Too much pool?

JB Cases

www.jbcases.com
Silver Member
Anyone else feel like there is too much pool online now? Practically every day you can watch a decent live stream for free or a PPV or a recorded recent match. I have a question is there any other sport right now with as many live streams and full recorded matches happening?

I can't digest it all. There is enough quality pool on video to last several lifetimes. I haven't watched the on demand TAR I bought months ago yet and am going to buy TAR 1 as well.

Thanks streamers! I will finally be caught up with the DCC 2014 in about 2018 :-)
 
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Better to have too much than not enough. Just pick and choose the players you most like to watch and learn from. That's how I economize my time watching pool
 
I remember when I started getting the pool bug about 8 to 9 years ago (yikes!) how excited I was seeing pool in the schedule. Sportsnet was playing Tony Drago vs Earl Strickland at the World Pool Master, Keith Mccready vs. Buddy Hall at the US 9 ball Open and the 2004 World Snooker trickshot championships one after the other. It was 4 hours of pool and snooker. It was the first time I ever watched professional pool and it was amazing. It blew my mind how good these players were, effortlessly potting balls that I struggled so often with. I remember eagerly checking the tv schedules for pool every week and setting up the recorder. I also remember loving every minute of the very few 5-10 minute snooker clips I could find online.

Now, it's definitely an embarrassment of riches. I don't remember the last time I watched pool on television. I don't remember the last time I even checked if it was scheduled. I know of pool and snooker channels with more full matches than I could ever possibly watch. And yes, there is almost always a stream to watch, whether it be professional or amateur events.

I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing. It's great that it's out there for people to see. Not only that, but just the fact that there is so much out there probably means there is an interest among fans to consume all of these videos. Not many other sport/game/hobby/whatever seem to have the same kind of rabid following that cue sports seems to enjoy, even if it's smaller overall than other sports.

As fans, we seem to be a rarity in that we will watch ANYTHING. It doesn't need to be the two best players in the world, we will watch the cook and dishwasher bang the balls about for a few dollars if it's streamed. We will watch repeats of matches even though we know the scoreline. We will watch a guy practice on youtube and we will watch practice runs in straight pool.

Perhaps there are just as many, or more, like us in every hobby. But it's great that there is enough of us out there to warrant so much pool at our finger tips.
 
Heck, I don't think there is enough pool.

I remember watching on ESPN. Now I don't know where to watch a match unless it's a money game at my local room.
 
Stream audiences are a small fraction of viewers compared to Big 4 Sports Broadcasting. They of course have advertising and or sponsor's who ultimate pay that nut.

Having free or paid streaming is here to stay and is fantastic as it fills a void and continues to illuminate pool to those who wish to view. Its getting less expensive and yet can be unreliable. But quality streams directly from mobile devices are on the horizon. By 2018 90% of us will have smart phones. By then these devices will have the ability to share or broadcast streaming video, connecting the pool community anytime anywhere. And this is a great thing.

Want TV back? just get all the major manufacturers to work together to create a schedule that supports a Big 4 televised world tournament schedule with 6 figures added to each stop and you might draw in some advertising sponsors to make it viable..

Yes, Streams are here to stay and that's a good thing for pool. :thumbup2:
 
there is never enough. just think of the match last night between Thorsten and Jeremy at "turning"........was 6-1 Thorsten and race to 9....Jeremy won! never enough streams/pool IMHO. :grin-square:
 
Many high-profile TV shows are turning to YouTube, Livestream, and other social media outlets to promote their brand.

The Jimmy Kimmel Show filmed a girl twerking upside-down, and then she fell onto a candle and caught on fire. Nobody knew that this was fake and that the girl was a stunt actress. Every news outlet around the country from coast to coast showed that twerking video on YouTube, right after the Miley put "twerk" in the dictionary.

A few days later, Jimmy Kimmel came out and revealed that the girl twerking upside-down was a hoax. Meanwhile, the name of his TV show was mentioned hundreds of thousands of times on mainstream media. :wink:

I wish I could think of something cool with pool that I could film and get it on mainstream media like Jimmy Kimmel did. Maybe Earl's meltdown if Karen Corr beats him today at noon would be a good one. :eek:

I will say that I have noticed that past few days that AzBilliards forum traffic is way, way down. Seems like folks are watching live pool and digging it. I kind of like that! :)
 
Anyone else feel like there is too much pool online now? Practically every day you can watch a decent live stream for free or a PPV or a recorded recent match. I have a question is there any other sport right now with as many live streams and full recorded matches happening?

I can't digest it all. There is enough quality pool on video to last several lifetimes. I haven't watched the on demand TAR I bought months ago yet and am going to buy TAR 1 as well.

Thanks streamers! I will finally be caught up with the DCC 2014 in about 2018 :-)

JB,
I agree I work a lot and when I can I play pool. So if I want to watch pool I You Tube it. I have no real reason to want to buy it. I am after improving my style and position play. There is plenty out there for free.
 
No there is never to much I like the fact I can watch a match or get instruction anytime I want , I don't watch much because I bore easily but when I'm starting back to playing after the summer layoff it's good that its rite at my finger tips

However that is one if the reasons I think pool has a very little chance of success on TV
With all that's on TV pool would get very little play from new viewers people like me get all they need so only the hard core enthusiast would be the main draw
That just won't bring the ratings for sponsorship other than at the bare Min


1
 
a lot of tournaments to watch, but i would still like to see some long matches between shane vs wang can or ko.
 
"mainstream America" isn't watching pool on line, so the Pros have no $ponsor$

Anyone else feel like there is too much pool online now? Practically every day you can watch a decent live stream for free or a PPV or a recorded recent match. I have a question is there any other sport right now with as many live streams and full recorded matches happening?

I can't digest it all. There is enough quality pool on video to last several lifetimes. I haven't watched the on demand TAR I bought months ago yet and am going to buy TAR 1 as well.

Thanks streamers! I will finally be caught up with the DCC 2014 in about 2018 :-)


Yes, unfortunately when businesses start giving a product away the product no longer have perceived value UNLESS it's attached to much bigger promotional strategy....which sadly isn't the case in your example of pool on line.

The value in sponsoring Pros is creating {companies} exposure to "mainstream America" and they{mainstream America} rarely (if ever) watch pool on line.....they will only watch pool if it's on TV, So, in effect the people that watch the on line events win and the Pros lose ..... so it's a great deal for some and a horrible deal for others - Such is Life.

'The Game is the Teacher'
 
I will know the day there is too much pool. Its the day there is a live stream on me shooting.:rotflmao1:
 
Nice thread!

If there's not enough streaming now, I definitely see it coming on even stronger in the next few years. Seems like everyone wants to set up a camera now and stream. In fact, I've been working a lot with Kevin Kidd in the last year to help him get set up in South Dakota and now he's up and running.

What's cool is: with all these streamers doing things differently and offering us their own special brand of content, the day may soon come when 'a company' will begin consolidating the best of all of it or at least license clips of it to mix with additional content. Something viral would be great, like an upside-down-pool-twerking-on-fire-scenario. But that's not going to fuel the pool world so much as just kick-start it. I'm really down for seeing a new movie about pool, a poignant documentary or even a reality show.

Not so cool: A lot of providers stepping on toes. I do not need to elaborate on this too much. Just look what happened when CSI and Bonus Ball clashed with each other over their tournament and event schedules. In the streaming world, this could really become complicated, because not every stream is a free stream.

People say, pool will never hit the mainstream, or 'when's it gonna hit the mainstream?' I don't see it that way. I say, "Keep making cool stuff and the rest will come." The hard part is making it cool with resources, time and energy somewhat limited.

Since there are so many streamers now, I've made a decision to change the format of my show a little. Yes, quality matches and continuous coverage are still the priority. I guess you'll just have to tune in and see.

I have some meetings taking place over the next few months. Let's hope they pan out. I do, after all, live in Hollywood again.

Gratuitous Plug Here:
(One Pocket-PPV Stream Coming to you, October 12th & 13th on POV Pool!)
Stay Tuned for more info.
 

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Anyone else feel like there is too much pool online now? Practically every day you can watch a decent live stream for free or a PPV or a recorded recent match. I have a question is there any other sport right now with as many live streams and full recorded matches happening?

I can't digest it all. There is enough quality pool on video to last several lifetimes. I haven't watched the on demand TAR I bought months ago yet and am going to buy TAR 1 as well.

Thanks streamers! I will finally be caught up with the DCC 2014 in about 2018 :-)

IMHO most of the stream I have seen are like the Eight Track Car Music Players of the 60's. Made noise but quality was not Circa 2013 quality.

IMHO a has a long ways to go too catch up, and it is all about equipment that most streams can not afford to pay for, and the return on streaming don't pay for that needed high tech equipment.
 
Anyone else feel like there is too much pool online now? Practically every day you can watch a decent live stream for free or a PPV or a recorded recent match. I have a question is there any other sport right now with as many live streams and full recorded matches happening?

I can't digest it all. There is enough quality pool on video to last several lifetimes. I haven't watched the on demand TAR I bought months ago yet and am going to buy TAR 1 as well.

Thanks streamers! I will finally be caught up with the DCC 2014 in about 2018 :-)


I don't get video on my old dialup computer and I don't care. I prefer lying in bed, watching an actual tv, not perched in front of a small screen. But I haven't seen pool on tv in a long time. I suspected it's because it's gone to the web. I suppose if I had access I'd check it out now and then, but I really don't like the computer screen because I don't like sitting, I'm a lie down guy.

Now, since I have not yet seen any of the stuff you're talking about, maybe someone has already done what I'm going to suggest. Get a decent player, maybe a group of them, and follow them from poolroom to poolroom as they match up on camera with locals all over America.

It's a no lose proposition. Sure, they bet their own money, the locals, but they get to be on tv (if that is their wish), and a chance to win some money. And even if they lose they get some kind of stipend from the producers. I don't know if the real feel of matching up could be achieved with the cameras rolling, but I think it might have some appeal. It would be like the old days back in the 20s when boxers used to travel around from town to town challenging the locals to step into the ring. This would not be as brutal and nobody really gets hurt. But the matchups have to be real and the game has to be real, as does the cash put up to support the local hero. But even if the local loses he gets something back in more ways than one. Like most of my ideas that I think are unique, this too has probably already been done. Bastards.

I had no thought of coming to the group tonight until I got the annual birthday wishes from the site. 66 years old now and starting to feel it. Happening all at once with me. Probably from not playing pool in 20 years. Never thought of it as exercise back then, but see now that it was. In fact, the older one gets the more everything becomes exercise, even getting out of bed.

Rack 'Em,

TJ
 
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