Down by the River
'Tis Riverfest weekend here in Limerick City, and World Championship Snooker Final weekend over in Sheffield. The latter event has yielded a pair of surprise finalists, with Graeme 'Pocket Dynamo' Dott taking on the mightily intense Peter 'Mekon' Ebdon. Some of the cretins over at the Five Live message boards have been busy slating the two protagonists and assuring us that this will be the most boring final in Crucible history (with a few even suggesting that it could spell the death-knell for widespread public interest in an already struggling sport)
The majority of these are, unsurprisingly, bitter Ronnie O'Sullivan fans who find it hard to watch a frame of snooker that lasts longer than 6 minutes. The tactical side of the game is, of course, just as important a part of snooker as extravagant potting …but if 'mainstream' BBC audiences find that kind of thing boring, then so be it. There are still a few snooker fans (myself included) that can get their kicks from torturously protracted bouts of tense safety play and, as I've suggested before, there's undeniable pleasure in seeing players subjected to extreme pressure (if I want nothing but cavalier potting and flamboyance I'll go to an exhibition match). So while it may turn out to be a final remembered fondly only by those 'hardcore' lovers of snooker pain and suffering, it could well turn out to be a classic of its kind (for those that can stay the distance). We shall see…
As far as the Riverfest goes, well once again we were blessed (yesterday at least) with glorious weather (see above photo for evidence of same). The fun and frolics on both George's and Charlotte's Quays were as pleasant as previous years but we particularly enjoyed the so-called 'Shannon-igans' in Arthur's Quay park. The place was transformed into one big skate/BMX park with dozens of young (and not so young fellas) vying for the attention of a public who secretly longed for one of their number to 'bail' spectacularly and land on his head. The video footage of said incident would have fetched a pretty penny on Kirsty's Home Videos (with cartoonish 'Boing!' and 'Crunch!' sound effects added for extra hilarity). Sadly, no one ended up flying head first into the Shannon…but I got some decent pics none the less.
Oh and lest I forget, the weekend was kicked off in fine style by the fundraising gig for Impact Theatre held in Dolan's. Headlining the event were the lads and lassie of The Brad Pitt Light Orchestra (friends all), of whom fustar.info has spoken many times and oft. Some scrumptious music, a hobby horse, a naked man, and all manner of colourful theatricality ensured that a fine time was had by all. To boost the coffers of the Impact crew a raffle was held and my ongoing relationship with numerically significant raffle tickets continued as I was handed a batch that contained (yikes) the number of the beast.
Good luck? Bad Luck? Tough one to call. At least it was pretty rock and roll I suppose….
Update: Well it's 12.43 a.m (on Monday morning) with 'Dotty too Hotty' and P. Ebdon still locked in error-strewn combat in the Crucible arena. While I thought it might be a final for hardcore fans only I never imagined it would turn out to be 'Steady' Eddie Charlton vs. Cliff Thorburn part 21….heading into the wee small hours in front of a despairing, bleary-eyed, rapidly-shrinking audience….
- From The Observer: "As 'Steady Eddie', Charlton was one of the most ponderous players ever to wield a snooker cue. After one match, Cliff Thorburn observed: 'Before the match I had a suntan – now it is gone.'" [back]
April 30, 2006
3 responses to Down by the River
I’ve had hits from a few tasty, snooker-related Google searches today:
1) peter ebdon + boring snooker
2) Graeme Dott chess (perhaps a forthcoming PS2 game)
3) The lovely Hazel Irvine (I always thought it was ‘The Lovely Debbie McGee’? Hazel has big shoes to fill if she wants to win that crown).
It’s now 15-7 to Dott with just the evening session left to play. It’s hardly classic stuff, standard wise, but it’s definitely not without its charms. Ebdon has played much better than yesterday and yet finds himself even further behind. It’ll take a miracle to turn it around from here so it looks like the ‘pocket dynamo’ is about to claim his first world title. Fair play to him. Throughout the tournament he’s managed to keep his wee head while others were busy losing theirs.
Ebdon has just made it 12-15 after a marathon frame. It’s going to be 4am before they’re finished!