Jump to content

The Hallucinating Goose

Coach
  • Posts

    7,733
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    3

Posts posted by The Hallucinating Goose

  1. This morning I purchased 15 novels of Julian Stockwin's Thomas Kydd series in a local charity shop. I've not read any of the series or know much about it particularly but I'm a big fan of Patrick O'Brien so thought I'd give these a go.

    I bought them as soon as I saw them because about a year ago, the same charity shop had a lot of Alexander Kent's novels but when I decided a few days later to get them they had already gone, and I've been struggling to find them ever since. 

  2. On 23/04/2024 at 19:44, Moose said:

    The thing I’ve noticed most is the closeness of the players to each other when sat in their chairs. I’ve watched a fair bit this year and never seen any words or glances between one another. It looks very awkward at times. Maybe it is time to change to a larger venue.

    Tomorrow afternoon sees the start of Ronnie’s Crucible campaign, looking forward to it, in my book he’s the favourite.

    The players rarely talk to each other in the arena. Their minds are totally focused on the match and nothing else, they are completely in the zone, focused on the table and won't be distracted by anything. 

    You see this when they're stood waiting to enter the arena. Hawkins and Day yesterday were chatting away like the good mates they are backstage but as soon as they walked into that arena a switch was flicked and their minds were on the game.

    You saw similar with Selby and O'Connor; really good friends who have known each other for 20 years, since O'Connor was a kid going into the club Selby played at. Selby basically mentored O'Connor and coached him when he was a kid and a teenager but they did not say a word to each other during their game. The moment the game ended however Selby jumped up with a massive smile on his face, congratulating his friend and giving him a massive hug. They're just professionals being professional. 

    • Like 1
  3. 15 minutes ago, 17 stone giant said:

    I agree. 8-5 now though. Will be interesting to see if O'Connor can hold his nerve and get over the line.

    Mindset is such a big part of playing at the Crucible, keeping your concentration for the whole match, something the more experienced players are tuned into doing which is why so many debutants do tend to struggle and so many of the old guard keep going strong. 

  4. Has anyone seen the film 'Studs', from 2006, starring Brendan Gleeson, about Sunday league football? 

    I saw it around the time it came out but its so obscure it doesn't even have a Wikipedia page, and I haven't seen it since, on tv or even a dvd in a charity shop, but discovered it is on YouTube so will probably give it another watch because I've been watching a few films recently with football as the theme. 

  5. Wow! Wow! What a thriller we have been treated to to start the tournament off!

    Dave Gilbert has beaten Luca Brecel 10-9 after needing to win the last 4 frames in a row and doing so. Luca only has himself to blame for the loss, a couple of frames having been only a pot or two from winning the match and missing some easy balls. Dave didn't lead once during the entire match but seized on Luca's self inflicted mistakes perfectly. What a performance from Dave Gilbert, I knew this one was gonna be an exciting match but that has exceeded all my expectations and really set us up for a truly wonderful rest of tournament! 

    The Crucible Curse lives on! 👍

    • Like 1
  6. Less than 4 hours until we get going! So excited!

    Luca Brecel v Dave Gilbert to start us off; that's gonna be a very competitive game and a tough one to call. Then Judd v Hossein this afternoon, really looking forward to that one; a bit easier to call I think but should still be a very entertaining encounter. And then Luca and Dave concluding this evening. What a day of snooker we have ahead of us! 

    For a bit of fun, here are my predictions for the entire tournament!

    First Round

    Luca Brecel v Dave Gilbert

    Robert Milkins v Pang Junxu

    Ali Carter v Stephen Maguire

    Shaun Murphy v Lyu Haotian

    Mark Selby v Joe O'Connor

    Kyren Wilson v Dominic Dale

    John Higgins v Jamie Jones

    Mark Allen v Robbie Williams

    Judd Trump v Hossein Vafaei 

    Tom Ford v Ricky Walden

    Zhang Anda v Jak Jones

    Mark Williams v Si Jiahui

    Ding Junhui v Jack Lisowski

    Gary Wilson v Stuart Bingham

    Barry Hawkins v Ryan Day

    Ronnie O'Sullivan v Jackson Page

     

    Second Round

    Luca Brecel v Pang Junxu

    Ali Carter v Shaun Murphy

    Mark Selby v Kyren Wilson

    Jamie Jones v Mark Allen

    Judd Trump v Ricky Walden

    Zhang Anda v Mark Williams

    Jack Lisowski v Gary Wilson

    Barry Hawkins v Ronnie O'Sullivan

     

    Quarter-Finals

    Luca Brecel v Ali Carter

    Mark Selby v Mark Allen

    Judd Trump v Mark Williams

    Gary Wilson v Ronnie O'Sullivan

     

    Semi-Finals

    Luca Brecel v Mark Allen

    Judd Trump v Ronnie O'Sullivan

     

    The Final

    Mark Allen v Judd Trump

     

    This is a very hard tournament to predict though, so many of these games could go either way and that list of games could look very different even just after the first round. 

    • Like 1
  7. 2 hours ago, 17 stone giant said:

    Not just that but with all the different events and coverage nowadays (BBC, ITV, Quest, etc.), you get to see the personalities of various ex-players (and indeed current players like Lisowski), and they're almost always great. Due to the nature of the game, there's not much chance to show a personality at the table, and players that I might have thought were a bit dour during their playing career (like Hendry and Docherty), are actually great fun and very likeable off the table.

     

    Great Post! I hated Hendry when he was playing but away from the table he seems a right laugh. He does a YouTube channel called Cue Tips which he's fantastic on and he's one of my favourite people in the game now! 

    • Like 1
  8. 3 minutes ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

    Just to get back to it I am looking forward to it.

    I find snooker like golf can draw me in if there’s an interesting storyline and I like its calming rhythm.

    The green baize too is probably good for you.

    I think Mark Allen has a good chance of winning it.

    Looking at the draw, I'd say Mark is almost certain to get through his side, like I said, I'm going Mark v Judd in the final. I'd prefer Mark to win, one of my favourite players in recent seasons but I just think Judd will have a little too much for Mark over 4 sessions. It would be very close though, only a couple of frames in it. 

    • Like 1
  9. 2 hours ago, RBKnight said:

    Apologies, I was being playful over people getting pedantic over the definition of a "city" (and I thought you lived in Beverley)

    Yeah, I was just being dumb. It was too early in the morning. I do live in Beverley and you're quite right, we do have a suffragan bishop. Yeah, I wasn't thinking when I read your post! 

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.