Life or Dead - 20091011

Yesterday night John Higgins and Neil Robertson demonstrated how gripping snooker could be. In a best of eleven frames, down 5-3, Higgins forced to tie 5-5. In the final set, the players exchanged lead, and the winner was to be determined by the one who could pot in the final black ball. Robertson won, paradoxically, without the need to pot the black in the pocket.

Snooker was very popular in my teenager time. We naughty secondary school students would be pound to go to the billiard houses with school uniforms put on. However, except one of my classmates was a keen player of snooker, none of us could handle the difficult techniques required. By the way, the rent was way too expensive for us.

The popularity of snooker declined gradually, maybe we were too addicted to the cyber space by then? Recently, thanks to the emergence of Macro Fu, snooker was once again embraced by Hong Kongers. But, in the worldwide sense, snooker has been eking its way out. People complain that the game is too complex. They just turn to the simpler 9-Ball pool. To me, the fun between the two pool games is incomparable. In the sense of intellectuality, snooker is head and shoulder above its competitor.

True, everybody loves to watch the ball potted into the sockets. However, defence is the factor which makes snooker more intriguing than 9-Ball pool, as there is no defence at all for the latter. In the name of snooker, it explicitly speaks the importance of defence for the game. John Higgins, nicknamed "the Wizard", is the king of setting snooker. By placing the white ball sticking to the cushion, or behind the colour balls, the opponent has to unleash his creativity to save the ball. By 2 cushions, 3 cushions or even 4 cushions, together with a bit of luck, the target ball could be touched. Otherwise, the nightmare is awaiting.

Back to "the Wizard" downed to Robertson, the "Melbourne Machine". The "Melbourne Machine" had a first chance to dub the final black ball. The black ball slowly rolled towards the top right socket. However, it stopped 2 inches short. Luckily the white ball was on the opposite end. Then came "the Wizard" chance. He potted the long range shot, unfortunately, the black rattled off the pocket and stayed on the table. Higgins hoisted the white flag then.

What a gentleman game.