34 Days of back to back snooker begins today !

zuutroy

zuutroy wrote: »

Eurosport have been brilliant the past 5 years for snooker so I'll always cut them some slack.

Fair point Eurosport are great for snooker. Was still annoying to hear Murray come out with that line - he should have said summit less 'controversial'

Peter Lines don't half sound like Dave Gilbert.... When he was co-commentating before; I thought it were Dave... good at it too is Peter, a natural 'Co-Commentator'

Jimmy's gone Auburn with his barnet :pac:

Joe_ Public

I understand you need to liaise with broadcasters to get your sport covered, but i think there's a risk in letting the broadcaster exert too much control. And i believe that's why the uk went the road it did. Pretty sure it was a beeb idea too to come up with this 1 v 128 draw to minimise shocks and helped lead to so many one sided early matches. Doubt they'll be very happy to see the defending champ gone, top quarter of the draw already looking a bit thin, especially if allen goes out. Though i see he's 5-4 ahead now.

Joe_ Public

Milkins finally gets it done after a wobble or two against Gilbert. Was excellent early on and outside of the top guys, there are few i like watching more than Rob when he's in full flow. Such an unfulfilled talent. I know he's going to frustrate me by being awful in his next match! Worrying for Dave Gilbert, his bad year continues.

gormdubhgorm

Joe_ Public wrote: »

If only... It's not distinctive enough from other tournaments for me. I'd like it to go back to exactly how it was in the (glory) days, BO17 from last 32. Don't see it happening anytime soon, though. Don't think the bbc wants it.

It nowhere near the same prestige as when it was best of 17.
To be honest I question whether it should be considered part of the 'treble crown' now. I expect in future the biggest tournament in China will be the one players will want on the CV.

Today the UK championship has the feel of the way the English go on about 'THE boat race' imo.

Joe_ Public

gormdubhgorm wrote: »

It nowhere near the same prestige as when it was best of 17.
To be honest I question whether it should be considered part of the 'treble crown' now. I expect in future the biggest tournament in China will be the one players will want on the CV.

Today the UK championship has the feel of the way the English go on about 'THE boat race' imo.

I definitely don't disagree, it has been seriously devalued in my eyes. I guess maybe when the changes were being initiated, snooker wasn't in such a great state and bbc was able to call the shots. But that doesn't excuse it imo, history and tradition are what make certain events "major" and the history i grew up with was the uk as a long form tournament. Honestly don't know how things develop in the future. Having a "major" in china would make sense but does take time for that tradition to develop i think.

zuutroy

There are big problems with sponsorship and a year without Chinese tournaments certainly haven't helped the balance sheets so it could be a lean couple of years.

gormdubhgorm

Joe_ Public wrote: »

I definitely don't disagree, it has been seriously devalued in my eyes. I guess maybe when the changes were being initiated, snooker wasn't in such a great state and bbc was able to call the shots. But that doesn't excuse it imo, history and tradition are what make certain events "major" and the history i grew up with was the uk as a long form tournament. Honestly don't know how things develop in the future. Having a "major" in china would make sense but does take time for that tradition to develop i think.

I would say the players are afraid of saying what they think. When I was looking up WC stuff. I was shocked that Williams was once fined 4K just because he said he hated the crucible in a tweet! :eek:

Joe_ Public

Allen gone. Chang held his nerve well there in the finish, good scalp for him.

Joe_ Public

gormdubhgorm wrote: »

I would say the players are afraid of saying what they think. When I was looking up WC stuff. I was shocked that Williams was once fined 4K just because he said he hated the crucible in a tweet! :eek:

Ha ha yeah, the whole fines thing is ridiculous. Ok if you're ronnie or mjw, a few hundred quid fines here or there won't kill you, but if you're not earning big money, you're going to be careful what you say. 4k is ridiculous, like something you'd see with Augusta.

Brian?

gormdubhgorm wrote: »

It nowhere near the same prestige as when it was best of 17.
To be honest I question whether it should be considered part of the 'treble crown' now. I expect in future the biggest tournament in China will be the one players will want on the CV.

Today the UK championship has the feel of the way the English go on about 'THE boat race' imo.

This format has turned it into just another tournament. Round 1 should be the top 16 v 16 qualifiers.

The whole "triple crown " thing has always been nonsense. Something Barry Hearn came up with less than 10 years ago.

Brian?

gormdubhgorm wrote: »

I would say the players are afraid of saying what they think. When I was looking up WC stuff. I was shocked that Williams was once fined 4K just because he said he hated the crucible in a tweet! :eek:

Ronnie has said a good few times the China Open is his number 2 after the world's.

Joe_ Public

I think they doubled the prize money for the china open a couple of years back so they're obviously pushing it hard there. My big issue with china is the lack of atmosphere at events there, half full venues for most of the players. Whether that's down to steep ticket prices or other factors. I also think a switch of date would benefit it, being in such proximity to the worlds diminishes its prestige a little imo. They could switch it with that new saudi arabia event that was supposed to be on board next year iirc.

Chalk McHugh

Ursenbacher takes the first frame and interestingly Ronnie continues his recent fad clearing the balls when he has no chance of winning the frame. I wonder how long he will do this before getting bored of it?

Arthur Daley

Good start for Alex here. Should have put the pink safe on Ronnie there instead of the green.

But 2-0 now. Ronnie needs to get going.

Chalk McHugh

2-0 to the Swiss cueist.

Joe_ Public

Arthur Daley wrote: »

Good start for Alex here. Should have put the pink safe on Ronnie there instead of the green.

But 2-0 now. Ronnie needs to get going.

He didn't even get the green safe! 3 absolutely terrible shots after he potted red to middle. Got it done anyway, no issue with his potting ability.

Chalk McHugh

Funny there where Ursenbacher was 60 points ahead with only the blue, pink and black left and he looked to have missed the blue and Ronnie was up of his seat to clear the three balls when the blue disappeared im the top pocket.

Chalk McHugh

Ursenbacher is a bit loose with the cue ball and after a promising start he's hit a few dodgy shots and Ronnie looking like levelling at the interval.

zuutroy

Urs getting so much run.

Chalk McHugh

Very careless of Ron to go in off there.

Chalk McHugh

Ursenbacher takes advantage and clears up. Bit of a blow that to Ronnie. Swiss leads 3-1.

Joe_ Public

That green was ballsy. Didn't expect him to play it like that. Deserved lead.

sligeach

O'Sullivan deserves to be 3-1 behind. Having said that, Ursenbacher has played some really poor snooker himself as well as good.

sligeach

Ursenbacher's safety play is rancid. Another dreadful effort hitting the green just now. But may have got away with it. He's not too bad amongst the balls. 4-2 now.

The Nal

Jesus Ronnie is all over the shop here

zuutroy

Think he's probably going to say he's sick or something. He's certainly hamming it up.

Joe_ Public

As bad a frame as i've seen him play for a long time. The missed green earlier he threw his shoulder at, normally never see him do that, ever.

sligeach

Ursenbacher has made a mess on yet another great chance. A bit more concentration and care with his shots and the match would probably be over already.

sligeach

That was a wreckless attempt at the pot again from Ursenbacher. It's gonna be 4-4. He's had Ronnie on the ropes, but made a balls of things.

Edit: Ah here, this is beyond amateurish.