Think about it for a second. The shortest possible definition of the game of soccer (or football, but let’s not get into that argument) is that you can’t use your hands, and you must try to score goals. And yet, we allow this one guy to prevent the other team from scoring goals, using his hands. Would soccer be so much worse without him? We would see many more shots from distance, and matches would often end 11 – 7. Is that necessarily a bad thing? Continue reading Soccer without a goalkeeper→
The two mightiest Greek warriors in mythology had interesting lives. Never a dull moment, when you lead armies into war, sacrifice a daughter to the Gods, feud over female beauty, but most of all: compete. Against each other mostly, because they were head and shoulders stronger than all the others. You know where I am going with this, don’t you? Fast-forward a few dozen centuries: Filippos Kasidokostas and Nikos Polychronopoulos rule the 3-cushion sport in their country, two levels above the competition. Plenty of talent and a few veterans in Greece, but still: from 3d place down, it’s 1.2 average and less. On 2nd and 1st place, it is 1.5 or (much) better. Filippos and Nikos are world class. Continue reading Achilles and Agamemnon→
If only the Agipi tournament could have lived as long as the Crystal Kelly: 18 years. The players would have loved that. But Claude Fath, CEO of French insurance company Agipi, could only keep his brain child alive for six seasons. It’s a cruel law in the field of billiards sponsorship: people may stay loyal to the sport, but businesses lose interest quickly. Sometimes, because sponsorship is just giving money away. Not so in Agipi’s case, there was definitely a quid pro quo. Their name recognition in Europe went up significantly as a result of billiard-related publicity. Continue reading Empty chairs, full purse→
You just HAVE to like this story from the seventies: Japanese 3-cushion player Yoshio Yoshihara is witness to the birth of his first child. He is overcome with happy emotions: his love for the newborn and his wife, gratitude for his life and the brightness of the future. That same afternoon, he goes to his billiard room for a game to 30 points, dedicates the match to his son, starts and finishes it in the first inning with a run of 30.
Caudron’s second world title is just two weeks old, and before the World Cup in Medellin had even started, other players were already demanding the spotlight. The best post-Antwerp match by far was last week’s encounter in the Belgian league between Jef Philipoom, the 1995 World and European champion, and young but crafty Bart Ceulemans. Philipoom won it 50 – 15 in 10 innings, a personal best for the likeable Belgian veteran. The last three innings of his match were jaw-dropping: 17-1-18. Jef later commented that he had made two or three difficult shots at most, in that stretch of 36 points. Not because he had been freakishly fortunate, but because his position play had been perfect. I was not there to witness the match, but I believe him. Continue reading A club with thirteen members→
In the low countries, it is referred to as a “biljardé”. Americans call it a “push shot”. The UMB rulebook speaks of “queutage”. All three terms describe an illegal stroke; I am quoting the official rules of billiards:
“If the cue tip (-) is still in contact with the playing ball, and that ball is already in contact with another or several balls or the cushion, the referee will make the announcement “queutage”, and the opponent will take the game over.” Continue reading The push shot or biljardé→
Inviting 48 players for the annual UMB world championship 3-cushion is about as easy as negotiating a permanent peace in the middle-east. There is just no way to please everybody. I often hear fierce criticism of the UMB, when people find out their personal favorite is not on the list. They point at an invited player with a low-ish ranking, and say: “what is HE doing there?, So-and-so can beat him every day of the week and twice on Sunday”. They mean well, but perhaps don’t quite understand the procedure. “The UMB should just invite the best players, it’s as simple as that”.
Only days after he amazed us all with a new world record general average in Greece, Blomdahl calmly told Kozoom’s Markus Schönhoff that 2.739 was not quite his highest: he had averaged 3.000 in an invitational in Japan in 2011. First of all: WOW. Second: we really need to discuss the rules and formats involved with this particular world record. I don’t see any clarity about it coming from the UMB (they SHOULD acknowledge world records, make those official and publish them on their website), so I feel free to make suggestions. Continue reading Apples, oranges and world records→
As Hitchcock said, the length of a movie must not be in conflict with the capacity of the human bladder. Two hours is a good limit for a 3-cushion match; upping the pace around the table will benefit us all. The senior citizen image of the sport is one of our main problems. Swift, spectacular, attacking 3-cushion in the top leagues and in the World Cups will appeal to the younger generation and bring in more spectators, possibly even new sponsors. We can’t inject our players with a dose of fast & furious, but at least our rules and formats should contain pepper, not valium.
In the mid-nineties, we introduced a shot clock. (If you are familiar with the subject, feel free to skip this paragraph). The type that has been used in the World Cups and in several European leagues in the past years, will count down the seconds a player has left to play the point, usually 40 or 50. The referee holds a little clicker which he uses to start the clock for player A, then switch it to player B once A has missed. Sometimes there’s a system that switches off the table lights if a player exceeds his time, in which case his opponent restarts with a break-off. Both players can call “time-outs”, usually two or three in a match. If all goes well, matches finish within 2 hours. Sounds good, problem solved? Or is there still an issue? Continue reading The Belgians use a chess clock (and so should we all)→
Germany’s ace Martin Horn recently announced that he will not play the World Cup tournaments in Greece, Korea and Colombia later this year. He has had two mediocre seasons, dropped out of the protected top-12, and is apparently struggling with his motivation. Not the game itself, not the league matches in Europe – so he says – but the World Cup circuit is what he is unhappy with. He claims these tournaments are not “professional” enough. Horn is every inch a gentleman, his game is a delight to watch, and I am sorry he has made this decision. It seems to me he is kicking Cindy Crawford out of his bed because of that little mole on her cheek. Being 15th on the UMB ranking may feel like a disappointment to him; countless others would give up a kidney if it got them to where he is now. It made me think, about the top 12 and that daunting, Herculean task: becoming a professional billiard player. Let’s go back a few years. Continue reading The casino where Jaspers, Sang Lee and Caudron could not win→
The game is bigger than everyone else! "Torbjorn Blomdahl"
Think about it for a second. The shortest possible definition of the game of soccer (or football, but let’s not get into that argument) is that you can’t use your hands, and you must try to score goals. And yet, we allow this one guy to prevent the other team from scoring goals, using his hands. Would soccer be so much worse without him? We would see many more shots from distance, and matches would often end 11 – 7. Is that necessarily a bad thing? Continue reading Soccer without a goalkeeper