April 20, 2024

Snooker's Back

With all the technical advances in Fun-1, it's nice to get back to a man vs man sport like Snooker. Sorry. It's not dull and boring. It's tactical (in a nice way), it's a sport where your mistakes are measured visibly, and it has the cruel fascination of watching someone who's just made the biggest mistake of his career sit in their seat while their opponent clears the table.

And you can be sure of old women screaming "Garrr-on Jimmmeeeee!!!"

I blame my Gran for getting me into snooker, and explaining in detail the game of "Cat and Mouse" when one player needs a snooker to win the game. I think that's where it all started - because nobody else in the family likes Snooker. My parents never watched it, Vikki doesn't understand, and as there's no purple balls, Eilidh can't work out what's going on.

Of course I had to make do with a 12" black and white portable TV when I was younger, which leads to a wonderfully useless skill of recognising grey balls as opposed to grey balls which snooker you behind the other grey ball.

Now though, BBC Interactive is wonderful. It doesn't matter what's on BBC 2 during the day or in the evening, if I 'Press The Red Button' I get to choose either table at the Crucible, and can watch it, live, with (or without!) commentary. Even if Gardner's World is on. Yesterday's match (Peter Ebdon and Ian McCulloch) has been on now for 12 hours (it started at 10am) and I've been able to follow it. All day. With no interuptions apart from the breaks the players take.

And, oh, the commentators. they know their sport, they know the players, and they know when to shut up. Gorgeous.

There's one more big difference. Nobody's got a clue who's going to win.

Posted by Ewan at April 20, 2024 07:50 AM
Comments
It's so dull!!!! We're sitting here watching two grown men chase red balls round a table without potting any! Now, when my sister and I play pool together, the same thing usually happens, but we're having a laugh about it and usually end up with a bit of an audience who can't believe just how crap we both are, but it's entertaining for everyone. It might last perhaps half an hour or so. Not twelve bloody hours!! This is worse than Vogon poetry! Posted by: Jadeviper on April 26, 2024 09:03 PM
OMIGODS!!!! They've just scrapped the frame and are starting all over again! These two have been playing so defensively, neither was potting anything and had both been making the same shots over and over again... and now they've gone back to the start! It was all a waste of time! AAAARGH!!!!! I'm going to bed, I can't take this! Posted by: Jadeviper on April 26, 2024 09:08 PM
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