Everybody into the Pool

I have been interested in pool for decades, even though I have never played a round of it in my life.  I first remember seeing an actual pool table at a cousin's house.  Strangely enough, it was the same one who had the swimming pool where I learned how to swim.  It was in the attic, but I wasn't allowed to really touch it.  Maybe my mother thought I was too young for it;  I don't remember.  I just liked the colors, the numbers, the sounds the balls made bouncing into one another.  I just wanted to play.  I don't remember ever really seeing the pool table again.  I think they may have gotten rid of it at some point, before I could ever get the chance.  I begged my mom to get me a toy or small version to play with, but she never did.  The next chance I got was in high school.  A diner near the school had a table, but my mom never would let me go in,  for one reason or another.  She even said one of my great-aunts once lived in a pool hall.  I can't remember exactly which house she was talking about, either the one she was currently living in or another one I had never was in.  It was high school that I began to watch pool on television.  School let to early one day, and there was nothing on television for my to watch but some women's nine-ball on ESPN.  From that time on, I would try to catch any match they televised.  Unfortunately, the ESPN family of networks have too many real sports now to air many lower level matches anymore, at least when I can view them.  Heaven forbid they interrupt coverage of professional and collegiate corn hole tournaments.  In the late 90's, I got my first pool video game for my Playstation.  It was Backstreet Billiards.  I must have played that game for times than I did any of my other titles.  It had a weak story mode about the lead trying to get revenge on the person who murdered his father.  He had to explore all of these pool halls, collecting information and tokens, to find his way to boss and beat him at his own game.  After defeating each opponent, a new level opened up to play on its own.  The free mode was actually very fun.  You could play 8 or 9 ball, even some billiard matches, all against a computer opponent (or another player, but that never got to happen).  Unfortunately, it was one of the many discs that got damaged in the flood, and I haven't been able to get a replacement or similar quality.  I have found a few online games, but none feel as  good as that one.  I still want to play the actual game, though.  With my geometry skills, I think I could do well at it.  I might have had opportunities in college, but I was too scared to take them.  Still, I have read books and studied, so when I do make the moves up to the actual game, I think I have a decent shot of doing well.