Snooker 2018

[Depressed Beyond Tables]

Martin Grout has just broken off in the Riga open.

[BlodwynPig]

Missed this as no bank holiday here

Snooker 2019

I remember that spectrum game from the 80s

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Text adventure snooker

There are two reds tight up against the side cushion. Do you?

A: Flick off the side and leave the white on the baulk cushion
B: Attempt a double
C: Call Higgins a " pus filled crook "

[DrGreggles]

Text adventure snooker

There are two reds tight up against the side cushion. Do you?

A: Flick off the side and leave the white on the baulk cushion
B: Attempt a double
C: Call Higgins a " pus filled crook "

D: Twat them and see what happens

(I'm not a professional)

[dontrunyoullfall]

The failed comeback made the defeat all the sweeter. You wasted your time, pillock.

[Blue Jam]

He did it, Williams actually did it:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/snooker/44035275

Not a pretty sight, but still preferable to seeing a fully-clothed Higgins in that seat, wagging his gammon chin about his victory.

[Blinder Data]

Why does everyone hate Higgins? OK he was a bit dodgy that one time but he's a good sellik bhoy

[BlodwynPig]

Hearn is where the bile should be aimed. Mealy mouthed chancer

[monolith]

Why does everyone hate Higgins? OK he was a bit dodgy that one time but he's a good sellik bhoy

Being caught on camera explaining how he will miss shots for £300k probably had something to do with it.

Just watched the video again and I'm still not sure. He does look a bit nervous and the Eastern European guy does sound pretty terrifying.

But then he still didn't report it afterwards which would be the first thing I would think of if I had a completely clear conscience once I was out of there...

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Why does everyone hate Higgins? OK he was a bit dodgy that one time but he's a good sellik bhoy

Trouble is the nature of how he was dodgy that one time highly suggested historical dodginess.

[Flouncer]

But then he still didn't report it afterwards which would be the first thing I would think of if I had a completely clear conscience once I was out of there...

This is the main thing; I wanted to believe him at the time, but if he was genuinely just saying what they wanted to hear, all he had to do was go straight to the WPBSA and report the approach. The fact that he didn't do this is extremely suspicious, in my view.

[Uncle TechTip]

I go by the way he's treated by his peers. They are not arsed. Compare to the support given to Stephen Lee, who actually did throw a match. I think what Higgins offered to do is standard in what was essentially an exhibition.

[DrGreggles]

Maybe attempts to fix snooker matches is more common that we think, which is why Higgins didn't report it.
It was water off a cunt's back.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

I go by the way he's treated by his peers. They are not arsed. Compare to the support given to Stephen Lee, who actually did throw a match. I think what Higgins offered to do is standard in what was essentially an exhibition.

Why would they seek to draw attention to it?

[Blue Jam]

Today I have been amusing myself with the Snooker Potcast. It contains about as much snooker as Athletico Mince does football, but if you like the sound of two Scousers discussing the idea of the Crucible being haunted by Pipes from Ghostwatch, imagining Robert Milkins as Alan McManus's butler going "Alroight Moi Lord?" and chauffering him about on a milk float, and wondering aloud how an addictive personality like Willie Thorne can draw the line at smoking crack, this may be the podcast for you:

https://snookerpotcast.podbean.com/

Listeners include Kylo Ren and CJ de Mooi, the one from Eggheads who didn't kill a man and then throw him in a canal but did put that in a book.

[biggytitbo]

Having watched Higgins since the 90s its pretty hard to see any actual examples where he wasn't busting his massive gut to win, and there was never any other evidence of him cheating, so I reluctantly accepted his explanation at the time. There's still the unfortunate smell lingering though, but that could just be a product of his horrendous diet.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Things like spot-fixing aren't about winning though are they?

Likewise if you can precision pot I imagine you can precision miss too without it being obvious.

[imitationleather]

Stephen Lee was rumbled (alongside quite a long history of rumours about him) because he very suspiciously fucked up a 2:1 lead in a match, including missing an easy opportunity to level at 3:3, to lose 4:2. With being able to gamble on individual frames and a wide variety of stuff you'd think that match-fixing is potentially far more widespread and undetected. The sheer number of tournaments now makes it probably even easier to do. It seemed a bit stupid and unnecessary to go to the extent of throwing an entire game, but that's what Lee did.

The only thing that makes me think match-fixing perhaps isn't common is that bookies do report strange gambling patterns on sports events.

[biggytitbo]

Stephen Lee isn't Higgins though is he, Higgins still wins stuff and was in the last 2 world finals, Lee's career earnings are less than a 3rd of Higgins and he spent all of that on toffee. What motive is there for Higgins to do something so risky when he's already a millionaire?

[bgmnts]

Stephen Lee isn't Higgins though is he, Higgins still wins stuff and was in the last 2 world finals, Lee's career earnings are less than a 3rd of Higgins and he spent all of that on toffee. What motive is there for Higgins to do something so risky when he's already a millionaire?

To make more money?

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Stephen Lee isn't Higgins though is he, Higgins still wins stuff and was in the last 2 world finals, Lee's career earnings are less than a 3rd of Higgins and he spent all of that on toffee. What motive is there for Higgins to do something so risky when he's already a millionaire?

Wealth is no safeguard against greed or against corruption. I'm sure you don't need me to select major examples of that.

[jonno]

Today I have been amusing myself with the Snooker Potcast. It contains about as much snooker as Athletico Mince does football, but if you like the sound of two Scousers discussing the idea of the Crucible being haunted by Pipes from Ghostwatch, imagining Robert Milkins as Alan McManus's butler going "Alroight Moi Lord?" and chauffering him about on a milk float, and wondering aloud how an addictive personality like Willie Thorne can draw the line at smoking crack, this may be the podcast for you:

https://snookerpotcast.podbean.com/

Listeners include Kylo Ren and CJ de Mooi, the one from Eggheads who didn't kill a man and then throw him in a canal but did put that in a book.

Thanks for this, I put a couple of episodes on for the drive home and very nearly had to pull over for the terry griffiths 'thin cunts' bit.

[biggytitbo]

Wealth is no safeguard against greed or against corruption. I'm sure you don't need me to select major examples of that.

Dunno if Higgins was going through a rough patch at that time, but as one of the top 5 most successful snooker players ever he could always, you know, win some snooker if he needed money. He's not been out of the top 16 in 22 years and never goes a year without winning at least 1 major tournament. Thats not definitive that he never considered cheating of course, but in the absense of any real evidence he actually did cheat it has to be considered.

[biggytitbo]

Today I have been amusing myself with the Snooker Potcast. It contains about as much snooker as Athletico Mince does football, but if you like the sound of two Scousers discussing the idea of the Crucible being haunted by Pipes from Ghostwatch, imagining Robert Milkins as Alan McManus's butler going "Alroight Moi Lord?" and chauffering him about on a milk float, and wondering aloud how an addictive personality like Willie Thorne can draw the line at smoking crack, this may be the podcast for you:

https://snookerpotcast.podbean.com/

Listeners include Kylo Ren and CJ de Mooi, the one from Eggheads who didn't kill a man and then throw him in a canal but did put that in a book.

Hopefully they will finally expose to a wider audience the scandal of Willie Thorne stockpiling alien tech in his shed.

[Blue Jam]

Hopefully they will finally expose to a wider audience the scandal of Willie Thorne stockpiling alien tech in his shed.

Oh they love Willie Thorne... You'll enjoy this Biggy...

Thanks for this, I put a couple of episodes on for the drive home and very nearly had to pull over for the terry griffiths 'thin cunts' bit.

I was listening to that one on headphones at work and really hoping no-one would ask me what the fuck I was laughing at...

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Dunno if Higgins was going through a rough patch at that time, but as one of the top 5 most successful snooker players ever he could always, you know, win some snooker if he needed money. He's not been out of the top 16 in 22 years and never goes a year without winning at least 1 major tournament. Thats not definitive that he never considered cheating of course, but in the absense of any real evidence he actually did cheat it has to be considered.

Not sure how you thought the above was a riposte, but I refer you to my last post.

[biggytitbo]

Not sure how you thought the above was a riposte, but I refer you to my last post.

It's not a 'riposte' to anything. It's perfectly possible Higgins is a cheating bastard, I'm just slightly sceptical in terms of real evidence we have much to prove it.

[kenneth trousers]

Why did you The News Of The World target Higgins? Had there been rumours circling before hand? It's possible that they tried it with other players to see who'd bite but I imagine it's not a cheap thing to set up.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Yes, that is verging towards no smoke without fire arguments which I hate, so I try to be consistent. However I'm not sure how you can watch that interview and not come away thinking "this guy is casually discussing how easy it is to cheat the game and if not directly cheating then very probably failing to report - itself an offence."

My judgement from the information to hand is that he probably has cheated and certainly knows people who have but failed to alert the relevant people, possibly as he would get taken down with them. That's the thing about the corrupt, nobody's hands stay clean, but there's a difference between a swim and a wallow, and we don't know and probably due to the dynamic, will ever know until it's too late to act.

[biggytitbo]

Higgins will know what goes on in the game, but then realistically so will most of the other players, especially of that generation and earlier. They're all keeping their mouths shut and failing to report, not just him.