Hi,
quick question guys, if you were told to close your eyes an imagine a pool player, who would it be? what pool player's face would be in your subconscious mind? This immediate image for the sake of arguement would undoubtedly be your image of pool. Based on todays game who would that face of pool be?
I'd bet if i asked ten people i'd get at least 7 different answers. But there was a time when it was more obvious...
In the 80's there was no doubt that the face of pool was Mike Sigel, at least for me it was, Sigel was in the forefront of a resurgence in pool and he was at the top of his game and his face was always on TV whenever there was anything on related to pool. The guy was marketed very well, he had all kinds of tapes and books and this and that, the 80's belonged to Sigel pretty much and many of his contemporaries were a little envious of his success... Some may argue that Steve Mizerak may have been the face because his beer commercials were so succesful, and he was just showin' off. But by and large Sigel was the man.
In the 90's even people who did'nt know much about pool knew the name Johnny Archer. Johnny was absolutely untouchable in the 90's and his meteoric rise to the top was unprecedented. He was the face of professional pool and he was widely liked by people because his clean cut unassuming southern manner was a stark contrast to the NY slick fast talking hot shot Sigel types of the 80's. Johnny Archer was just a down home boy that played damn good and everyone pulled for him, I mean everyone! Earl Strickland was a close second but even the mighty earl had his detractors ( and still does )
Now in the 2000s it's a little bit different, there is no clear cut face of pool anymore IMO. All of the Pinoy's are super tough and efren in particular has almost like a cult following but even he does'nt garner the support that Archer of '92 did . Alex, John S.,Dennis O., etc none of these new guys have seperated themselves as THE MAN.
Maybe it has to do with the lack of promotion in pro pool today or it could be that many of today's top players would rather play golf then play the ghost ....who knows:sorry:
One thing i do know is that it is anyone's guess as to today's face/image of pool . Hell, it could be Allison Fisher or Karen Corr ( no disrespect to the ladies ) But times has definetly changed
quick question guys, if you were told to close your eyes an imagine a pool player, who would it be? what pool player's face would be in your subconscious mind? This immediate image for the sake of arguement would undoubtedly be your image of pool. Based on todays game who would that face of pool be?
I'd bet if i asked ten people i'd get at least 7 different answers. But there was a time when it was more obvious...
In the 80's there was no doubt that the face of pool was Mike Sigel, at least for me it was, Sigel was in the forefront of a resurgence in pool and he was at the top of his game and his face was always on TV whenever there was anything on related to pool. The guy was marketed very well, he had all kinds of tapes and books and this and that, the 80's belonged to Sigel pretty much and many of his contemporaries were a little envious of his success... Some may argue that Steve Mizerak may have been the face because his beer commercials were so succesful, and he was just showin' off. But by and large Sigel was the man.
In the 90's even people who did'nt know much about pool knew the name Johnny Archer. Johnny was absolutely untouchable in the 90's and his meteoric rise to the top was unprecedented. He was the face of professional pool and he was widely liked by people because his clean cut unassuming southern manner was a stark contrast to the NY slick fast talking hot shot Sigel types of the 80's. Johnny Archer was just a down home boy that played damn good and everyone pulled for him, I mean everyone! Earl Strickland was a close second but even the mighty earl had his detractors ( and still does )
Now in the 2000s it's a little bit different, there is no clear cut face of pool anymore IMO. All of the Pinoy's are super tough and efren in particular has almost like a cult following but even he does'nt garner the support that Archer of '92 did . Alex, John S.,Dennis O., etc none of these new guys have seperated themselves as THE MAN.
Maybe it has to do with the lack of promotion in pro pool today or it could be that many of today's top players would rather play golf then play the ghost ....who knows:sorry:
One thing i do know is that it is anyone's guess as to today's face/image of pool . Hell, it could be Allison Fisher or Karen Corr ( no disrespect to the ladies ) But times has definetly changed
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