Jam, “... Nobody is talking about gambling and grinding it out. What I am speaking about is PROFESSIONAL pool as a sport. It is almost impossible to hold down a job and compete professionally.
And by the way, I will complain about tournament payouts and express my opinion, just as you do.
There are some pool players who do have talent and are very worthy professionals. The word by its very meaning -- "PROFESSION" -- is key here. It is not possible to shoot pool as a professional in today's climate.
Maybe you should stick to you day job and boast a little more about how good you have it -- even though in my life's experience, those who do boast are nothing more than insecure nobodies -- and continue to spew out nasty comments about professional pool players who are struggling to keep their collective heads above water.”
One definition of a professional is a person who is more interested in their chosen occupation than they are in the money they are paid. Professionals do not work a 40 hour week and they do take their work home, in fact they live their profession. Nursing comes to mind among other occupations.
If players were professional they would form an association to further pool as a sport. This association would set standards, rules, ethics, (censure members), identify major contributors to the sport. And it would not be primarily interested in how much money the members could make. See the AMA, APA, etc, etc, etc.
The interesting thing about professionals, when they organize, is that society then asks these groups to set standards, venders and promoters among others follow the recommendations of the association.
Pool players do not engage in these kinds of activities and are therefore not professionals. They are people working for a paycheck. Nothing wrong with that as a chosen life style and many prefer to work playing pool for a living.
When the players are not willing to form a professional association and control their own destiny, they get to live with the result – be controlled by those with the money.
Professionals organize themselves; they are not organized by the people with the money. Interestingly those who do form professional associations are among the highest paid members of our society.
To extend Gulfportdoc’s thinking, I think that we need some thing akin to pool clubs organized like a country club. There were some interesting ideas from a Korean fellow here a while ago on clubs in his country that seem to be strongly fostering a culture of pool that is more in line with middle class values.
There is no profession of poolplayer until the players create the profession with standards, etc. There is some interest as evidenced by the currently available tournaments.
