
What Killed Straight Pool? (2005) - percept
http://www.billiardsdigest.com/current_issue/aug_05/index.php
======
mrbrandonking
Simple answer: Declining attention spans.

For those who've never seen straight pool (AKA 14.1) played, here's a link to
video of an all-time classic match: Joe Balsis running 150-and-out to beat
Irving Crane in 1966.

[http://youtu.be/k06-M12lQWE](http://youtu.be/k06-M12lQWE)

For a pool aficionado (like me), it's a delight to see such a masterful
performance. But for most people, watching a guy shoot-in balls for an hour
without missing is probably like watching paint dry.

I love the game, though. I like snooker even better, which was also popular in
the U.S. back in straight pool's heydey. Now it's hard to even find a snooker
table in the states.

~~~
jdietrich
If it really is a matter of attention span, then I wonder why snooker remains
so popular in the UK and is growing rapidly in China, Germany and elsewhere.
The game attracts global TV audiences and sponsorships that dwarf any form of
pool, in spite of being longer, slower and more difficult to understand.

Are Americans uniquely impatient? Are American TV networks lousy at presenting
billiards? Is pool just inherently boring?

~~~
mrbrandonking
Good observation. I wondered the same thing when someone else commented that
_most_ people are uninterested in watching pool on TV. Yet snooker is a big
hit on TV in the UK, as you point-out.

I think that, historically, snooker became popular on TV in the UK because the
BBC started airing the weekly "Pot Black" series to showcase their early color
broadcasts. The green cloth and different colored balls looked great!

Makes sense when you consider that snooker, while still enormously popular,
has also seen a decline from its 1980's high point. Color TV isn't much of a
novelty anymore.

------
clairity
straight pool is great fun if both players have some minimal level of skill
(mostly speed control and top/back spin). i think that's why it's not popular
at a casual level since most casual players just want to smack balls around
and drink beer (and there's nothing wrong with that =)

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HockeyPlayer
I'm 41, grew up playing with my Dad, who is now 74 and my Grandfather. He was
a straight pool player from Missouri, usually called it 14-1.

My best run is 17.

~~~
nkurz
_with my Dad, who is now 74 and my Grandfather_

Wow, that must have been a surprise. I wouldn't have thought that would be
legal even in Missouri! But I suppose it could be worse...

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYlJH81dSiw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYlJH81dSiw)

I'm My Own Grandpa - Ray Stevens (with family tree diagram)

~~~
leephillips
Commas save lives. [http://www.cafepress.com/+commas-save-
lives+gifts](http://www.cafepress.com/+commas-save-lives+gifts)

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johnobrien1010
I wonder if I'm the only guy out there in his 30s who still plays straight
pool?

~~~
jackdempsey
Nah...there's probably at least one or two more :-)

What I really miss shooting is one pocket.

~~~
dionidium
I still sometimes see one-pocket, but I frequently see last-pocket played,
especially in gambling situations. It's a nice way to hog a barbox.

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buckbova
Why would straight pool require more skill than 9-ball? Hitting any ball in
you want seems easier to me.

~~~
dionidium
My guess is that the point is that real skill is exposed over a long game of
both players shooting at any ball. There is a considerable amount of
positioning luck involved in any single 9-ball game.

~~~
jzwinck
Right, but nobody plays a single 9-ball game. For one thing, you can win on
the break! But over many games the relative skill of two players will be
revealed, just as in straight pool. However, in 9-ball the maximum risk from
failing to play a safety is much less--one rack instead of many.

~~~
mrbrandonking
It seems like straight pool provided a more accurate means of distinguishing
skill levels between players. Dallas West (straight pool pro from 70's) once
said that he knew he had arrived as a pro when, as a teenager, he finally ran
100-balls in a row. He then said that he had made a 100-ball run every day of
his life since then. There's a similar jump in standing at 50-balls. A
complete beginner might have to practice hard for a year to clear a single
rack.

9-ball players like to boast about their long runs, too, but there's an
element of luck (the break shot) that throws a kink into direct comparisons
between players' high runs. Earl Strickland once ran 11-racks in a row to win
a $1 million prize, but a player with a "six-pack" (6-racks in a row) isn't
necessarily half as skilled.

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aetherson
> Thorsten Hohmann, the 2003 world 9-ball champion,

How can this article be from 1997?

The URL suggests that it is either the "current issue" or that it is from
August 05 (2005? The fifth August issue)?

At any rate, it doesn't seem like it's from 1997.

~~~
dang
Sorry, my mistake.

This is a good place to repeat that if anyone would enjoy figuring out a
programmatic solution to this problem, we'd be interested:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8831616](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8831616)

