Proper snooker! I missed you,
and now you are back. (Didn't you use to be taller longer?). And there are frames and no weird pockets and players can think about the shot they're taking. Not that there's always a great deal of evidence that that is happening, but well, they could do. (Power snooker - clearly I am not the intended audience for making snooker more fun and exciting by gimmicking it when it is clearly right up there with the sliced bread making machine already. Anyway.)
Back in York! Where Rob Walker is so happy to be (poor little Telford) so his wives and girlfriends can go shopping while he gives out candy to children and practices with the lights and the speeches and the clapping. And interviewing the audience stand in for John Higgins like he was the real thing. Fake!JH sounding a bunch more confident than the real thing when the actual snooker players showed up. Rory 'the highlander' Mcleod, clearly a man of few words, or in need of questions that can't just be answered with a yes.
Surprised they're playing in a multitable format without a proper dividor, I mean yay that you can see all the snooker all the time, but it does mean that half of 'your' audience will suddenly erupt in applause because they saw something cool on the other table while you're trying to do your thing. Like that first fluky ricocheting red-white miss rebound that ended up letting Higgins in early on.
And now we're playing chase the respotted black ball round the table, some nice positional play on both sides. Had more than a couple of flukes, and despite taking the early lead, Higgins seeming to need them, in that first part-session. Kinda scrappy and not very much in the way of breaks to go on, really not one visit snooker, and I think one of the broadcasting TVs broke.
Neal Foulds must wish he did slightly better in his snooker career, as he always seems to be the afterthought of the commentators introductions. And for, like, more snooker related reasons too.
Ding not off to a flying start either, and Mark Davis, (who must have thought he'd have a shot at just being referred to by his last name on the scoreboards, but no) despite needing to learn how to tuck his shirt in, taking advantage to start off with. Not by enough, though as Ding scrambled back to make it 2-2 and then sod off for a teabreak while the other half of the room are just finished with the second frame. And now I wonder if it's possible to have pick up both commentary boxes if I'd an earpiece on each ear. Damnit should've thought of that earlier, and could've had ears bouncing back and forward as much as my eyeballs.
The lighting of the lighting of the long shots does make it almost like there's a wall there apart from there not being one. Pay attention to your own match, John, and maybe you wouldn't be 3-1 down, Or 4-2, 4-2's not good, why are you doing this? Why do you always do this?
That said, Mcleod's long pots are really consistently good. Not for always, but they're mostly going in whereas Higgins might as well be tossing a coin to guess whether they're going in the pocket. Meanwhile Ding and Davis vieing fairly evenly. Ding not able to pull away, and their game seems to be slowing down, more than 23 minutes that one. Ding not quite slumping over the table at that missed shot, but doing a very good impression of almost doing that. Mark Davis getting him tangled in a snooker and again.
In fact they're slowing down enough that the Higgins-Mcleod is starting to catch up. John playing better. Not good, still needing a couple of goes to take that frame, but that's better than losing them. Thats a couple of slow rolling crept over the line and rolled into the pocket balls to get it back to a 5-4 lead. And there goes the bingely-bongely-beep of someone's mobile phone.
And the green is right close to the pocket and near the white and if only that pesky other ball wasn't in the way, or if John hadn't let a snooker needing Mcleaod put him in that position and then knock it round the table and still not hit the green, either would work. Except that would be too easy, and it's down to the final deciding frame instead.
Ding and Davis not able to capitalise and turn a 5-4 lead into a 6-4 win, that match going to a final frame handshake only a few minutes ahead of the same in the one on the other side of the fence. Ding manages it in the end though.
John trading metaphorucal punches and doing okay in frame 11, considering he just got pegged back. Man, that is such a jammy yellow I can't believe it, And the pink! Well, I'm glad he won, and also/mainly relieved, but John has gotta play better to get much further in the tournament, or have even more improbable fluky luck, whether it's Maguire or Hendry he gets to play with next.
And which of them it is could go either way right now (3-2) I do like that the commentators (Hi Ken! Hi! Sorry I missed you. *adds book to Christmas list*) seem vaguely obliged to be full-naming both of them whenever they say something. Or offer such pearls of wisdom such as 'it can go wrong'. Which it seems to be doing right now for Maguire, despite him being in front but not by as much as he'd like. Hendry winning that last despite needing an extra go to do so.
I think if Jan Verhaas told me to do something, it's very unlikely that he'd have to tell me twice.
Invisible!Matthew Stevens (or Sir not appearing on my TV at the moment) is doing quite well, beating the equally televisually challenged Marcus Campbell. Who Matthew technically outranks at the moments, but pfft like that is any guarantee of him beating people.
Aww, now Hendry and Maguire are making Jan Verhaas work for a living.
Back in York! Where Rob Walker is so happy to be (poor little Telford) so his wives and girlfriends can go shopping while he gives out candy to children and practices with the lights and the speeches and the clapping. And interviewing the audience stand in for John Higgins like he was the real thing. Fake!JH sounding a bunch more confident than the real thing when the actual snooker players showed up. Rory 'the highlander' Mcleod, clearly a man of few words, or in need of questions that can't just be answered with a yes.
Surprised they're playing in a multitable format without a proper dividor, I mean yay that you can see all the snooker all the time, but it does mean that half of 'your' audience will suddenly erupt in applause because they saw something cool on the other table while you're trying to do your thing. Like that first fluky ricocheting red-white miss rebound that ended up letting Higgins in early on.
And now we're playing chase the respotted black ball round the table, some nice positional play on both sides. Had more than a couple of flukes, and despite taking the early lead, Higgins seeming to need them, in that first part-session. Kinda scrappy and not very much in the way of breaks to go on, really not one visit snooker, and I think one of the broadcasting TVs broke.
Neal Foulds must wish he did slightly better in his snooker career, as he always seems to be the afterthought of the commentators introductions. And for, like, more snooker related reasons too.
Ding not off to a flying start either, and Mark Davis, (who must have thought he'd have a shot at just being referred to by his last name on the scoreboards, but no) despite needing to learn how to tuck his shirt in, taking advantage to start off with. Not by enough, though as Ding scrambled back to make it 2-2 and then sod off for a teabreak while the other half of the room are just finished with the second frame. And now I wonder if it's possible to have pick up both commentary boxes if I'd an earpiece on each ear. Damnit should've thought of that earlier, and could've had ears bouncing back and forward as much as my eyeballs.
The lighting of the lighting of the long shots does make it almost like there's a wall there apart from there not being one. Pay attention to your own match, John, and maybe you wouldn't be 3-1 down, Or 4-2, 4-2's not good, why are you doing this? Why do you always do this?
That said, Mcleod's long pots are really consistently good. Not for always, but they're mostly going in whereas Higgins might as well be tossing a coin to guess whether they're going in the pocket. Meanwhile Ding and Davis vieing fairly evenly. Ding not able to pull away, and their game seems to be slowing down, more than 23 minutes that one. Ding not quite slumping over the table at that missed shot, but doing a very good impression of almost doing that. Mark Davis getting him tangled in a snooker and again.
In fact they're slowing down enough that the Higgins-Mcleod is starting to catch up. John playing better. Not good, still needing a couple of goes to take that frame, but that's better than losing them. Thats a couple of slow rolling crept over the line and rolled into the pocket balls to get it back to a 5-4 lead. And there goes the bingely-bongely-beep of someone's mobile phone.
And the green is right close to the pocket and near the white and if only that pesky other ball wasn't in the way, or if John hadn't let a snooker needing Mcleaod put him in that position and then knock it round the table and still not hit the green, either would work. Except that would be too easy, and it's down to the final deciding frame instead.
Ding and Davis not able to capitalise and turn a 5-4 lead into a 6-4 win, that match going to a final frame handshake only a few minutes ahead of the same in the one on the other side of the fence. Ding manages it in the end though.
John trading metaphorucal punches and doing okay in frame 11, considering he just got pegged back. Man, that is such a jammy yellow I can't believe it, And the pink! Well, I'm glad he won, and also/mainly relieved, but John has gotta play better to get much further in the tournament, or have even more improbable fluky luck, whether it's Maguire or Hendry he gets to play with next.
And which of them it is could go either way right now (3-2) I do like that the commentators (Hi Ken! Hi! Sorry I missed you. *adds book to Christmas list*) seem vaguely obliged to be full-naming both of them whenever they say something. Or offer such pearls of wisdom such as 'it can go wrong'. Which it seems to be doing right now for Maguire, despite him being in front but not by as much as he'd like. Hendry winning that last despite needing an extra go to do so.
I think if Jan Verhaas told me to do something, it's very unlikely that he'd have to tell me twice.
Invisible!Matthew Stevens (or Sir not appearing on my TV at the moment) is doing quite well, beating the equally televisually challenged Marcus Campbell. Who Matthew technically outranks at the moments, but pfft like that is any guarantee of him beating people.
Aww, now Hendry and Maguire are making Jan Verhaas work for a living.