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Is Jimmy White a giant of the game?

Yes
19
86%
No
3
14%
 
Total votes : 22

Is Jimmy White a giant of the game?

Postby Prop

Serious question. In my eyes Jimmy was a huge part of the game in the 80s, 90s, and has remained a household name to this day. Granted, he isn’t as competitive now as he once was, but he’s built an incredible legacy, and because of that will always be a giant of the game.

What do you think?

Re: Is Jimmy White a giant of the game?

Postby SnookerEd25

Who puts bums on seats like Jimmy? :chin:

Ron - of course, Alex Higgins back in the day; but after that you're struggling. these are the top 3 crowd pullers in snooker history - even Davis and Hendry are left behind in those stakes.

Giants all <ok>

Re: Is Jimmy White a giant of the game?

Postby RunningSide

100% a great player for many years, always entertaining at the expense of winning some huge matches. Playing on because he loves snooker, don't think we'll see another like him when he eventually calls it a day

Re: Is Jimmy White a giant of the game?

Postby orky

Answer is defo yes. One of the all time greats of the game of that there is no doubt. Yes not the most dedicated in his younger/prime years but that's what made him special. Will always be in the top 10 list or thereabouts of all time great snooker players.

Re: Is Jimmy White a giant of the game?

Postby Granite

No.

ZERO world titles and a big choker where it mattered the most. If he had 10% of Selby's mental strength he'd have won world titles.

Re: Is Jimmy White a giant of the game?

Postby Iranu

Granite wrote:No.

ZERO world titles and a big choker where it mattered the most. If he had 10% of Selby's mental strength he'd have won world titles.

Being a giant of the game in this context isn’t about titles won as much as impact, how well known the player is, how they’re viewed by peers and later generations, things like that.

Is he an all-time great? Absolutely not. Is he a giant of the game? Absolutely. To this day he’s (righty or wrongly) a bigger draw than 99% of the tour in terms of crowds.

How many snooker players have had even one video game with their named in the title?

Re: Is Jimmy White a giant of the game?

Postby csprince

Iranu wrote:
Granite wrote:No.

ZERO world titles and a big choker where it mattered the most. If he had 10% of Selby's mental strength he'd have won world titles.

Being a giant of the game in this context isn’t about titles won as much as impact, how well known the player is, how they’re viewed by peers and later generations, things like that.

Is he an all-time great? Absolutely not. Is he a giant of the game? Absolutely. To this day he’s (righty or wrongly) a bigger draw than 99% of the tour in terms of crowds.

How many snooker players have had even one video game with their named in the title?


rightly.

Re: Is Jimmy White a giant of the game?

Postby Johnny Bravo

Iranu wrote:
Granite wrote:No.

ZERO world titles and a big choker where it mattered the most. If he had 10% of Selby's mental strength he'd have won world titles.

Being a giant of the game in this context isn’t about titles won as much as impact, how well known the player is, how they’re viewed by peers and later generations, things like that.

Is he an all-time great? Absolutely not. Is he a giant of the game? Absolutely. To this day he’s (righty or wrongly) a bigger draw than 99% of the tour in terms of crowds.

How many snooker players have had even one video game with their named in the title?

:hatoff: :spot on: :goodpost: :goodpost: :goodpost:

Re: Is Jimmy White a giant of the game?

Postby RunningSide

Don't understand why a genuine snooker fan can't appreciate Jimmy's impact on the game, perhaps not old enough to see him playing in his prime but he continued what Alex Higgins had started. If selby had surfaced in the early 80s the game would be finished and you'd have 16 players playing in some working mens club for the WC.

Re: Is Jimmy White a giant of the game?

Postby csprince

of course he is.no2 in the davis dominant years and again with hendry.10 ranking titles when there wasn't a packed calendar.uk and masters champion 6 world finals.not sure what else he has to do to be considered a great/legend. winning the world title isn't the be all and end all.you judge a player on their career as a whole. what they achieve what there peers and fans think of them. the legacy they leave to the sport.not how many world titles they win.

Re: Is Jimmy White a giant of the game?

Postby orky

He is 100% an all time great and if anyone begs to differ they probably don't understand the game of snooker and/ or evolution. Players like him and Davis would have produced a far higher standard of play had they been born 10/15/20 years later than what they were. As mentioned Jimmy has won 10 rankers at a time when there were just a couple of rankers a season in the early eighties, certainly not 15/20 we have these days and players choosing which events they enter. Winning the Masters plus of course those 6 world finals along with his style of play and impact on the game for future generations definitely cements his place in history as an all time snooker great. Ask all the players I'm sure he will hover around the top 10 mark of best snooker players ever.

Re: Is Jimmy White a giant of the game?

Postby Iranu

orky wrote:He is 100% an all time great and if anyone begs to differ they probably don't understand the game of snooker and/ or evolution. Players like him and Davis would have produced a far higher standard of play had they been born 10/15/20 years later than what they were. As mentioned Jimmy has won 10 rankers at a time when there were just a couple of rankers a season in the early eighties, certainly not 15/20 we have these days and players choosing which events they enter. Winning the Masters plus of course those 6 world finals along with his style of play and impact on the game for future generations definitely cements his place in history as an all time snooker great. Ask all the players I'm sure he will hover around the top 10 mark of best snooker players ever.

He’s not an all-time great but he’s a giant

Re: Is Jimmy White a giant of the game?

Postby orky

If we are talking about impact on the game I would probably have him at number 2 maybe behind Alex Higgins and ahead of Steve Davis, but that's mainly because of when they all turned pro. If you are asking if Jimmy is/was a giant of the game, 100% yes, if you are asking if he's an all time great, again I would say 100% yes. Is he one of the top 10/12 best players ever to have the played the game? Again I would say 100% yes. I will contradict myself slightly by saying it's very hard to compare players from different eras, the game has moved on almost unrecognisably from when players like Davis and White were youngsters/ in their prime.

Re: Is Jimmy White a giant of the game?

Postby orky

What do you base you base your opinion on when you say he's not an all time great? Be interesting to know, not having a dig. He's defo an all time great but I can understand people under the age of 30 thinking he shouldn't be an all time great.

Re: Is Jimmy White a giant of the game?

Postby Iranu

orky wrote:If we are talking about impact on the game I would probably have him at number 2 maybe behind Alex Higgins and ahead of Steve Davis, but that's mainly because of when they all turned pro. If you are asking if Jimmy is/was a giant of the game, 100% yes, if you are asking if he's an all time great, again I would say 100% yes. Is he one of the top 10/12 best players ever to have the played the game? Again I would say 100% yes. I will contradict myself slightly by saying it's very hard to compare players from different eras, the game has moved on almost unrecognisably from when players like Davis and White were youngsters/ in their prime.

Davis is ahead of Jimmy and maybe Higgins too in terms of impact. Higgins may have pulled snooker out of the backrooms (I personally think he’s given too much credit for this) but Davis pushed it into the world of professional sport in a way we still see today. And a lot of Jimmy’s impact was as a mirror to Davis.

But being an all-time great and being a giant are different things anyway. Dennis Taylor is one half of the seminal moment in snooker history. He’s absolutely a giant of the game. Is he a great? Is he buck.

Re: Is Jimmy White a giant of the game?

Postby Iranu

orky wrote:What do you base you base your opinion on when you say he's not an all time great? Be interesting to know, not having a dig. He's defo an all time great but I can understand people under the age of 30 thinking he shouldn't be an all time great.

Well I’m not under 30*

He’s not an all-time great because ultimately he doesn’t have the CV for it. Is Parrott an all-time great? Is Murphy? Is Robertson? Robertson is the closest of the three but I don’t think he quite makes the cut.

To me, an all-time great would be something like “if you were to make an all-time tournament based on a player’s CV, who would be in the quarter finals?”

For me that would be: Davis, Hendry, O’Sullivan, J Higgins, Selby, Reardon, Mark Williams, and then a toss up between Spencer and Alex Higgins (I’d go for Higgins personally but I’ll admit a bias in that).

Re: Is Jimmy White a giant of the game?

Postby TheRocket

If Jimmy is an All-Time Great then a low tier one. And thats the best case scenario.

No disrespect to him but sporting performance should be put above anything else and he did have a good career but its certainly not an All-Time Great CV. Obviously the lack of World titles is a big minus. So its mainly his popularity and entertaining style of play that gives him a chance to still be considered a Great.

Re: Is Jimmy White a giant of the game?

Postby SnookerEd25

Slightly off-topic though, the last few posts.

Is he an all-time great? no

But the original question in this thread - is he a giant of the game? 100% yes.

There is a difference.

Re: Is Jimmy White a giant of the game?

Postby Iranu

SnookerEd25 wrote:Slightly off-topic though, the last few posts.

Is he an all-time great? no

But the original question in this thread - is he a giant of the game? 100% yes.

There is a difference.

How dare you suggest I was off-topic, that was my entire point :no:

And to ensure this post isn’t off-topic: while definitely a giant on Snooker Island, I would personally not consider SnookerEd a giant in snooker generally.

Re: Is Jimmy White a giant of the game?

Postby TheRocket

SnookerEd25 wrote:Slightly off-topic though, the last few posts.

Is he an all-time great? no

But the original question in this thread - is he a giant of the game? 100% yes.

There is a difference.


I'd still argue that even "All-Time Great" is a little bit about legacy and the reputation as well

Maybe 80% CV and 20% legacy I'd say. And Jimmy certainly has the legacy part in him and thats why he is called Great by some pundits despite lacking the CV. But as I said, low tier one in best case scenario.

As for Giant of the game though. No doubt. He absolutely is.

Re: Is Jimmy White a giant of the game?

Postby orky

I guess it's all subjective at the end of the day. I class him as an all time great mainly based on achievements at the table, not because of popularity etc. Lower tier all time great, yes. 10 raking titles from the eighties and early nineties (yes I take note of the surprise win in 2004) is worth probably 20+ rankers these days. There were so few rankers back in the eighties, steadily increasing over time. Funnily enough, had he won one of those 6 world finals wouldn't have made much difference to where I would place him on the all time greats list.

Re: Is Jimmy White a giant of the game?

Postby SnookerEd25

Iranu wrote:
SnookerEd25 wrote:Slightly off-topic though, the last few posts.

Is he an all-time great? no

But the original question in this thread - is he a giant of the game? 100% yes.

There is a difference.

How dare you suggest I was off-topic, that was my entire point :no:

And to ensure this post isn’t off-topic: while definitely a giant on Snooker Island, I would personally not consider SnookerEd a giant in snooker generally.


You’re lucky I’m in a good mood tonight :ok:

And that I’m only four foot two :sad: