Billiards in Korea
Copy intro from previous episode
*Paak Billiards sound* I told y’all I was good at this! Well, in theory anyway. Today on the show, we’re talking about a popular pastime in Korea, though you don't see many people playing it. We’re talking about Billiards, that game you play when you try to look cool to your friends or date but the ball goes flying into the wrong pocket or the wrong table. Not that I… ever did that… So, let’s get to the basics!
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History: The game of billiards played in Korea is actually 3 cushion or carom billiards, which is a US import from Japan according to Pool Table dot com. 3 cushion and the other versions are different from pool which is called pocketball here. In many pool halls called 당구장 here, you can find a lot of 3 cushion tables, and one or two pocketball tables which is where the bulk of the players are. 3 and 4 cushion is a skills game whereas pocketball can be a luck game, because if you ask my wife, I’ve been on the cusp of victory many times but lost with a scratch on the 8 ball *joke sting*. Let me tell you about the time I won and lost at the same time when I hit in all my balls, but got an unlucky bounce and hit in her last ball, then knocked in the eight ball and while I was celebrating the cue went into the pocket. Maybe I should be playing 3 cushion these days *joke sting*? So anyway, after the Korean War ended, the soldiers played a bit of carom and it became a favorite of the local community. It used to be a big hobby in the old days, with kids sneaking out of school to play and smoke cigarettes. In fact, it wasn’t until 2017 that they banned indoor smoking. The pool halls used to be a kind of gangster’s den, which was parodied in culture until the KBA started cleaning up the sport’s image. According to the Joongang Daily, they even got a singer to remove a scene from his kpop music video of a fight in a pool hall. You know this wouldn’t fly in the States! Imagine if the pub association of America complained about bar fight scenes in music videos! Everyone would be like; what’re ya playin’ at? Who you think you lying to? No fights in a bar? *joke stings* With the reputation improved, billiards saw a comeback with more players of all ages taking part and more professional players rising through the ranks. COVID and mobile gaming hit the sport pretty hard, though the professional league has been able to blossom. Nowadays you can find pool halls anywhere and watch the Men’s and Women’s Professional Billiards Association Tour on many sports channels. Billiards TV is on some cable plans and sometimes tournaments are streamed on SOOP and Naver Sports. So now we get to talk about a few faces in the sport that you might have seen before like I did once in Sports Illustrated.
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Players: One of the more famous players that I remember was Jeanette Lee. She’s from Brooklyn, born to Korean immigration. She started playing in 89 and finished in the top tier in many competitions like 9 ball, 3 cushion, and trick shot! Because she wore all black and said to ‘eat people up’ at the table, she got the nickname Black Widow from Gabe Vigorito, a famous music producer and one of her first sponsors. I recall seeing her in Sports Illustrated in the 90s but that’s all I remember. She developed stage 4 ovarian cancer and there’s a 30 for 30 about her experiences on ESPN. She has a memoir out on audiobook now if you want to learn more.
Another famous player I’ve heard of is wonderkid Kim Haeng-jik. When he was a teenager he won an adults championship, then in 2007 he won the Junior World championship in Spain. He’s been ranked as the second best player in the world a few years ago, and even played for a team in Germany. Nowadays he represents Jindo and got to the final round in this year’s Ankara Three-Cushion World Cup. Reading about him made me realize that playing billiards professionally gets harder the older you get but you can maintain it as a hobby for a lot longer than you can with something like rugby or baseball.
One more player I’d like to talk about is Sang Chun Lee AKA the michael Jordan of 3 cushion. He won 8 national titles in a row. Later he moved to the US and won a record twelve consecutive USBA National Three-Cushion Championships. He was practically unstoppable until he died. He even had a tournament named after him for a decade after his death. A better example might be to call him the Bill Russell of 3 cushion.
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Rules: A quick remark about the rules- you and your opponent choose either the white ball or the yellow ball, then you do the lag to decide who goes first, and then you have to hit the red ball with your ball if you are starting first, otherwise you can hit the opponent’s ball first or the red ball first. Either way, after you hit the ball, your ball must hit the second ball after bouncing off 3 cushions in order to earn a point. You and your opponent can decide the number of points to play to, with 20 to 50 pretty common. That’s pretty much all I know, since I’m more of a pocketball guy.
So where can you find billiards halls? If you type in the word billiards in KakaoMap, you will get a few pool halls but you might not get those that are close to do. I remember finding a bunch two towns over but not the two in my neighborhood! bruh! So instead type in 당구장 and you will find many that are close to you. Hell, my closest busy street has like 4 on one block! Probably two are open at any given time. Even new neighborhoods have a few. You can easily spot them with the symbols of balls and pool sticks, sometimes arranged in an X. Sometimes they have pool ball artwork on their windows. They’re usually on the 2nd floor. In fact, I’m going to go to one and see what they’re like, after the music.
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A friend of mine pointed me to The One Billiards as a place to visit for the show. It’s been a while since I was last in a pool hall, but it pretty much matched up with my memories. This particular one didn’t have any pool tables but lots of Camron billiards tables. The tables were heated and the air felt really dry. I kept taking trips to the cooler. I remember hearing somewhere that the heated tables make for more accurate shots so it makes sense but it doesn’t seem to help mine. It’d been a while since the last time I played and I had a lot of trouble shooting. Guess I just need practice. The hall owners will give you a drink. Main drink offered is Americano, often iced. Lots of coffee and tea. Didn't see soda there but I have seen soda machines at others in the past. Also I didn’t smell smoke. Didn't even see an ashtray. Smoking room next to the tables, looks comfy and not a dark room lol. The rest of the room was on the quiet side with not much talking. There was a touchscreen that has scoring, videos from other halls around the country, and a leaderboard. There's a timer as well. Anyway, the staff helped me with shooting so I think you’ll find staff members at other halls to be reasonably helpful. Give it a try and you’ll probably get more points than I did!
Game of the week
There’s a college volleyball tournament this weekend in Danyang Chungcheongbuk-do. Danyang is also famous for adventure sports so you can go paragliding and go-kart racing afterwards, or stay and cheer for your college team. Or do like I do and threaten to fail them in English class if they lose! *joke sting* In baseball the series to watch this weekend is LG vs Samsung. Samsung’s back in the playoff hunt but LG can jump into first place if they get a little help from Kia. In football, K1 is on break except for Ulsan vs Suwon, because of the FC Barcelona game. K2’s still on, with Bucheon vs Seongnam the best match of the weekend. W K-league and the minors are also on a break as well. It’s too hot to be out there, running around! Wonder how FC Barcelona’s gonna do…
Worst Person:
Today in worst persons I don’t have a full award list, but I got some well-deserving ones.
The nap award goes to… Choi Won Jun of the Kia Tigers. After his breakout season last year, all he had to do was maintain his current level of play this season and get a really good deal as a free agent in the offseason. But this season has been a disaster and now he’s been traded to NC along with Hong Jun Pyo and Lee Woo Sung. What’s worse is that he got traded for a bullpen pitcher and a prospect, and one reason cited in the Ilgan Sports online is his poor defense. During a game against Doosan he dropped an easily catchable fly ball and the KBS announcers tore into him. When the announcers are dogging you, you know you’re more cooked than smoked duck.
The Plutonium award goes to… Daegu FC for making their fans so angry that they’re promising not to cheer at the next game. After Daegu lost 1 to nil because of a penalty kick triggered by a handball in the last game, Daegu fans confronted the manager. The new coach hasn’t won in 9 games and the fans are fed up! According to Daegu MBC, they forced the manager into a meeting this thursday and stated they will stop cheering at the next game. Which according to the schedule is FC Barcelona on the 4th. You gotta be really bad to make fans want to quit on your team! Good on Daegu fans for standing up for what they believe! A pity some American fanbases don’t have that kind of backbone. They’ve made Daegu FC today’s worst person in the sports world!
Ending
Thank you for tuning in today. We hope you learned something about Korean sports, like I certainly did. Pass this pod on to anyone interested in Korean sports and especially rookies because our show has hints and tips to make their lives easier. Those hapless souls…(2 second pause). If you wish to read along or contact the show, visit our website at hwatingsportspodcast dot com and everything you need is right there. Give our podcast 5 stars if you have time. Music notes like the opening song thanks to DumiAFava. Cover art thanks to James! A shoutout to our listeners in Vichy France! Home of the JAV Vichy, the third best team in Pro B basketball. Next episode will be a sequel. We’re talking about sports culture, from the Korean side of things!! Until next time, sports fans!
(AI voice or other) Guests of the Hwai-ting sports podcast drink at R-E-M-F-er, the hottest new bar in the Songtan base area! No need for pesky wons here, for they only take American Express! The Louisville semi-hot chicken wings and the super-cheesy 5 patty burger are to die for! Literally! They had 3 heart attacks in 1 night, a Pyeongtaek record! The specials are to die for as well; also literally because they only clean the pipes once every 3 years! Be entertained by the airmen punching each other over War Thunder specs arguments! Laugh at the demoted colonel who married Songtan Sally for 3 years, lost everything and had to re-enlist!
Notes:
https://www.quora.com/Why-is-3-cushion-billiards-so-popular-in-South-Korea
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sang_Lee
https://en.namu.wiki/w/%EB%8B%B9%EA%B5%AC%EC%9E%A5
https://en.namu.wiki/w/%EB%8B%B9%EA%B5%AC
Japanese Billiards: The Evolution of Pocketless Pool Tables in Japan and Korea.
After years of decline, billiards on the rebound
https://en.namu.wiki/w/%EB%8B%B9%EA%B5%AC
https://www.quora.com/Why-is-3-cushion-billiards-so-popular-in-South-Korea
https://m.sports.naver.com/kfootball/article/657/0000041096 - Daegu FC’s fans