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Ric Croney, Florida Pro-Tour player, has some beef with pool room owners. We agree with him. Here's what he has to say:
I can remember 40 years ago when I walked into a poolroom and heard the clicking and racking of pool balls as well as the frustration coming from a player who just missed an easy shot. I can look back and still see players sitting at the counter ordering a hot dog and a coke while waiting for a game to walk in the door. The moments of tension as a player is playing for a dollar a game and his girlfriend is sitting in a chair cheering him on to win every game. Some of the best times I ever had were watching my dad play three cushion billiards at Kleins poolroom in Baltimore as he was winning three games to one.
I never quite understood the game of angles without pockets. But what even more amazed me were the players sitting in their chairs watching this match go on and on with complete silence and only a whisper when a great shot was made. The loudest sound made was the opponents cue butt gently hitting the floor several times to let the shooter know he acknowledged the shot. At times like this you get the feeling of admiration for the game and to the difficulty to play it well. Yes this was considered a gentleman's game and was not for anyone else. What I hear now when I walk into a poolroom at night are tables full of people yelling and screaming at the top of their lungs trying to get their point across about absolutely nothing. People throwing trash on the floor, butts sitting on the tables and most irritating of all, people standing between tables interfering with the shooter at the next table. People running around the tables chasing each other while knocking drinks on the floor and spitting chewing gum on the carpet as well.
What I finally figured out was, the reason they were screaming so loud was because the jukebox was turned up so loud that you couldn't hear a word from your buddy sitting next to you. A woman sitting next to me asked me a question which I still thought was something like a sound of desperation coming from her mouth. I thought she was trying to pick me up but in reality she was just trying to figure out what the title of the song was that was ringing in my ears. I replied, I can't I'm waiting for a friend. I think she said something like "I never heard of that song".
To this day I just sit and wonder, "What has happened to pool rooms today". I just don't get it. These poolroom owners invest a lot of money to startup a poolroom in a strip mall and fill it with expensive pool tables and a nice big bar. Oh yes, let's not forget that stupid jukebox. The eight wonder of the billiard room. The money maker of all poolroom owners. If someone has a poolroom than why do they turn up the jukebox so loud that you can't hear yourself think? I thought that the name of the game was billiards and not horseplay and raising cane with your buddy next to you. How can anyone play pool in this type of atmosphere? I have heard some poolroom owners state that they don't make money off of pool players. Well than why did they open a poolroom in the first place? I thought that pool rooms were for pool players. When did I get hit in the head with a cue ball because I just don't understand this mentality or the reason they run any poolroom this way.
Now the poolroom owners sit and cry because their business is not doing well anymore. Well could it be that they catered to the wrong crowd and it backfired? They had their fun and have gone on to other things in their lives and left you standing at the door waiting for them to return. In the meantime the loud music has irritated most serious players to the point where they don't even want to walk into a poolroom at night for fear of getting their ears blasted apart. It's not only the loud music but the type of music that's being played. Heavy metal, Rap and Head banger can at times be very demanding to the ear. I talk with a lot of people who dislike it and don't want to hear it either. Well the poolroom owners don't care. They say crank up the volume and let the balls fly. As long as they are making money off of that stupid jukebox their as happy as Donald Trump.
Now when they cater to one group more than the other group, how can this be a formula for success? I sit here with cue in hand and no decent place to play at night. I just wonder if all pool players that thought the way I do would start visiting the poolroom at night would it help the dying business? Of course the jukebox would have to take a dive for the worst. Somehow I don't think this will ever happen. Once ridiculous habits and opinions are formed you just can't change them, can you?
We caught up with Ric to ask him some follow up questions to the article:
Enough of my noise. You guys take it from here.
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This content Problems With Billiard Rooms and Pool Halls was created by Ric Croney, Florida Pro-Tour player on 2/24/2008 3:15:51 PM, and was updated on 2/25/2008 3:15:51 PM.
Thump, Thump, Thump...
Absolutely hate c rap music, otherwise known as crap. I would not go to a room where it played constantly. Fortunately the rooms I go to don't play music too loud & the other doesn't have a juke box. Neither room has a bar. At the one I go to that has the juke box most of the kids are playing some fairly decent music, or some new modern soft wussy stuff, or classic rock which I luv. I found it hard to believe that much classic rock was playing with such young kids. Their explanation is that they often grew up listening to their parents playing it & that the jukebox had a quite a few large classic rock collection on it. My point would be that if the owners kept the music from blasting you out & controlled the music selection, the juke box would still be played, a profit made from it, but wouldn't drive out more serious players. An aside, but pertinent, I know of bar owners that played the music that brought the crowds in, but once they started to see some regulars leave because of the Riff-Raff that was now coming in, they changed the music selection which drove the garbage out & brought back the regulars.
I play APA ( Monday & Wednesday nights) and most of the match locations are in Bars. They play the music so loud that I wear earplugs and it is still too loud. My wife can't stand it if the jukebox isn't playing, but she also doesn't like it too loud. Our league operator acts like we are crazy when we complain or stop a game and demand a tonjng down of the roar. There are a lot of times when friends of the other team are the most distracting and the other team captain will not control them. As people get drunk the tiny hairs in their ears that pick up sound relax and lay over. That is why the later it gets the louder the music gets. Most of the league players here in southeast Texas think it's just another night to get drunk and rowdy. I know of one thing that would help with the quality of the music. Get rid of the internet jukebox and you can control what music goes on the jukebox. There are some bars that are so bad that I sit out or go and play early, play and leave. Just wish it was more about the game than the buzz.
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