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May 2nd, 2008: my favourite day of snooker

Postby Tubberlad

Sometimes, a day comes along that is so perfect, and so memorable, that you can't help look back and wished you could live it all again. A day that gives you those feel good memories. When I think of May 2nd 2008, I think of a day that encapsulates my love of snooker, and one that will no doubt go down as one of the best days of my teenage years.

In truth, that whole week was a cracker. We had some smashing weather, some great snooker matches, including not one, but two maximum breaks. It was a week where we even managed to sneak off school a couple of times, and hit the beach. But that Friday was without doubt the climax of this.

We had a half day in school, as we normally do before the bank holiday weekend around our part, but being the fanatastic scholar that I am, I wasn't even willing to put that much work in. Thankfully, my Mom was working nights, and had no say in the matter, and my Dad is a tradesman, so school is never seen as being too important in his eyes. So, I got the whole day off, and what a day it was.

I got up early, around nine o'clock if I remember right. It was another stunning day out, so I went for a walk, just to take in that morning air and get me buzzing for the day ahead. I got home, made myself a gorgeuos fry, and fired on the television to watch Hendry versus Ronnie.

Some of you may be surprised to hear that I once despised Ronnie. But once it came down to the last four, I was willing him on, and began to appreciate his talent a lot more after his beautiful maximum against Mark Williams. As that extraordinary morning session wore on, I realised I was watching the closest thing seen to orgasmic snooker. It was truly a barrage of excellence. Breaks of 93, 57, 87, 133, 135, 85 & 70 left me speachless, and I had been converted. I was honestly watching a genius at work.

After that amazing morning session, I rang up my best mate Stevie, who had just gotten out of school. They were all heading straight for the beach, including the ladies, and from that moment on Carter v Perry never stood a chance. I plastered myself in suncream,fired on the swimming trunks and a t-shirt, and cycled towards the majesty of the Atlantic Ocean, whithout a care in the world. The excitement of that amazing O'Sullivan display was not wearing off in a hurry, nor did I want it to.

And it was to last. The women were looking well, including my then-girlfriend, and the lads lived up to their high-brow reputation by bringing bottles of beer in their gearbags. After a couple of cold ones (well, sort of cold), I sat back on the sand with my lady, and it could not have been more perfect. She truly was a cracking bird, with tits you could hang your coat on. After a few passionate shifts, we joined the rest for a swim. Thankfully, the beer was not so plentiful that drowning became a worry ;)

As the day slowly slipped away, it was time to head home, and watch O'Sullivan put the finishing touches on his masterpiece. With World Title number three surely in the bag now, I was in a near-flawless mood. Stevie called over in his father's van (in Kerry, the rules of the road don't apply on the backroad LOL, anyway, he only lives a stones throw away). We went spinning around the home parish for a couple of hours, and a now sober Stevie has Madonna & Justin Timberlakes '4 Minutes' blaring around Tubber...looking back, it was probably the perfect upbeat soundtrack to a perfect day.

Memories never die <ok>

Re: May 2nd, 2008: my favourite day of snooker

Postby Tubberlad

To be fair lads, the snooker was only a small part of this article ;) this isn't a debate. For me, this was an unbelievable day :ahh: that's not up for debate

Re: May 2nd, 2008: my favourite day of snooker

Postby Rocket_ron

thetubberlad wrote:To be fair lads, the snooker was only a small part of this article ;) this isn't a debate. For me, this was an unbelievable day :ahh: that's not up for debate

agreed here tubber, classic article :bowdown: shame anti ronnie fans posting that it was a crap wc, appart from 2001 it was the best. <ok>

Re: May 2nd, 2008: my favourite day of snooker

Postby Tubberlad

The point of the article has nothing to do with what people thought of this World Championships, so I'm going to clean up the comments. If anyone wants to post their favourite memories linked with snooker, please do so.

And thanks Rocket <ok>

Re: May 2nd, 2008: my favourite day of snooker

Postby GJ

rocket_ron wrote:
thetubberlad wrote:To be fair lads, the snooker was only a small part of this article ;) this isn't a debate. For me, this was an unbelievable day :ahh: that's not up for debate

agreed here tubber, classic article :bowdown: shame anti ronnie fans posting that it was a crap wc, appart from 2001 it was the best. <ok>


shame anti ronnie fans posting that it was a crap wc

your pro ronnie so you would say it was great

:chin: <laugh>

Re: May 2nd, 2008: my favourite day of snooker

Postby Tubberlad

GJtheaussiestud wrote:
rocket_ron wrote:
thetubberlad wrote:To be fair lads, the snooker was only a small part of this article ;) this isn't a debate. For me, this was an unbelievable day :ahh: that's not up for debate

agreed here tubber, classic article :bowdown: shame anti ronnie fans posting that it was a crap wc, appart from 2001 it was the best. <ok>


shame anti ronnie fans posting that it was a crap wc

your pro ronnie so you would say it was great

:chin: <laugh>

Again, stay on topic <ok> and I'm not a Ronnie fanboy by any means

Re: May 2nd, 2008: my favourite day of snooker

Postby Rocket_ron

GJtheaussiestud wrote:
rocket_ron wrote:
thetubberlad wrote:To be fair lads, the snooker was only a small part of this article ;) this isn't a debate. For me, this was an unbelievable day :ahh: that's not up for debate

agreed here tubber, classic article :bowdown: shame anti ronnie fans posting that it was a crap wc, appart from 2001 it was the best. <ok>


shame anti ronnie fans posting that it was a crap wc

your pro ronnie so you would say it was great

:chin: <laugh>

yes but i said 2001 was my fav, followed by 2004 doherty v hunter semi then ronnie v hendo 2008 semi.
Im not a total ronnie fanboy if i spot talent whever it be ronnie or someone else i will give credit, eg roberton potting with deep screw id the best ever.

Re: May 2nd, 2008: my favourite day of snooker

Postby NedB-H

thetubberlad wrote:Again, stay on topic <ok> and I'm not a Ronnie fanboy by any means

Is the topic how fit your bird is? :redneck:

Sounds like you had a great day though, great memory to have... <ok>

apart from the choice of music, obviously

Re: May 2nd, 2008: my favourite day of snooker

Postby Bourne

Sadly I missed that 8-0 session in the O'Sullivan vs Hendry match but I remember asking wild what happened during the day's play and he refused to answer rofl

Re: May 2nd, 2008: my favourite day of snooker

Postby Casey

BTW mine was 99, the semi against Ronnie and final against Williams will live with me for a long time given what it meant as a Hendo fan.

Last seasons was my second fav tournament -

Allen v Ronnie - I remember feeling ill when Mark was in during the last frame, I couldn't believe he was about to beat Ronnie at the crucible

Hendo v Murphy, 40 years old and still able to put it up to the worlds best, throw in a 147 and it was magic

Higgins v Cope/Selby to cracking matches, two fantastic final frame breaks. especially after having to leave the arena and cope back with a big shot on.

Robbo v Murphy - What a match, Robbo was starting to play really well and coming back at Murphy and looking the more likely to win. Then Murphy came out after the interval and played the best snooker of his life (to the extent one poster thought he had a coke break <cool> )

Allen v Higgins, Mark was totally outclassed for a long time but stuck in when John started to faulter, almost made it one of the greatest comebacks of all time

Re: May 2nd, 2008: my favourite day of snooker

Postby Alex0paul

2003 was my favourite. It was the first time I had been to the Crucible for the one table setup and it produced the greatest comeback of all time.

Notable matches during the tournament were;

Doherty 10-9 Murphy (Murphy battled back from 8-4 down by going all out attack)
Fu 10-6 O'Sullivan (147 by O'Sullivan but still lost)
Lee 13-11 White (White had a real chance of reaching the last 4 but just couldn't close out the match)
Doherty 13-12 Dott (Dott was 7-2 up but Doherty showed grit and it was a toss of a coin come the end)
Doherty 13-8 Higgins (Doherty led 10-0! Higgins came back but it was too late)
Hunter 13-12 Ebdon (Hunter beat the defending champion but only after Ebdon dug deep to comeback and force the decider)
Williams 13-7 Hendry (The winner would take the number 1 spot)
Doherty 17-16 Hunter (Enough said)
Williams 18-16 Doherty (Williams led 10-2 before it 11-11. Williams won but the tournament will be remembered as Ken's)

Re: May 2nd, 2008: my favourite day of snooker

Postby Roland

Alex0paul wrote:2003 was my favourite. It was the first time I had been to the Crucible for the one table setup and it produced the greatest comeback of all time.

Notable matches during the tournament were;

Doherty 10-9 Murphy (Murphy battled back from 8-4 down by going all out attack)
Fu 10-6 O'Sullivan (147 by O'Sullivan but still lost)
Lee 13-11 White (White had a real chance of reaching the last 4 but just couldn't close out the match)
Doherty 13-12 Dott (Dott was 7-2 up but Doherty showed grit and it was a toss of a coin come the end)
Doherty 13-8 Higgins (Doherty led 10-0! Higgins came back but it was too late)
Hunter 13-12 Ebdon (Hunter beat the defending champion but only after Ebdon dug deep to comeback and force the decider)
Williams 13-7 Hendry (The winner would take the number 1 spot)
Doherty 17-16 Hunter (Enough said)
Williams 18-16 Doherty (Williams led 10-2 before it 11-11. Williams won but the tournament will be remembered as Ken's)



That was a great tournament and Doherty had some memorable matches but I certainly won't be remembering Mark Williams 2nd world title as Ken's tournament <laugh>

Re: May 2nd, 2008: my favourite day of snooker

Postby Tubberlad

StalinESQ wrote:Really nice read that Tubs. <ok>

Cheers Smart

2003 was a great World Championship actually, and Doherty was not far off at all in the end. But that said, Williams was awesome that year, deserved winner.

Re: May 2nd, 2008: my favourite day of snooker

Postby Smart

Tubs :mosh2:

That 8-0 session brings back some memories for a lot of people.

I had bagged a ticket to the first session of the SF and was sitting right next to Hendo.

The session opened with Hendo very strong, knocking in a 140 total clearance. I clapped reluctantly and knew eyes were on me as it would seem wrong to not clap. My dad recorded that session for me on DVD, its quite funny really to watch. First session ended 4-4. The session you talked about I remember in that ROS safety was so good that Hendo found himself in trouble at nearly every visit. Breathtaking stuff, so enjoyable.

Thanks for bringing that back for us. <ok>

Re: May 2nd, 2008: my favourite day of snooker

Postby Tubberlad

StalinESQ wrote:Tubs :mosh2:

That 8-0 session brings back some memories for a lot of people.

I had bagged a ticket to the first session of the SF and was sitting right next to Hendo.

The session opened with Hendo very strong, knocking in a 140 total clearance. I clapped reluctantly and knew eyes were on me as it would seem wrong to not clap. My dad recorded that session for me on DVD, its quite funny really to watch. First session ended 4-4. The session you talked about I remember in that ROS safety was so good that Hendo found himself in trouble at nearly every visit. Breathtaking stuff, so enjoyable.

Thanks for bringing that back for us. <ok>

No problem Smart, just doing my job :ahh:

It really was a fantastic session from O'Sullivan, as much as some like to deny it. His safety was immaculate, and he drew all sorts of mistakes from Hendry. I stick by what I say...nobody could have held a candle to him that day.

Great to hear your memories of that game Smart. It's certainly a day that I'm never going to forget...hopefully :)