Can Pool Be Mainstream?

The March PoolSynergy is a wrap. The general topic is Pool and the Mainstream. Many of the best and most commited owner/operators of pool websites are contributors to PoolSynergy. You can find a complete list of all of the March posts at this month's host, Alison Fischer's site NYCGrind. You can check out PoolBum's submission HERE. 

Well, either you're closing your eyes to a situation
you do not wish to acknowledge
or you are not aware of the caliber of disaster
indicated by the presence of a pool table in your community.
Ya got trouble, my friend, right here,
I say, trouble right here in River City.

I suppose I have a fairly unique perspective regarding pool and it’s public perception and acceptance (or lack of it). I spent my adolescent years in a Midwestern pool room just a few years after Robert Preston sang the above song in The Music Man. The Hustler had come out one year prior (1961). It was definitely a great movie but you can’t say that it portrayed pool in a very positive light. It starts with Fast Eddy and his partner scuffling from town to town hustling working stiffs out of their paychecks. Eventually, some marks showed their appreciation for Eddy’s skill by breaking his thumbs. It's interesting to note that despite the negative image portrayed in the film, it sparked a major resurgence for the entire pool industry.

I say, first, medicinal wine from a teaspoon,
then beer from a bottle.
An' the next thing ya know,
your son is playin' for money in a pinch-back suit.
And list'nin to some big out-a-town Jasper
hearin' him tell about horse-race gamblin'.

During my lifetime, pool has never enjoyed a very good rep or solid mainstream acceptance in the U.S. Even at a high point, like the days of Willie Mosconi and his contemporaries, it got only a small fraction of the fan base of the more accepted sports. You could catch part of the straight pool action on the popular Saturday afternoon TV program, Wide World of Sports with Jim McKay. Another milestone came in 1978 with Steve Mizerak’s beer commercial. But the highs were not so high and the lows have been pretty dismal.

In fact, I think that we are currently in one of the "highs." There are numerous professional associations, a lot of International tournaments and the payouts have improved a bit. Mika Immonen not only won the US Open 9 Ball Championship but was the top money winner for 2009. He earned a remarkable $238,320. Not too shabby. More than double the number two money winner: Ralf Souquet ($101K).

However to put it into perspective, this puts Mika about $4000 ahead of golfer Scott Piercy, number 82 in the PGA money standings. Oh yeah, I should mention that Scott’s $235K is the current standings for 2010… counting only January and February! His 8th place finish in the Waste Management Phoenix Open netted him $156,000. Here’s a link to the PGA’s top 216 money winners.

Not quite so disturbing is that only the top 74 LPGA players finished 2009 with more money than Mika. The top 89 out-earned Ralf. And the top 100 women earned more than Johnny Archer who was 5th in the money standings.

Right here in River City.
Trouble with a capital "T"
And that rhymes with "P" and that stands for pool

I started this article by saying I have a fairly unique perspective. I live in the Philippines. Coming here was like a breath of fresh air to experience the love, respect, appreciation and acceptance that pool (referred to as billiards) enjoys here. I never have the feeling that my character is in question when I say I am a billiard player. No comments (even in jest) about a misspent youth. On the contrary, it is a subject that engenders a sense of common ground even if the person isn’t a serious player. In fact, similar to sports like basketball, football and hockey in the States, it's not necessary for a person to play at all to be an enthusiastic fan. The usual questions: Did you ever play Efren "Bata" Reyes (always his full name, out of respect)? How about Django Bustamante? What about Mika Immonen or Earl "The Pearl" Strickland? That’s right, the fans here are familiar with many of the top players, even from other countries. If you’re interested in my essay and a video about pool in the Philippines you can check it out HERE.

Pool is standard programming on TV and can be seen at least weekly and many of the large Asian events are aired live over consecutive days. And not the abbreviated version as are often shown in the U.S. Every game. Something about pool appears in nearly every day’s newspaper sports section.

I was a spectator at the World Cup of Pool which was held in Manila in 2009. Every conceivable viewing spot (no matter how marginal) was occupied. When the final ball was pocketed and the Philippines "B" Team (Reyes and Bustamante) had won, it was as if the baseball World Series had been clinched (or as close to that as 1800 fans could produce). If you want, you can check out the photos I took of the World Cup.

This all begs the question: Why? Why do the top 200 (or more) PGA golfers make a better living than even the very elite pool players? Pool and golf are both individual efforts with similar mental aspects, are frequently gambled on and don’t involve physical contact, so lack that sort of excitement. 40 million Americans play pool at least occasionally compared to 26 million leisure golfers.

Why do the people of the Philippines (a super conservative country) embrace pool and its players so openly? Pretty much everyone here is aware of the behind the scenes gambling that goes on and even some of the unsavory behavior of a few bad characters. This doesn’t seem to deter anyone’s enthusiasm.

This is where I’m supposed to tie this article up neatly with some sound reasoning to answer these questions. I doubt I can do that but I will tell you what conclusions I have reached in the current evolution of my thoughts:

Gambling: In general, Filipinos like to gamble and don’t feel compelled to hide this fact. The pool players here don’t feel ashamed about their gambling and so never project a sense of guilt or defensiveness about it. Maybe this seems like a weak argument but think about this: poker has become big, has a huge following, multi-million dollar sponsors and the game is always associated with gambling. It would be absurd for a poker player to be self conscious about this fact or try to minimize the reality of it. When pool players no longer feel embarrassed that gambling is closely tied to our sport, the potential sponsors may very well feel likewise.

The Rules: The luck factor should be minimized by some strategic rule changes. People will find it hard to respect a contest where the opening shot or a wild slop shot can win a game or even the match. In an article by Max Eberle, he used as an example a golfer who hits the ball so far off course that it lands in a different hole and everyone cheers as if it’s a great accomplishment. Ridiculous, huh?

In General: Pool players need to clean up our act (like how we dress at events, our sportsmanship and we need to stop crying and complaining about bad rolls, bad conditions, etc.). We should reject the notion that we need to hide the fact that gambling is common. Why should we? Poker thrives on the fact that large amounts of money can change hands. People love it. The people (and the sponsors) are mature enough to handle it. We don’t need to flaunt it (which might actually work for late night TV) but we certainly don’t need to be self-conscious about it.

PR: Have you ever been aware of a press release in a mainstream general publication announcing an upcoming event or bragging about the results of a tournament (such as the U.S. winning the Mosconi Cup)? Neither have I. The pool industry needs to get aggressive about promotion. Not just to people who might like to play but to everyone. You don't have to play to find the drama of a high pressure match compelling. Why wouldn’t a newspaper or a TV news show want to report pool played at its highest level? After all, there are millions of players in the U.S. alone. It doesn’t seem like such a hard sell. All it would take is for a number of news outlets to start publishing pool related stuff and their competitors will follow. No self-respecting news source wants to get scooped and certainly not with a huge market share at stake (40 million). Our industry leaders need to make a concerted effort to publicize the terrific events that happen, like this:

PRESS RELEASE

On Tuesday the 5th, the best pool players in the world will compete for $XXXXX at the Such and Such Hotel. Watch the elite champions like Hall of Fame inductee, Johnny Archer, former US Open 9 Ball Champions John Schmidt, Jeremy Jones, Gabe Owens and Finnish sensation and current US Open Champ Mika Immonen and 123 other elite players from 25 countries compete for big prize money.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

How hard would that be? Try to make the names of champion players known so potential fans will be able to emotionally invest. It just takes persistence and a little salesmanship. I have met people from Louisville, KY who had no idea that a major international pool event had ever happened there. They were shocked to learn about it.

A PR firm contracted by my sponsor regularly sent out press releases (and follow-up calls) in advance of a tournament I would be playing in. The response never ceased to amaze me. Scott Smith used to introduce me as the player who brings the media with him to an event. And I'm not a big name player. All I’m saying is that we shouldn’t just sit around and wait to be discovered. Pool is cool but no one will realize it or get interested in it if they never get to see it played by champions. As for the question posed in my article title, I'll let you decide.