So...when is Ronnie O'sullivan playing again ?

SF I didn't say that.

My point was that if you were Ronnie, currently by far the biggest exhibition draw in snooker by a country mile, you would turn up and collect £5k - £10k+ for a few hours bashing balls against the whirlwind in Scunthorpe.

Actually scratch that. I'd want £20k to go to Scunny.

Dan-cat wrote:Doing the Legend shows keeps his hand in and he's making money - he takes most of the gate. Why wouldn't he? You would, if you could. But you can't. Because you are not Ronnie. Only Ronnie is Ronnie. Not me. Or you. Only him. Ronnie = Ronnie, you not Ronnie. Cleared up? Good.

ill be honest if i was a pro player i would get nothing out of exhibitions and fun events its all about winning real events against a hardened field for me.

SnookerFan wrote:

Wildey wrote:ill be honest if i was a pro player i would get nothing out of exhibitions and fun events its all about winning real events against a hardened field for me.

No reason why he can't do both.

no if that what he wants to do.

But id get no Enjoyment Playing in that kind of things my self.

In his latest Blog for ES, Ronnie says " The reason why I'm not playing in the International Championship in Daqing in China (Oct 25-1 Nov) is because I haven't prepared properly. I will only enter competitions if I'm ready.

Otherwise, I feel like I'm letting myself down, and more importantly the people who pay to come and watch me and the people who watch me play on television. I'm sure they want to see me at my best too.

I'm doing plenty of exhibitions which I'm enjoying a lot. It's great to get back into the snooker clubs and feel the atmosphere of the club camaraderie."

http://www.eurosport.co.uk/snooker/ronn ... tory.shtml

Ronnie also mentions he would like to have his own tournament, similar to what Tiger Woods has in Golf, but personally I don't think that would work in Snooker.

This gives me more reasons to believe we'll only see him at UK Champs.

Fair Point but i cant fail to think Losing to Bingham the way he did has Knocked his confidence.

He was 9-8 up and lost the Match 13-9.

Ronnie has never been the most confident of people and a reversal like that could knock him sideways.

Wildey wrote:Fair Point but i cant fail to think Losing to Bingham the way he did has Knocked his confidence.

He was 9-8 up and lost the Match 13-9.

Ronnie has never been the most confident of people and a reversal like that could knock him sideways.

I would go even that far that the selby loss at the wc final knocked his confidence. Apart from the coc final and the german masters he never played his best last season.

That pink *cough* ;)

masterdoctorgenius wrote:

Wildey wrote:Fair Point but i cant fail to think Losing to Bingham the way he did has Knocked his confidence.

He was 9-8 up and lost the Match 13-9.

Ronnie has never been the most confident of people and a reversal like that could knock him sideways.

I would go even that far that the selby loss at the wc final knocked his confidence. Apart from the coc final and the german masters he never played his best last season.

That pink *cough* ;)

You always seem to forget he did win his 5th UK Title in the best possible dream way.

Yes he didn't play his best at UK, but it was a Higgins like performance, and he did win the title, that's ALL that matters.

This is an extremely good point Andre. And the CoC which were both PP. (Post Pink)

I have an inkling he'll play in that tourney. He's got loads of time to prepare.

I think the UK should be mandatory for the top 16!

Indeed SF. It's a case of 'You can lead a horse to water, but a pencil must be lead.'

I've absolutely no idea how it could be enforced! lol!
I know in tennis they have 8 or 9 mandatory Masters events and barring injury, the players all want to play in them due to the ranking points and prize money being significant.
Ronnie must simply be finding it hard to get 'up' for events that he's already won countless times, and is now enjoying the exhibition circuit - after all, he's been there and done it on the pro scene and has nothing left to prove. Possibly his only motivation would be to chase the remaining records that Hendry holds.

PoolBoy wrote:I've absolutely no idea how it could be enforced! lol!
I know in tennis they have 8 or 9 mandatory Masters events and barring injury, the players all want to play in them due to the ranking points and prize money being significant.
Ronnie must simply be finding it hard to get 'up' for events that he's already won countless times, and is now enjoying the exhibition circuit - after all, he's been there and done it on the pro scene and has nothing left to prove. Possibly his only motivation would be to chase the remaining records that Hendry holds.

Yes i agree with you, but at this point in time I couldn't care less about Hendry's records, Ronnie has his own great legacy and that's all that matters for me.

The 7 World Titles are unreachable now, maybe he can win another UK or Masters, I would love if he somehow won a 6th Worlds and equal Davis, but if he does none of this then I don't really care.

Like Snooker Overdrive has said here countless times, if Ronnie's 5th UK rpoves to be his last Major title, boy it couldn't have ended better.

SnookerFan wrote:Ronnie will win at least one more major.

Not a doubt in my mind.

Yeah I believe so too, not that he needs it to "improve" his greatness.

If he does though I hope it's a 6th World Title, he has said numerous times he would love to win one in his 40s, and really it depends how much he still wants it.

Wildey wrote:

Dan-cat wrote:Doing the Legend shows keeps his hand in and he's making money - he takes most of the gate. Why wouldn't he? You would, if you could. But you can't. Because you are not Ronnie. Only Ronnie is Ronnie. Not me. Or you. Only him. Ronnie = Ronnie, you not Ronnie. Cleared up? Good.

ill be honest if i was a pro player i would get nothing out of exhibitions and fun events its all about winning real events against a hardened field for me.

Playing match snooker is hard enough and it takes a lot of mental stamina to pick up from the losses.

I would say for someone like ROS it's even harder to take a beating, especially given the expectations, his talent and his perfectionism, compound that with his emotional track-record and you have there some serious anguish and pain to go through.

After 20 years of this rubbish, I don't blame him, I get snake hissed losing a game of pool, christ knows what it would be like if I could knock in 147s for fun and the whole snooker world keeps saying I'm the best that's ever played, having that on one shoulders ever time you play - screw that, especially if it's affecting your life.

With any sport disappointment comes more often than not, I think he's done well to stick it this far.

For anyone who didn't see the 147 @ Legends:
http://www.scunthorpetelegraph.co.uk/VI ... story.html

Just goes to show how easy the game is when the pressure is off.

mantorok wrote:For anyone who didn't see the 147 @ Legends:
http://www.scunthorpetelegraph.co.uk/VI ... story.html

Just goes to show how easy the game is when the pressure is off.

But the thing is that how to make that pressure off. There were audience you know, and this Snooker Legends Tour has been well advertised. And I still think Peter Ebdon could try to learn from Ronnie a little bit of that fluency. Peter is one of the best, if not the best, to cannon the problem balls into the game. Like this his latest ton https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyPHXHA-6Jk shows. Peter is great for the game because of that ability, and the fact he is still going as good as he ever has even when he is aging. He is in great shape. But he can be a bit of an agony and a pain in the *** as he takes too much time when the frame is just begun. Just a bit more fluency and pace, please. No pro player thinks the break more than 2 or 3 shots ahead. If they would, they would mess up the pot. A pub leagues are full of those sorts of a "chess geniuses" to play 8 or 9 ball. If one finds that entertaining, then go to watch that, or play there yourself. I am personally always trying to find the game to be played with a great level and standard, not that chess genius thing where they can´t pot the ball.

TheSaviour wrote:

mantorok wrote:For anyone who didn't see the 147 @ Legends:
http://www.scunthorpetelegraph.co.uk/VI ... story.html

Just goes to show how easy the game is when the pressure is off.

But the thing is that how to make that pressure off. There were audience you know, and this Snooker Legends Tour has been well advertised. And I still think Peter Ebdon could try to learn from Ronnie a little bit of that fluency. Peter is one of the best, if not the best, to cannon the problem balls into the game. Like this his latest ton https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyPHXHA-6Jk shows. Peter is great for the game because of that ability, and the fact he is still going as good as he ever has even when he is aging. He is in great shape. But he can be a bit of an agony and a pain in the *** as he takes too much time when the frame is just begun. Just a bit more fluency and pace, please. No pro player thinks the break more than 2 or 3 shots ahead. If they would, they would mess up the pot. A pub leagues are full of those sorts of a "chess geniuses" to play 8 or 9 ball. If one finds that entertaining, then go to watch that, or play there yourself. I am personally always trying to find the game to be played with a great level and standard, not that chess genius thing where they can´t pot the ball.

I watched Ronnie's 147, and yeah the tables looked like Thailand pockets. But still it was fun to watch him show off and kiss the ref no less!

As soon as I get to my pc I will watch that Ebdon clip. I really want to like him, and apparently his most recent match was quality.

And I see this clip is in this very match!

Ronnie's playing the Champions Cup (as he calls it)

I knew he would. He's not a complete a*shole.

http://www.worldsnooker.com/champion-of ... announced/

Dan-cat wrote:Ronnie's playing the Champions Cup (as he calls it)

I knew he would. He's not a complete a*shole.

http://www.worldsnooker.com/champion-of ... announced/

Until we see him at the actual arena ready to play I'm not getting my hopes so high just yet. It's Ronnie O'Sullivan after all

Agreed Andre, I'm optimistic though - to not defend a title he's made his own would be shoddy, even by his standards.

Dan-cat wrote:Agreed Andre, I'm optimistic though - to not defend a title he's made his own would be shoddy, even by his standards.

Yeah I agree with you, but with Ronnie we never know...

Out the top of my head, I remember 2 times when Ronnie did not want to turn up to defend a title, namely 2010 Shanghai Masters, and 1998 UK Champs, the latter he was having some big problems at the time with drugs and alcohol I think.

I'm toying with booking a coaching session with Ronnie. £499, before one of the Legends events :)