JohnFromLondonTown wrote:Reads very well that & sounds like you had a great evening. Was it a full house?
Dennis Taylor replaced Alex Higgins I take it? Did he knock in a 110 against John Parrott?
Dennis Taylor was there, but obviously was well out of practice. He lost 2-0 to John Parrott. Those two were obviously playing for laughs though. John Virgo was doing some comedy commentary, and sent himself up beautifully saying; "Where's the cue ball going" every time it went within half a foot of the pocket. Then Jimmy came out, and went back and forth with Thorburn in the first frame. The next frame Jimmy came in and Virgo annouced it at "five reds, five blacks". Then of course "six reds, six blacks", "seven reds, seven blacks".... But, the way the balls were spread you didn't expect Jimmy to do it, but he did... Unbelievable!
Jimmy then came out for a one frame shoot out against Parrott, as the winner of the other game. To which somebody in the crowd shouted; "Come on Jimmy! 155." Which made everybody laugh. Jimmy then made a 134 and missed the pink for what would've been a second 147 of the night.
He was awarded the winner's trophy, but it didn't matter. The whole night was about banter, with the player's making jokes at each other, suggesting difficult shots when the red were absolute sitters over the pocket etc, and lots of audience inclusion. At one point, Parrott needed up to the blue, but ran out of position on the brown. He turned and asked the audience what he was supposed to do now, so I shouted; "Pot the brown", Parrott turned round and said; "I know that, thanks mate."
I took a friend who'd never been to any form of live snooker before, and she said it was an experience she'd never forget. It was a good night, and I was in the front row. My only complaint was no Michaela Tabb, but we got Patricia Murphy there, who fit right in, joking with the players, and pretending not to notice that they moved the marker every time she cleaned the white. At one point, Parrott made fun of her pronouncing the score; "thoity one" in an Irish accent. She quipped back; "Don't miss the next shot, will you?" And at one point, when he did miss, she was getting in his face going; "Thoity one, thoity one."
It was an awesome night, where the banter and the fun was more important then the games. If anybody is thinking of going, I recommend it. It was much better then the Jimmy White vs Alex Higgins exhibition I saw last year.