Holden Chinaski wrote:acesinc wrote:, you imply that I must be ignorant .
Not at all, mate. I just wanted your opinion on that shot. I just included that vid in this thread because it was also about a shot that some think was a push and some think it was not. I thought you couldn't see the video or couldn't open the link when you said you 'don't understand Twitter'. I personally don't know if those shots were push shots or not. Just started this thread because a lot of players and fans argue about push shots and seem confused. Maybe the tone in my posts is not always true to how I feel, you must know English is not my first language so maybe this can happen sometimes. I think your posts are great and I definitely didn't want to offend you.
No worries, mate! I never, ever took offence. That is why I started that specific post (clipped out in your quote above) with "First, the joke answer: ..." I think that Snooker Island is a very funny place to be. And you specifically, Holden, are one of the "funny guys". I try to be a "funny guy" sometimes, but I am just not very good at it! I resolve to accept my title as the "long poster". It suits me well.
I expected that English is a second language to you as I have seen in the past you are from.....Belgium? was it?....forgive me if my memory is bad. I don't know how well you can
speak English and I don't know if I would understand you verbally, but your command of the
written English language is perfectly fluent and you should be proud of that.
And to the heart of the matter...
Holden Chinaski wrote:...Just started this thread because a lot of players and fans argue about push shots and seem confused. ...
Absolutely agree with you here. I think the players, spectators (in the audience), and viewers (on telly or video) see things differently than the Referee. Of these, I trust the Referee by far the most. Professional Snooker Referees are trained and certified, and progress their way up the ladder within their field, hopefully reaching the pinnacle of refereeing the Final of the World Championship. And all the while, they are competency tested (I think every year, but I am not certain of the frequency) and despite all that, there are always idiots that are calling the ref an idiot. Often, the Referee is the only one in the building that actually understands what is actually going on. I wouldn't be surprised if the Referee training also includes some psychology to help them deal with all the BullS#*t that they obviously have to put up with.
So to be perfectly clear on your query, "I just wanted your opinion on that shot.":
The Original Post, the Mark King shot, that is a Push Stroke no ifs, ands, or buts about it.
Your second entry, the Tom Ford shot, I cannot see enough information in the video for me personally to determine if it is a Push or not. If I am magically transformed into being the Referee in that position at that time and it is up to me to make the decision without benefit of anyone else's opinion, no video support or anything else, then I go to the
default position of not making the call, no foul. In such case, I would hope for sportsmanship from the Player to call foul on himself/herself if detected. A real Referee in that position uses not only sight but sound as well. A push stroke generally has a sort of dull "thunk" sound to it much like when a kick occurs. A clean stroke, on the other hand, makes a sharp, clear "click" sound as the two balls engage without the cue tip interfering. Visually, the trajectory of the balls tell a vivid story. On that stroke, Ford actually swerved too much; he missed pot in the middle on the Black side of middle pocket indicating that White contacted Red too thin. And if he had accidentally contacted that Red closest to White first (he didn't), then that closest Red would have traveled more toward the other side middle pocket (not straight to the side cushion as it did), and the second Red (the one he was trying to pot) would have traveled a line taking it nearer to the Green pocket.
That information above is an awful lot for a Referee to take in and process in just a fraction of a second's time. We can re-examine a situation time and again with video replay, but the Referee on duty makes a split second decision based on an instant of feedback from his or her senses of sight and sound. It is quite astounding, a shame, and bordering on libel that the Referee is almost always correct in their calls like this, but all the fanboy YouTube commenters trying to protect their hero foolishly call out the ref as an idiot.
But again, Holden, no worries. I never took offense to anything you wrote.
If I get myself involved in a thread that heats up with controversy, my tendency is to simply shut up and disappear.
