Public figures and professional pool

Willowbrook Wolfy

Your wushu is weak!
Gold Member
How can no public figures be in any of the US’s bigger pool tournaments ever? I mean you can’t tell me there aren’t any movie stars, or sports figures, or government figures that are not able to hold their own with at least a “semi pro” player. They have to be out there. I know for a fact a bunch of them have tables set up at home. Why not get them signed on for a tournament before or after the US Open? Get some more publicity in pool. Just go out and make a “star” pool tournament like they do/did with poker. I haven’t seen one of those in a while. The TV station that televises it will pay for the telecast. And have it for charity like the Texas hold ‘em tourney. To get them there. (Have the real players in the bunch pay into a side pot so they actually win something too). All right. Whose gonna make it happen?
 

MitchAlsup

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
The reason that they are public figures is that they did not misspend their youth playing pool!
They did things to make them worthy of public figurehood.

This is the inverse of:: "A good pool player is the sign of a misspent youth".
 

Fatboy

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
The obvious one would be Joe Rogan, right?
Joe plays good, he has taken the time to work on his game over the last 20 years.

Simple thing is when your stacking up $ and are very busy, pool is very very time consuming to play at a high standard. There are a few guys-count them in one hand who can “play” with out playing much, but even then they had to pay their dues and that takes years.

The ROI on pool just is not there to give up 30-50% of the time you are awake to play good when your busy. It’s that demanding. Like chess, or anything you want to be exceptionally good at. If there was enough money to make up for the lost time, then pool would be like golf-it’s not and not likely to happen (I’m not sure but maybe that’s been a topic here on AZB)

The misspent youth statement is accurate.

And even if there was a public figure who could play, where is the platform to see that person play. Pool has no infrastructure to deliver any wide spread presentation showcasing a public figures playing.

A intermission at the Mcup to watch Putin play Biden between matches? Unlikely.

I’m glad no public figures play pool, let them go do their thing. I’d rather be away from all that nonsense and immerse myself in pool with pool players

Best
Fatboy
 
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iusedtoberich

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
The first IPT event in 2005 had a few celebrities invited and in the audience. The camera put them on the tv a few times.

It made no difference. It didn’t grow pool.

Edit: I misread the op. My post was about celebrities in the audience.
 

middleofnowhere

Registered
The reason that they are public figures is that they did not misspend their youth playing pool!
They did things to make them worthy of public figurehood.

This is the inverse of:: "A good pool player is the sign of a misspent youth".
Is golf, tennis, gymnastics, swimming, chess or any one of a number of youth activities all misspent time? Why do you single out pool?
 

8cree

Reverse Engineer
Silver Member
Joe Rogan and Manny Pacquiao come to mind
Maybe they could put a table in an octagon with ropes instead of fence, then they could play a race to 20 in a few disciplines.... winner take the belt!? I would actually watch that... do they have fargo's? :ROFLMAO:
 

couldnthinkof01

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Maybe they could put a table in an octagon with ropes instead of fence, then they could play a race to 20 in a few disciplines.... winner take the belt!? I would actually watch that... do they have fargo's? :ROFLMAO:
That might actually be a good match if both were in stroke.
 

DeeDeeCues

Well-known member
Is golf, tennis, gymnastics, swimming, chess or any one of a number of youth activities all misspent time? Why do you single out pool?

I was a swimmer in HS. A couple of offers to swim college that I turned down. After my last swim meet at eighteen, shortly before I went to University, I basically never swam again. I went from several years of swimming up to ten miles a day, 250 days per year to swimming a few hundred yards in the past 20+yrs.

I have played thousands of hours of pool on that same time.

Swimming benefited me as a teen, and I keep healthy because of those lessons. Pool had been a mental release. Both have served me well.
 

MitchAlsup

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Is golf, tennis, gymnastics, swimming, chess or any one of a number of youth activities all misspent time? Why do you single out pool?
Golf and Tennis one can make a good living--ask Arnold Palmer or Serena.
Swimming and gymnastics not so much.

I singled out pool only because I heard that statement about pool many times and many places from many different people.
 

middleofnowhere

Registered
Golf and Tennis one can make a good living--ask Arnold Palmer or Serena.
Swimming and gymnastics not so much.

I singled out pool only because I heard that statement about pool many times and many places from many different people.
It's actually an old joke that if somebody's a good pool player they must have had a misspend youth.

I've heard the same thing about people that are unusually well read. the joke used to be they must have been in jail. Actually that crack about jail is not inaccurate. I know a number of guys after going to jail come out quoting shakespeare.
 
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dardusm

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
There have been a few celebs that have been pretty solid with the cue. As others have stated, it takes a lot of time to become good at pool. Jerry Orbach (Actor) and Mark Kendall (Great White) were pretty close to 100 ball runners in straight pool. But, to be even semi pro, you need to put in a lot of time and energy. There are a few poker players John "World" Hennigan and Nick Schulman played at semi pro level and maybe even better before embarking on their poker careers. Why aren't there pro level pool playing doctors?
 

MitchAlsup

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Why aren't there pro level pool playing doctors?
Being on-call 24/7/365 kind of makes it hard to play for hours at a time regularly.
And then there is that continuous learning thing about remaining "up to date" in the field of medicine.
And finally, they have better things to do with their hands than hang out in bars, drinking all night and playing pool.
 

middleofnowhere

Registered
Race car driving superstar Tony Stewart has been seen at the Derby city Classic several times.
Does he play? I used to go to the bca open in Chicago and saw Fred Astaire there as well as actor Forest Tucker. I think Astaire did play. Oddly enough he was friends with DiLiberto as was James Caan.
 
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