I prefer talent and inspiration to efficiency, at least on the snooker table...it's a game that ought to reward the sublime rather than the functional
...and besides, I prefer players with individual styles, with facets to their game which separate them from the cluster. Otherwise what is there to follow?
― sorry for british (country matters), Tuesday, 28 April 2009 15:58 (fifteen years ago) link
It's not a game that "ought" to reward the sublime. I agree that Scottish snooker players tend to be on the nice-but-dull side though.
― zero learnt from nero (Neil S), Tuesday, 28 April 2009 16:05 (fifteen years ago) link
I mean, if you're lucky it is, but that applies to any sport really.
― zero learnt from nero (Neil S), Tuesday, 28 April 2009 16:06 (fifteen years ago) link
I think i understand why The Lex gets mad when people say they stopped watching tennis if Agassi* was knocked out.
*insert any peoples fave in there
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Tuesday, 28 April 2009 16:09 (fifteen years ago) link
if you're truly sublime then surely you'd beat the merely functional?
― ken "save-a-finn" c (ken c), Tuesday, 28 April 2009 16:16 (fifteen years ago) link
Tennis is different; tennis openly and flagrantly rewards inspirational, dominant play because it places the two opponents in direct confrontation. Snooker places each opponent alone, and so they always have a choice as to what level of shot to play. I love the game, but I love it more when it's played by people who constantly reveal their personality, their talents, and their changing approach to the game depending on circumstances, i.e. Ronnie O'Sullivan or Neil Robertson or Mark Selby. Or players who play flat-out insane, occasionally self-destructive snooker in search of perfection, i.e. Ding Junhui. Or headcases, i.e. Peter Ebdon
Ken this is true but many players capable of the sublime are also capable of error, and also you can never fully legislate for the run of the balls
― sorry for british (country matters), Tuesday, 28 April 2009 16:18 (fifteen years ago) link
Grinders and those who are very good safety players have traditionally dominated though: Davis, Reardon, Hendry etc. have won far more titles than the very best sublimely gifted players (O'Sullivan, Alex Higgins, Jimmy White etc.)
― zero learnt from nero (Neil S), Tuesday, 28 April 2009 16:26 (fifteen years ago) link
Let me dream!
Am trying to work out where Shaun Murphy fits on the scale, and whether his extravagant and often inspiring talents are sufficient to resist the demerits of his occasionally somewhat offputting personality...I certainly dislike him less than I did circa 2005
― sorry for british (country matters), Tuesday, 28 April 2009 16:29 (fifteen years ago) link
As much as I love Ronnie's sublime skills I'm getting really tired of these "I don't know if I can go on" bullshit interviews every time someone has the temerity to beat him.
I know what you mean about the attraction of the unexpected LJ but with Higgins I think it's simply that he always knows the "correct" shot to play and sees no reason to play what he sees in his head as the wrong shot. That doesn't mean he won't go for his shots, but it does mean he'll be less likely to scatter balls all over the table in a ridiculous attempt at an impossible red that he's convinced himself is a shot to nothing. Boring as that is (particularly if he's not scoring heavily) I still admire his resilience under pressure - he's won a fair few very tense close matches.
I've warmed to Ebdon over the years as his madness has grown, I can still picture the mad grin on his face as Hendry won something like 7 frames out of 8 against him in a world final - somewhere between "Ach I'll just try to enjoy myself" and "I'm gonna eat your children!"
― the innermost wee guy (onimo), Tuesday, 28 April 2009 16:30 (fifteen years ago) link
Hendry doesn't belong in that list. Boring as he might be off the table be basically took the "go for everything" attitude of Higgins and White but did it properly (i.e. by not missing the balls). His safety game isn't great, he doesn't even like playing safety shots. I remember when he first came to prominence everyone was amazed at the shots he was taking on, particularly into middle pockets.
― the innermost wee guy (onimo), Tuesday, 28 April 2009 16:32 (fifteen years ago) link
before Ronnie, Hendry was regarded as the most natural potter anyone had seen. He did have to develop a safety game though(not as good as steve davis safety game was), and it made him and even better player.ffs the guy won a world championship with a fractured arm. You gotta admit that takes something special.
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Tuesday, 28 April 2009 16:39 (fifteen years ago) link
peter ebdon is about 10x more boring to watch than john higgins
― ken "save-a-finn" c (ken c), Tuesday, 28 April 2009 16:40 (fifteen years ago) link
and as boring as those guys may be, they aren't in cliff thorburns league!
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Tuesday, 28 April 2009 16:41 (fifteen years ago) link
funnily enough, Terry Griffiths was a boring slow player, but I did like him.
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Tuesday, 28 April 2009 16:42 (fifteen years ago) link
also, i don't see how potting stupidly ridiculous shots take more inspiration than a brilliant safety shot
― ken "save-a-finn" c (ken c), Tuesday, 28 April 2009 16:42 (fifteen years ago) link
Ken OTM
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Tuesday, 28 April 2009 16:43 (fifteen years ago) link
yes but he is on the edge of complete nervous breakdown every time he misses a pot do you not see
and there's something to be said for his almost hypnotically self-denying style, especially in the context of the barely-suppressed wailing hair-tearing beast within...he is a man on the edge
WHOA
I got no problem with brilliant safety shots, amazing snookers etc...this is all part of the "inspiration" I referred to. I love 'em. What I was complaining about were functional potters who resort to good, often very good, "classic safety", when others might go for something inspirational or at least original.
― sorry for british (country matters), Tuesday, 28 April 2009 16:46 (fifteen years ago) link
If only you could take Ken Doherty's personality and Stephen Hendry's game and fuse them into one...I do like Hendry, because he's great and plays the game in a superb manner, but he makes peak-era Davis look like Quinton Hann
― sorry for british (country matters), Tuesday, 28 April 2009 16:49 (fifteen years ago) link
and miss and losexpost
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Tuesday, 28 April 2009 16:49 (fifteen years ago) link
But the game is cruel upon the mentally mercurial. Take Matthew Stevens. Now a wreck, now on the scrapheap. Once within touching distance of greatness. Bright talent, burnt out. At least he list to Mark Williams, who is/was a truly brilliant player and a fine personality.
― sorry for british (country matters), Tuesday, 28 April 2009 16:50 (fifteen years ago) link
*lost
― sorry for british (country matters), Tuesday, 28 April 2009 16:51 (fifteen years ago) link
Not always, Kerr! Not always!
i never rated mark williams. he can pot long balls and that seems to be the extent of his game
in other newshttp://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/snooker/7661707.stm
this is my favourite live feed so far. you just get to listen to 'drag racer' in a continuous loop
― ken "save-a-finn" c (ken c), Tuesday, 28 April 2009 16:52 (fifteen years ago) link
omg Graeme Dott's voice
― sorry for british (country matters), Tuesday, 28 April 2009 16:59 (fifteen years ago) link
stop hating on scottishes
― ken "save-a-finn" c (ken c), Tuesday, 28 April 2009 17:06 (fifteen years ago) link
what is there to hate about his bonny lilt? even though it can probably only be heard properly by dogs
― sorry for british (country matters), Tuesday, 28 April 2009 17:08 (fifteen years ago) link
btw
fuck off john higgins
― sorry for british (country matters), Wednesday, 29 April 2009 22:44 (fifteen years ago) link
resilience
― the innermost wee guy (onimo), Wednesday, 29 April 2009 22:48 (fifteen years ago) link
resilience can fuck itself
― sorry for british (country matters), Wednesday, 29 April 2009 22:50 (fifteen years ago) link
When Higgins wins a match 13-7, 13-5, by completely outplaying his opponent, rather than hanging in with his utterly, unspeakably efficient, charismaless game, maybe then I might root for him, but this is sheer unrelenting cuntery of the highest order and bad for the game
― sorry for british (country matters), Wednesday, 29 April 2009 22:52 (fifteen years ago) link
(n.b. I am drunk but still, argh)
maybe he should mouth "never in doubt" at the camera after every final frame clincher.
― the innermost wee guy (onimo), Wednesday, 29 April 2009 23:30 (fifteen years ago) link
andrei_higgins.jpg
― sorry for british (country matters), Wednesday, 29 April 2009 23:31 (fifteen years ago) link
why bother watching any game if you just want to watch predictable 13-5 drubbings?
― ken "save-a-finn" c (ken c), Thursday, 30 April 2009 00:08 (fifteen years ago) link
I don't! I just don't want a game to be inevitably and heartbreakingly gritted out by a player I dislike...this sort of result was equally predictable, and more infuriating
― sorry for british (country matters), Thursday, 30 April 2009 00:12 (fifteen years ago) link
I mean, if he's gonna go 2 down with 3 to play or 1 down with 2 to play, I wanna see some opponents NOT bending over and taking his "resilience" right where it hurts, and getting over the line themselves...if he gets to the winning line first then fair enough
― sorry for british (country matters), Thursday, 30 April 2009 00:15 (fifteen years ago) link
but clearly this isn't the case because he hasn't won every single tournament there is to win..
― ken "save-a-finn" c (ken c), Thursday, 30 April 2009 00:40 (fifteen years ago) link
Hey you guys, am I the only one who remembers this?
― ailsa, Thursday, 30 April 2009 00:50 (fifteen years ago) link
I have no recollection of that whatsoever.
In today's news, Higgins races into an excitingly racy early charismatic lead thanks to playing mostly shite and resiliently asking for new balls.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/snooker/8027621.stm
― the innermost wee guy (onimo), Thursday, 30 April 2009 17:23 (fifteen years ago) link
Mark Allen played *so badly* in that opening session. All Higgins had to do was wait for an opportunity; there was one in every frame. Even when Allen seemed in the balls, you knew he'd find a way to screw up. The two frames he won, he only did so because Higgins returned the compliment.
If there's any justice in the world, Neil Robertson will murk his way to the title
Instead, we'll have a Murphy-Higgins final, and I'll be sorely tempted to not watch it.
― sorry for british (country matters), Thursday, 30 April 2009 17:27 (fifteen years ago) link
This match is more like it.
― sorry for british (country matters), Thursday, 30 April 2009 19:39 (fifteen years ago) link
A pal of mine applied for a ticket on a whim about two weeks ago, was somehow successful, and is right now sitting in the front row two along from Robertson. It makes for disconcerting viewing to see him in every other low-level shot.
― Ismael Klata, Thursday, 30 April 2009 19:47 (fifteen years ago) link
text him
― not_goodwin, Thursday, 30 April 2009 20:16 (fifteen years ago) link
nah dial his number during an important shot
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Thursday, 30 April 2009 20:23 (fifteen years ago) link
Nice idea. I would get him to flick us the v's, but he's also the one person in Britain who doesn't have a mobile
― Ismael Klata, Thursday, 30 April 2009 20:26 (fifteen years ago) link
Red button interactive TV my arse
tell him to keep making the buzzing noise
― not_goodwin, Thursday, 30 April 2009 20:34 (fifteen years ago) link
The balls just made a perfect S shape!
― sorry for british (country matters), Thursday, 30 April 2009 20:44 (fifteen years ago) link
ffs
― sorry for british (country matters), Friday, 1 May 2009 14:44 (fifteen years ago) link
I can't imagine getting so worked up about snooker LJ!
― zero learnt from nero (Neil S), Friday, 1 May 2009 14:49 (fifteen years ago) link