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Re: Sum Up A Player’s Career In One Match

Postby SnookerEd25

Georgi1914 wrote:
Dan-cat wrote:Where you based Georgi?


Bulgaria


Good stuff. What is the snooker scene there like?

Re: Sum Up A Player’s Career In One Match

Postby HustleKing

SnookerEd25 wrote:
Georgi1914 wrote:
Dan-cat wrote:Where you based Georgi?


Bulgaria


Good stuff. What is the snooker scene there like?


Don't give 2 bucks if no one picks up a cue over there, as long as they keep producing some more hot female referees ;-)

Re: Sum Up A Player’s Career In One Match

Postby Georgi1914

SnookerEd25 wrote:
Georgi1914 wrote:
Dan-cat wrote:Where you based Georgi?


Bulgaria


Good stuff. What is the snooker scene there like?


Snooker is not quite popular among the population as a sport to be practiced or even as a recreational game. There is not a single snooker table in the town where I live, for instance. But many people who are generally keen on sports love to watch the the professionals play the game on TV and I personally enjoy it as much as I enjoy watching football and tennis. There is a Bulgarian snooker federation that was founded not too long ago and I must say that the foundation was inspired by the broadcasting of big snooker tournaments by Eurosport. The best Bulgarian player's name is Bratislav Krastev and he has also been working as a snooker commentator for the Bulgarian version of Eurosport for several years now. Snooker is quite popular for spectators here and you'll be right if you assume that Ronnie O'Sullivan is the man who attracts the most attention. :)

Re: Sum Up A Player’s Career In One Match

Postby Georgi1914

D4P wrote:I seem to recall that Ronnie did an exhibition tour a few years ago in Bulgaria with Stephen Hendry, though maybe it was Hungary...?


Yes, you are right, the two of them played an axhibition tour in Bulgaria. I regret not being able to attend any of the matches they played due to personal reasons. But hopefully I will attend a big Ronnie match soon.

Re: Sum Up A Player’s Career In One Match

Postby SnookerEd25

Georgi1914 wrote:
SnookerEd25 wrote:
Georgi1914 wrote:
Dan-cat wrote:Where you based Georgi?


Bulgaria


Good stuff. What is the snooker scene there like?


Snooker is not quite popular among the population as a sport to be practiced or even as a recreational game. There is not a single snooker table in the town where I live, for instance. But many people who are generally keen on sports love to watch the the professionals play the game on TV and I personally enjoy it as much as I enjoy watching football and tennis. There is a Bulgarian snooker federation that was founded not too long ago and I must say that the foundation was inspired by the broadcasting of big snooker tournaments by Eurosport. The best Bulgarian player's name is Bratislav Krastev and he has also been working as a snooker commentator for the Bulgarian version of Eurosport for several years now. Snooker is quite popular for spectators here and you'll be right if you assume that Ronnie O'Sullivan is the man who attracts the most attention. :)


Interesting. Thanks Georgi <ok>

Re: Sum Up A Player’s Career In One Match

Postby Georgi1914

SnookerEd25 wrote:
Georgi1914 wrote:
SnookerEd25 wrote:
Georgi1914 wrote:
Dan-cat wrote:Where you based Georgi?


Bulgaria


Good stuff. What is the snooker scene there like?


Snooker is not quite popular among the population as a sport to be practiced or even as a recreational game. There is not a single snooker table in the town where I live, for instance. But many people who are generally keen on sports love to watch the the professionals play the game on TV and I personally enjoy it as much as I enjoy watching football and tennis. There is a Bulgarian snooker federation that was founded not too long ago and I must say that the foundation was inspired by the broadcasting of big snooker tournaments by Eurosport. The best Bulgarian player's name is Bratislav Krastev and he has also been working as a snooker commentator for the Bulgarian version of Eurosport for several years now. Snooker is quite popular for spectators here and you'll be right if you assume that Ronnie O'Sullivan is the man who attracts the most attention. :)


Interesting. Thanks Georgi <ok>


You are welcome!

Re: Sum Up A Player’s Career In One Match

Postby Georgi1914

Forgive me for spamming this thread with non-relevant opinions too much, but I really need to express a little bit more of why I support and respect Ronnie O'Sullivan! I am quite drunk right now and I must say that lots of Bulgarians, as I mentioned above, love Ronnie for the star he is popularized by broadcasting and so on, but would gladly stop watching snooker after the day the Rocket retires. Well I personally possess a different stance regarding the game of snooker. Yes, Ronnie is my favourite sports person ever, but I genuienly love the game and appreciate all the contributions that other players, apart from O'Sullivan, made for the game! He was, is and forever will be the greatest player to pick up a cue ever, but people in my country tend to commercialize way too much what O'Sullivan means for the sport and hence making his accomplishments less valuabale than what they actually are. He makes the game look so easy, that a sport as snooker, which is not a part of our culture, won't stay relevant for too long after Ronnie retires and the demand for the same quality (which even modern Trump will be unable to sustain in the long term) will very well decide the fate of snooker as a watchable entertaiment on TV in my country... I have been following snooker (and Ronnie respectively) since the Rocket won his second world title and have been an avid fan ever since, with a genuine interest of the history of snooker as well. But I know this for a fact from following several other sports during my lifetime - a player is never bigger than the sport he/she represents, even if being called Ronnie O'Sullivan! Snooker is and will be a great entertainment even without certain players.

PS: Who am I actually fooling? As long as I wrote this text, I realised that Ronnie IS snooker and Ronnie IS bigger than the sport of snooker...In my opinion, Muhhamad Ali/Sugar Ray Robbinson are the only significant sports people in history who are comparable to Ronnie for their respective fields! Michael Jordan being another one! And for me personally Michael Schumacher (despite the fact that Hamilton is about to obliterate most of his records)! Way too many variables and conditions when trying to determine the greatest of all times football and tennis players, in my opinion. I will certainly be watching snooker after Ronnie, that is for sure, I love the game, but at the same time I think that the Rocket is one of a kind and he is actually, if not bigger, at least equal to the game. He is that great!
Last edited by Georgi1914 on 23 Sep 2020, edited 1 time in total.

Re: Sum Up A Player’s Career In One Match

Postby Dan-cat

Gorgi, I think I posted my last post 'great info' as you were writing your essay on Ronnie.

I love your post. Ronnie has made snooker bigger, no doubt. The naysayers kid themselves, and they are contrarians. I am also drunk and a little high. He is a one off, a genius.

It will flourish without him - and because of him.

Re: Sum Up A Player’s Career In One Match

Postby HustleKing

Dan-cat wrote:Gorgi, I think I posted my last post 'great info' as you were writing your essay on Ronnie.

I love your post. Ronnie has made snooker bigger, no doubt. The naysayers kid themselves, and they are contrarians. I am also drunk and a little high. He is a one off, a genius.

It will flourish without him - and because of him.


While he has certainly boosted the popularity of the game post Hendry vs White, it is very much open to question how much it will flourish without him.

While it will remain somewhat popular, particluarly in the UK, the sport may lose many casual fans who only care about Ronnie and won't give a damn or will actively hate the sport when he retires

Re: Sum Up A Player’s Career In One Match

Postby Holden Chinaski

HustleKing wrote:While it will remain somewhat popular, particluarly in the UK, the sport may lose many casual fans who only care about Ronnie and won't give a damn or will actively hate the sport when he retires

I think a lot of those 'casual fans who only care about Ronnie' actually develop into real snooker fans. They start out as just Ronnie fans but after watching enough snooker they start to appreciate the game and will probably keep on watching after Ronnie retires. I know a couple of people like that.

Re: Sum Up A Player’s Career In One Match

Postby Wildey

Selby 18-14 O'Sullivan


At the time Ronnie seemed invincible at the Crucible having won it the year before having taken a year off, and he could have easily won that and possibly carried that run going for the next few years.

Since then some of his biggest bunnies have beaten him there
2015 Bingham
2016 Hawkins
2017 Ding
2018 Carter

combined Head to Head

Ronnie 59-13 Bingham/Hawkins/Ding/Carter

Hes currently 6 times Champion this year.

in 2014 he lost 13-4 from 10-5 up he could easily have won 8 by now had it not been for Selby in 2014

Re: Sum Up A Player’s Career In One Match

Postby Wildey

Holden Chinaski wrote:
HustleKing wrote:While it will remain somewhat popular, particluarly in the UK, the sport may lose many casual fans who only care about Ronnie and won't give a damn or will actively hate the sport when he retires

I think a lot of those 'casual fans who only care about Ronnie' actually develop into real snooker fans. They start out as just Ronnie fans but after watching enough snooker they start to appreciate the game and will probably keep on watching after Ronnie retires. I know a couple of people like that.

yea its like a drug you start supporting a player then another catches your eye and you start to follow their result closely getting slowly sucked in then your fave packs it in and you easily move on to that other player

my time line is

Alex Higgins 1981-1994
Jimmy White 1987-1992
Stephen Hendry 1992-2012
Mark Selby 2007-pressent

Re: Sum Up A Player’s Career In One Match

Postby Georgi1914

Dan-cat wrote:Gorgi, I think I posted my last post 'great info' as you were writing your essay on Ronnie.

I love your post. Ronnie has made snooker bigger, no doubt. The naysayers kid themselves, and they are contrarians. I am also drunk and a little high. He is a one off, a genius.

It will flourish without him - and because of him.


Cheers :)

Re: Sum Up A Player’s Career In One Match

Postby Iranu

Wildey wrote:Selby 18-14 O'Sullivan


At the time Ronnie seemed invincible at the Crucible having won it the year before having taken a year off, and he could have easily won that and possibly carried that run going for the next few years.

Since then some of his biggest bunnies have beaten him there
2015 Bingham
2016 Hawkins
2017 Ding
2018 Carter

combined Head to Head

Ronnie 59-13 Bingham/Hawkins/Ding/Carter

Hes currently 6 times Champion this year.

in 2014 he lost 13-4 from 10-5 up he could easily have won 8 by now had it not been for Selby in 2014

Are you saying this match sums up Ronnie’s career or Selby’s?

Re: Sum Up A Player’s Career In One Match

Postby TheRocket

Wildey wrote:
Holden Chinaski wrote:
HustleKing wrote:While it will remain somewhat popular, particluarly in the UK, the sport may lose many casual fans who only care about Ronnie and won't give a damn or will actively hate the sport when he retires

I think a lot of those 'casual fans who only care about Ronnie' actually develop into real snooker fans. They start out as just Ronnie fans but after watching enough snooker they start to appreciate the game and will probably keep on watching after Ronnie retires. I know a couple of people like that.

yea its like a drug you start supporting a player then another catches your eye and you start to follow their result closely getting slowly sucked in then your fave packs it in and you easily move on to that other player

my time line is

Alex Higgins 1981-1994
Jimmy White 1987-1992
Stephen Hendry 1992-2012
Mark Selby 2007-pressent


So you stopped supporting White in 1992 and changed sides and became Hendryfan, who was his biggest rival at that time.

Thats like if a Liverpoolfan becomes a Unitedfan. Or vice versa.

Re: Sum Up A Player’s Career In One Match

Postby Georgi1914

For the sake of being a non-spammer I would like to nominate Matthew Stevens' 2 world finals as matches that sum up his career. He indeed lost these against an ATG Williams and a great back then Murphy, however, he himself missed opportunities to cement himself as a legend of the sport.

PS: I made a mistake the last time I posted here, not declaring Ayrton Senna as the best Formula 1 driver ever. I grew up watching Schumacher and he will forever be one of the biggest sporting idols I ever had. But Senna, for the somewhat limited period of time he performed, actually made a bigger impression than the German (even results and pole positions wise per active years). Anyway, for hardocore F1 fans both of them have their great achievements and talents in order to be considered the greatest of all times. And there is an actual ongoing argument who the greatest pilot is. In snooker - it was Hendry to be the benchmark for so many years, with O'Sullivan surpassing him in almost all departments (including H2H record, yes, a substantial part of it being Ronnie vs prime Hendry) and it is only a matter of time until Ronnie makes it 7 or 8 world titles and be declared officially as the absolute GOAT by Wildey and Hendry_fan.

Re: Sum Up A Player’s Career In One Match

Postby mack501

Andrew Higginson

It would be either 2012 German Masters:
Ronnie O'Sullivan 5-4 Andrew Higginson

Or 2007 Welsh Open
Neil Robertson 9-8 Andrew Higginson.