Pool Cue News and Review

So I finally got around to watching some of the Manilo v. Morris match put on by the IPT. Wow… I almost felt the need to start cutting on myself just to stay awake. I had pretty high expectations for this since the IPT stuff that was shot for TV (back before Trudeau’s bubble burst) was pretty high quality stuff. This, however, was not.

It looked like it was shot in someone’s basement, the scoreboard was cardboard flip cards and listening to Mike Sigel and Trudeau “commentate” was really too much. I didn’t watch the whole thing… I’m simply not that much of a masochist. What I did watch though consisted of Trudeau making these awful “ooh, ooh, he’s in trouble” comments over and over while Sigel politely corrects him letting him know that no one is in trouble.

This was bad.  It wasn’t even funny bad.  It was just plain bad.  I was surprised I didn’t see some guys in the corner on a wide shot shooting dice on a flattened cardboard box while the match was going on.   Look, I’m all for anything to promote the game, but when your event makes the production quality of Trick Shot Magic look good you know you’re doing something very, very wrong.

Pool payers love beer. This is not a surprise to anyone considering the fact that most pool tables are in bars. What is somewhat surprising though is how strongly they feel about blue collar beer. Bud, Rolling Rock, Coors, Miller. These are the brews you’ll see in the hands of a pool player. Go into a pool hall and ask for an Anchor Steam or an Alpine Ale and not only will you not get a beer, you’ll likely be asked ever so politely to slowly sip your microbrew elsewhere.

It isn’t that pool players don’t enjoy a good beer. There’s just a different taste, a different aroma, a different feel that comes from pulling a pint and drinking a beer on tap. Whether its the blue collar, All American tradition of these brands, the fact that you don’t feel like you ate a loaf of bread after having a few or just really good TV ads, next time you’re in a pool hall, ask for a PBR or an Old Milwaukee. When in Rome, you do as the Romans do so when you’re in a pool hall, do as blue collar Americans do.