Hey........I never got my T-shirt.
Why is AZ so popular?
- Thread starter Peanut1pool
- Start date
Hey........I never got my T-shirt.
beacuse of great contributors like Mr English:thumbup:
People love pool, and they love connecting.
That's why AZbilliards is popular... People love pool and they love connecting with people with similar interests. Pool isn't declining. World wide, pool is becoming more popular, at worst, it is declining in the US, but I would even argue against that.
Professional pool is and has been steadily declining since the boon resurgence from the color of money.
There hasn't really been a catalyst to increase interest in professional pool and those that have run it have run into obstacles and made decisions that have shot themselves in the foot. The big one that signaled the most recent decline was the loss of the camel pro billiards tour when cigarette advertising was outlawed in the states.
Then we had the fiasco with the IPT and again the banning of online poker in the US.
There are some things being worked on in the background that people aren't aware of that have the potential to create a resurgence of interest in pool again.
We'll see how they go. There's a tendency to count chickens before they're hatched in this business and a belief that something short of immediate tv coverage with huge corporate sponsorship is what is deserved.
Maybe it's what pool deserves, (at least from my perspective of it being one of the best sports or games with some of the highest level of play of any sport), but it's just not the way these things work.
You have to build something from the ground up. All the successful sports have. Look at the origins of all popular sports and they were built up from the ground.
The best ideas so far in my mind have been the integration of professional and amateur leagues with massive promotion with the amateur league players. If you can't get the league players interested in watching and learning and improving from the pros, how can you get joe schmo who occasionally picks up a cue in grandpa's basement???
All things can be successful with the right marketing. Just have to figure out the right way of generating interest and building up a desire in a target market to want the product you're providing.
Time will tell, but I doubt that pool will get much worse than it currently is before we see it improve...I mean how could it possibly get MUCH worse???
knock on wood...
Jaden:thumbup:
That's why AZbilliards is popular... People love pool and they love connecting with people with similar interests. Pool isn't declining. World wide, pool is becoming more popular, at worst, it is declining in the US, but I would even argue against that.
Professional pool is and has been steadily declining since the boon resurgence from the color of money.
There hasn't really been a catalyst to increase interest in professional pool and those that have run it have run into obstacles and made decisions that have shot themselves in the foot. The big one that signaled the most recent decline was the loss of the camel pro billiards tour when cigarette advertising was outlawed in the states.
Then we had the fiasco with the IPT and again the banning of online poker in the US.
There are some things being worked on in the background that people aren't aware of that have the potential to create a resurgence of interest in pool again.
We'll see how they go. There's a tendency to count chickens before they're hatched in this business and a belief that something short of immediate tv coverage with huge corporate sponsorship is what is deserved.
Maybe it's what pool deserves, (at least from my perspective of it being one of the best sports or games with some of the highest level of play of any sport), but it's just not the way these things work.
You have to build something from the ground up. All the successful sports have. Look at the origins of all popular sports and they were built up from the ground.
The best ideas so far in my mind have been the integration of professional and amateur leagues with massive promotion with the amateur league players. If you can't get the league players interested in watching and learning and improving from the pros, how can you get joe schmo who occasionally picks up a cue in grandpa's basement???
All things can be successful with the right marketing. Just have to figure out the right way of generating interest and building up a desire in a target market to want the product you're providing.
Time will tell, but I doubt that pool will get much worse than it currently is before we see it improve...I mean how could it possibly get MUCH worse???
knock on wood...
Jaden:thumbup:
I agree with Roger. Pool is not declining where I live (FL). The room I play in has leagues 5 nights a week (of all flavors), and tournaments 2-3 times a month. They have a $5 afternoon rate for 6 hrs of play, and there are always at least a dozen people playing. The equipment is decent (Gandy Big G's and Diamonds...all 9'), and clean. Might just be the owners, Buddy & Sandy, but their room is very popular. :grin:
Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com
Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com
It may be the most visited, but there are probably only 300-400 if that who post regularly.
thats not a lot of people for a sport that could have millions of participants.
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What! Someone owes me 2 and a half tee shirts.
Probably never get my AZ case patch either.
Probably never get my AZ case patch either.
Shit, if you deleted all of the posts made by Thaiger, Champ, English, sc5, Cocobolocowboy, and the many screen names they have created, this place would be a ghost town!
Post
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Damn english! your near 10 posts a day! You've been busy here..
/ why do I visit AZ....? My initial visit was in 2009' when a friend pointed me to a thread that RKC was holding a pool table mechanics meet near Chicago..
I registered/signed in and have met some great people,made a few transactions for pool items to very nice&respectful AZ'rs.
I'd say pool/billiards wouldn't be the same to me today without it. there is so really good info barried deep within the posts here.
I've met and networked with several pooltable mechanics here and have worked or worked in conjunction with these guys on pool tables that would of never happened without AZ.
It's the pool gods-power to them!
These forums are full of pool/billiards legends and future ones too.
Thx
Rob.M
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Damn english! your near 10 posts a day! You've been busy here..
/ why do I visit AZ....? My initial visit was in 2009' when a friend pointed me to a thread that RKC was holding a pool table mechanics meet near Chicago..
I registered/signed in and have met some great people,made a few transactions for pool items to very nice&respectful AZ'rs.
I'd say pool/billiards wouldn't be the same to me today without it. there is so really good info barried deep within the posts here.
I've met and networked with several pooltable mechanics here and have worked or worked in conjunction with these guys on pool tables that would of never happened without AZ.
It's the pool gods-power to them!
These forums are full of pool/billiards legends and future ones too.
Thx
Rob.M
My first Internet experience of posting on any subject matter was on Google Groups Usernet, a pool-related place called RSB. Being a "newbie" on RSB was an eye-opening experience. 
It was actually SmorgassBored, who I met on RSB, that invited me to AzBilliards, so like other RSB-ers, I emigrated to AzBilliards Discussion Forum.
In 2004, the climate of AzBilliards was much different for me. I met some of the AzB-ers at various pool happenings. I formed friendships with these folks. Some of them are dead today, sad to say. Some have quit posting on AzBilliards. :frown:
However, AzBilliards has grown exponentially, thanks to its global reach. I do enjoy reading about pool in far reaches of the world today. Pool in the United States is not quite as abundant as it once was, and though it is waning for me as far as interest, I am still loyal to Mike Zuglan's Joss events, Mark Griffin's Vegas events, Greg Sullivan's pool extravaganzas, Allen Hopkins' SBE, and others who keep pool alive and well in America.
I do wonder today if my experience would be better or worse if I joined this forum using an anonymous name. There is a benefit with anonymity that some seem to enjoy. You can be rude and spew mean-spirited comments, which seems to be par for the course with some anonymous AzB-ers, but I prefer interacting with forum members who have known identities. :smile:
Interestingly, I have noticed quite a bit of pool action on Facebook these days. Will it ever replace AzBilliards as a place for people to meet and greet on the Internet? Time will tell, I guess. I never thought I'd be pulled into Facebook, but I am reading about pool happenings and conversing with pool peeps from around the world, and it is a pleasant experience -- time consuming but pleasant.
It was actually SmorgassBored, who I met on RSB, that invited me to AzBilliards, so like other RSB-ers, I emigrated to AzBilliards Discussion Forum.
In 2004, the climate of AzBilliards was much different for me. I met some of the AzB-ers at various pool happenings. I formed friendships with these folks. Some of them are dead today, sad to say. Some have quit posting on AzBilliards. :frown:
However, AzBilliards has grown exponentially, thanks to its global reach. I do enjoy reading about pool in far reaches of the world today. Pool in the United States is not quite as abundant as it once was, and though it is waning for me as far as interest, I am still loyal to Mike Zuglan's Joss events, Mark Griffin's Vegas events, Greg Sullivan's pool extravaganzas, Allen Hopkins' SBE, and others who keep pool alive and well in America.
I do wonder today if my experience would be better or worse if I joined this forum using an anonymous name. There is a benefit with anonymity that some seem to enjoy. You can be rude and spew mean-spirited comments, which seems to be par for the course with some anonymous AzB-ers, but I prefer interacting with forum members who have known identities. :smile:
Interestingly, I have noticed quite a bit of pool action on Facebook these days. Will it ever replace AzBilliards as a place for people to meet and greet on the Internet? Time will tell, I guess. I never thought I'd be pulled into Facebook, but I am reading about pool happenings and conversing with pool peeps from around the world, and it is a pleasant experience -- time consuming but pleasant.
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AZ is popular probably because pool is so small.
If the game has millions of people deeply into it, some of those people will have the talent and money
to put up their own pool forums, and will fight to make their forum stand out in a sea of good forums.
With limited interest, there's also limited competition, not that AZ couldn't stand up to the competition...
they seem driven to improve and it's turned out really nice.
Saw an NBA forum with over 200,000 registered users. It's a standard vbulletin forum,
nothing special looking, Wonder how they got so popular?
If the game has millions of people deeply into it, some of those people will have the talent and money
to put up their own pool forums, and will fight to make their forum stand out in a sea of good forums.
With limited interest, there's also limited competition, not that AZ couldn't stand up to the competition...
they seem driven to improve and it's turned out really nice.
Saw an NBA forum with over 200,000 registered users. It's a standard vbulletin forum,
nothing special looking, Wonder how they got so popular?
Interestingly, I never checked how many members AzBilliards has. It's 36,000-plus members. :smile:
Really though, AZB is the cream that rose to the top due to the incredible mix of personalities and knowledge here. I still feel pretty privileged to be a part of it.
I disagree. Certainly, amateur pool is much healthier than pro pool. In addition, pool is growing in many countries, just not in the United States.
Here in America, poolrooms are closing at a very rapid pace right now and few are opening. To me, that's decline.
Because nobody else in the country puts forth the effort to cover pool like the Azb team does. There is no website, or publication, or any other form of media that offers what you can get here. Period. And its a beautiful thing.
The forum is a nice bonus, but even without it, Azb would still be the best all around source of news and information. Props also to billiards digest, but as you know its limited to the magazine realm. Their web presence is not their primary focus.
I could be a little biased. :grin:
The forum is a nice bonus, but even without it, Azb would still be the best all around source of news and information. Props also to billiards digest, but as you know its limited to the magazine realm. Their web presence is not their primary focus.
I could be a little biased. :grin:
I have heard of a situation where a man and a woman are sitting in a
restaurant....and she is explaining something in great detail...after a few
minutes she stops and says "You haven't heard a thing I've said.
You're thinking about pool, aren't you?"
So the guy starts telling her about a complex one-pocket layout and the
various ways of escaping the trap.
She says "You are impossible!"
He says "Speaking of impossible, here's a 3-cushion problem..."
...he gets out a pen and starts drawing on a napkin....
I've only HEARD about this, you understand....I'm not that OCD myself....
....:embarrassed2:
But it's nice to know there are thousands of people that feel the same way.
restaurant....and she is explaining something in great detail...after a few
minutes she stops and says "You haven't heard a thing I've said.
You're thinking about pool, aren't you?"
So the guy starts telling her about a complex one-pocket layout and the
various ways of escaping the trap.
She says "You are impossible!"
He says "Speaking of impossible, here's a 3-cushion problem..."
...he gets out a pen and starts drawing on a napkin....
I've only HEARD about this, you understand....I'm not that OCD myself....
....:embarrassed2:
But it's nice to know there are thousands of people that feel the same way.