Anyone who refuses to leave prison simply because they are having too much fun playing billiards would be considered something more than just a diehard fan. Yet that is exactly what a Captain Mingaud did during the French Revolution. Granted, Mingaud was not only playing billiards, he was busy revolutionizing the game.

Though billiards had already been popular for more than 100 years at that time, Mingaud was the first person to round the end of a pool cue with a file and apply a leather tip to it. After prison, Mingaud promptly proved his invention's superiority over its flat, club-like predecessor in exhibitions throughout France. What the captain had developed was essentially the cue in use today, but the game he generated interest in did not involve shooting balls into pockets.

Pocket billiards such as modern-day pool and snooker were around, but they were considered to be the ill-bred cousins of carom billiards, which used a pocketless table. The name pool was born during the 1840s when billiards was closely identified with gambling parlors, or "pool parlors" in the lexicon of the day. The name stuck, and with more than 40 million people playing in America alone last year, so has the game.

Despite its universal popularity and frequent airtime on ESPN with professionally organized tournaments, billiards has rarely enjoyed universal respect.

Before hitting America, billiards already had a spotty history thanks to the likes of hustlers such as Englishman Jack Carr. Carr, the first person to put chalk on his cue tip, made a fortune peddling his magic "twisting chalk" around France in the 1820s. The "magic" was actually in Carr's wrist; he was the first player to apply spin to a billiards ball, and the term "English" is still used to denote this move.

In America, billiards had a questionable reputation because of its association with gambling. The 20-year rivalry of American pool masters Michael Phelan and Dudley Kavanagh in the late 19th century, however, attracted attention and respect as tournaments became standing-room-only tuxedo affairs. Ironically, the two also started a tradition of conflicting associations governing the game, which now makes all titles suspect, and the Olympics an impossible dream.

Fortunately, legitimacy and success are not invariably linked. When The Hustler, a 1961 movie starring Paul Newman and Jackie Gleason, glamorized the shady underworld of pool sharks, business boomed.

Coin-operated pool tables were born just in time to meet the rising demand. Initially found only in bars and bowling alleys, the new, smaller tables have taken center stage at packed pool halls from Boston to Beijing.

要是有人因?yàn)樘珢鄞蚺_球而不肯出獄，那他們絕對不只是球癡而已。而在法國大革命時期，敏高德上尉正是一個頑固的臺球迷。他 不僅玩臺球，還忙著改革這項(xiàng)運(yùn)動。

盡管當(dāng)時，臺球已盛行了百余年，而敏高德卻是第一個使用銼刀把球桿尾端磨圓，并用皮子包上的人。出獄后，在法 國的多次展覽會上，敏高德很快就證明他的新發(fā)明比原先那種平頭像球棍的球桿好用。上尉發(fā)明的球桿沿用至今，然而當(dāng)時他引發(fā)興趣的游戲，還未發(fā)展到將臺球擊進(jìn)球袋的階段。

“球袋臺球”(pocket billiards)如花式、英式臺球在當(dāng)時比比皆是，但卻被視為是“教養(yǎng)不良的兄弟臺球”（carom billiards),它們的球臺沒有球袋。“彈子”(pool)這個名詞 出現(xiàn)在19世紀(jì)40年代，當(dāng)時臺球室和賭場是緊密聯(lián)系在一起的，以當(dāng)時的辭匯稱之即為“彈子房”。這個名稱就保留下來，去年，光是美國就有超過四千萬人玩臺球，這項(xiàng)運(yùn)動也常盛不衰。

盡管臺球已經(jīng)風(fēng)靡世界各地，ESPN也時常轉(zhuǎn)播職業(yè)球隊(duì)的公開賽，但卻始終未能贏得世人尊重的目光。

在臺球風(fēng)潮襲卷美洲之前，它已經(jīng)有了一段發(fā)展不平衡的歷史，這點(diǎn)，活躍分子諸如英格蘭人杰克卡爾等功不可沒。卡爾是首位將白堊用于磨削球桿尖端的人，19世紀(jì)20年代他還因在法國各地兜售他神奇的“白堊”發(fā)了財(cái)。事實(shí)上真正“神奇”的，是卡爾的手腕：他首創(chuàng)旋轉(zhuǎn)球打法，當(dāng)時稱呼此動作的術(shù)語（“側(cè)旋”(English)）也沿用迄今。

在美國，臺球因和賭博相聯(lián)系，名聲仍受到質(zhì)疑。19世紀(jì)末，當(dāng)臺球公開賽成了盛裝慶事，只能買到站票的時候，美國臺球雙雄邁克費(fèi)蘭和杜德利卡文納長達(dá)20年之久的 霸，吸引了眾人的目光，贏得了尊敬。具諷刺意味的是，他們 兩人也開創(chuàng)了有沖突的臺球協(xié)會間爭相控制這種運(yùn)動的傳統(tǒng)，它使得所有的名次難以確定，列入奧運(yùn)正式比賽項(xiàng)目仍只是一場夢。

好在，合法與成功并沒有必然聯(lián)系。1961年由保羅·紐曼和賈奇·葛利森主演的電影《江湖浪子》，表現(xiàn)了身處陰暗 下層社會臺球高手們的魅力，臺球生意興隆起來。投幣式的 臺球桌也應(yīng)運(yùn)而生。這些新型小球　起初只在酒吧、保齡球館中能找到；現(xiàn)在，從波士頓到北京，在擠滿了人的臺球場所 里，它儼然成為了主流。