why we play billiard ?

Billiards is cool - more cool than it gets credit for. And I’m gonna tell you why you need to drop your sport, and pick up billiards.

The Social Factor
The best sports are the ones that you can enjoy with your friends - and being able to converse freely is something that most team sports can’t provide. Having a drink over a game of pool is one of the most social sport-related events that I’ve ever been exposed too. Most sports require you to go for a beer AFTER the game or match. Billiards combines the two effortlessly.

The Venue
Most players earn their chops in dark, smokey pool halls where reputation is built up amongst the common man. Billiards players generally are quite humble and down-to-earth… something about learning their craft amongst beer drinkers seems to remove the privileged perspective that comes with many other sports. Try comparing that to a golfer or a skier.

The Playing Surface
There is something inherently beautiful about sitting back and looking at an empty playing surface (soccer pitch, football gridiron, hockey rink, etc). However, I’d argue that there is very few sports that can match the simplicity and attractiveness of a clean billiards table under an overhead light. Change up the color of the felt and it doesn’t matter - billiards tables just look cool. Period.

Everyone Can Play
This is kind of an extension of the social factor, but billiards doesn’t require anyone to take steroids or train in the gym. Some of the best pool players look like they belong on a sofa eating potato chips. Additionally - both women and men can play together with little or no difference in skill. This leads to lots of interesting opportunities - many a happy couple have met over a game of stick. There are very few games that are that accessible by all types - definitely not any of the global team sports.

The Break
Everyone loves those rare moments in sport where you can impose your physical will. Making a hit in football, smacking a ball in baseball - these actions appeal to our sense of power. NOTHING is as cool as the sense of power one gets from the break. The sound is unmistakable - and watching the balls fly around is truly confidence boosting. For the weekend athlete, I can’t think of another action that is that powerful and virtually void of any injury risk.

Trick Shots
Even if you believe that billiards trick shots are more glitz than substance - you have to appreciate the fact that billiards allows players to appear as if they can perform magic. Trick shots are the common man’s way of performing the impossible. Tell me the last time you saw a tennis player hit a ball and asked “Was that magic? There must be some kind of trick…”

Tell me a reason for playing pool !