Pool is dead.

JB Cases said:
I don't know that I agree with that. I don't think the public has spoken on this. Pool is very fragmented in the USA and it's presentation is lackluster at best. However the ABC Wide World Of Sports matchups between Fats and Mosconi were some of the highest rated programs in that popular show's history....
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I agree with this, 100 percent. Pool needs a personality.

The Buckingham Guard, robotic, slowpoke style of play has killed pool on American TV. It just is not inviting to mainstream America to see pool played like this.

Of course, there are some within the pool culture who can't stand to watch one-pocket. Me, I love watching one-hole and have engaged in many an all-night sessions. Time flies by so quickly when I'm sweating the outcome of a good match-up. :thumbup:

Another problem American pool suffers from is its never-ending perception of smoke-filled pool rooms where alcohol and drugs are portrayed to be rampant.

Just this morning, I read a cute story about an APA player from Waco, TX who won an amateur event in Georgia, giving him a free entry fee into next year's U.S. Open in Chesapeake, Virginia. He's a car dealer by trade.

Of course, I have my own opinion about car dealers. People think pool players are hustlers, but just go to any car dealership and act interested in buying a new car. Hustling at its finest, I say. :yeah:

Anyway, I digress. So this APA player from Waco wins a trip to the 2009 U.S. Open, thanks to an amateur tourney, and here is what the American media wrote about him:

He's been hanging around pool halls since he was 7 but never picked up drinking or smoking.

:shocked2: :shocked2: :shocked2: :shocked2:

The article: http://www.wacotrib.com/news/content/news/stories/2008/11/24/11242008wacpoolchamp.html

The perception of pool in the United States is unlike the perception of pool elsewhere in the world. :rolleyes:

In the words of Rodney Dangerfield, pool gets no respect on American soil. :frown:

Today, I think pool does well as a recreational game, to be played by weekend warriors, bar bangers, social shooters, and league players. I have little to no hope for professional pool in the U.S. It just seems like it's got one tire in the sand and never takes off.

Even if you throw money at it, like the multi-million-dollar payouts of the IPT, pool still is unpopular here in America.

Pool needs a Willie and/or a Fats. I'm not sure who fits that bill in 2008, if any.

I remember getting interested in ice skating after Tanya Harding had Nancy Kerrigan's leg broken right before the Olympics. I'm not suggesting anything like that in American pool, but some newsworthy item like this will catch the attention of the media. Ever since that horrible incident, I hate to admit it, but I'm a stone-cold ice skating fan. I have really grown to love ice skating, but I would have never gotten interested in it, if it had not been for that horrible happening which caught my attention. :embarrassed2:
 
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the "Smoke filled dens full of con-artists" image that pool seems to have might just maybe cleared up with the live feeds the TAR etc are producing nowdays, hopefully some people will watch one and decide to go play pool(if there is even a room anymore-west coast problem).


there are more con-artists in phone rooms and car dealer show rooms than in poolrooms as a % of bodies in there. Dont worry about that...


and the tux wearing stiffs playing like robots is BOARING for anyone who dosent like pool itself-Fats was fun to watch-he just happened to be playing pool. Pool aint what made Fats HE MADE POOL!!!!!!! and JAM is 23423543432% right, Pool needs a personality, and he IS right there 10' away from her!!!!! There is no one better or more marketable that Keith for pool, make it happen!!! please,

with my best regards and respect,

eric
 
There is just a certain mistique about pool. It has died many deaths before only to br rekindled. It will never really die.
 
cuemaker03 said:
There is just a certain mistique about pool. It has died many deaths before only to br rekindled. It will never really die.
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i know one thing for certain, it will never die as long as I am alive, because I'll be shooting from my death bed if I can. :thumbup:
 
JB Cases said:
Well not really but this is how I felt when I saw this in the New York Times.

I guess Vincent was right.

"DR PEPPER plans to announce on Wednesday that, for the first time, it is promoting a professional athlete on bottles that it will distribute nationally. But the shaggy-haired athlete on the label is not a traditional sports star: he?s a 21-year-old who has a three-year, $250,000 contract to play video games."

When did playing video games become a professional "sport" and when did the players become athletes? I guess it was when ESPN started broadcasting video game tournaments. ESPN, where the Spelling Bee is a sport as well.

Full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/business/media/19adco.html?th&emc=th

Just wait.

In 2013 Barry Behrman will only promote the Virtual Pool US Open and first prize will be $500,000 and there will be 20,000 players and since it will be the internet kids under six will be allowed to play.
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I totally see what u are saying JB...it is a shame that the new craze is internet gaming and to tell u the truth it is alot of fun listening to a 8-12 year old cuss u out when he wacks u with his AK or throws the bomb on u when he has got u down like 30 point with 2 seconds left on the board...
The only problem with gaming is that it is not an equal playground. U are totally at the mercy of electronics that can let u catch the ball or not...
There is no athleticism about it....
 
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