Please...

buckshotshoey said:
It's not just the kids buying and playing these games. Yes parents buy games for their kids, but as a gamer myself, (not so much anymore), half that number are adults that play the games.

As a parent, I think I would push them to do something... Something other than sitting on their ass in front of a TV console.

Now, you say if you had a 10-year old, you would not encourage them to play pool. Why is that? Because of the reputation pool players have? Well, starting them out young with your guidance, that can be changed.

And then here comes another discussion... Why does pool and pool players have such a bad reputation? It's because of money. I know some of you out there think gambling and pool go hand-in-hand. Well this gambling thing is what gave it a bad reputation. Gambling leads to cheating. Gambling leads to sharking. Gambling has led to murder. And I think it's really the sharking/hustler part that turns some people off. The only reason sharking exists is because of the money.... the gambling.

If none of what I said is true, then why would you discourage your children or grandchildren from playing pool?

If you guys want to gamble, go ahead. It's no skin off my ass. But we can raise the younger generation a little better than that. After they become young adults, you can teach him how to gamble properly. Not how to take somebody elses money, but how to responsibly Gamble. Only bet what you can afford to lose. How to be a Sportsman about it. And your ethics and reputation go hand in hand. I taught this to my stepson in his late teen years. And it had nothing to do with pool. And I really don't even Gamble. I just thought it was A Life Lesson.
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Pools bad reputation is pretty much universal. Gambling is directly associated with pool. From Dick Van Dyke show, to COM. It in fact is a big part of the mystique. That will not change.

Pool now for the most part is associated directly with bars and drinking. It's the new evolution of the game, pool leagues in bars. There is little about the game that any responsible parent would want their children involved in. That is just the reality.

Pool may have changed for the worst. There used to be billiard rooms in collages. Even an annule college champion. Nick Varner was a collage champion.

Brunswick in the 50's and 60's opened large billiard rooms family oriented with their bowling alleys. Those are mostly all gone. The game, except for it's core subculture is pretty much what it is and all it's going to be.

If you want to grow the game you need to focus within realistic persmaters. Everything else is pie-in-the-sky.

Contrary to what many think, pool is not a spectator sport. People who don't play don't watch. In fact even people who do play don't watch. It will never have a TV appeal, never.

It is also not a profession to aspire to. While a few may make a living playing, it is not a professional sport. That is not to say you can't make a living in the business. Room owner, equipment manafacture or dealer.

It is also not a fad, it is not going anywhere. It has proven it's staying power over 100 plus years. There will always be poolrooms and pool tables in homes and bars.
 
buckshotshoey said:
And then here comes another discussion... Why does pool and pool players have such a bad reputation? It's because of money. I know some of you out there think gambling and pool go hand-in-hand. Well this gambling thing is what gave it a bad reputation. Gambling leads to cheating. Gambling leads to sharking. Gambling has led to murder. And I think it's really the sharking/hustler part that turns some people off. The only reason sharking exists is because of the money.... the gambling.
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Golf has built its name on a reputation of honest players (calling fouls on themselves) and yet side betting goes on without the first hint of a bad reputation. I used to caddy at the local course (late 1960's) and players would bet $10-to$600 on a hole, and they would still call fouls on themselves, happily!

Pool has built the inverse reputation.............and this is bad for pool.
 
buckshotshoey said:
I wish I had about $100,000 to donate. I can set up six of my area schools with four brand new Valley tables each.

And as a side note, just think of all the math, physics, and geometry can be taught using the game of pool. There are so many angles and forces that could be calculated. It kind of boggles the Mind.
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Where were you during my Math class?:LOL:
 
Maybe pool needs to come full circle. After COM many rooms opened that were over invested, they were not sustainable. Most have long since closed.

While years ago pool rooms may not have been in high rent areas or maybe not been that fancy. They were usually clean we'll run with well kept equipment.

No one got rich with one of these rooms. But they provide a nice income and place for the game to be played as it was meant to be. They represent the game in it's purest form.

It would be foolish to not serve beer, but the bar is not the central focus, pool is. It needs to be owned by a pool player someone who loves pool.

There are more elements but you get my point. I can promise you I could open a room like that with a little research and make money. I have done it.

I would love to hear jay give his formula for a nice family run room. Something that a person who loves pool could actually do.

It's a formula that has worked for over 100 years. There is no need to reinvent the wheel.
 
MitchAlsup said:
Golf has built its name on a reputation of honest players (calling fouls on themselves) and yet side betting goes on without the first hint of a bad reputation. I used to caddy at the local course (late 1960's) and players would bet $10-to$600 on a hole, and they would still call fouls on themselves, happily!

Pool has built the inverse reputation.............and this is bad for pool.
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A good reputation is hard to win.

A bad reputation is hard to lose.

You are judged by the company you keep.

Respect must be earned.

There ain't no free lunch.
 
middleofnowhere said:
Maybe pool needs to come full circle. After COM many rooms opened that were over invested, they were not sustainable. Most have long since closed.

While years ago pool rooms may not have been in high rent areas or maybe not been that fancy. They were usually clean we'll run with well kept equipment.

No one got rich with one of these rooms. But they provide a nice income and place for the game to be played as it was meant to be. They represent the game in it's purest form.

It would be foolish to not serve beer, but the bar is not the central focus, pool is. It needs to be owned by a pool player someone who loves pool.

There are more elements but you get my point. I can promise you I could open a room like that with a little research and make money. I have done it.

I would love to hear jay give his formula for a nice family run room. Something that a person who loves pool could actually do.

It's a formula that has worked for over 100 years. There is no need to reinvent the wheel.
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But in order to truly succeed, you must loudly play head-banger music, have flashing ceiling and floor mounted lights, paint the walls black, hire a smart-assed chick with big tits and lost of tats, buy black and chocolate colored pool balls, and encourage all of your customers to dye their hair blue or purple. Oh, and don't forget boutique beer at 20 bucks a pop.
 
Boxcar said:
But in order to truly succeed, you must loudly play head-banger music, have flashing ceiling and floor mounted lights, paint the walls black, hire a smart-assed chick with big tits and lost of tats, buy black and chocolate colored pool balls, and encourage all of your customers to dye their hair blue or purple. Oh, and don't forget boutique beer at 20 bucks a pop.
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Sounds like fun! When we going?
 
Boxcar said:
But in order to truly succeed, you must loudly play head-banger music, have flashing ceiling and floor mounted lights, paint the walls black, hire a smart-assed chick with big tits and lost of tats, buy black and chocolate colored pool balls, and encourage all of your customers to dye their hair blue or purple. Oh, and don't forget boutique beer at 20 bucks a pop.
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I can assume you won't be investing in a pool room anytime soon. What you describe isn't a pool room anyway.
Rooms like I describe have operated for decades. The last one I owned I bought.

It opened in 1959. I bought and had it for 10 years. Just got tired of it, I seem to do that. 62 years after it opened It is still open producing a nice income. Nothing fancy, 13 tables and a bar.

I also sold sub sandwiches that after I started that it took on a life of its own. That by itself became a business.

That little 3800 sq. foot room was a gold mine. Some of my customers used to joke the place was like having a machine to print money.
 
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Of course, you and I both know that I was teasing. The picture I painted is of the image I get when looking at a Matchroom tournament production. It seems like everybody involved in the pool industry right now has there hair on fire trying to make pool something that it is not. Pool is capable of taking care of itself. If vast wealth is the primary impetus behind budding pool entrepreneurs, then from the bottom of my heart I wish them well, but the business pro forma probably won't, in my particular case, tantalize even a small investment.
 
My perspective: 65-year-old fart.

A few years ago there would be the occasional TV broadcast of 9-ball. It’s how I learned of Allison Fisher, Jeannette Lee, Eva, Karen….. I haven’t seen pool on network broadcast in many years.

Ask the average Joe about pool and the image they’ll conjure is mouthy Fats or Paul Newman playing pool for money in a dangerous place. And there is gambling involved.

I watched in its entirety the Shane-Dennis race to 120. I thought a shorter version would indeed work for a general broad audience, but I’m gonna go ahead and piss off some people here: the commentators in the last few segments did nothing to promote a positive image of the game/sport. With open mic, freely cursing (“shit”). But I cringed when “MF” was used. Not because I’m a prude. I’m not, and hourly I use all the usual blue words in private (private the operative word) conversations. But because of the image of pool that commentary proffered, I was sad for the sport
 
In a word, all that this new crop of marketing gurus has accomplished is to make pool sleazy. Then you pitch in a few of our local celebrities who seem to think that they are God's Gift to pool, and the whole enchilada lands in the shitter.

Brothers and sisters, what we have here is the ripe fruits from the Gold Star and Smiley Face Tree. Everybody is a "winnah." I want it all...and I want it now.
 
I think the biggest problem is the LOCAL players. A very many don't support higher levels of play. Schlub golfers follow the pros and will sometimes go to a tournament. Same for most other sports. Most pool players I know have little knowledge of pro pool players and have never attended a professional tournament as a viewer. Sponsors must have some reasonable expectation that their expenses will lead to some return. Not so in pool. Face it. We are starving our own sport.
 
If they would ever start up the Glass City Open in Toledo again, I'd be all over it. Nearest pro tournament for me would be roughly 300 miles.
 
Every time I read threads like this it makes me laugh. None of you have a clue where there's millions of dollars for this sport, or any idea as to how to get it because not one of you can think outside of the box😅🤣
 
The problem all of you have is in your train of thought. If you focused your efforts on how to make a sponsor some money, then the by product of that becomes the sponsorship of pool. You guys are all stuck on sponsor pool, and you'll go broke!!!
 
I know of a company that spends over $500M a year on advertising alone! That's money they're going to spend ANYWAY, just not on pool, because not one of you can come up with a plan to present to them, showing them, that if they sponsor pool, their bottom line will increase!!! No body spending that kind of money is going to turn down a plan to increase their sales...and that's a fact!!!
 
middleofnowhere said:
So what are you getting at. Where are the millions?
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They're all around you, everyday, you even spend money on them. They're in every country on the planet, spending advertising dollars by the billions every year....only, you'll never know who they are, because you'd never guess them being a sponsor!!
 
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