Survivor: Olathe
Pool must change to survive !
- Thread starter Yoda4962
- Start date
Survivor: Olathe
Pool is better than ever...........
There are more tournaments today than ever before.
In the 70's and 80's and 90's it was kind of tough to find tournaments at all sometimes.
Pool is not a spectator sport but big events that are promoted right have a pretty good audience. Like the US Open.
The leagues are stronger than ever. I see this with my own eyes from town to town as I travel around teaching and playing.
In my home town here in Eau Claire there are like 3 different little tours to go play in every weekend. It's never been better here for sure.
Plus many local bars within 30 miles have smaller tournaments here and there.
Partner tournys, 3 man tournys and singles.
Some areas that I have been in are kind of down as far as pool but these areas have always kind of been down. They don't have vendors, bar owners or pool halls trying to promote stuff to increase business.
For example: What Diamond has done for pool is huge. They keep promoting and doing everything they can to create great events for the players that can or will travel.
There are great tours all over the country for the players that want to compete.
But for the most part people don't go too much to watch pool.
But it sure is fun to play and compete.
As long as it stays fun like it has for many many years pool will survive until the end of time.
Just my opinion. I get around and see the overall picture........
There are more tournaments today than ever before.
In the 70's and 80's and 90's it was kind of tough to find tournaments at all sometimes.
Pool is not a spectator sport but big events that are promoted right have a pretty good audience. Like the US Open.
The leagues are stronger than ever. I see this with my own eyes from town to town as I travel around teaching and playing.
In my home town here in Eau Claire there are like 3 different little tours to go play in every weekend. It's never been better here for sure.
Plus many local bars within 30 miles have smaller tournaments here and there.
Partner tournys, 3 man tournys and singles.
Some areas that I have been in are kind of down as far as pool but these areas have always kind of been down. They don't have vendors, bar owners or pool halls trying to promote stuff to increase business.
For example: What Diamond has done for pool is huge. They keep promoting and doing everything they can to create great events for the players that can or will travel.
There are great tours all over the country for the players that want to compete.
But for the most part people don't go too much to watch pool.
But it sure is fun to play and compete.
As long as it stays fun like it has for many many years pool will survive until the end of time.
Just my opinion. I get around and see the overall picture........
Pool reality show and players with charisma is the secret. No one wants to watch 2 non talking robots play. That is why the Mosconi cup has the ratings they do. Fan interaction with some player drama. Minnesota Fats was not on TV cause he was the best player. He was the best talker!
Good point. And if the kids could come in many of them would get run off by some @$$hat who won't leave them alone wanting to rob them. "You want the eight?" "I'll give you a game on the wire." It's a joke. Been seeing it for 30 years.
9 Ball is the best TV Game, it's fast and easy to follow, just needs rule changes
Yes, pool must be entertaining, and I have a feeling that "Reality Show" is just around the corner.....it's just a matter of time, and some changes do have to be made.
Pool is very much like Boxing, but instead of flurries of punches you have flurries of shots, or at the upper level flurries of racks. Instead of hooks and jabs you have draws and stuns, instead of knock out punches, you have knock out breaks, instead of ducking and dodging you're kicking and playing safe, you don't lose blood but you do lose pride, instead of 15 rounds you must win 15 games.... 9 Ball is the best TV Game, it's fast and easy to follow because there's always just one target for the fans to follow. Like Boxing there's a pre show of the brutal training the two players have to go through to compete. And of course the championship Belt.
Call pocket, Winner Break, no specialty cues, no corner ball, break from the box, 4.25 inch pockets, Incoming Player has option to pass the shot unless it's a safe, one two way shot a game, one two way safe a game, and a 15 second shot clock, race to 15, and a Ref. with white gloves racking the balls, and players dressed in Giorgio Armani, that covers what type of game.
However, like I have stated in my last posts there must be an emotional attachment to the professionals playing the game. The Game cannot be expected to draw the audience, but the players can. It's been done before and history always repeats its self and the cycle of pocket billiards is getting ready to move up. And Yes, Pocket Billiards is the Master Game.
It's just a matter of changing the present paradigm and that's a matter of implementing a strategic plan. I have a feeling this plan is underway and the stars are aligning and that means something special is in motion, and a new age of pool will soon be born.
Yes, pool must be entertaining, and I have a feeling that "Reality Show" is just around the corner.....it's just a matter of time, and some changes do have to be made.
Pool is very much like Boxing, but instead of flurries of punches you have flurries of shots, or at the upper level flurries of racks. Instead of hooks and jabs you have draws and stuns, instead of knock out punches, you have knock out breaks, instead of ducking and dodging you're kicking and playing safe, you don't lose blood but you do lose pride, instead of 15 rounds you must win 15 games.... 9 Ball is the best TV Game, it's fast and easy to follow because there's always just one target for the fans to follow. Like Boxing there's a pre show of the brutal training the two players have to go through to compete. And of course the championship Belt.
Call pocket, Winner Break, no specialty cues, no corner ball, break from the box, 4.25 inch pockets, Incoming Player has option to pass the shot unless it's a safe, one two way shot a game, one two way safe a game, and a 15 second shot clock, race to 15, and a Ref. with white gloves racking the balls, and players dressed in Giorgio Armani, that covers what type of game.
However, like I have stated in my last posts there must be an emotional attachment to the professionals playing the game. The Game cannot be expected to draw the audience, but the players can. It's been done before and history always repeats its self and the cycle of pocket billiards is getting ready to move up. And Yes, Pocket Billiards is the Master Game.
It's just a matter of changing the present paradigm and that's a matter of implementing a strategic plan. I have a feeling this plan is underway and the stars are aligning and that means something special is in motion, and a new age of pool will soon be born.
I got an idea. Let's get some guys with money to open up a classy joint with top notch equipment and a bouncer willing to take a claw hammer to the bridge hand of every wanna-be gangster bastard who tries to shark every beginner he meets into a money game. Then, while we are at it let's get a bunch of good players to take the new players with natural talent under their wing and teach them to play better instead of insisting on gambling every moment of the day. Oh, wait we won't be able to do that because all of them would already have had a claw hammer used on their bridge hand. Sorry, my mistake.
Sorry Ken, You are dead wrong. Pool can be learnt and mastered at any age as long as there is no medical issue prevents reaching high goal. Not sure if you have reached this conclusion because you have reach your top level and still not up there yet, or just saying??
The only requirement to reach pro level is dedication, inheritance, or have $$ in the bank so you can afford no income, learn all required secrets so to be consistent, long hours of practice (must have your own table), ability to play anytime any where and gamble. You cannot reach that goal if you want it all (work, steady family, kids, golf, education, drinking, partying, and so on) all that have to be on the shelve until you retire, or fail!
Although recently it has been shown that some medications can really increase neuroplasticity at older ages, for the most part youth have the developing brains to play into building a far more "natural" stroke. Yes a player can become a "pro" as an adult in any of our popular skill games - be it billiards, golf, darts, etc. - but there's a certain fluid motion to the game when it is properly developed from a young age that an adult simply isn't going to get aside from the most naturally gifted elites.
Again - not saying you're wrong about dedication, or time to play and what it can lead to. You're very right - you can become a pro as an adult, but looking at the biggest names out there how many of them started after their formative years? It seems like the Stricklings, SVBs, etc. tend to start very young. It holds consistently with many other games. I play disc golf and for the first time in our very young game we have an entire generation of superstars all built from a young age, and their form on the course is simply put far more beautiful and natural a flow and motion than anything the old pros from the prior two generations displayed, and for the first time the best players in the world in that game aren't guys who started as adults, they all started young.
Look at the major skill games like golf and baseball (I include baseball because you truly can be elite without having elite speed or a naturally athletic build ala football, hockey, basketball, tennis which require elite all around athleticism) - you can't get into the games if you don't start as a youth. Baseball doesn't require prime athleticism to be an elite hitter, but being an elite hitter is all you need to break into the top level of the game. You can develop a high impact and smooth stroke with quick wrists and power generation at adult ages, yes. But you're not going to compare to the elites who started as children. Same goes for golf. And the same is going to hold for pool.
networks make money from advertisent, not organizers, with an audiance companies pay to have their product shown to people, thats why shows have commercials
Maybe we need to follow golf's lead and go to 6" pockets. Read this last week:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/19/sports/golf/in-a-hole-golf-considers-digging-a-wider-one.html?_r=0
Lou Figueroa
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/19/sports/golf/in-a-hole-golf-considers-digging-a-wider-one.html?_r=0
Lou Figueroa
How about a million dollar challenge? Something like the Mosconi Cup. Team USA against any Country that wants to enter. International appeal may be the way to go. Viewers need something or someone to root for to have any interest. Team USA against anyone playing anything draws attention. If done correctly there could be revenue sharing and the million could be made back or at least a good chunk. If you hold a tournament with that kind of money on the line. People will watch. It would peak the interest of major networks. Team USA vs team China. Imagine the viewers from China alone. Tossing money into tournament with live streaming isn't helping the pros. It's helps the ones streaming. It hurts sponsors for pros because the streamers can place Huge banners up and they get the advertisement money. At this rate players will always be paying an entry fee and playing each other hoping to make something back. Enough that covers entry fee , travel and lodging. They need something really big to put them back on the map to major networks. Where networks and sponsors are paying to have pros play in tournaments. You can put the best five players together and poster their names everywhere and most people would be lost. Post team USA and people pay attention.
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Thanks for kind reply. This thought of being young is better, started long time ago where people learned slow from each other over several years, so it was common for a kid to hang around with his dad or granny's pool hall and bang balls around, with some mentoring. Today it is completely different, millions of people owns pool tables at home, so many teachers, DVDs, million matches at YouTube, so the pool knowledge is available and can be tought to anyone by a professional. So if anyone can spare 8 hours a day for practice and couching will eventually reach pro when the heart get used to the beating and loosing, only then winning becomes in the horizon.
I believe though I have no proof whatsoever that the above article is a product of today's generation of having grown up with the internet. They want the same immediate results, satisfaction & gratification they get online with everyday life including sporting activities. They do not want to learn, practice, fail, learn from that failure & achieve. They just want things made easier for them, not all but a wide majority.
My opinion only.
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