On Monday I was out with a friend after my pool league tournament to get something to eat, and noticed the Olympics on the television. At the time the trampoline competition was on. And it got me wondering. The question was why is pool not part of the Olympic Games?
Now for a bit of disclosure I should mention that I am in 2 pool leagues. I play 8-ball and 9-ball in the APA (American Poolplayers Association) for the Central New York area. I have been playing pool for over 3 decades on and off; and if I must say so myself, I’m quite good. So I have a somewhat biased opinion.
But the question is valid I think. I mean the Olympics have international competitions, as does pool. There are amateur and professional versions of the game. It requires skill, discipline, and the ability to handle pressure. It is a game that millions watch via television and in person. Even better is the fact that the game is incredibly old. While its origin is unknown it is known that it entered America about 1565 via Spain.
Now the Olympics has competitions as fun and interesting as cycling – where competitors race around in a oval, fencing – which just everyone is involved in, Greco wrestling – which outside of high school ahs been completely replaced by the WWE, cross country skiing – which is drama itself to watch, volleyball – which draws viewers for the people in skimpy clothes no doubt and is as widely played as Greco wrestling, and the aforementioned trampoline gymnastics – which virtually anyone can do in their backyard. I won’t even get into synchronized swimming.
The fact is that the Olympics are mostly boring. While a race like event is interesting, most of the other events are boring as hell. Just be thankful that Cricket – a game that can take days to play one match – was discontinued. There are multiple events that people watch just because of the skimpy clothes of the athletes. And there are far more no one watches at all. Then there are the competitions that are based on judges’ opinions, which every Olympics caused cries of bias and cheating.
Pool is very simple to understand. It’s obvious who wins. The rules are simple to understand. And there is no lack of people or countries that play the game. Look in your town or city right now. I virtually guarantee that you are no more than 30 minutes from a pool hall in over 50% of the world. No other Olympic sport can boast such popularity or familiarity by the world populace. A kid in England plays the same game as a kid in Tampa, as in Taiwan, as Minsk. Heck, multiple movies have been made about the sport or involving it, I think the Olympics have 1 maybe 2.
But what are the Olympics thinking of adding instead of pool? Rugby. Now that is popular, in nations that England once ruled, but it has nowhere near the fan-base. And the rules are not known or understood just by watching a game.
How about Squash? I bet if I went down the street in 100 cities around the world I might find 10 random people that either know the rules and/or have watched a game. I doubt that I can find better than 5 people in those same cities combined that have watched the game.
Are they kidding? There over 5 million people that play pool in the Philippines alone. Just this past weekend a friend of mine went to the APA Las Vegas national competition (his team barely succeeded in beating mine for the trip) where the first Japanese APA team was invited to play as well. And from what I was told they were good.
Honestly, I am unaware of a single reason why pool is not an Olympic sport. There is nothing that compares to it in the list of sports being considered currently. It is more popular than ½ the current events. It’s honest. It’s fast. It’s just about the only competition that men and women can compete in together (actually is there an Olympic sport where they compete together?). And it can be played indoors or outside, summer or winter, day or night.
But if it would make a difference, I bet that any pool player in the world would be willing to wear a skimpy skin-tight outfit if it meant that they could win an Olympic gold medal.
No comments:
Post a Comment