Realistically, what year does this headline happen?

top players

skor said:
When pool players will stop to gamble and hustle
When tournament organizers will start paying the winning players
When tournament dress code will change to sports wear....
When there won't be 1000000 unions and federations that fight each other
When men tournaments will have a 30 seconds shot clock with no extensions!! (so what if they'll miss sometimes)
When soft breaks will be banned.

Basically, when every single entity that involved in this game (sorry can't really call it a sport yet) will pull their s*&%t together and act as athletes then maybe....

You don't see top golf or tennis players gamble and have "money games" do you?

A few years ago there was an event it Taiwan similar to the Mosconi cup, it was team Taiwan against the rest of the world, the event was sponsored by Puma and all the player were wearing Puma polo shirts.

I guess that in Taiwan they treat billiard as a sport....
Click to expand...


In case you missed this....top tennis players and golfers are alrerady playing money games. I watched an interview with a golfer who's ranked outside the top 100 players who cleared way over a million bucks playing golf last year. Not many pool players can say that....even including the so called money games you say they shouldn't participate in. The real problem is that most people rank pool players with pawnbrokers, used car dealers, and loan sharks. It's been that way for a long time and it's evidently a hard image to shake. Hey - I'm as sorry about that as anybody on this forum.

Pawnmon
 
Tennis and golf always were considered as "white sports", rich people's sports while billiards has been associated with the image of dark smoky dives with hustlers and gamblers....

Kinda funny since the origin of billiards is a king's game while tennis and golf origin from barbaric sports.....

those of us that are into billiards know that billiards have progressed a lot and cleaned it self quite well over the last years but for the majority the dark image is still up there.
No major corporation would like to associate its product with that image, this will be a business suicide.

The billiard industry has a lot of work in front of it before such thing can come through and pro players have to be supportive and look ahead instead behaving like they do.
This is not going to happen as long as pool industry, players and pool fans keep on reminiscing about the golden area of pool hustling...

If it's going to happen, it will happen in Asia.

Here is another headline that you won't live to see:
"Nike and Predator signed a merger"

nike-pred.jpg
 
I totally agree with a 30 second shot clock at every event if we ever want to keep an audience.

I have parties where I use my gold colored 8 ball and a black 8 ball and my measles cue ball and a red circle cue ball all at once. You designate stripes and solids before the break as well as what color 8 ball is yours. Both players break at the same time, wait for the cue ball to stop then shoot. After you shoot you run over and tag your scotch doubles partner's hand and he runs up and shoot. Hilarity ensues.

Partygoers wait their turn but they only have to wait a few minutes. My point is not that this game is what pool needs. My point is that Americans have short attention spans and the BOOOOOOOORRRRRING pace that so many pool matches crawl at is a huge part of killing spectator pool.

Mark Griffin take notice!
 
RunoutalloverU said:
Sports News: Nike sponsers its first professional pool player.
Click to expand...
When was the last time a professional player approached Nike (or a major company like it) for a sponsorship? A well thought out, planned marketing platform that a company could really wrap their minds around? I'd be interested to know what they said...

It doesn't work the other way around. A representative from Nike doesn't just show up one day and hand you a check and a shirt with their logo on it.

Around here, I have heard so many complaints that big companies don't sponsor "pool". Like "pool" is something that can be sponsored. Well, it's not. Gatorade doesn't sponsor "basketball". They sponsor the NBA. Century 21 doesn't sponsor "baseball". They sponsor MLB. When "pool" develops a major league that is lucrative enough and holds a strong, loyal fanbase... then you'll see major sponsors.
 
What is interesting is...IF it did happen...It may be one of the biggest things to help pool right now....I think Nike coming out with a pool cue line would be more beneficial for pool than pool benefiting Nike.


I would also predict that if they did get into making cues, they would probably be the most dominant cue sales on the market... (Almost immediately)

That. And the fact that Nike has money to throw into R&D would probably push the cue development factor toward a synthetic shaft of some kind...and perhaps synthetic tips.

I was working in the Golf industry when Nike threw their hat into the ring...The first few sets of clubs were kind of a joke...but their equipment has been moving up the ranks fast in quality...not to mention sales.

I would love to be involved with the Nike Pool division if it ever starts up.
 
smoooothstroke said:
It should happen right after Gator-aid comes out with a new product to rehydrate bar-athletes.
Click to expand...


gator-aide??? we are pool players we don't need Nike...or Gatorade.... we need what pool players want AND who also sponsor every sport on the planet and have an ad budget that makes Nike look like a local drain cleaner..

we need the god of sports to intervene.. we need.... drumroll please.....



BUDWEISER...


the symbol of America....oh wait ....I heard they were bought out by some German company......



nevermind...
 
Last edited:
smoooothstroke said:
It should happen right after Gator-aid comes out with a new product to rehydrate bar-athletes.
Click to expand...


Dude...... you don't drink very much do you. :D When you're hung over as shit and all dehydrated there's nothing like a power glug of Gatorade to get you back up again
 
bigskyjake said:
Dude...... you don't drink very much do you. :D When you're hung over as shit and all dehydrated there's nothing like a power glug of Gatorade to get you back up again
Click to expand...


I concur. Orange Gatorade and greasy ass food make the hangover better for sure.
 
corvette1340 said:
I concur. Orange Gatorade and greasy ass food make the hangover better for sure.
Click to expand...


However, if you have a power "I was out drinking with Nick Nolte and Glen Campbell last night" hangover you gotta get your paws on some grape Pedialyte
 
bigskyjake said:
However, if you have a power "I was out drinking with Nick Nolte and Glen Campbell last night" hangover you gotta get your paws on some grape Pedialyte
Click to expand...


and a good lawyer.
 
bigskyjake said:
Dude...... you don't drink very much do you. :D When you're hung over as shit and all dehydrated there's nothing like a power glug of Gatorade to get you back up again
Click to expand...
Now that would be classic... the next Gatorade ad showing SVB with the purple sweats beads dripping down his face!
 
lodini said:
Now that would be classic... the next Gatorade ad showing SVB with the purple sweats beads dripping down his face!
Click to expand...


That and the slow motion break montage of a ton-o'-sweat flying off of Hillbilly's bald head. The next one could be orange sweat beads on a hungover player who is hauling ass down a flight of stairs because he slept through his match time :D
 
RunoutalloverU said:
Sports News: Nike sponsers its first professional pool player.
Click to expand...

Interesting topic, but that specific headline will probably never happen unless pool rules change to include lots of running and jumping. I don't see Nike sponsoring a sport where you are sitting half the time, and walking slowly around a 9 foot area the other half. Add in the smoking drinking that go hand-in-hand with pool and a sports company would not touch pool with a 60" cue. Outside of the so-called "sin" products, I don't see a solid advertiser for pool. Look at one of the few that tried, Kevin T., he is barely one step away from a wild-west tonic salesman. Who else did pool have recenty.. well, there are the billiard product makers.. duh. Then there is Camel, we have Guiness overseas, I think some whisky company had a big sponsorship a while back. I don't think any respectable company put their money in pool since the 60s, even then it was rare.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top