I think pros who do trick shots are great. I remember Jimmy Caras he was one of the best and did a great show. The thing with tick shots is they do several things. First they get the attention of people who don't really play of have that much interest in the game but may be curious.
Second, they teach. I was amazed to read here people think trick shots are worthless, quite the opposite. They demonstrate the physics of the game. Although set up, they represent things that come up in the lay of the balls and what happens often very surprising. Mentioning Jimmy Caras again, he always would say something like, "This actually can come up in a game or this came up in a game". Of course some exhibition shots are illegal and could never actually be played and are tricks, but most come from actual game situations.
In 14.1 for example, when you break open clusters to the unknowing watcher they think you randomly hit the clusters to open them. Actually the way the cluster will open is predictable depending on how or what ball you bump in the cluster. The same with picking shots out of the pack. If you study the pack you can make balls that seem at first glance look like they won't go with surprising results. The shots can later be replicated for the entertainment and education of an audience with a set up shot. I remember Lassiter saying once in an interview when asked why he didn't do exhibitions saying, "No one wants to sit there and watch you run a 100 balls". Was he right, probably, they want to be entertained and that needs to be geared the average attention span and knowledge base of an audience.
It is like learning or teaching anything, first you have to get their attention and trick shots do that. Get on a table in any pool room and begin doing trick shots and people will begin to watch and even participate IE, "That's cool have you ever seen this shot"? The game is supposed to be fun and people want to have fun watching, but it needs to also be entertaining. Most all of the trick shots shows I have ever seen are a mix of entertainment as well as education. The audience comes away amazed at what they saw, entertained by what they saw hopefully educated by what they saw.
The traveling trick shot artists are truly ambassadors of the sport as well as teachers and educators. They display their love for the sport beyond short term monetary gains of say the hustler. They present the game in an exciting and I am sorry to have to keep using the word, "Entertaining" way that grabs the public's attention and what more can we ask for.
I remember years ago seeing a guy most have never heard of, Sax Dal Porto do an exhibition in a department store. There must have been 200 people there to see him and he didn't disappoint, what a show, I don't know if there is anyone doing what he used to do back then but what he didn't went a long way to undoing much of the stigma pool has. Mike Massey comes to mind, he does do a whole show from pool to card tricks, magic and even singing. If we had a few more Mike Massey's traveling the country it would not hurt. Unfortunately most of the people traveling the country representing the sport would rather steal your wallet.
