Snooker

[cthulhu]

Anyone here who also enjoys the pleasures of watching a good snooker game?

I started watching snooker many years ago, at nights on eurosports and i was fascinated, but didn't understand. then by watching and watching, the rules and the tactics more and more became visible to me and that made the game even more enjoyable.

i'm a fan, but i'm not that kind of a fan who knows everything about everything; i just really enjoy watching the game.

and it went so far, that i attended the geman masters 2018, half-final in berlin.

my first live-snooker and a wonderful experience. like sitting 5h through a match in a silent audience (with some people falling asleep), but mostly a kind of silent high-tension atmosphere and wonderful moments.

i saw shaun murphy vs. graeme dott (whom my friend exposed as the actor of a commander of the imperial troopers on the death star) and mark wiliams vs. judd trump.

i would love to go to the 2019 masters in berlin, but i don't know if i will make this time.

so is anyone here also interested in this fine sport?

[Master Ray]

As a child of the 70's, 'Pot Black' (a snooker show in prime time UK TV) was required viewing on a Friday night... I'll bet this theme tune triggers some memories for certain folks of a similar vintage around here...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nXUPHR17FI

Ray Reardon!  Steve Davis!  Terry Griffiths!  Doug Mountjoy!  Jimmy White!  Stephen Hendry!  Eddie Charlton!  Legends, one and all!   

[Pol]

Just to watch a bit many years ago.
U missed Alex Higgins  probably the most gifted if flawed snooker geniuses of all time .

[Master Ray]

Just to watch a bit many years ago.
U missed Alex Higgins  probably the most gifted if flawed snooker geniuses of all time .

True story, honest. Alex Higgins once drunkenly picked a fight with my Dad in some Northern club or other.  But my Dad, at the time, was a copper and the security at the club convinced Mr Higgins that it wasn't a good idea to smack a copper... this was in the late 70's or early 80's and if you hit a copper... well you might get arrested and subsequently 'fall down the stairs' or something... 

Gene Hunt (from Life On Mars) had nothing on my old man!

 

[cthulhu]

Ha, great story Master Ray!

But what about nowadays? Both of you talk about the legends and the past. Don't you watch it still?

There was a time when i hadn't any eurosports anymore on my tele until i found out some years ago, that i can watch it on youtube

So yesterday i started:
O'Sullivan v Allen FINAL 2018 UK Championship
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaZQ4r5NnPw&t=3313s

Here is a very entertaining and funny Steve Davis Trickshot show. He seems to be such a cool character.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8Wo44lCxGg&index=98&list=LLkVpM-ItP0lgC7RKfodHJuA&t=0s

[Ghosttrain]

Master Ray,talking of a certain vintage i remember snooker on TV being shown in Black and White !!! i kid you not.The commentator had to tell the viewer the colour of the ball the player was about to pot....

[cthulhu]

 
 

That's cool. I would like to see a b/w picture of that. There should be some shades and differences in the "colours" but to have the whole table..i guess you loose track of the picture of the frame.Very interesting info.

[Ghosttrain]

Youtube is your friend..........lots of footage,enjoy 

[cthulhu]

But of course, you're right and...omg, here is:

Joe Davis First TV Century in black and white:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQ2wlxQHbVg
 

[Pol]

Think O'Sullivan is a tosser, a brilliant player tho .

[Master Ray]

Master Ray,talking of a certain vintage i remember snooker on TV being shown in Black and White !!! i kid you not.The commentator had to tell the viewer the colour of the ball the player was about to pot....

 

If there was ever a sport that depended on someone being able to watch in colour, it would be snooker!  Imagine if the commentator also had to watch it on a black and white monitor...  'OK, he's hit the white, I'm pretty sure about that... I think he's going for the grey one or possibly the slightly less grey one, the one with the deeper shade of grey might be a possibility... to be honest, the only thing I'm sure about is the black one and that's right at the other end of the table... f**k, I hate my job'.

[Master Ray]

Ha, great story Master Ray!

But what about nowadays? Both of you talk about the legends and the past. Don't you watch it still?

There was a time when i hadn't any eurosports anymore on my tele until i found out some years ago, that i can watch it on youtube

So yesterday i started:
O'Sullivan v Allen FINAL 2018 UK Championship
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaZQ4r5NnPw&t=3313s

Here is a very entertaining and funny Steve Davis Trickshot show. He seems to be such a cool character.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8Wo44lCxGg&index=98&list=LLkVpM-ItP0lgC7RKfodHJuA&t=0s

Haven't watched snooker since my beloved Grandad died which was about six years ago. He became profoundly deaf and he had a touch of dementia, so we had trouble communicating in any meaningful fashion, but calmly watching snooker together was one of the few things we could do together.  I spent hours watching snooker with him in his nursing home.  He seemed to enjoy it, as did I.

Haven't really bothered since, maybe I should start again...

[pjevac]

That's about the only sport I care about lately! Seriously, I've grown rather dissatisfied with football and other team sports, mostly on behalf of stupid, nationalist and racist fans, any time I see a flag, any flag, I turn off or put something else on...
OK, now the ski jumps season is on and I've loved watching that since I was 8 or 10, have been following it and knew all about it ever after, so that's another thing beside snooker and I kind of feel that the fans of that are a bit nicer, but snooker is just over the top for me, I just can't get enough of it!

[cthulhu]

So then, here some appetizers and thrilling excerpts from games:

This is incredible. The headline says it all, but is so cool to watch:
4 Snookers?! Ok, No Problem! Incredible Steal of Snooker Frame!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDhTeLWJBxI&t=22s

Some funny moments:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNvT-ulwgXk&list=LLkVpM-ItP0lgC7RKfodHJuA&index=94&t=0s

Superb Tactical Battle!!! Marco Fu vs John Higgins ᴴᴰ FINAL Scottish Open Snooker 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivwbV-NoHQ8&index=105&list=LLkVpM-ItP0lgC7RKfodHJuA&t=0s

[fiddlesticks]

I don't know much about snooker, except some quotes by Ted Lowe:

"For those of you watching in black and white, the pink is next to the green."

Had to giggle at this from Wikipedia :

He once told viewers that Fred Davis, struggling to rest one leg on the edge of the table in order to reach a long shot, "is getting on a bit and is having trouble getting his leg over".

Our guitarist was once served a pint on Christmas Eve by Steve Davis.

"But I've seen you on the telly", said my friend , in a somewhat worse for wear state.

Turned out that Steve Davis owned the pub.