Old matches on video becoming a novelty and not as fun to watch, at least for me.

[middleofnowhere]

I have to be honest, as much as I love watching all the old videos of the players of years ago, I really have stopped enjoying them quite as much.

Some of the tables they played on the pockets are so generous as the almost spoil the game. I think the new generation of tables with the tougher playing conditions have advanced the sport.

 

[hang-the-9]

I don't find the equipment to be of consequence to those old matches, it really only comes out to who makes the ball not how fun the match is to watch or listen to. The thing I find annoying is racking more so than the table setup, so many 9 balls on the breaks happen, or lining up the 9 in the pocket for an early combo. That bugs me much more than anything else, having a championship determined because someone made 3 9 balls on the break in a race to 9 or 11 or something and having it be a cause for cheering instead of yelling at the ref to make a good rack LOL

I also enjoy watching the player styles from 10+ years ago, there was not a mass of Euro and Asian players all shooting the same shots the same way due to learning from the same book of basics.

 

[garczar]

I like current pro pool. I'd like it more if the players had a little more personality/charisma. I see a lot of stone-faced robots. The skill is undeniable tho. As for tighter targets? Its made the game tougher somewhat and different but i can't really say they've improved it a whole lot.

 

[ShootingArts]

I like current pro pool. I'd like it more if the players had a little more personality/charisma. I see a lot of stone-faced robots. The skill is undeniable tho. As for tighter targets? Its made the game tougher somewhat and different but i can't really say they've improved it a whole lot.

The stone face deal is fine when you are talking about the other guy, I agree 98.37%! As a spectator I would much prefer to watch Keith or Alex to most of the europeans that make you want to reach out and take a pulse now and then to see if they are alive. Then I compete: Stone face, can't tell how I am doing. My riding partners weren't watching the score sheet at an event and since I hadn't given any indication good or bad since I bitched about dropping a point to ringrust early on it wasn't until the standings were called out that they or anyone else except me realized that the one point due to being a year out of practice was the only one I dropped. A first place that left almost everyone there asking who's Hu? Sounded like a comedy routine except they weren't laughing!

When it comes to the equipment it is a tough call. I remember I shot with three lanes into the pocket plus rubbing either inner rail. The good players differentiated five lanes! As you know, the old players were rarely aiming just to make a ball. Today's players are more like me playing three lanes than five I believe due to a couple of those lanes are physically gone! I don't think what a player was aiming at was a bit bigger back then than it is now. Of course, those that were just happy to make a ball or those getting paid by happy customers liked the larger pockets for slop and less than great skill sets.

If all of the players aren't playing on the same equipment like can happen in small and regional tournaments I can see some reason to complain. When everyone is shooting on the same equipment, the same guys are going to find a way to win. The same complainers find reason to complain too!

The only thing I hate about a lot of the old video is production quality. A lot of reasons for that and it is what it is. Kinda like some great old movies in low quality, you have to decide if the spectacle is worth the aggravation. This was an issue even when the video was new. I was watching a rare major network pool broadcast in the early seventies. My mom came by to visit and I commented he was out, the table was a roadmap. He would run 2-6-4-7 and save the 12 for the break ball. She was astonished but not why I thought. "You can read the numbers on those balls!?!" I had to laugh even with my vision that let me be a smart ass when the eye doctor asked me to read the bottom line, "copyright 1968" I couldn't read the numbers on TV. The colors were right though, they weren't using something crazy for TV.

Hu

 

[galipeau]

I like the old matches before jump cues changed the safety play

Sent from my SM-A536V using Tapatalk

 

[skogstokig]

i find that true for 9-ball, but i very much enjoy old straight pool and one hole. there simply aren't many straight pool tournaments nowadays. one pocket has transformed a lot, to a more aggressive game, but old school matches are still interesting because in one pocket is so interactive, they're not just playing the table

 

[straightline]

The only things about the older videos I find laughable are the pompous world beater fronts some would put up (they often made enough if not a ton of errors)

and mullets...

 

[CESSNA10]

I have to be honest, as much as I love watching all the old videos of the players of years ago, I really have stopped enjoying them quite as much.

Some of the tables they played on the pockets are so generous as the almost spoil the game. I think the new generation of tables with the tougher playing conditions have advanced the sport.

If both players are on the same table, what difference does it make. Some major
league ball parks have short fences and some don't, but both teams have the
same conditions to play on

 

[336Robin]

I like current pro pool. I'd like it more if the players had a little more personality/charisma. I see a lot of stone-faced robots. The skill is undeniable tho. As for tighter targets? Its made the game tougher somewhat and different but i can't really say they've improved it a whole lot.

I played one pocket with a guy once and pockets were such that nearly any ball that didn't go in could be extracted.

I played him twice on that table and decided I'd quit playing before I played on it again.

If balls don't go in what is the point of the game? I'm not sure that tightening pockets up beyond 4.25 is the right move for pro pool
for the same reason that fans want to see players run out.

 

[straightline]

I played one pocket with a guy once and pockets were such that nearly any ball that didn't go in could be extracted.

I played him twice on that table and decided I'd quit playing before I played on it again.

If balls don't go in what is the point of the game? I'm not sure that tightening pockets up beyond 4.25 is the right move for pro pool
for the same reason that fans want to see players run out.

So far. But if it's doable, players of all people can learn how and they haven't even scratched the surface. Too busy trying not to lose.

 

[336Robin]

So far. But if it's doable, players of all people can learn how and they haven't even scratched the surface. Too busy trying not to lose.

It's going to be interesting to see how the matches of the Euro Open collect views with the new break rules in effect.

Emily wasn't a fan of the new rules but she did try it, wonder how long it lasts?

 

[skogstokig]

I played one pocket with a guy once and pockets were such that nearly any ball that didn't go in could be extracted.

I played him twice on that table and decided I'd quit playing before I played on it again.

If balls don't go in what is the point of the game? I'm not sure that tightening pockets up beyond 4.25 is the right move for pro pool
for the same reason that fans want to see players run out.

on the other hand tighter pockets in 1p means more rail and more possible banks. i like tight tables for 1p, and takeouts are part of the game. where i play now they have bucket GC4:s and it really doesn't lend itself well to playing one pocket. pockets are so big that the corners take up valuable rail real estate..

 

[Cue Alchemist]

I don't find the equipment to be of consequence to those old matches, it really only comes out to who makes the ball not how fun the match is to watch or listen to. The thing I find annoying is racking more so than the table setup, so many 9 balls on the breaks happen, or lining up the 9 in the pocket for an early combo. That bugs me much more than anything else, having a championship determined because someone made 3 9 balls on the break in a race to 9 or 11 or something and having it be a cause for cheering instead of yelling at the ref to make a good rack LOL

I also enjoy watching the player styles from 10+ years ago, there was not a mass of Euro and Asian players all shooting the same shots the same way due to learning from the same book of basics.

This exactly why I'm stuck in the mid 90s. I enjoy those videos. Of the BPT tour has some of the best matches I've seen from that time. As well as the accu stat tapes. I grow up watching the early matchroom events
From the world's in 1999, till Thay stopped the events. Watching pool being played that way. was amazing as a kid. Compared to the snooker that was being played at the time.

But regardless of the equipment and pocket sizes. To me It just looked more exciting to watch! Compared to today's players. I always wonder what the hell has happened to our game. It started to feel different around 2012 probably because a lot of that generation of players retired around then. Maybe even a bit before that. All you can do though, is move with the times. You never know, that way of playing may make a comeback one day!!!

My opinion probably goes a bit too far. It just feels like pool today, is missing something!!

 

[336Robin]

This exactly why I'm stuck in the mid 90s. I enjoy those videos. Of the BPT tour has some of the best matches I've seen from that time. As well as the accu stat tapes. I grow up watching the early matchroom events
From the world's in 1999, till Thay stopped the events. Watching pool being played that way. was amazing as a kid. Compared to the snooker that was being played at the time.

But regardless of the equipment and pocket sizes. To me It just looked more exciting to watch! Compared to today's players. I always wonder what the hell has happened to our game. It started to feel different around 2012 probably because a lot of that generation of players retired around then. Maybe even a bit before that. All you can do though, is move with the times. You never know, that way of playing may make a comeback one day!!!

My opinion probably goes a bit too far. It just feels like pool today, is missing something!!

When I watch old matches, I also like to watch the Filipino's play in places with tough conditions. You see all of the people standing around
that to me is Pool.

 

[Brookeland Bill]

I have to be honest, as much as I love watching all the old videos of the players of years ago, I really have stopped enjoying them quite as much.

Some of the tables they played on the pockets are so generous as the almost spoil the game. I think the new generation of tables with the tougher playing conditions have advanced the sport.

I watch one pocket. Nine and eight ball are “paint by the numbers” as far as I’m concerned. Rotation would be more of a challenge than 8 and 9 ball. More balls on the table after the break and you have to learn to bank Better than 8 & 9ers.

 

[middleofnowhere]

If both players are on the same table, what difference does it make. Some major
league ball parks have short fences and some don't, but both teams have the
same conditions to play on

I'm referring to from a spectators perspective. You can say the same thing about junk equipment and tables rolling off.
"What's the difference, it's the same for both players".
It spoils the game.

 

[Texas Carom Club]

I have to be honest, as much as I love watching all the old videos of the players of years ago, I really have stopped enjoying them quite as much.

Some of the tables they played on the pockets are so generous as the almost spoil the game. I think the new generation of tables with the tougher playing conditions have advanced the sport.

The only thing that makes it harder now is the pocket size, these ice hockey gliding tables, polished balls make ball making much easier than well worn in tables.

watching pool today is like watching an assembly line, its basically all the same, 9ball wise

 

[Taxi]

The only thing that annoys me about those older videos is that it's often impossible to distinguish the 3 ball from the 7 ball, the 2 ball from the 4 ball, etc. After the break I like to be able to size up the layout and look for the ideal runout pattern, but good luck with doing that on those old ESPN matches. With HD and the ball colors adjusted for TV it's a lot easier to do that with today's tournaments, even though ideally the 6 ball would be a lighter green and the orange 5 ball would be more of a contrast with the pink 4 ball.

That said, I love those older video just for the privilege of being able to see the Buddy Halls and the Mike Sigels and the Nick Varners, along with Efren and Earl in their primes. I only wish they'd had fly on the wall cameras during some of their back room gambling matches. I'd love to see Buddy or Earl in their primes be transported to the present and take on Filler or SVB or Ouschan, first with the older equipment and then with today's.

 

[JusticeNJ]

I like current pro pool. I'd like it more if the players had a little more personality/charisma. I see a lot of stone-faced robots. The skill is undeniable tho. As for tighter targets? Its made the game tougher somewhat and different but i can't really say they've improved it a whole lot.

Same. I like watching Buddy stroll up to a table with pack of cigarettes very visible in his front pocket with that bear-like grimace on his face.

I also like watching Sigel - stroke tics and all - look like he just stepped off a low budget Miami Vice copy (like "Tallahassee Afternoons" or something).

Today's guys shoot scary straight though. But a little bit of the magic has died down. Perhaps that's a result of everyone trying to get perfect mechanics.

 

[Zerksies]

I can't stand the quality of the old videos. The play was alot better back then. Too many jumping balls and everyone trying to pull off Effren shots today.