Clicked to see whether this was Mclean on Michelson. Yep.
Billiards is a good game (1975)
51–60 of 65 posts
Re: Billiards is a good game (1975)
#52A more difficult variant is snooker, played on a 12ft x 6ft table with tighter pockets and smaller balls. It can be frustrating to play well, but when you "get it", it really is a beautiful game to play, and a real mental workout. For anyone interested, Ronnie O'Sullivan is the best ever player, and his YouTube highlights are worth a watch: https://youtu.be/PE8XPHnCNpg - makes the game look incredibly easy, but I ass…
Wow! Never saw Snooker before. It was awesome to slowly realize what he was trying to do, then watch him sink shot after shot after shot… the really impressive thing to me was the placement of the cue ball. He wasn’t just shooting balls into pockets. He was doing in a way that perfectly set up the next thing he wanted to do.
Re: Billiards is a good game (1975)
#53A more difficult variant is snooker, played on a 12ft x 6ft table with tighter pockets and smaller balls. It can be frustrating to play well, but when you "get it", it really is a beautiful game to play, and a real mental workout. For anyone interested, Ronnie O'Sullivan is the best ever player, and his YouTube highlights are worth a watch: https://youtu.be/PE8XPHnCNpg - makes the game look incredibly easy, but I ass…
I agree that Ronnie O'Sullivan is great; I especially love watching his record fastest Maximum break [1].
Re: Billiards is a good game (1975)
#54A more difficult variant is snooker, played on a 12ft x 6ft table with tighter pockets and smaller balls. It can be frustrating to play well, but when you "get it", it really is a beautiful game to play, and a real mental workout. For anyone interested, Ronnie O'Sullivan is the best ever player, and his YouTube highlights are worth a watch: https://youtu.be/PE8XPHnCNpg - makes the game look incredibly easy, but I ass…
Wow! Never saw Snooker before. It was awesome to slowly realize what he was trying to do, then watch him sink shot after shot after shot… the really impressive thing to me was the placement of the cue ball. He wasn’t just shooting balls into pockets. He was doing in a way that perfectly set up the next thing he wanted to do.
Cue ball control is the key. Anyone can pot balls when the cue ball is in the right place, but keeping that cue ball under control is what most people struggle with.
Re: Billiards is a good game (1975)
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is a complete tangent, but I would note that we don't have physical models nearly good enough to actually compute the way billiards balls (or even worse, snooker balls) interact with each other and the fabric on the table. It's all guesswork and experience, mostly. The interactions between the balls and the fabric are critical for the vast majority of the movements, and they are far too complex for any physical…
If anyone is seeking serious answers about the variables, the first bible is "Byrne's New Standard Book Of Pool And Billiards." And it's not just the cloth and balls (rolling and static friction, dirt, ball elasticity...), it's also the rails, which rarely exhibit "angle of reflection == angle of incidence" due to more complexities.
Humidity also plays a huge factor with the felt, same with the tip of your cue and how it hits.
If a tournament is using Andy Cloth (Taiwan based producer), I won't even bother entering.
Their felt isn't a consistent thickness, and if you put heavy English on the cue ball, there's a chance that it will suddenly grip and change direction in the middle of the table if you're not powering the shot in.
Re: Billiards is a good game (1975)
#56> The waitress told us he drew sketches of the faculty he did not care to eat with. She said they all had long noses. I’m trying to understand this comment. I can’t tell if this is somehow a vague hint of an anti-Semitic attitude? It’s a weird thing to say or write in modern times if not.
"I saw a monkey in this guy's house, which made me think of black people. Therefore, he was racist". Assigning your own biases to other people is a great way to lose friends and influence nobody.
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Re: Billiards is a good game (1975)
#57> The waitress told us he drew sketches of the faculty he did not care to eat with. She said they all had long noses. I’m trying to understand this comment. I can’t tell if this is somehow a vague hint of an anti-Semitic attitude? It’s a weird thing to say or write in modern times if not.
It's a reporting of a report of an observation of portrait drawings. Theres no way to know what it means from the text; you'd have to ask the artist.
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Re: Billiards is a good game (1975)
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
If anyone is seeking serious answers about the variables, the first bible is "Byrne's New Standard Book Of Pool And Billiards." And it's not just the cloth and balls (rolling and static friction, dirt, ball elasticity...), it's also the rails, which rarely exhibit "angle of reflection == angle of incidence" due to more complexities.
Humidity also plays a huge factor with the felt, same with the tip of your cue and how it hits. If a tournament is using Andy Cloth (Taiwan based producer), I won't even bother entering. Their felt isn't a consistent thickness, and if you put heavy English on the cue ball, there's a chance that it will suddenly grip and change direction in the middle of the table if you're not powering the shot in.
Simonis it is, then?
Re: Billiards is a good game (1975)
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
Humidity also plays a huge factor with the felt, same with the tip of your cue and how it hits. If a tournament is using Andy Cloth (Taiwan based producer), I won't even bother entering. Their felt isn't a consistent thickness, and if you put heavy English on the cue ball, there's a chance that it will suddenly grip and change direction in the middle of the table if you're not powering the shot in.
Simonis it is, then?
Simonis is pretty much the gold standard. Their 860 is my preference, but their others play really well too.
The Predator Arcadia is good, but plays really fast.
Haven't really had issues with the other brands I've played on (aside from Andy), although humidity really affects the Valley Ultra cloth.
Had a tournament on Valleys when a rain storm came through a few hours into it. Without hearing the rain or looking outside, I could tell it was raining. The tables slowed down dramatically.
Edit: Slight side note, avoid tables by doors to the outside. The fluctuations in temperature really messes with how true the table plays.
Re: Billiards is a good game (1975)
#60> The waitress told us he drew sketches of the faculty he did not care to eat with. She said they all had long noses. I’m trying to understand this comment. I can’t tell if this is somehow a vague hint of an anti-Semitic attitude? It’s a weird thing to say or write in modern times if not.
"I saw a monkey in this guy's house, which made me think of black people. Therefore, he was racist". Assigning your own biases to other people is a great way to lose friends and influence nobody.
Ridiculous accusation. And note several others in thread had a similar curiosity about the remark.