The day the fortunes of pool reversed?

[StraightPoolIU]

This topic comes up regularly here, and I understand why. It was a pretty horrible thing for the players involved to do. However, extrapolating it out to the conclusion that it was the reason for the current state of pro pool is anything but a slam dunk. For anyone who has ever taken an academic history course or studied history you probably know that such arguments are called counterfactuals. In other words what would happen if X did or did not happen. They are a lot of fun to debate, and many good alternate history novels and stories have been written on such premises. However, as a serious academic excercise they are more or less dismissed. In something that is multifaceted with a lot of variables you really can't but that much weight on just one occurrence or event. I'm not saying that this discussion forum is an academic classroom. Certainly it is not. However, I'm just saying to keep things in perspective with these kinds of debates and their real world applications.

 

[Celtic]

For them to remove them from the hall of fame there'd have to be an investigation that no one would probably even be interested in doing or funding. Some participants admitted that they did this but that in itself is not enough proof. If someone new wanted to "reboot" pool and its public image I think the best way is to declare an amnesty for all of these past transgressions. Get people to tell the stories about them, and then make a plan for how to avoid it ever happening again, with a zero tolerance policy for future transgressions of course. 1 strike and you are out of all WPA sanctioned tournaments and any other official tournament.

I agree with this. It is done, the damage was done, the players are for the most part gone and it is now water under the bridge.

Moving forward I think we need to make sure something like this NEVER happens again and for the long term outlook of this sport to improve I think pool needs to make a serious effort to prove to sponsors and fans that these types of things that took place in the past will have no place in the pool world of the future. If players attempt to do it they get banned for life from all sanctioned events or any future pool tour that might come about.

TAR took this first admiral step. When they started their challenge matches they made very clear, no savers, no splits, do it and never play on TAR again. That has made me far more interested in their product and made me feel far better about putting an occasional bet on those matches. I am sure I am not the only one that feels this way.

 

[leto1776]

I only joined this forum last year, but it seemed to really start coming up when JA was trying to raising money for Buddy to go to the MC.

 

[Agent 99]

The NFL took this route - Look at them now.

I agree with this. It is done, the damage was done, the players are for the most part gone and it is now water under the bridge.

Moving forward I think we need to make sure something like this NEVER happens again and for the long term outlook of this sport to improve I think pool needs to make a serious effort to prove to sponsors and fans that these types of things that took place in the past will have no place in the pool world of the future. If players attempt to do it they get banned for life from all sanctioned events or any future pool tour that might come about.

TAR took this first admiral step. When they started their challenge matches they made very clear, no savers, no splits, do it and never play on TAR again. That has made me far more interested in their product and made me feel far better about putting an occasional bet on those matches. I am sure I am not the only one that feels this way.

There was a time when the NFL was very corrupt, some teams more than others, based primarily on who owned them. Fixed games in the NFL were not at all uncommon, and very transparent.

It was bad, One morning the body of the Baltimore Colts owner washed up on a Florida beach. This joker would actually sit in the press box and call the plays for his team, he had no football experience, but plenty of gambling experience. His name was Rosen something, my memory is failing me at the moment.

Many call the greatest NFL game ever played, the one that put the NFL into the big money, was a championship game played between the Colts and the Giants.

This game was obviously fixed.

Colts had the ball on the Giants 10 yard line, close as I can remember. The Colts were losing the game by 2 points but were laying 3. It was fourth down and 2 or 3 to go to make a first. Less than a minute to go in the game.

You got it, The Colts never attempted that game wining field goal, they went for it and scored a TD to cover!

I have some of the exact facts incorrect on down and distance, it's been a long time, but you get the picture

At one time the Kansan City Chiefs threw so many games, were abusing Vegas so bad, that they were removed from the boards of every sports book in town. This went on for quite a while - The NFL was really upset about this black eye on their league as it started to gain popularity. They appealed to the Sports Book owners and an agreement was reached. That's why you can take or lay the points on the Chiefs today.

So yes it's true what CJ says, "The world is a stage and the athletes are the actors."

Once a sport gets a big television deal it's not about the Sport anymore, It's now all about the Entertainment business. You have to draw the ratings to be a success.

The best model is the NFL ... In order to get the ratings you have to present a clean product that will promote wagering and therefore TV ratings. Once the players, the gamblers, smell a fix it's over. NBA action has taken a real hit, and still is, since the referee scandal was made public.

So it's never too late to have a happy child hood -- I have some pretty good experience in the wagering industry - I have always thought that pool offers a tremendous platform for sports betting, and I still do.

Johnnyt has it right. Not until pool gets it's act together with one Strong and In Control governing body will it be possible for pool to move forward.

Who are the Broadcast companies going to enter into a contract with? How can a broadcast company feel secure that they will receive a clean and marketable product?

The NFL cleaned up their act in a big way and man are they all getting rich.

The big difference is that the NFL is a formidable league with whom the broadcast companies could do business with in confidence.

The NFL was run by people who, 'got it.' They could see the big picture and understood the available market, but most importantly, they had the ability to run a tight ship and keep their house clean.

Pool can do the same, and some day it will, I really believe this because the game is so great. Not sure if I will ever live to see it though.