{"id":3896,"date":"2013-02-27T12:51:31","date_gmt":"2013-02-27T18:51:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.billiardcoach.com\/home\/?p=3896"},"modified":"2013-02-27T14:32:11","modified_gmt":"2013-02-27T20:32:11","slug":"cruel-pool-shoes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.billiardcoach.com\/home\/2013\/02\/27\/cruel-pool-shoes","title":{"rendered":"Cruel Pool Shoes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Well, someone has finally done it. They&#8217;ve come out with shoes designed for players. Let me be more clear:\u00c2\u00a0 shoes for <em>Pool Players<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s not Brunswick Corporation, who has been around for 150+ years, not Simonis which has been around for 333 years, not even Predator who has branded themselves into a beerish\/NASCARish puke-fest. Nope. The company is Black Heart. Never heard of them? I don&#8217;t blame you. They are a fairly new cue tip company which makes leather tips in Brazil, I think. Marketed by a company in Europe, I think. I tried a couple of them last year and wasn&#8217;t too impressed.<\/p>\n<p>Anyway, I have been a fan of donning the proper footwear for pool since my college days. Here&#8217;s an assortment of my finest (not cruel) pool shoes from the last 25 years.\u00c2\u00a0 You may want to click on the photo to see a larger size to soak in the gloriousness (or goriness) of these puppies.<\/p>\n<p>These guys have seen a lot of table time. I always thought that comfortable and functional footwear was an often overlooked component to high level play. My criteria for shoes clearly didn&#8217;t (and still doesn&#8217;t) include fashion. I wanted shoes that my feet didn&#8217;t slip around in and shoes that didn&#8217;t slip around on the floor. Pool room and tournament flooring can be anything from crappy press down vinyl tiles, industrial carpet, commercial carpet, hardwood court, rough and unlevel concrete, and even ice rink flooring cooled before they flood with water. All of these shoes perform well. My only gripe is the best looking \u00e2\u20ac\u201dand most appropriate for the task looking\u00e2\u20ac\u201d squeak with every step and footfall.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3898\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3898\" style=\"width: 589px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.billiardcoach.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Mikes-Cruel-Pool-Shoes.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3898\" alt=\"From Left to Right and Back to Front- 2 pair ECCO sailing shoes, Classic Airwalks, Stiga, Nike Free, Adidas.\" src=\"http:\/\/www.billiardcoach.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Mikes-Cruel-Pool-Shoes.jpg\" width=\"589\" height=\"369\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.billiardcoach.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Mikes-Cruel-Pool-Shoes.jpg 1400w, https:\/\/www.billiardcoach.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Mikes-Cruel-Pool-Shoes-300x188.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.billiardcoach.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Mikes-Cruel-Pool-Shoes-1024x642.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 589px) 100vw, 589px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3898\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">From Left to Right and Back to Front- 2 pair ECCO sailing shoes, Classic Airwalks, Stiga, Nike Free, Adidas.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>From the back left to right:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u00c2\u00a0Blue <strong>Ecco<\/strong> sailing shoes<\/li>\n<li>\u00c2\u00a0Sh#t Brown <strong>Ecco<\/strong> sailing shoes (the first purchase of the two pair)<\/li>\n<li>\u00c2\u00a0My very favorite and original pool shoes. <strong>Airwalks<\/strong>! I always thought of the carrot on the toungue as the prize money at the end of my pool stick.<\/li>\n<li>\u00c2\u00a0<strong>Stiga<\/strong> table tennis shoes. I went through a phase of wearing track suits from table tennis companies. C&#8217;mon, it is a sport kind of like pool.<\/li>\n<li>\u00c2\u00a0<strong>Nike<\/strong> Free custom ordered in 2005. I would have ordered them in green, but I could sense the &#8220;Blue Cloth&#8221; trend coming.<\/li>\n<li>Classic <strong>Adidas<\/strong>. These get the most notice and comments of any of my shoes. I save them for special occasions. It should be noted that these were a gift from a gal. I would never have the sartorial savvy to select such sensible shoes. (A lot of alliteration&#8230;) These are the squeaky wheels.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3902\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3902\" style=\"width: 545px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.billiardcoach.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Nike-ID-Shoes-and-Bag-with-Inset.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3902\" alt=\"I'd have had my whole last name on the tongue if they were  high-tops.\" src=\"http:\/\/www.billiardcoach.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Nike-ID-Shoes-and-Bag-with-Inset.jpg\" width=\"545\" height=\"307\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.billiardcoach.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Nike-ID-Shoes-and-Bag-with-Inset.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.billiardcoach.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Nike-ID-Shoes-and-Bag-with-Inset-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 545px) 100vw, 545px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3902\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">I&#8217;d have had my whole last name on the tongue if they were high-tops.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3903\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3903\" style=\"width: 535px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.billiardcoach.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/The-Table-Tennis-Years.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3903\" alt=\"Looking for grip and athletic performance.\" src=\"http:\/\/www.billiardcoach.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/The-Table-Tennis-Years.jpg\" width=\"535\" height=\"301\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.billiardcoach.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/The-Table-Tennis-Years.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.billiardcoach.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/The-Table-Tennis-Years-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 535px) 100vw, 535px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3903\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Looking for grip and athletic performance.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Now here&#8217;s the announcement from Black Heart Tips:<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3899\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3899\" style=\"width: 480px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.billiardcoach.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/BlackHeardShoes-Heyday.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3899\" alt=\"Baby needs a new pair of shoes.\" src=\"http:\/\/www.billiardcoach.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/BlackHeardShoes-Heyday.png\" width=\"480\" height=\"1028\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.billiardcoach.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/BlackHeardShoes-Heyday.png 480w, https:\/\/www.billiardcoach.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/BlackHeardShoes-Heyday-140x300.png 140w, https:\/\/www.billiardcoach.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/BlackHeardShoes-Heyday-478x1024.png 478w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3899\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Baby needs a new pair of shoes.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Not bad. You can read more about the tips and shoes at http:\/\/www.bhtips.com<\/p>\n<p><strong>Game on!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Well, someone has finally done it. They&#8217;ve come out with shoes designed for players. Let me be more clear:\u00c2\u00a0 shoes for Pool Players. It&#8217;s not Brunswick Corporation, who has been around for 150+ years, not Simonis which has been around for 333 years, not even Predator who has branded themselves into a beerish\/NASCARish puke-fest. Nope. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,47,8],"tags":[127,125,126,124],"class_list":["post-3896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-announcements","category-billiard-industry-news","category-equipment","tag-athletics","tag-footwear","tag-pool-fashion","tag-pool-shoes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billiardcoach.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billiardcoach.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billiardcoach.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billiardcoach.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/63"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billiardcoach.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3896"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.billiardcoach.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3896\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3907,"href":"https:\/\/www.billiardcoach.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3896\/revisions\/3907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billiardcoach.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billiardcoach.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billiardcoach.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}