The Common Man answers questions from a Pool Player

M

Mr. J

Jeff Jimenez
Silver Member
I was reading another thread about bettering the image of pool and decided to take action...

I surveyed my coworker about pool and he answered honestly and completely.
I will share with you the questions and answers...

He is 40 and not a pool player at all...(not a pool player is a must here)...
He is married and works full time and your average citizen in most ways...nice guy...

Anyway, I wanted to know what was in his mind about pool and the only way to find out was to take about 10-15 minutes and ask the questions...
I hope you all will too of someone and maybe we can all gain some insights to help our sport and passion...

When was the last time you played pool?
He said about 15 years ago with some of his buddies at the bar...just to have some fun while doing a little partying and checking out the ladies...

What game do you know?
He says Solids and Stripes...

How does that work?
He says you have to take stripes if you make one on the break and then you make all of them and then the 8 ball to win the game...It is ok to hit a solid into a stripe to make the stripe...and if anyone makes the 8 ball early or accidentally then it is loss of game...

Do you know of any famous pool players...
He says no..

I ask about Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali, Dale Earnhardt, OJ Simpson, Babe Ruth, and he knows them all and also their sport...

He has never heard the names, Minnnisota Fats, Willie Mosconi, Efren Reyes, Johnny Archer, Black Widow, Alison Fisher,...

I ask him what he liked about pool and what he did not like about pool?
He says that he liked making the balls but he mostly lost when he played. He says that the one thing that he Hated about pool was when some player was very good and had all kinds of attitude about it and wanted everyone in the bar to know that he was good and he was a real jerk about how he was so good...sometimes these playes had too much to drink he said...

However he did say that he liked it when someone came up to him and helped him learn the game and how to play...this made him very happy...

I asked him if he while surfing the TV channels would stop if he came upon pool on tv...
He said no...never...

I asked him if the worlds best players were in his town and the event was free to watch would he go and check it out if he had no plans that day..
He said no..however if it was wrestling or boxing then yes for sure...

I asked him if someone was giving away a free pool table and he had room in his home, would he take the table?
He said no...

Also, I asked if he as at a wedding reception and there was a pool table there and someone asked him to play a game, would he play?
He said yes for sure...

I also asked him if he had ever been to a real pool hall or just the bar and he answered just the bar..

Anyway, I just want to do a little experiment here and share the results with all of you...

Please try it yourself with a friend or coworker and lets hear what you find at your end of the world...

Please try to ask someone these and other questions who is not a pool player..

Thanks again,

Mr. J.
 
Last edited:
Mr. J said:
[...]..

He says that the one thing that he Hated about pool was when some player was very good and had all kinds of attitude about it and wanted everyone in the bar to know that he was good and he was a real jerk about how he was so good...sometimes these playes had too much to drink he said...

[...]

I asked him if the worlds best players were in his town and the event was free to watch would he go and check it out if he had no plans that day..
He said no..however if it was wrestling or boxing then yes for sure...

I[...]
Click to expand...

Ya know, it's not surprising the common man gets bitter and then clings to wrestling or boxing or ...
 
Awesome man, this was one of the most interesting posts I've read on this forum.

Mr. J said:
When was the last time you played pool?
He said about 15 years ago with some of his buddies at the bar...just to have some fun while doing a little partying and checking out the ladies...

What game do you know?
He says Solids and Stripes...

How does that work?
He says you have to take stripes if you make one on the break and then you make all of them and then the 8 ball to win the game...It is ok to hit a solid into a stripe to make the stripe...and if anyone makes the 8 ball early or accidentally then it is loss of game...
Click to expand...

I would say that this is going to be fairly typical amoung non pool players. They know that pool exists but probably only know one game and whatever rules they learned the first couple times they played.

Mr. J said:
Do you know of any famous pool players...
He says no..

I ask about Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali, Dale Earnhardt, OJ Simpson, Babe Ruth, and he knows them all and also their sport...

He has never heard the names, Minnnisota Fats, Willie Mosconi, Efren Reyes, Johnny Archer, Black Widow, Alison Fisher,...
Click to expand...

This is pretty telling. Not only doesn't he have much of an interest in pool as a sport, neither do most of the people he hangs around with. He might very well not even know that pool is ever played at a professional level. I wonder if this goes the same for a majority of the non pool playing public.

Mr. J said:
I ask him what he liked about pool and what he did not like about pool?
He says that he liked making the balls but he mostly lost when he played. He says that the one thing that he Hated about pool was when some player was very good and had all kinds of attitude about it and wanted everyone in the bar to know that he was good and he was a real jerk about how he was so good...sometimes these playes had too much to drink he said...
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure it was somebody on this forum that said something to the effect of "one of the biggest problems with pool is the players"

Mr. J said:
However he did say that he liked it when someone came up to him and helped him learn the game and how to play...this made him very happy...
Click to expand...

Hope that the good and helpful players can balance out the bad?

Mr. J said:
I asked him if he while surfing the TV channels would stop if he came upon pool on tv...
He said no...never...
Click to expand...

Again, shows lack of interest.

Mr. J said:
I asked him if the worlds best players were in his town and the event was free to watch would he go and check it out if he had no plans that day..
He said no..however if it was wrestling or boxing then yes for sure...
Click to expand...

I bet he wouldn't go on his own, but if a friend invited him to go.....

Mr. J said:
I asked him if someone was giving away a free pool table and he had room in his home, would he take the table?
He said no...
Click to expand...

This doesn't surprise me, he probably also wouldn't have much interest in an extra free couch regardless of its true value.

Mr. J said:
Also, I asked if he as at a wedding reception and there was a pool table there and someone asked him to play a game, would he play?
He said yes for sure...
Click to expand...

I find this interesting. Several of my friends play pool with me on leagues. My cousin used to play on the same league before his DUI problems. The question I have is, If I hadn't constantly badgered my friends and cousin to play all the time in bars and on my dads table while growing up, would they have still gotten interested enough in the game to play on a league?
 
This is a great post and an even more valuable idea so giving rep to you is for sure!
I truly live on the other end of the world and I get to meet many people in everyday's life and I get to talk with them about pool sometimes...
...and the answers given to me are pretty much the same that were given to you!

However this country's pool player community is much smaller than yours, yet it's horrible that I can count the players paying attention to such cues like Motteys, Ginas, etc (not to mention the late and great cuemakers who set the foundation for todays cues) not to mention the physical elements of the game - however there are more players who are interested in the latter one.
I am working on it to have players who do know where this game came from and I push as hard as I can to let them introduce them the wonderful world of cues - and the whole equipment itself.

To turn back to your original question: here the people who have absolutely or almost absolutely nothing common with pool act the same like your coworker - they don't care for pool broadcasts (hence you can find such matches in the night hours mostly) and they know only the worse and sometimes the most ridicolous rules you can imagine.

What also caught me pretty much is that you wrote that he never really knew that pool can be played professionally. This is why there is a major need for those kinds of talented players who are willing to help the novice players and share with them the passionate and wonderful side of pool.

One last thought: in my opinion it is important for all the players to know the history of pool, the early decades with Titlists and all the other Brunswick cues, to see the old black and white records of Irving Crane running 150 if straight pool and things like that. Maybe it is only me feeling this way but I truly believe that these things are a must to see and to know.
 
I would just like to add a thought to this thread. If you asked those same questions to someone 70 years old you would get shockingly different answers than someone 30ish or 40ish. The 70ish guy might feel you out for a game :)
 
Just to play devils advocate here.

I could not tell you who any of the top Bowlers there are.
I could not tellyou who any professional Dart Players name.

Nor would I recognize any of them if you told me who their name.

I routinly skip both of these events when on TV.

I do bowl on occaision....with my family....I have played Darts before...at a friends house.

Most pool players on this board will find it shocking that someone does not know who Efren or Earl is....However A avid Bowler and/or Dart Player would find it just as shocking that I don't know any of those top players.

What the origonal post tells me is that a vast majority of population (in the USA) views pool in a similar way I veiw Bowling and Darts...nothing mor than a social event that is done at parties, and not taken seriously as a true sport..... (frankly...I don't see it chaning in my lifetime the way things are going)

Actually...The last time I bowled was at a Dave and Busters...I am sure that for an avid bowler...the type of bowling done there is probably like some form of blasphemy.
 
Like BRKNRUN said:

It's the same for me when talking about bowling or darts.

I have owned a poolhall which was packed with many of Norway's best darters. I can't remember the names of any of them, and some of them compete regulary in the European Championships...

If I see dart on tv, I will probably say "why do they put this shit on tv" and turn it off.

I could never think of going to a mall to watch the worlds best darters.

If anyone asked me to throw some darts at a bar, I would probably say yes. (I would probably think I had the best of it, and ask to play for money)

Who is Dale Earnhardt?
 
selftaut said:
I would just like to add a thought to this thread. If you asked those same questions to someone 70 years old you would get shockingly different answers than someone 30ish or 40ish. The 70ish guy might feel you out for a game :)
Click to expand...

True very true...age should be a question as well.
 
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