dislike of the individual USA players or teams and everything to do with a dislike of the tunnel vision and ignorance of the rest of the world displayed by many (obviously not all) USA fans, commentators and media reporters. On a smaller scale you see the same in Uk where neutral non-English Brits will often support anyone else against the English and the underlying reasons are the same, i.e. nothing to do with a dislike of the players or the nation. It is similar on mainland Europe as far as Germany is concerned.
 
This a tough question. When you play this game, you get to travel around the world and you meet so many different people from so many different countries. After a while you start to make friends with almost everybody. You hang out - share rooms together - drive 200-300 miles and switch, etc.

So, if I am watching one of my German friends that I have traveled with on long drives through Germany, Austria and Italy - and they are playing a friend of mine that I have traveled with across the U.S. - all I see is two friends. I will probably cheer for both of them.

Case in point - back when they were doing World Team Billiards, Tony Robles played for Team Puerto Rico, but he has lived in NYC for most of his life. Tony is a good friend of mine. So is Ralf Souquet. I know them both a lot better than I know Cliff Joyner - a great American player. If Cliff is playing some player from Taiwan that I have never heard of before, chances are I will cheer for Cliff. In the end, I will cheer for my friends, or the best player, no matter what nationality they are. If anybody plays Efren...sorry - I cheer for Efren... even if he plays Floridian Tony Crosby, hailing from Tampa by way of England.

As far as Alex is concerned - I always love to watch him play because IMO he is the most entertaining pool player I have ever seen! Is he Canadian - American - Fillippino ??? Who cares? Alex is just Alex to me. I believe that when we start lableing each other, we start dividing ourselves to some extent.

I think that in the next 5-10 years we are going to see some very strong young players emerge on the international scene, and most of the will be from outside of United States and Canada. Personally, I can't wait! It just shows how our sport is growing WORLDWIDE. I like that.
 
Blackjack said:
This a tough question. When you play this game, you get to travel around the world and you meet so many different people from so many different countries. After a while you start to make friends with almost everybody. You hang out - share rooms together - drive 200-300 miles and switch, etc.

So, if I am watching one of my German friends that I have traveled with on long drives through Germany, Austria and Italy - and they are playing a friend of mine that I have traveled with across the U.S. - all I see is two friends. I will probably cheer for both of them.

Case in point - back when they were doing World Team Billiards, Tony Robles played for Team Puerto Rico, but he has lived in NYC for most of his life. Tony is a good friend of mine. So is Ralf Souquet. I know them both a lot better than I know Cliff Joyner - a great American player. If Cliff is playing some player from Taiwan that I have never heard of before, chances are I will cheer for Cliff. In the end, I will cheer for my friends, or the best player, no matter what nationality they are. If anybody plays Efren...sorry - I cheer for Efren... even if he plays Floridian Tony Crosby, hailing from Tampa by way of England.

As far as Alex is concerned - I always love to watch him play because IMO he is the most entertaining pool player I have ever seen! Is he Canadian - American - Fillippino ??? Who cares? Alex is just Alex to me. I believe that when we start lableing each other, we start dividing ourselves to some extent.

I think that in the next 5-10 years we are going to see some very strong young players emerge on the international scene, and most of the will be from outside of United States and Canada. Personally, I can't wait! It just shows how our sport is growing WORLDWIDE. I like that.
Click to expand...

TAPPETI TAPP TAP TAP
 
Blackjack said:
This a tough question. When you play this game, you get to travel around the world and you meet so many different people from so many different countries. After a while you start to make friends with almost everybody. You hang out - share rooms together - drive 200-300 miles and switch, etc.

So, if I am watching one of my German friends that I have traveled with on long drives through Germany, Austria and Italy - and they are playing a friend of mine that I have traveled with across the U.S. - all I see is two friends. I will probably cheer for both of them.

Case in point - back when they were doing World Team Billiards, Tony Robles played for Team Puerto Rico, but he has lived in NYC for most of his life. Tony is a good friend of mine. So is Ralf Souquet. I know them both a lot better than I know Cliff Joyner - a great American player. If Cliff is playing some player from Taiwan that I have never heard of before, chances are I will cheer for Cliff. In the end, I will cheer for my friends, or the best player, no matter what nationality they are. If anybody plays Efren...sorry - I cheer for Efren... even if he plays Floridian Tony Crosby, hailing from Tampa by way of England.

As far as Alex is concerned - I always love to watch him play because IMO he is the most entertaining pool player I have ever seen! Is he Canadian - American - Fillippino ??? Who cares? Alex is just Alex to me. I believe that when we start lableing each other, we start dividing ourselves to some extent.

I think that in the next 5-10 years we are going to see some very strong young players emerge on the international scene, and most of the will be from outside of United States and Canada. Personally, I can't wait! It just shows how our sport is growing WORLDWIDE. I like that.
Click to expand...
Great post.
 
Nationalism comes into play

If I don't know either player, I definitely root for the home town player, doesn't matter if he is from my home town, home state, or home country. I also root for the underdog and hope to see them win. However, my personal likes and dislikes come into play and the actions in a particular match can come into play. Nothing like someone who is taking a beating taking off under pressure to get me rooting for them regardless of who they are. Someone showing a total lack of class causes me to root for the other person too, totally ignoring national interests.

The Filipinos as a group are fantastic for pool and all seem likeable as individuals. Hard not to find myself rooting for them much of the time. Youngsters taking on the established stars often have my support as do the old farts that are still hanging in with the players in their prime. For some reason I develop a stronger affinity for the old farts every year!

Hu
 
you cannot seperate

natinalism in pool or any other sports or game...

i do not know of a filipino that is not rooting for a fellow filipino pool player..

now americans have been very gracious and generous...they loved filipinos a lot and root for a pinoy even if an american is playing for maybe something that will have to do with giving pride to the usa...(rodney vs. reyes @ ipt)...

for me..more often than not i root for a pinoy player...but the truth is....

if more americans start winning more tournaments like the sigel era or mosconi era...it's good for pool in general here and internationally...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top