Pool What Ifs...

StraightPoolIU

StraightPoolIU

Brent
Silver Member
Maybe this thread will be a fun Friday thread or maybe it'll be a total bust who knows but here goes.

I've always been a history buff and I studied it in college. One thing history buffs like to do, even if it doesn't have much academic value, is discuss counterfactuals. That is to say speculate about how something might have turned out if circumstances had been different. A history what if. The reason I was thinking about this is because there are so many threads on here about how to fix pool and there are so many people trying to do things to make pool more popular, and I thought about what if people eventually succeed in their efforts and on a big scale. I think that the sport would be fundamentally transformed and maybe not in ways that our present small community would like. Maybe this can lead to some fun discussion. I'll start.

Premise: In 2005-6 the IPT launches their tour and their brand of 8 ball. We all know how that turned out, but what if instead the IPT worked out not only the way it was supposed to but much much better? Let's suppose that a year from the first tournament the IPT was pulling in great ratings for pool and was entering the sporting zeitgeist. Outside sponsors have gotten involved. Highlights are airing on ESPN just like other mainstream sports. KT had already sold his interest at the first opportunity to make money and is no longer involved. Subsequently this has added to it's legitmacy and a new mainstream network TV contract has been signed. By 2013 the sport is enjoying complete mainstream success. Not yet on par with golf, but getting close.

Effects: The pool landscape as we previously knew it and know it now does not exist. The game that people and professionals play is almost exclusively 8 ball. The rise of 10 ball as the pro game never happens. With the exception of some pool related podcasts or specialty content pool streaming does not exist. The IPT pretty much runs the show in the pool world top to bottom with the exception of very small regional tours for wanna be pros that can't make the top level or the developmental tour. Access to players is now completely limited by the tour, publicists and agents. All non-IPT events (DCC, US Open etc) are now completely non-existent or folded into the tour and altered so radically as to be unrecognizable.

Alright those are just a few of the ones I thought of. Feel free to keep running with that if you want or start a new hypothesis about a pool jumping off point. Also, everyone have a good weekend. :smile:
 
I think for decades players pros have sought out rotation-type games because it's flat out harder
to run than 8 ball and more frequently brings in interesting skills like kicking, jumping, etc.
The games also are faster.

So, if the IPT was a success, 8-ball might continue to be the main game in pool halls.
But I think 10b would have risen anyway. There'd be the IPT 8-ball, and 'everything else'
which would try to be successful by providing a different and more entertaining game,
since they have no shot at being successful competing on payout and production value.

Still... players would religiously show up for those sweet IPT paydays. Retired guys would
come out of the woodwork. Nobody would talk about quitting and getting a day job,
Mike Davis and Scott Frost would be happy campers.

OK, another what-if.
What if Allison Fisher won a U.S. Open?
Maybe it required the perfect draw and the best pool of her life, I dunno. What if it happened one year?
 
Ok Allison Fisher wins the U.S. Open.

Effects: -More tournaments will have more entries from women trying to compete with men as more and more women are inspired to compete at that level.
-More women are inspired to dedicate themselves to the game and practice and play more
-The level of respect for women's pool among men rises
 
pool on main stream tv was going to go all down hill sooner or later. outside of a very select few, people just rather watch other sporting activities or spend time online.
 
What if I hadn't joined the circus, and instead, made a living out of playing pool? Fame, riches, a beautiful woman on each arm. Who knows.
Besides possessing an extraordinary talent for playing One Pocket, I was equally yoked with an innate ability to communicate with elephants. Been that way since I was a child. That was why, at an early age, I began working in one of the greatest shows that ever traveled the shores of three of the five Great Lakes: The Walter P. Johnson Circus, with Unusual Exhibits.
The circus was small as circuses go, only a single ring, and the unusual exhibits portion of the show consisted of one very tall man billed as the worlds largest midget, and a fat woman with three breasts. The third breast being on her back. Surprisingly, she was very good at slow dancing.
My job was to take care of the show's three elephants, Molly, Polly, and Dick.
I kept them clean. Provided them with food and water. And, at least once a week I gave them enemas to keep them regular.
Giving an elephant an enema is no task for the faint of heart. Each Saturday I would line up Molly, Polly, and Dick, and with the nozzle of a garden hose in my hand stick my arm up Molly's ass and turn the water on, full blast. In a couple of minutes when she would shit down my arm, I knew I was done and would move on to Polly, and then Dick.
Those were wonderful, carefree days, I can tell you.
One Saturday afternoon, while I was washing the elephant shit from my head and shoulders, a fellow I had once played One Pocket with walked up and asked how I was doing. I said things couldn't be better.
Noticing the shit stains on my overalls, he inquired as to why I wasn't on the road playing One Pocket, and making a better living for myself.
I looked at him and said, "What? And give up show business?" :smile:
 
I've mentioned in previous posts a number of times that we need to be careful of what we wish for. If pool became a successful TV sport it would change dramatically.

2-1/2 to 3-minute break for commercials every seven minutes. That's a momentum-killer unlike any the sport has ever had.

Race to five; alternate break. We've only got 42 minutes of airtime, less 3 minutes of opening commentary. Only play 8-ball or 9-ball; 10-ball takes too long. Mosconi Cup shot clock (not a bad thing IMO).

No amateur-pro interaction. No walking up to a pro after his match and saying hello, much less being able to shoot a few racks with him.
 
bdorman said:
I've mentioned in previous posts a number of times that we need to be careful of what we wish for. If pool became a successful TV sport it would change dramatically.

2-1/2 to 3-minute break for commercials every seven minutes. That's a momentum-killer unlike any the sport has ever had.

Race to five; alternate break. We've only got 42 minutes of airtime, less 3 minutes of opening commentary. Only play 8-ball or 9-ball; 10-ball takes too long. Mosconi Cup shot clock (not a bad thing IMO).

No amateur-pro interaction. No walking up to a pro after his match and saying hello, much less being able to shoot a few racks with him.
Click to expand...

I think you're correct in that we do have to be careful what we wish for to some extent. However, if the game was truly popular, like on the level of golf which was my original postulate, I don't think we'd be seeing shortened races to five squeezed into 42 minutes of tape. I think we'd see high production value live coverage of legitimate length races because it would be treated as a sporting event. That would be the upside along with having a lot more and better poolrooms to play in. The downside is that access to everything would be severely limited. Not just to the players like you said, but the cost of attendance. The bigger crowds. Like playing on the tables after the tournament is done for the day like at the DCC? Kiss that goodbye. Action which has declined drastically anyway would basically become non-existent among top players except for hush-hush wagers between themselves in private. Companies like Nike would probably start making cues and putting a lot of other present pool industry mainstays out of business.

Of course truthfully I don't think we have to worry about it happening anytime soon.
 
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