World Snooker Championship 2015

[Mad Erik]

Used to love the snooker. Probably 10 or even 15 or so years ago, but I loved it. Whenever it was on BBC2 I'd get home from School and stick it straight on.

 

Genuinely don't know if it's my mind playing tricks, or if it's actually the case, but it just seems like snooker's fallen right off the radar.

 

There was the shitty LG Cup in Preston, the UK Open just before Christmas, the Masters in Feb and the you'd get the World Championships at the end of April. I loved it, it seemed like they were events. They'd get a bit of coverage in the papers, a bit on the news.

 

There seemed like players with personalities. In fact, personalities might be the wrong word, but it seemed like they were 'names'. Hendry, Higgins, Docherty, O'Sullivan, Williams, Hunter. I could probably name the top 16 from back then and give you a bit of colour about what the players were like.

 

Now it just doesn't seem the same. I don't know if it is genuinely in the papers less and it's falling off the radar; or if I've got rose-tinted specs on, thinking back to watching the snooker with my brothers when we got home from School, before we had to do shit like 'get jobs'. Though I'm sure I read a year or so ago that the viewing figures on the BBC were as good as they'd been for five or six years and I know Hearn's put a lot of effort into it...

 

Thoughts?

[Bjornebye]

Its fucking ace, always has been always will be. Ace. 

[The Golden Eel]

Ronnie starting shortly

[The Golden Eel]

Used to love the snooker. Probably 10 or even 15 or so years ago, but I loved it. Whenever it was on BBC2 I'd get home from School and stick it straight on.

 

Genuinely don't know if it's my mind playing tricks, or if it's actually the case, but it just seems like snooker's fallen right off the radar.

 

There was the shitty LG Cup in Preston, the UK Open just before Christmas, the Masters in Feb and the you'd get the World Championships at the end of April. I loved it, it seemed like they were events. They'd get a bit of coverage in the papers, a bit on the news.

 

There seemed like players with personalities. In fact, personalities might be the wrong word, but it seemed like they were 'names'. Hendry, Higgins, Docherty, O'Sullivan, Williams, Hunter. I could probably name the top 16 from back then and give you a bit of colour about what the players were like.

 

Now it just doesn't seem the same. I don't know if it is genuinely in the papers less and it's falling off the radar; or if I've got rose-tinted specs on, thinking back to watching the snooker with my brothers when we got home from School, before we had to do shit like 'get jobs'. Though I'm sure I read a year or so ago that the viewing figures on the BBC were as good as they'd been for five or six years and I know Hearn's put a lot of effort into it...

 

Thoughts?

 

I wouldn't say it's fallen off the radar, quite the opposite, but perhaps the mainstream appetite for it isn't quite there like it was before.  There's more tournaments now than ever and they're pretty much all live on Eurosport.  I'd actually go as far as saying that, for a hardcore fan like myself, the amount of tournaments, certainly at certain times, has reached saturation point.  The BBC shows all the same tournaments you mentioned and ITV actually has a couple now too.   So, in terms of actual amount of snooker, there's far more nowadays.  Also the game expanding to China, where there are are several ranking tournaments now.  Saying that, the promised flood of players from China coming through never materialised.

 

As for the thing about personalities, it's something a lot of people complain about.  I'm not really sure it's much different tbh.  Some of the top players in the world at the minute could be considered a bit dull, I guess, like Selby, Robertson, even Ding, etc.  Ronnie obviously is still star of the show and rightly so.  Perhaps cone thing that's changed is that the standard overall is higher and hence it could be perceived to be less, how shall i put it, entertaining, as more frames are won with big breaks, etc, leaving less scope for to and froing.  Though again, I'm not sure that would stack up to actual scrutiny.

 

My conclusion is that you just don't like snooker as much as you used to, for whatever reason. 

[The Golden Eel]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/snooker/32396914

 

Funny

[Stickman]

What I can't stand about modern snooker is why have they all got shitty nicknames is it to try and give them a personality?

 

Dominic Dale- The Spaceman

Shaun Murphy - The Whiston Warrior

Barry Hawkins- The Hawk (brilliant that one)

Judd Trump - The Ace

Stephen McGuire - The Merlin of Milton

Ken Doherty - Darlin of Dublin or Crafty Ken

Barry Pinches - The Canarian

 

And the worst one Mark Selby - The jester from Leicester....saw him getting interviewed the other day he has the personality of a snooker ball...so fuck knows where they got that from?

[The Golden Eel]

Selby has a reputation of interacting/joking about with the crowd.  That's where it came from. 

[Bjornebye]

why the fuck is Murphy called the whiston warrior?

[The Golden Eel]

why the fuck is Murphy called the whiston warrior?

 

I've never heard of that.  The Magician is what I know him as.  

[Bjornebye]

The God Botherer or fat bullied twat is what I know him as.

[Acid]

Ronnie got up to 13 reds and blacks in the first frame. Hopefully that's a sign of things to come.

 

That fella in the Coventry shirt is in his usual seat too.

[Remmie]

Now Stephen Lee has been banned, Murphy has taken over the role of he who looks like he constantly has doughnut residue on his chops.

 

Robertson is a haircut 4000 wanker.

 

At least that tedious human smear test Doherty isn't in it, though still finds a way to ruin it with his commentary.

 

Mark Allen needs his face forced into a blender, the jumped up cuntaxe.

[bouncebrigade]

Craziest frame ever in the Stevens-Williams match.

 

5-2 to Stevens now.

 

Williams face annoys me.

[Mendoza]

Sad to see these two once great players slogging it out in the first round. 

[bouncebrigade]

Sad to see these two once great players slogging it out in the first round. 

 

Sad?  Really?

 

Williams is 40 and has career earnings of over £4m.

 

Stevens is 37 and has career earnings of over £2m.

[RobbieOR]

I wish Ken qualified to be honest. He's a gent.

[Bjornebye]

Stevens played some very very good snooker last night. Darkhorse.

[Elite]

Are there any black professional snooker players? Am yet to see one.

[Bjornebye]

No. I'm surprised the race brigade haven't picked up on that. Or tried to name of the black ball get changed. PC cunts.

[Elite]

No. I'm surprised the race brigade haven't picked up on that. Or tried to name of the black ball get changed. PC cunts.

I find it strange that there aren't any, that's my new mission to play snooker with a black dude.

[The Golden Eel]

There is Rory McLeod.  An absolute fucking bellend he is too. 

[Bjornebye]

Tony Drago looks like my granddad. Who isn't in anyway Maltese. He is from Allerton. Hope this helps.

[Mendoza]

He's utterly shite too.  

[niallers]

Anyone bar Selby the droll prick. Can't stand him. Good player but totally devoid of any humanity,like Davis in the 80's but he at least has developed a likeable personality. Ronnie again please.

[bouncebrigade]

There is Rory McLeod.  An absolute fucking bellend he is too. 

 

We believe you, Rory.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-2960164/Muslim-snooker-player-Rory-McLeod-clarifies-ISIS-waistcoat-badge-sponsor-not-Islamic-terror-group.html