that was my POINT!!!! to be be read in what ever inflection you intended to use.
speed pool
- Thread starter bobroberts
- Start date
that was my POINT!!!! to be be read in what ever inflection you intended to use.
i hear that argument alot - any pub is good pub - and i'm sorry but it's not. ask tiger if he likes the pub he's getting about now. and i said in an earlier post, i am sick of hearing about ways to bring in the "casual" spectator. if you couldn't do it with texas express 9ball it's not going to happen with speed pool or trick shots. you know who watches - us. the people who will watch a match online at 4 in the morning because it's what we do. great, espn is trying to promote pool....no! it's not great. how bout they pay money towards some of the production cost and show some of the derby, the mosconi cup, us open. something that actually matters.
I agree that, from our perspective, ESPN could make better use of their resources by covering more of the major tournaments. Unfortunately; from their point of view, they feel like they have already explored those avenues and have not gotten very good results for whatever reasons.
Unless some promoter can come up with another game, tournament or event that is more exciting to the general public, then we in the pool fraternity are going to have to be satisfied with them covering trick shots and speed pool.
Maybe it's going to take another big Hollywood pool movie to cause the resurgence of the general public's interest in our sport.
Maybe it's a marketing thing. Maybe some talented promoters can start thinking outside the box and with the proper advertising can get more people interested in the game. First of all, you would have to find a promoter who is willing to do the required leg work and put a little sweat into it without folding to the pressure and temptation to skim all of the money off of the top. You would need to find someone who is a true business man and not a known scam artist who has built his career off of fleecing the general public. (Not sure, but I think we've seen this scenario a couple of times.)
Ginger Wizard
I hope Dave Pearson wins this thing soon. Guy gets beat in the finals every year and he's possibly one of the best showmen in the game, plus he's a killer dude on top of that.
Kinda brutal that the "International Speed Pool Championship" has four players though...
I hope Dave Pearson wins this thing soon. Guy gets beat in the finals every year and he's possibly one of the best showmen in the game, plus he's a killer dude on top of that.
Kinda brutal that the "International Speed Pool Championship" has four players though...
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On TV?
Granted, there is a skill to this but, it just looks silly on tv. There are alot of great regular pool matches happening this year that, to me, would be way more fit for espn and would help the game. There really isn't any big picture in speed pool to promote the game of pool. jmho
Granted, there is a skill to this but, it just looks silly on tv. There are alot of great regular pool matches happening this year that, to me, would be way more fit for espn and would help the game. There really isn't any big picture in speed pool to promote the game of pool. jmho
I agree I dont really like speed pool or the trick shot stuff either. Seems like to much of a gimmick to me. Its kinda like watching put put golf. Although, I do respect the talent it takes to be good in these disciplines of pool. Its just not for me.
I think it is fun when screwing around at the house, I was screwing around at the house and sub 2min is a cake walk, and you better not miss at all if your looking to get 1:30 or below, its also interesting as there is some strategy to it.
On the bad side, Dave Pearson looks like a moron with all his hollering...he looked like a fool and it made me "the guy who loves anything pool" feel retarted for watching him...I can honestly say it was a first.
Luke Salvas would beat the hell out of any of the other players, he's a top notch player.
As for the trick shots I have always like that, some of them are stupid but many are amazing. Fact is they call it artistic pool instead of trick shots, for the lone reason is that a "trick" shot usually involves some sort of gaffe or trick. Where as some artistic shots have no gaffe, and are all stroke.
My favorite part of the whole speed pool show, was watching Luc Salvas run the racks of 8 ball, that was friggin impressive.
Grey Ghost
On the bad side, Dave Pearson looks like a moron with all his hollering...he looked like a fool and it made me "the guy who loves anything pool" feel retarted for watching him...I can honestly say it was a first.
Luke Salvas would beat the hell out of any of the other players, he's a top notch player.
As for the trick shots I have always like that, some of them are stupid but many are amazing. Fact is they call it artistic pool instead of trick shots, for the lone reason is that a "trick" shot usually involves some sort of gaffe or trick. Where as some artistic shots have no gaffe, and are all stroke.
My favorite part of the whole speed pool show, was watching Luc Salvas run the racks of 8 ball, that was friggin impressive.
Grey Ghost
How many tries you giving? I'd lay money odds 3-1 that I could do it in 1:30, for a one try do or die, but for 1:15 i'd have to have a number of tries b/f i bet $$$, so yea its not too easy...
off subject, but did you notice how many rattles and pop outs happened on those offbrand tables they were playing on? Some of those balls jumped out the pocket like they were high on PCP
Grey GHost
Out of curiousity, what level do these speed pool guys play at?
It seems to me that Luc is doing well because he's not missing as much as the other guys. He's not as fast around the table, but he makes up for it by only having to play fewer shots.
I was just wondering, as one of the guys I watched has terrible mechanics on his draw shot. But he seemed to pot balls alright, but still not at Luc's level.
It seems to me that Luc is doing well because he's not missing as much as the other guys. He's not as fast around the table, but he makes up for it by only having to play fewer shots.
I was just wondering, as one of the guys I watched has terrible mechanics on his draw shot. But he seemed to pot balls alright, but still not at Luc's level.
shortstop from what I know, I don't see anyone of them beating Luc Salvas for the cash, he's a top notch player. He is naturally a fast player, the only other person I've ever seen play his tempo was keith mcready
McGrath when he plays is pretty strong. Not sure what the level of competition there is in VNEA, but he's won the nationals in Masters division 9 ball. He's also the IL ACS champ this year (winning over an AZBer - dogginda9, I think is his screenname - who's won that tourney NUMEROUS times). He also has a naturally quick pace at the table, and won this event in 07, and 08. Not sure what exact speed to put him at.....gambling wise (who'd be an even match up), but he always wins matches at the DCC in 9ball as well. ?????
I'm sure others (there are surely folks on this board that've played him), could give you a better idea.
I lost in the finals of the VNEA international speed pool championships in 2006 and can assure you that it's far more difficult than you think. Between the two of us in the finals we had a number of racks run in sub-40 seconds including one that didn't even win the frame in the side-by-side match.
Is the game a bit of a gimmick, yes, but it is more fun than most people imagine and the atmosphere for the event that I played in was amazing with 1000+ people crammed into the bleachers at the VNEA screaming and cheering throughout the whole thing. My adrenaline was on overload for the entire event.
As a guy who is in pretty good shape, my body hurt like I ran a marathon the following day.
Is the game a bit of a gimmick, yes, but it is more fun than most people imagine and the atmosphere for the event that I played in was amazing with 1000+ people crammed into the bleachers at the VNEA screaming and cheering throughout the whole thing. My adrenaline was on overload for the entire event.
As a guy who is in pretty good shape, my body hurt like I ran a marathon the following day.
You'll go broke very very quickly making this wager. The year I finished 2nd in the VNEA in the speed pool event we had 64 qualifiers from all regions and the top 8 times made it into the head-to-head event and if I recall correctly the slowest time to make the top 8 was under 50 seconds. The fastest qualifying time if I recall correctly was by the eventual winner, Francisco Diaz, with a time of 33 seconds.
I'm not sure what the qualification process is for the televised event but in the 2006 VNEA almost every player that made the final 8 was a master. Not that being a master there means much but from my experience, most of the guys I played against were very solid. Scott Tollefson, Dave Martin, Francisco Diaz and Jeff Beckley(I think) were all in the final 8 that year and all of them play at a fairly high level.
9-ball, which was pretty much made for TV, is a particularly stupid billiard game to me. However it saved the sport from becoming an old people's activity and slipping into oblivion. If people start being interested in speed pool, I'm all for it. Once they are hooked to any form of billiard, there's always time to convert them to another game, but they need to be hooked first.
This said, I play speed pool on occasions. Yes, running around and panting around the table makes you look extremely daft, but I found it an interesting game nonetheless for the following reasons:
- It IS physical. Really
If you need to lose weight or stop smoking, this is the game you need.- It requires instinctive shooting skills which I'm sure can't be bad for my regular game.
- It is somewhat strategic: you usually choose the balls to pocket to minimize cueball roll after impact, and that can lead to interesting situations where you choose not to pocket a ball and replace the cueball instead for a shorter stop shot to gain time. And you have to look at the table and plan ahead while running around and playing. Not so easy...
- There's something addictive about trying to beat the clock
- I can get friends to try it out easier than straight pool, yet after they play a game or two, they usually recognize that it just isn't so easy to do a good time. What's more, even if a player is very good, he may be crap at speed pool because it requires different skills, so it's a great way to take on good players.
So you see, there are good things to be found in everything. Don't piss on speed pool just because it's formatted for television and people look stupid playing it. It IS a game of skills, just different.
9-ball, which was pretty much made for TV, is a particularly stupid billiard game to me. However it saved the sport from becoming an old people's activity and slipping into oblivion. If people start being interested in speed pool, I'm all for it. Once they are hooked to any form of billiard, there's always time to convert them to another game, but they need to be hooked first.
This said, I play speed pool on occasions. Yes, running around and panting around the table makes you look extremely daft, but I found it an interesting game nonetheless for the following reasons:
- It IS physical. Really
- It requires instinctive shooting skills which I'm sure can't be bad for my regular game.
- It is somewhat strategic: you usually choose the balls to pocket to minimize cueball roll after impact, and that can lead to interesting situations where you choose not to pocket a ball and replace the cueball instead for a shorter stop shot to gain time. And you have to look at the table and plan ahead while running around and playing. Not so easy...
- There's something addictive about trying to beat the clock
- I can get friends to try it out easier than straight pool, yet after they play a game or two, they usually recognize that it just isn't so easy to do a good time. What's more, even if a player is very good, he may be crap at speed pool because it requires different skills, so it's a great way to take on good players.
So you see, there are good things to be found in everything. Don't piss on speed pool just because it's formatted for television and people look stupid playing it. It IS a game of skills, just different.
first i'll say this again - i will never bash the guy playing the game but i will take issue with the game. and i won't do that because i get bashed for, wait for it.....i actually enjoy playing 9ball. a game which even i admitted in this thread is not the best game to play and has been modified for tv. when i learned how to play 9ball back in the 80's we did take ball in hand but not off the break (on scratch) and balls pocketed on scratches came back up, no one soft broke and there was no pattern racking - i don't know it was just a little harder - not much but a little. second no one needs to loose weight more than me:grin: so something being more physical could never be bad. but what i really want to say is i truly feel it's the dumbing down of pool just like texas express 9ball was the dumbing down of pool. they change things just to make it interesting for tv and i hate that. i would rather see abridged coverage all the way up to the finals of a tournament and then full coverage of a final match of a full on game of anytihng, stright, one hole, 8, 9, or 10 ball. hell a baseball game can take 4 hours to play and be 1 to zip and that's like watching paint dry. and the excuse i always hear is that they do this to bring in people who don't watch pool. i'll say this until i die - making the games look ridiculous has not brought in any more viewers than thay had before. not sudden death 7 ball, not express rules 9ball and not speed pool. to the guys who play it, more power to you all, but i'll bet you're all pretty damn good at more traditional games, and if you're good enough to be on tv i'd rather see you on tv playing those 'cause god knows i'll never be on tv playing any game.
You know, this sounds very much like a get-off-my-lawn comment. The generation before you, the one who used to get their kicks at straight pool, used to say "9-ball is the dumbing down of pool". Now you say Texas Express 9-ball is the dumbing down of pool (pre-Texas Express 9-ball pool for you), and your kids will say something else is the dumbing down of pool (7-ball, speed pool or whatnot for them). And I also know a fair number of old geezers who play 3 cushion, who think pocket billiard is the death of "proper" billiard altogether.
The truth is, as long as one has fun playing, who cares what sort of games is played. When I say 9-ball is stupid, *I* find it stupid, but if *you* like it, well that's just great. I'd rather see someone enjoy 7-ball, 9-ball or speed pool than not enjoy pool at all. There are a kajillion pool games to choose from, so everybody has a chance to have fun with a cue stick any way they prefer.
REP coming to you sir....once you get into one form of pool or another, you'll almost certainly try other billiards (pocket or not) games.