2020 World Snooker Championship

Panrich

Ah lads. Joe is much more entertaining to listen to than dry ****es like Doherty Taylor and Hendry.

lawrencesummers

Chalk McHugh wrote: »

Out of all the BBC/ITV and Eurosport snooker pundits and commentators i find most of them are good, many are entertaining and some are exceptional. The only two i don't particularly enjoy are Dennis Taylor and Joe Johnson. Dennis just talks a lot of childish nonsense, embarrasing people in the crowd like Patsy Fagan and Selbys wife every single time, waffling about golf and repeating the same stats and stories over and over. Joe Johnson just never shuts up. There is an art to sometimes staying silent and letting the viewer follow whats happening in peace. Clive Everton was a master at it. Most snooker fans are fairly knowdgeable but the likes of Joe Johnson sounds like he's commentating to a new audience of school kids who only tuned in for the first time. Usually if Dennis is on BBC you might be lucky with Johnson not on commentary on Eurosport at the same time but ive been caught with that most dreaded choice a few times over the course of this championship and once or twice the mute button came to the rescue.

While my enjoyment of watching snooker doesn’t in anyway match my abilities in playing it I do understand one aspect of the game which Joe Johnston doesn’t seem to get. When players are playing a few shots ahead all the time they are also leaving themselves options in a lot of positional play.

If Joe changed his commentating approach to highlighting the options available and the benefits or dangers of each instead of the exact shot that will be played and how it will be played he would not look as bad when that exact shot is regularly not Played.

This probably happens more with a player like Ronnie who approaches the game very differently to many others

lawrencesummers

Panrich wrote: »

Ah lads. Joe is much more entertaining to listen to than dry ****es like Doherty Taylor and Hendry.

Entertaining yes.
Accurate, No.

Panrich

lawrencesummers wrote: »

Entertaining yes.
Accurate, No.

And that’s the whole point for me. I’ve been watching snooker since the 70s and I really don’t need commentary at all at this stage to work out what is the next shot. It just adds a bit of colour. I much prefer Joe’s style to Hendry for example who I just want to turn off.

raclle

Each to their own but I cant stand Johnson. Its like watching a soccer match and not knowing who the players are

lawrencesummers

Panrich wrote: »

And that’s the whole point for me. I’ve been watching snooker since the 70s and I really don’t need commentary at all at this stage to work out what is the next shot. It just adds a bit of colour. I much prefer Joe’s style to Hendry for example who I just want to turn off.

It may add color, but with Joe it’s the wrong color he’s picking a lot of the time. The only commentary I like is when the former players give a good insight into what is happening currently and what the player is going to be trying to do in the next few shots.

Tbh I don’t pay much attention to it anyway, it’s only that I noticed how wrong joe calls a lot of things that my ears perked up, I’m just as happy to watch it with some music on

petronius

Commentators - nobody matches the great Ted Lowe
They need to be calm and quietly spoken, with a sudden burst of excitement! Kinda like Cricket or Golf commentary.

This year of Covid it is weird without the clapping and occasional cough, weirder when the add canned audience noise.

Ronnie is the best player ever, while I normally like his crazy streak, he was out of order what he said about other players the other day

On the subject of crazy streaks - maybe they should bring back former BBC Presenter, and goalie and green party spspokesperson David Icke to spice up the coverage

zuutroy

Joe Johnson over Hendry :eek:

I went back watching some of the old matches on YouTube and Ted Lowe is actually rubbish. Probably more a sign of the times than anything, but the commentary added nothing most of the time.

Heighway61

Who is that commentating on the Wilson/McGill match with John Parrott on BBC2 this morning?

Joe_ Public

Heighway61 wrote: »

Who is that commentating on the Wilson/McGill match with John Parrott on BBC2 this morning?

"Whispering" Dave Farrar.

MrKingsley

Joe_ Public wrote: »

"Whispering" Dave Farrar.

He might well be the least competent main commentator I’ve heard over any sport

petronius

Dave Farrar on snooker is new to me - I associate him with Boxing!
but he has nice soft tones for snooker....

Brian?

zuutroy wrote: »

Joe Johnson over Hendry :eek:

I went back watching some of the old matches on YouTube and Ted Lowe is actually rubbish. Probably more a sign of the times than anything, but the commentary added nothing most of the time.

I can't stand listening to Hendry anymore. He was great but he's fallen down the same hole as the other BBC commentators: constantly relating every situation to their own career and cracking wise.

Chalk McHugh

Oh i forgot this new BBC pundit Mr Dave Farrar. All i can say is i hope it's his first and last tournament.

The best pundits for me are Dave Hendon, Neal Foulds, Alan McManus and Dominic Dale.

Davis and Hendry demand respect because of their achievements and i like both.

Colin Murray and Jimmy White are ok but Eurosport have been a gift to snooker over the last while so no complaints.

Chalk McHugh

Wilson already chipping away at McGills lead. McGill looking a little off today completely missing a safety on a red in last frame and Wilson duly cleared up. Another 3-1 mini victory here and it's 8-8. Even at 7-9 i would make Wilson strong favourite.

Joe_ Public

petronius wrote: »

Dave Farrar on snooker is new to me - I associate him with Boxing!
but he has nice soft tones for snooker....

Had never heard of him before, people say he was or is football? And a pro punter apparently, but i dont know about that either.

Anyway, new game here this morning. McGill had two big flukes to win a frame, orherwise all Wilson now.

sligeach

Pathetic coverage as ever on BBC. Let's see if they do the same tomorrow morning for Selby v O'Sullivan.

thebronze14

sligeach wrote: »

Pathetic coverage as ever on BBC. Let's see if they do the same tomorrow morning for Selby v O'Sullivan.

Annoying...Streaming it now with Dutch commentary

Brian?

thebronze14 wrote: »

Annoying...Streaming it now with Dutch commentary

That's hilarious. I'm in the Netherlands watching it with English commentary.

Chalk McHugh

The 147 attempts have pretty much dried up since John Higgins did it. Ford and Mafflin went close, also. But nothing since. Even the centuries are pretty thin on the ground in the two semi finals.

Slightly off topic - rules related.
Learned summit new there listening to Fouldsy; had never even thought of it myself - if a player gets a
'freeball' when only pink and black are left, it's not against the rules to snooker behind the black if a freeball is awarded.

TheHopeful

That's interesting actually I didn't know that.

DelBoy Trotter

Deleted User wrote: »

Slightly off topic - rules related.
Learned summit new there listening to Fouldsy; had never even thought of it myself - if a player gets a
'freeball' when only pink and black are left, it's not against the rules to snooker behind the black if a freeball is awarded.

That's a new one on me too!

Probably happens so rarely that even the most avid snooker watcher might never have seen it happen.

Commentary doesn't annoy me that much; at least when I have a choice of 2 channels to watch it on :pac:

What is annoying about the coverage is the camera angles appear to have gotten worse, even though there's more space in the arena :mad: Even the commentators sometimes don't know if the ball is going to land in the pocket. As someone else said, they too must be all watching it off the screen.

Chalk McHugh

Very little comment on here with this semi final. Doesn't seem to be much interest.

Joe_ Public

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Slightly off topic - rules related.
Learned summit new there listening to Fouldsy; had never even thought of it myself - if a player gets a
'freeball' when only pink and black are left, it's not against the rules to snooker behind the black if a freeball is awarded.

Also not against the rules to canon the black into the pink and pot the latter off a fb. A lot of people think that would be a foul too, but no.

Chalk McHugh

Chalk McHugh wrote: »

Very little comment on here with this semi final. Doesn't seem to be much interest.

Well the first session was mediocre at best, so maybe some lost interest. I can see it ramping up later; what with it being close, and more watching the television, as well as the match being that bit closer to the business end.

Not surprising really, given the two players in this semi. Kyren Wilson is no one's favourite player, and McGill doesn't have the same appeal as say Dave Gilbert, or even Gary Wilson who were probably getting more support for advancing as far as they did previously.

McGill beat Clarke & Maflin to get this far- can't remember who else -not exactly a David and Goliath story.

TheHopeful

Much better from Wilson today.

MrKingsley

Does O’Sullivan Selby not actually start until 2.30?

So we’ve 90 mins of watching the exact same thing we saw 3 hours ago??

Joe_ Public

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Also not against the rules to canon the black into the pink and pot the latter off a fb. A lot of people think that would be a foul too, but no.

Very interesting that. I had never even seen a situation, or considered the rules regarding said situation where that would be a possibility.

I wonder what the rules are; if a freeball is awarded on say the brown, can a player do similar to above and use another colour to pot that brown. I know on reds a player is entitled to use a freeball as another red, and can use a colour to make a plant etc..

Anyway, about an hour and a half to wait for Ron.

Chalk McHugh

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Well the first session was mediocre at best, so maybe some lost interest. I can see it ramping up later; what with it being close, and more watching the television, as well as the match being that bit closer to the business end.

Not surprising really, given the two players in this semi. Kyren Wilson is no one's favourite player, and McGill doesn't have the same appeal as say Dave Gilbert, or even Gary Wilson who were probably getting more support for advancing as far as they did previously.

McGill beat Clarke & Maflin to get this far- can't remember who else -not exactly a David and Goliath story.

Yes i find it a hard watch myself. Actually only watched a couple of frames today and i don't ever remember deciding to tune out for a world semi final. I've nothing against McGill but i just cant bring myself to watching Wilson play. If he's the face of snooker going forward i dont think their will be many new fans coming on board.

MrKingsley

MrKingsley wrote: »

Does O’Sullivan Selby not actually start until 2.30?

So we’ve 90 mins of watching the exact same thing we saw 3 hours ago??

:pac:

Don't know if you watch much snooker, but they have to allow for long frames. It's only fair at this level that players know what time they're on.

MrKingsley

[Deleted User] wrote: »

:pac:

Don't know if you watch much snooker, but they have to allow for long frames. It's only fair at this level that players know what time they're on.

My point was why are the BBC starting their coverage so early just to show the exact same thing again

Joe_ Public

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Very interesting that. I had never even seen a situation, or considered the rules regarding said situation where that would be a possibility.

I wonder what the rules are; if a freeball is awarded on say the brown, can a player do similar to above and use another colour to pot that brown. I know on reds a player is entitled to use a freeball as another red, and can use a colour to make a plant etc..

Anyway, about an hour and a half to wait for Ron.

Yes, entirely legal. With all colours remaining, for example, you could nominate green as a fb, use it to pot the yellow, and get 2 points and move on to green. If yellow was over pocket, it might be the shot to play.

MrKingsley

MrKingsley wrote: »

My point was why are the BBC starting their coverage so early just to show the exact same thing again

Apologies. I see what you mean. We could be watching Nigella now, or something more interesting than this regurgitated muck :P

Maybe it's something to do with the schedules. It's a sickener how often the BBC stop the snooker coverage when the snooker runs over time on one of their 'main' channels. I guess they want to show, or to be able to count in their 'stats' how many 'hours they devoted to the World's in 2020'.

This can only serve to have people too bored to watch the 'main encounter' at half two. Unlikely, but some might have had enough. Bad enough that they were going on about John Higgins at the half time interval - I wanted to hear more insight from 'Angles' myself.

Joe_ Public

Between sessions you always saw the best and worst of bbc snooker. Occasionally they would give you excellent analytical or colourful pieces that really added to the coverage. Like, they visited dings new academy the other day which could have been very interesting, just it never went very deep. Then too often, they'd just have these stupid quizzes or comedy segments where the likes of Dennis or Parrot would assume that just because they were having a great time, the viewer must be too. There's obviously no scope for that this year but you could at least use the time for serious panel discussion with hendry, mcmanus etc. But their coverage is aimed towards the casuals anyway so they're not that interested in that kind of thing.

End of rant!

Mysterypunter

Chalk McHugh wrote: »

Very little comment on here with this semi final. Doesn't seem to be much interest.

Was following it OK, but was also busy, will be watching tonight, so there may be a few more comments flying around then

Arthur Daley

Deleted User wrote: »

I guess they want to show, or to be able to count in their 'stats' how many 'hours they devoted to the World's in 2020'.

I'd say they'd have the snooker on from 10am to 6pm on BBC2 if they could.

They stop at 12 for one hour to show the exact same news as BBC news channel is showing.
That is pointless but I can only think that they must do it to appease some letters or emails to points of view about how 'the bloody snooker is on all day'. But these people would have no problem with BBC2 showing the exact same feed as BBC news channel when the snooker isn't on (as they did from 10am to 1pm yesterday):rolleyes:

DelBoy Trotter

Chalk McHugh wrote: »

Very little comment on here with this semi final. Doesn't seem to be much interest.

Work is busy today, so less time for the snooker :eek::(

lawrencesummers

This should wile away the afternoon nicely....

sligeach

Good chance wasted by Selby.

There's enough 'Rock and Roll' snooker players, percentage safety players, mediocre players, quality matches, scrappy matches to make snooker fascinating to those who watch the game; plus the analysis during breaks is also something to look forward to. Enough entertainment value for young and old who like/love the game, or even the once a year Crucible viewer. The interviews with players, as well as stories like the Ding academy one, as mentioned, are a welcome addition too.

Those rubbish 'vox pops' though :rolleyes:

Somehow I don't believe that the 'Instagram generation' will be even 5% more inclined to watch the beautiful game listening to such garbage. It's the same rubbish those of us who watch racing are subject to on ITV. Ladies day & best dressed man/woman was enough of a distraction from the sport, without the unwelcome addition of the 'social stable'

"What can you not live without on tour?" "Best piece of advice you ever got?" etc is beyond the pale imo in terms of 'filler'. The one 'saving grace' regards that rubbish is I haven't noticed the 'lesser player' being subject to that embarrassment...

Go on Ron!

weemcd

sligeach wrote: »

Good chance wasted by Selby.

Ronnie has let him in a couple of times already and he still hasn't really potted anything. Peculiar match so far. If Selby finds even one extra gear he should be able to win easily, but he's simply not potting as his highest break so far in the game shows.

Kick :eek:

sligeach

Some awful play from Selby. Make that awful from both players.

Early days I know, but fair play to anyone who backed Ronald Antonio

If he's there on Sunday, and it's looking likely, we're probably close to 'penalty kick' territory

How'd that black drop?

^^^^^

Not me, I didn't... just to add

sligeach

O'Sullivan always seems to get massive chunks of luck.

Ron getting t'rub in this first one no doubt about it.