Ronnie O Sullivan

joeguevara · 12-08-2020 5:22pm

Rothko wrote: »

Ah, ok. I have to say I've always felt the opposite :P

The UV pool,tables and balls were unbelievable. Interestingly the black was bright white with a large black spot. It is by far the favourite set of pool balls I had. Unfortunately so did a lot of others and at a euro a game was a very cheap set of balls for some.

McGinniesta · 12-08-2020 5:42pm

I like cake and 9 ball.

Go on the 9 balls.

IAMAMORON · 12-08-2020 7:40pm

Muahahaha wrote: »

yeah Steve Davis was an absolute bore when he was in his prime. It wasnt until he started doing media stuff with BBC and the like that people realized he is actually a pretty sound guy.

He was in Barry Hearn's pocket though, true story.

Hotblack Desiato · 13-08-2020 3:06am

joeguevara wrote: »

One of the worst things i have seen in a snooker interview (and for the life of me i cant remember who said it but was one of the players at the time when asked about stephen hendry) and he replied 'don't mind him, his face comes with free garlic bread.' Terrible but as a young teen I thought it was hilarious.

Spitting Image had him potting a ball by squeezing a zit!

Whereabouts in Rathfarnham was the snooker club mentioned earlier?

The Nal · 13-08-2020 9:51am

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

Spitting Image had him potting a ball by squeezing a zit!

Whereabouts in Rathfarnham was the snooker club mentioned earlier?

Bo Diddleys in Rathfarnham Village. Beside what was Club Sarah and is now the daycare centre. Actually wasn't that great. Tables weren't as good as Jasons or Spawell. Or Potters.

DarTipp · 13-08-2020 10:39am

played a lot in Dublin in the 00s in breaks in drumcondra, most of the tables there were ok, and I still play regularly enough in tipp , Ronnie not as controversial as alex Higgins , the game has gone down a lot in terms of popularity and so many halls have closed down

McGinniesta · 13-08-2020 10:48am

I remember one of the old pros saying that if you want to make it then its best if you are from, or move to, a big city. It's easier to get more games against better opponents.

That's probably true of most games though.

joeguevara · 13-08-2020 10:53am

DarTipp wrote: »

played a lot in Dublin in the 00s in breaks in drumcondra, most of the tables there were ok, and I still play regularly enough in tipp , Ronnie not as controversial as alex Higgins , the game has gone down a lot in terms of popularity and so many halls have closed down

Up Tipp.

Definitely think that snooker has lost its popularity. Growing up in the 80s most of the kids and indeed adults would be glued to the crucible. Snooker players were A List celebrities. Watching them drink and smoke during matches. It actually seems that darts is more popular now than snooker.

Bill Werbeniuk was another one of my favourites. Stories of this flatulence are legendary. I remember reading an interview of his where he admitted that one of his tactics was to let rip just as he was finishing up a break and the smell would put off his opposing player coming to the table. He also split his trousers reaching for a shot when playing denis taylor.

Cienciano · 13-08-2020 11:12am

Hulk Hands wrote: »

Stephen Hendry is comfortably the greatest player ever. Hendry turned the game into somewhat of a farce in the 90s, such was his domainance. The game was far more popular back then than it is now and he alone changed it forever from a tactical game to a heavy scoring game.

O'Sullivan is easily more talented and he's a great character. The ability to play almost as well left handed is frankly ridiculous. Natural talent gets overrated however, albeit understandable, as people love flair. Give me a born winner who maxed out his talent like Hendry over someone who had it easy in comparison as Ronnie did. Ronnie was always near the top but was never dominant

That's why snooker is where it is now. Hendry is good, but could you get a more boring person? Imagine a world snooker championship with 16 players like Hendry or 16 players like O'Sullivan? You might rather the Hendry one, but I guarantee the O'Sullivan one would draw more fans.

joeguevara · 13-08-2020 11:14am

Cienciano wrote: »

That's why snooker is where it is now. Hendry is good, but could you get a more boring person? Imagine a world snooker championship with 16 players like Hendry or 16 players like O'Sullivan? You might rather the Hendry one, but I guarantee the O'Sullivan one would draw more fans.

But when Hendry was on top it was way more popular. I don't understand what you mean.

Cienciano · 13-08-2020 11:42am

joeguevara wrote: »

But when Hendry was on top it was way more popular. I don't understand what you mean.

Snooker was hugely popular in the 80s. Hendry was riding on the coat tails of that. It wasn't more popular in the 90's than now because of Stephen Hendry.
It was popular in the 80s because football was at a low point, lack of TV channels, good characters and lots of tv coverage. Most people on the street could name 10 players. It was getting 20m viewers after midnight.

If you want to use Hendry as a barometer for snookers success, why did it start to wain in popularity in the 90's when he was dominant?

joeguevara · 13-08-2020 11:44am

Cienciano wrote: »

Snooker was hugely popular in the 80s. Hendry was riding on the coat tails of that. It wasn't more popular in the 90's than now because of Stephen Hendry.
It was popular in the 80s because football was at a low point, lack of TV channels, good characters and lots of tv coverage. Most people on the street could name 10 players. It was getting 20m viewers after midnight.

If you want to use Hendry as a barometer for snookers success, why did it start to wain in popularity in the 90's when he was dominant?

Ah I understand now, yes you have a point. I thought you meant late 80s/early 90s as compared to now.

The Nal · 13-08-2020 12:33pm

Cienciano wrote: »

Snooker was hugely popular in the 80s. Hendry was riding on the coat tails of that. It wasn't more popular in the 90's than now because of Stephen Hendry.
It was popular in the 80s because football was at a low point, lack of TV channels, good characters and lots of tv coverage. Most people on the street could name 10 players. It was getting 20m viewers after midnight.

If you want to use Hendry as a barometer for snookers success, why did it start to wain in popularity in the 90's when he was dominant?

Remember there were only 4 channels then. In the UK anyway. BBC 1, 2, ITV and Channel 4. That was it. No internet, no pcs, no phones. And there was hardly any live football on TV.

So of an evening in April 1985, you had a choice of something like Open all Hours followed by the news, some low budget northern crime drama on ITV or the snooker.

petronius · 13-08-2020 12:35pm

Davis and Hendry were boring machines, John Higgins is not far behind them.
Ronnie is the most talented, and plays the greatest snooker I have or the game has ever seen.
But he can act the maggot which you forgive him for because he is so good.
But come on Ronnie, what you said the other day was not cool! Show a bit of respect to the other lesser mortals who play.

The Nal · 13-08-2020 12:38pm

petronius wrote: »

Davis and Hendry were boring machines, John Higgins is not far behind them.
Ronnie is the most talented, and plays the greatest snooker I have or the game has ever seen.
But he can act the maggot which you forgive him for because he is so good.
But come on Ronnie, what you said the other day was not cool! Show a bit of respect to the other lesser mortals who play.

Hendry was not boring. He went for everything and was a break building machine. Lovely queue action and a reasonably quick player too. Used to love watching him. Hes as much a part of the 90s for me as Oasis or Windows 95.

Cienciano · 13-08-2020 12:39pm

The Nal wrote: »

Remember there were only 4 channels then. In the UK anyway. BBC 1, 2, ITV and Channel 4. That was it. No internet, no pcs, no phones. And there was hardly any live football on TV.

So of an evening in April 1985, you had a choice of something like Open all Hours followed by the news, some low budget northern crime drama on ITV or the snooker.

Lack of choice was a big factor.

"Low budget northern crime drama" lol! True though, can almost picture the badly choreographed fights and obviously missed punches now.

Rows Grower · 13-08-2020 12:46pm

What was the story last night with the amount of "kicks" in one frame in particular? They were trying to blame Ronnie's choice of chalk but then when they changed the set of balls the problem was gone so it can't have been his chalk.

I was saying to the wife even before that frame the amount of "kicks" so far in the few games we've watched was probably more than we saw through the whole of the eighties and nineties combined.

They were so few and far between that at the end of the tournaments when they showed highlights of some of the most entertaining shots if there happened to be a kick it was always included.

I wonder could it have something to do with the lack of the crowd in the room affecting the moisture content in the air? Or then again all it might take is for the refs wife to use a new washing powder for his gloves and boom, someones crack at the world title is over.

I think blaming the ref's wife is the right thing to do.

joeguevara · 13-08-2020 12:53pm

The Nal wrote: »

Hendry was not boring. He went for everything and was a break building machine. Lovely queue action and a reasonably quick player too. Used to love watching him. Hes as much a part of the 90s for me as Oasis or Windows 95.

He had no charisma and all his interviews were monotone. He had over 770 century breaks and a huge amount of 147s but still bored. He did crack me up with some of his interviews though. Once, after destroying Davis 9-2, he was asked on TV, “You must be delighted”,
only to reply “I wanted to win 9-0”.

The Nal · 13-08-2020 12:58pm

joeguevara wrote: »

He had no charisma and all his interviews were monotone. He had over 770 century breaks and a huge amount of 147s but still bored. He did crack me up with some of his interviews though. Once, after destroying Davis 9-2, he was asked on TV, “You must be delighted”,
only to reply “I wanted to win 9-0”.

To be fair if Im going to watch someone play snooker for 4 hours one evening, Im not that bothered about the 30 second interview after. Michael Schumacher and Tiger Woods weren't Chris Rock in their interviews either.

Hotblack Desiato · 13-08-2020 12:58pm

The Nal wrote: »

Hendry was not boring.

Him winning so much got boring fast. In the 90s he won the Worlds 7 times (5 in a row) and was runner up once, so only two finals he wasn't in.

Lovely queue action

Ah jesus.

joeguevara · 13-08-2020 1:00pm

The Nal wrote: »

To be fair if Im going to watch someone play snooker for 4 hours one evening, Im not that bothered about the 30 second interview after.

He had no charisma while playing either. He was amazing. He was snooker. But he was boring. Only thing he did interesting was when he had his mid life crisis. But by god, i wish i could be as boring as him and play snooker like him.

joeguevara · 13-08-2020 3:13pm

Wilson McGill match looks to be a cracker.

The Nal · 13-08-2020 3:53pm

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

Ah jesus.

Queue, cue, que. Always confuses me

Strumms · 13-08-2020 4:11pm

petronius wrote: »

Davis and Hendry were boring machines, John Higgins is not far behind them.
Ronnie is the most talented, and plays the greatest snooker I have or the game has ever seen.
But he can act the maggot which you forgive him for because he is so good.
But come on Ronnie, what you said the other day was not cool! Show a bit of respect to the other lesser mortals who play.

Hendry was boring in terms of his personality, he wasn’t flamboyant or outspoken, a quiet guy. But his play around the table was aggressive, risky and entertaining. One of the great long potters, never afraid of a pot or opportunity, regardless of the score, up or down, a brave player.. Loved watching him.

Bobblehats · 13-08-2020 4:23pm

That Apple ad at the end of each frame is doing my head in.

Mad_maxx · 13-08-2020 5:53pm

Strumms wrote: »

Hendry was boring in terms of his personality, he wasn’t flamboyant or outspoken, a quiet guy. But his play around the table was aggressive, risky and entertaining. One of the great long potters, never afraid of a pot or opportunity, regardless of the score, up or down, a brave player.. Loved watching him.

Hendry was a cold fish, famously never mixed with the other players, extremely aloof

Steve Davis had a very sober manner indeed during his heyday but it turned out he had a very good sense of humour

Strumms · 13-08-2020 7:44pm

Mad_maxx wrote: »

Hendry was a cold fish, famously never mixed with the other players, extremely aloof

Steve Davis had a very sober manner indeed during his heyday but it turned out he had a very good sense of humour

Yes, I’d rather have a pint with Davis but watch Hendry play.

joeguevara · 13-08-2020 7:51pm

Strumms wrote: »

Yes, I’d rather have a pint with Davis but watch Hendry play.

Prefer a sesh with jimmy white

Rothko · 13-08-2020 8:06pm

joeguevara wrote: »

Prefer a sesh with jimmy white

You mightn't survive

joeguevara · 13-08-2020 8:09pm

Rothko wrote: »

You mightn't survive

More likely he wouldn’t

Mad_maxx · 13-08-2020 8:58pm

Rothko wrote: »

You mightn't survive

Hung out with Ronnie Wood ,nuff said

Hulk Hands · 13-08-2020 9:12pm

Strumms wrote: »

Hendry was boring in terms of his personality, he wasn’t flamboyant or outspoken, a quiet guy. But his play around the table was aggressive, risky and entertaining. One of the great long potters, never afraid of a pot or opportunity, regardless of the score, up or down, a brave player.. Loved watching him.

Simply the most attacking top player of all time as he had zero safety game. He was a joy to watch at that time and only the fact he was so dominant that turned people off him. Kept to himself at the time as he didn't want to give the competition an inch. Has proven funny and a good personality ever since.

It's easy to both love and hate Ronnie. Very Interesting upbringing. Was a little disappointed by his autobiography, thought there'd be a few more quirks to the story

Hulk Hands · 13-08-2020 9:27pm

Cienciano wrote: »

That's why snooker is where it is now. Hendry is good, but could you get a more boring person? Imagine a world snooker championship with 16 players like Hendry or 16 players like O'Sullivan? You might rather the Hendry one, but I guarantee the O'Sullivan one would draw more fans.

How was he any more of less boring than the majority back then? Everyone assumed Williams had the personality of a pineapple until twitter came along. Higgins did a bit of smiling in interviews when he wasn't dodgy dealing. Ebdon is the slowest most boring player in the history of the game. Nigel Bond? Steve Davis pre commentary? They were all boring to some degree. You cant compare that and hope them to be like very flawed human beings such as White or Ronnie simply for entertainment value.

Hendrys was more attacking than anyone basically ever so it made him a better watch on the table than the rest. It wasn't his fault he was so much better than the rest for a while. Ken, who we all love, was tough to watch on plenty of occasions in comparison. O Sullivan and Trump to be fair to him have been the best watch since

SEPT 23 1989 · 13-08-2020 9:37pm

Snooker needs rock and rollers it lost its swagger a long time ago

Say Your Number · 13-08-2020 9:46pm

Always thought this "characters" talk was a load of bollox, give me two "boring" men playing a brilliant match over two "characters" that struggle to pot three balls in a row.

Mad_maxx · 13-08-2020 10:12pm

Hulk Hands wrote: »

How was he any more of less boring than the majority back then? Everyone assumed Williams had the personality of a pineapple until twitter came along. Higgins did a bit of smiling in interviews when he wasn't dodgy dealing. Ebdon is the slowest most boring player in the history of the game. Nigel Bond? Steve Davis pre commentary? They were all boring to some degree. You cant compare that and hope them to be like very flawed human beings such as White or Ronnie simply for entertainment value.

Hendrys was more attacking than anyone basically ever so it made him a better watch on the table than the rest. It wasn't his fault he was so much better than the rest for a while. Ken, who we all love, was tough to watch on plenty of occasions in comparison. O Sullivan and Trump to be fair to him have been the best watch since

Terry Griffiths made Peter Ebdon look like Hurricane Higgins

Cliff Thorburn was also very boring to watch but still riveting compared to Griffiths, the man from the valley's was simply cruel ,he made Fr Stone from Fr Ted look exciting

ArnoldJRimmer · 13-08-2020 10:31pm

Mad_maxx wrote: »

Terry Griffiths made Peter Ebdon look like Hurricane Higgins

Cliff Thorburn was also very boring to watch but still riveting compared to Griffiths, the man from the valley's was simply cruel ,he made Fr Stone from Fr Ted look exciting

Not a rock I'm prepared to die on, but I think Ebdon was more boring. The Ebdon-Dott final was one of the worst major snooker matches ever played

Mad_maxx · 13-08-2020 10:44pm

ArnoldJRimmer wrote: »

Not a rock I'm prepared to die on, but I think Ebdon was more boring. The Ebdon-Dott final was one of the worst major snooker matches ever played

A tortoise dosed to the gills with sleeping pills would still be faster than Terry Griffiths, the man had no equal, his voice was also incredibly boring

Strumms · 13-08-2020 11:12pm

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

Snooker needs rock and rollers it lost its swagger a long time ago

Be nice, be good for the entertainment factor but not going to happen. There is so much at stake now in the professional game, sport is that competitive now that if you are falling out of nightclubs three nights a week, face in the tabloids sponsorship will suffer and so will your game.... it’s duller from one aspect but we see more or seem to see more big breaks so the general standards and entertainment have improved even if the players are a bit ‘personality safe’.

AllForIt · 14-08-2020 1:23am

Mad_maxx wrote: »

Steve Davis had a very sober manner indeed during his heyday but it turned out he had a very good sense of humour

The Steve Davis look as a cold potting machine was actually contrived. He admitted it himself in later years. It was designed to scare his opponent's off and it worked, 'till Stephen Hendry came along.

In later years no one could believe that Steve Davis is actually quite a cool guy. I understand he does a bit of part time DJ'ing.

cj maxx · 14-08-2020 1:42am

AllForIt wrote: »

The Steve Davis look as a cold potting machine was actually contrived. He admitted it himself in later years. It was designed to scare his opponent's off and it worked, 'till Stephen Hendry came along.

In later years no one could believe that Steve Davis is actually quite a cool guy. I understand he does a bit of part time DJ'ing.

I’ve seen him on a few old comedy shows and he’s pretty funny.

AllForIt · 14-08-2020 2:00am

cj maxx wrote: »

I’ve seen him on a few old comedy shows and he’s pretty funny.

He was a pretty good dry wit for sure.

cj maxx · 14-08-2020 2:06am

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

Snooker needs rock and rollers it lost its swagger a long time ago

Remember the days when Alex had pints and Kirk came back from a toilet break sniffling and playing crazy stuff.
That was entertainment

Hulk Hands · 14-08-2020 10:25am

ArnoldJRimmer wrote: »

Not a rock I'm prepared to die on, but I think Ebdon was more boring. The Ebdon-Dott final was one of the worst major snooker matches ever played

Bad to say cos he's one of our own but Fergal O'Brien is utterly deplorable in this aspect also. Him & Ebdon met a couple of times at smaller events in more recent years, both like tortoises and both with diminishing ability. I think one late starting best of 7 finished at 2.30am

DarTipp · 14-08-2020 10:33am

kirk stevens was another great character in the 80s with the white suit he often played in , he drank with the best of them like jimmy and alex , his 147 at the masters in 84 is memorable, he is supposed to have took cocaine during a big tournament in the 80s , 1986 british open afaik against sylvino Francisco !! you wouldn't get that now, I preferred the players from the 80s such as werbenuik, taylor , Griffiths , reardon etc

joeguevara · 14-08-2020 10:45am

DarTipp wrote: »

kirk stevens was another great character in the 80s with the white suit he often played in , he drank with the best of them like jimmy and alex , his 147 at the masters in 84 is memorable, he is supposed to have took cocaine during a big tournament in the 80s , 1986 british open afaik against sylvino Francisco !! you wouldn't get that now, I preferred the players from the 80s such as werbenuik, taylor , Griffiths , reardon etc

Himself and Jimmy smoked crack together according to White.

Mad_maxx · 14-08-2020 1:36pm

Hulk Hands wrote: »

Bad to say cos he's one of our own but Fergal O'Brien is utterly deplorable in this aspect also. Him & Ebdon met a couple of times at smaller events in more recent years, both like tortoises and both with diminishing ability. I think one late starting best of 7 finished at 2.30am

Ebdon wasn't slow when he started out ,remember he had long hair at the time

His inner tortoise is a form of gamesmanship

Rows Grower · 14-08-2020 6:37pm

Jesus Christ what a painful frame to watch, worse I ever saw.

The two of them would have been f**cked off any club table if there were other players waiting for a game.

ArnoldJRimmer · 14-08-2020 6:50pm

Rows Grower wrote: »

Jesus Christ what a painful frame to watch, worse I ever saw.

The two of them would have been f**cked off any club table if there were other players waiting for a game.

Seriously? That was amazing, one of the tensest and most entertaining frames I've ever sat through

Rows Grower · 14-08-2020 6:54pm

ArnoldJRimmer wrote: »

Seriously? That was amazing, one of the tensest and most entertaining frames I've ever sat through

Dead serious, but you're entitled to your opinion as much as I am.

Ronnie O Sullivan

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