Snooker

[Bazile]

1. Where does Ronnie O'Sullivan rank compared with the likes of Steve Davis , Steven Hendry , in your opinion ?

2. In a game in the final , the pink spot was unavailable , as was all the other spots , so the referee placed the pink ball behind the green ball which was on it's spot .
Is there a particular reason for that , as opposed to placing it behind any other colour spot ?

3. In the tournament , in a game , there was discussion by the commentators with respect to a spot marked with an x on the table .
What was that about ? ( i only caught the end bit of the discussion )

[DTCwordfan]

Oodles of talent, not the durability of Davis or Hendy - his quarter final demolition was pure heaven and some of the finest snooker ever seen, apart from being record breaking.

As to 2, I would surmise that the green was the spot to which he could position the pink closest to the spot.....in my day it used to be between the cushion and the black, then black to pink if the latter was blocked and ditto pink to blue etc.....

3, I didn't catch - had the spot been removed?

[excelsior-1]

i'm very good at snooker

i could play for hours, and never lose a single ball down one of those pockets

[DTCwordfan]

Ronnie O’Sullivan showed me a trick-shot earlier last year.
He said, “Pick a pocket”
So I nicked his chalk.

[jim360]

I never saw Steve Davis in his heyday, and only really saw the latter end of Stephen Hendry's career, so I'm probably not the best person to assess. In terms of longevity, Steve Davis was competitive from 1980 until as late as 2005 when he got to the UK championships, so that has to count for something.

For sheer dominance, Stephen Hendry. For flair, ability and natural talent, Ronnie O'Sullivan. So, for myself, I'd probably place the order as Hendry, O'Sullivan, Davis -- but, should Ronnie pick up a couple more World titles and other majors then he'll surely overtake Hendry, if he hasn't already. In the last couple of years Ronnie has shown some of his best snooker -- almost a more mature and complete player now than he was before. He could go on to dominate the big competitions for another few years yet. I do hope so, he's well worth watching.

[Sipowicz]

As regards Q2, Are you sure Bazile? When a spot isn't available, the ball is placed as close as possible (without touching another ball) to it's own spot in a direct line to the top cushion.

[Sipowicz]

http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110120090501AAaM2tm

[Bazile]

sipowicz - i am 99.9% it was the pink ball ( i remenber the commentator saying that the pink spot is not available ) and he placed it behind the green ball , which was on it's spot .

I'm sure someone is going to come along , who saw what i am referring to , and tell me it was not the pink ball .

If it wasn't , then in what situation would a ball be required to be placed directly behind the green ball ?

[Ellipsis]

I saw the bit of the match you're referring to, and I wasn't paying too close attention, but my impression was that the green spot was available - the green being close to its spot but not so close as to prevent the pink being placed on it.

[Sipowicz]

I didn't see it but, it sounds as though the pink spot was covered and the highest available spot was the green spot!

[DTCwordfan]

that makes sense, ellipsis.......highest spot available and if none are available as close to the black as possible, and if all the space was taken, then pink.....

[SirOracle]

The green spot was available--just.

[Sipowicz]

Wrong, as close to it's own spot as possible, in a direct line to the top cushion, without touching another ball! See previous link.

[Bazile]

That's the obvious explanation ; however i got the impression that the green ball was on it's spot .
It must have been very close as the yellow brown and green balls looked in line

[Sipowicz]

That makes sense SirOracle!

[Sipowicz]

Sorry Ellipsis, missed your reply, that sounds right.

[gingejbee]

Q4: How do you stop falling to sleep when this "sport" is on television?

[Bazile]

What about my point 3 - did anyone see that bit ?

I know that sometimes they put a virtual cross / circle on the screen , to show where , ideally a ball should come to rest .

However in this case , they appeared to be talking about something else

[Sipowicz]

I had the whole final recorded! I've just fast forwarded it, it wasn't the pink, it was the black! The black spot was covered the highest available spot was the green, the green was close to it's spot but not on it. As for Q3, I'm sorry but I'm not going to watch the whole lot back!

[Ellipsis]

Usually the commentators place an x using a video overlay where they think a player should try to place the ball (or should have placed it if the shot has already happened), or perhaps where the ball was, e.g. in a "foul and a miss" situation.