Snooker players' nicknames.

[Tom]

The Crucible is hot again which set me thinking about the past and the present players' nicknames. Some are delightfully apt.... The Rocket: The Wizard of Wishall: The Hurricane: The Ace in the Pack are all relatively self-explanatory but then there is The Jester from Leicester and Mark Selby, who enjoys this sobriquet, never appears to be a particularly jokey sort of person.

Whenever Mark is playing I tend to cringe because he spends so much time walking round the table, calculating each shot and then, just when you think he's finally settled, he'll decide to get up to re-chalk his cue once again. Truly, I've sometimes drifted off to sleep and then woken up only to find that nothing at all has changed.

But it suddenly dawned on me why he is called The Jester... it must be because he spends so much time fooling around.

Does anyone else also enjoy watching snooker?

[treiziste]

I’m addicted Tom.
I used to play a lot but was still rubbish so I appreciate just how easy these pros make the game look.
I used to watch a lot of snooker and darts exhibition games in the 70 s and 80 s but I can’t decide who my favourites were.
Of the modern day players I usually go for the underdogs though oldies like Mark Williams are always good value.

[Ally]

I’m addicted Tom.
I used to play a lot but was still rubbish so I appreciate just how easy these pros make the game look.
I used to watch a lot of snooker and darts exhibition games in the 70 s and 80 s but I can’t decide who my favourites were.
Of the modern day players I usually go for the underdogs though oldies like Mark Williams are always good value.

TV eventually overdid snooker as it did with darts. For me, snooker went from an accessible every day game to being relatively expensive to the point where once a week was a luxury. Like a lot of guys, I've got plans for a snooker room that'll never see fruition. I won a couple of trophies but I was never going to be a contender. I haven't played since I retired nearly 10 years ago. My nickname, particularly in doubles games, was, I believe, useless bastard.

[Biggles]

It is an amazing game to watch on TV and I enjoy it greatly. Aly Carter, 'The Captain' is one of my favourite players. Sadly, no amount of watching improves my pool playing

[Nifty]

Hurricane ‘Snorter’ Higgins.

[treiziste]

Like most fans I thought of Higgins as the Peoples Champion but he went down in my estimation one Thursday afternoon. I had booked to see him play at a club in Gorleston in Norfolk starting at 1930.
As it happens I had taken the afternoon off work to play golf and found myself nine holes behind Higgins and his manager. I finished playing about ninety minutes later and found the great man half cut in the bar. When I left at about 1700 Higgins looked incapable of walking let alone playing snooker.
I got to the club at about 1900 only to find that, surprise surprise The Hurricanhad cried off with the official excuse as being ’taken ill’.
That was the day in about 1985 I lost any respect for the guy.

[rabbit]

Why are there no female players at the Crucible?

[Nifty]

Like most fans I thought of Higgins as the Peoples Champion but he went down in my estimation one Thursday afternoon. I had booked to see him play at a club in Gorleston in Norfolk starting at 1930.
As it happens I had taken the afternoon off work to play golf and found myself nine holes behind Higgins and his manager. I finished playing about ninety minutes later and found the great man half cut in the bar. When I left at about 1700 Higgins looked incapable of walking let alone playing snooker.
I got to the club at about 1900 only to find that, surprise surprise The Hurricanhad cried off with the official excuse as being ’taken ill’.
That was the day in about 1985 I lost any respect for the guy.

Apparently, Cliff Thorburn did not gel with Higgins either.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Higgins

Others seem to have thought that Higgins was the one true genius that snooker has produced
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/h ... 34992.html

[Monsieur3seas]

there was a bit of a bust up between Clark and McGill yesterday.
seems to me that the game is not as friendly as perceived.
I played snooker when i was working in N Africa - most construction sites had snooker tables and some of the locals enjoyed the game as well as the expats. there was a high standard of play too. a lot of good snooker players are good at golf also - I am not so good at both altho both enjoyable.

[Ally]

Why are there no female players at the Crucible?

There are. Behind the bar.