just the fact that pool is not televised (much) and draws no real advertising dollars is all the proof you need that the general public (and some poolplayers too) find watching pool boring.
brian
Quote "pool is a game that people want to play, not watch"
- Thread starter DTL
- Start date
just the fact that pool is not televised (much) and draws no real advertising dollars is all the proof you need that the general public (and some poolplayers too) find watching pool boring.
brian
Circular thinking?
Did you actually read the post you responded to? It's like saying that nobody shops at Kmart because there isn't one in town, and blaming that on the shopper. Circular thinking. People don't watch pool because it isn't televised, and when it was the coverage was poor. How does this mean that we don't want to watch pool on tv???
Please read some other comments on this thread.
Donny L
PBIA/ACS Instructor
Did you actually read the post you responded to? It's like saying that nobody shops at Kmart because there isn't one in town, and blaming that on the shopper. Circular thinking. People don't watch pool because it isn't televised, and when it was the coverage was poor. How does this mean that we don't want to watch pool on tv???
Please read some other comments on this thread.
Donny L
PBIA/ACS Instructor
please dont assume that i didnt read every post in this thread. pool is boring to watch. there has been enough pool televised to that if it were exciting to watch, advertising dollars would be pouring in and the pro game would be in better shape.
come on. there isnt even a real professional men's tour (at least in the US). i just got back from turning stone. that will be my on vacation this year. i paid top dollar to stay at the venue (to support the tourny). i love pool. some of it was pretty boring to watch. i even thought of stepping out on the finals if it was going be another "every game is a safety battle" match. fortunately MD found a break that made balls and left a shot on the one. admission was free. the venue is one of the best for tournament pool. most of the spectators were other players or family/friends of players, a few like me who came just for the tourny, and some locals. when the general public from the casino strolled in to watch most left after a game or two. the.. reason? they were bored. some of the best players in the world.
so dont tell me to read previous posts. just because you find pool interesting to watch doesnt make it so. although no scientific polls exist on the topic every other fact (including most threads on this topic) lead one the conclusion that pool as a spectator sport is just boring.
i wish it werent so but thats just the way it is.
brian
There is a lot more to it then that. Team sports have numerous differences. They are seasonal and played in real time. People bet on sports and have an interest in the outcomes. They have regional followings and team loyalties. People get involved in everything from buying team merchandise to the tailgate parties. They feel like they belong to something, just listen to sports talk radio to hear the passion.Team sports are a shared experience.
I was told by a big wig with ESPN that that viewed pool as an exhibition sport. Not a sport where anyone really cared about the outcome but just liked watching the game played. He equated it to showing a rodeo. It would not matter if it was 10 years old a number of people would watch anyway.
On the other hand you don't see anyone investing in and buying the rights to old baseball games and airing them. People don't care about watching something that does not really matter. That is where pool is, in he words of Bill Murray, "It just doesn't matter, It just doesn't matter".
There is no way to change that. People don't pay attention to things that don't matter to them and few things are less significant then pool.
You mention bowling, at the time bowling was becoming popular they had a carefully thought out business plan how they were going to promote bowling and league play. I remember my grandmother joining a bowling league, this was no accident it became so popular. Then all those new bowlers would watched the game on their black and white TV's. If you remember bowlers were playing for $10,000 purses in the 50's. This was "BIG" money and very exciting. Bowling, if the match is not a blowout, is a very exciting game to watch coming down to the last ball many times, it had real drama.
Pool has nothing what so ever that compares it to these other sports for the viewer. The better it is played the more boring it is. That is just a fact and can not be changed. Pool needs to just settle into it's nitch with it's subcultural following, who are at best semi-loyal, and accept it. At best it may have a small following on the net with PPV, if you can ever get anyone to actually pay.
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Good points
You make some good points here, but how can you ignore the amazing popularity of pool action on Youtube?
I accept the fact that you find it boring to watch pool.
I suggest to students that they watch pool (on tv, Youtube or live streaming) because it's a great learning tool.
I personally enjoy watching pool on the screen. To each his own.
Donny L
PBIA/ACS Instructor
You make some good points here, but how can you ignore the amazing popularity of pool action on Youtube?
I accept the fact that you find it boring to watch pool.
I suggest to students that they watch pool (on tv, Youtube or live streaming) because it's a great learning tool.
I personally enjoy watching pool on the screen. To each his own.
Donny L
PBIA/ACS Instructor
A lot of that youtube views last a few seconds to a few minutes. I will look at youtube but may watch a small amount of a match as I fast forward through it. That is different then someone paying and having to sit through several hours of pool. I have a feeling you do a little fast forwarding yourself.
Youtube is also world wide so considering getting a few hundred thousand views in 5 years may not be that much. If they got 50,000 in a day or a week now you would have something. You can pick any subject and look on youtube and you will see thousands of views. I like knives and guns and some of those guys who do the reviews get thousands of views every week. Here is a gun review posted just two weeks ago
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jJsYV1nGag
66000 views in two weeks. There are a lot of things on youtube that people look at in large numbers. Pick any subject and you will see tens of thousands of views by bored people with a mild interest. Non of this really converts to dollars, it is just free and people have time on their hands.
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Agreed.
Not we diabetics. Most of the food being advertized is basically forbidden in our diets. {No sugars, no bread, no pasta, no rice}
Pool is a hard game. Today's generation by large are lazy, too lazy to want to devote the effort to play well. They may try the game, but quickly loose interest.
The other day "heads up" poker was on TV. People were sitting on both sides of the stage watching. Watching without even the luxury of knowing what the down cards are.
How frigging ridiculous is that? But ... it's far less demanding a game, and therefore, draws far more quantity of player / spectator. As dumb a thing as it is to watch two people playing against each other they do it. Like watching two people flip coins against each other for hours on end. Go figure.
The other day "heads up" poker was on TV. People were sitting on both sides of the stage watching. Watching without even the luxury of knowing what the down cards are.
How frigging ridiculous is that? But ... it's far less demanding a game, and therefore, draws far more quantity of player / spectator. As dumb a thing as it is to watch two people playing against each other they do it. Like watching two people flip coins against each other for hours on end. Go figure.
I think someone else already said this, but people watch what they're interested in. If you don't like football, baseball, golf, poker, etc, you don't watch it.
I love pool and I love watching it to glean whatever I can from watching good players play. (I also watch the league bangers to learn from them as well!) But I'm still a high D player (and I'm being optimistic when I say "high") and have a lot to learn. However, I'm also a life-long student of everything I'm interested in so I'm always looking to learn more.
I personally get a lot out of watching pool. (I also find it entertaining.)
I love pool and I love watching it to glean whatever I can from watching good players play. (I also watch the league bangers to learn from them as well!) But I'm still a high D player (and I'm being optimistic when I say "high") and have a lot to learn. However, I'm also a life-long student of everything I'm interested in so I'm always looking to learn more.
I personally get a lot out of watching pool. (I also find it entertaining.)
the difference being is that when you watch football and see a guy get run over or throw the perfect pass 80 yards, guys watching know they can't do that. Watching pool is completely different. When you watch 9 ball being played where guys have roadmaps, it's uninteresting because it's something that you can do yourself. Most people would rather play than watch a pro run out a cosmo. In tough racks, the speed of play grinds to a halt which results in lowered levels of interest. So as it is, pool I generally pretty boring to watch if the players aren't interesting. Why do you think Alex draws bigger crowds? It's cuz he likes to clown around while playing at an extremely high level. His antics help keep things interesting when the play starts to get stale.
Great points...
You make some excellent points here.
However, the statements in bold above are your opinion, and not necessarily "fact".
In my humble opinion, we can change things to make pool better for television. And even as it's been, it's never boring to me. But then I love pool.
By the way, I was a football fan in the days of Otto Graham, and I saw Wilt play basketball before he played in the NBA. I do have some long-time experience as a sports fan. I also had a respectable amateur career as a bowler, appearing several times on television. I was organizing leagues and tournaments in bowling and pool in the '60s, and promoting them on television as well. I'd like to think that my opinion is worth something....
Donny L
PBIA/ACS Instructor
You make some excellent points here.
However, the statements in bold above are your opinion, and not necessarily "fact".
In my humble opinion, we can change things to make pool better for television. And even as it's been, it's never boring to me. But then I love pool.
By the way, I was a football fan in the days of Otto Graham, and I saw Wilt play basketball before he played in the NBA. I do have some long-time experience as a sports fan. I also had a respectable amateur career as a bowler, appearing several times on television. I was organizing leagues and tournaments in bowling and pool in the '60s, and promoting them on television as well. I'd like to think that my opinion is worth something....
Donny L
PBIA/ACS Instructor
Well said. The youtube figures aren't that hot.
Most popular pool videos ever: the pool and dominos video at ~8.5m views, and various other duplicates of that or trickshot videos.
Most popular non-trickshot video: surprisingly, the best I could find is an instructional on how to break by forcefollow (does he post here anymore?). 1.8 million views.
Most popular actual match: Efren vs. John Schmidt, 1.287 million viewers (in 5 years).
So even with 40 million-ish players in the USA, we can't get 5% of pool players to watch. Much less a significant number of non-players.
I thought snooker would fare much better but even Ronnie O'Sullivan's record 147 is only like 5-6 million if you add up all the copies of the same video.
Meanwhile, there are music videos for pop songs getting like 150m views.
It's fair to say though that IF getting 5% is possible, that would be about about 2 million more viewers than a typical TAR or accustats match gets.
Maybe better from some technical stand points but the game is the game. On the scale pool is played and especially the way it appears on TV, it looks simplistic compared to a 300 yard drive, a 50 yard field goal or even a 6 foot put that curls in on the lip of the hole. You can improve production quality but the game remains the same.
I can't honestly see, other then big money purses, what would hold peoples interest. Bowling had a whole industry behind it with a single goal, making everybody a bowler. They invested millions at a time when millions was a lot. Pool is an orphan, there is no one going to bet on pool, not even the pool industry itself.