Well, what a tournament!
I predicted a 10-9 win for Selby and was proved right, and final was one of the greatest ever in my opinion. That wasn't the only brilliant match, Hendry-Murphy, O'Sullivan-Williams, King-Maguire (actually not that last one) were all a joy to watch and is this the start of a new exciting beginning of snooker? I hope so.
However, I did have some gripes with the tournament and it wasn't all perfect.
Firstly, the walk-on music. Seemed cool at first, but it seems all Snooker players have terrible tastes in music! Also, why was no one brave and choose Snooker Loopy as their song? It would have sounded like an epic masterpiece in that arena. Shame.
As for Rob Walker, well, he's getting a bit old now. Same old lines, same old lean forward after every exclamation mark. Ditch him and replace him with the guy from X Factor.
"IT'S TIME, TO FACE, THE BAIZE!!!"
Sounds amazing doesn't it? Well make it copyrighted so Barry doesn't take my brilliant idea right off my hands and get the credit.
It's not that I dislike Rob, I just find him a bit repetitive and he kept saying the same thing before every match:
"The atmosphere here is Electric!"
No Rob, that's just your hair.
To be fair, the crowd were a bit barmy. They all went mental when Jimmy came on, like it was the last time they were going to see him before he died of old age.
Speaking of the audience, how many celebs were there?
Good to see Ronnie Wood there, got Snooker onto the front page of The Sun, don't really know why though. Good thing none of the players walked out to Basshunter, otherwise he might of gone a bit mad. (Big Brother viewers will understand).
Then there was Gino D'acampo, whose name sounds a bit like a Italian holiday camp. The boxer, Luca Brecel and the Javelin thrower.
The javelin thrower (whose name escapes me) almost got into a bit of trouble with racism in her interview. Hazel asking "Who are you supporting here?" Her reply "Rory McLeod because he's black." You could see her realising that was kind of racist, quickly thinking of the palest player she could think of. "And Peter Ebdon!" Yeah, nice try. I noticed.
It was nice to see BBC turn their focus to the lower ranks of the Snooker world, I always enjoy those, mainly because I can tell everyone around me who that world no. 67 is before the presenters. This time is was Amateur Wonderboy Luca Brecel. I thought he deserved a wildcard ahead of Jimmy White but it looks like he got one into the practice rooms. They showed him off with all his ambidextrous tricks and long shots, before interviewing his Dad. That's where the problem started, as in the background you could see Luca miss three consecutive pots. Pah, the biggest new talent since Ronnie? Whatever.
Unfortunately Brecel wasn't the "B" that dominated this tournament. It was all "Barry." Barry Hearn was everywhere, Sky News, BBC News, The Daily Mail.
Barry, Barry, Barry.
I was slightly startled by the headline on BBC this morning, "Hearn Looking to Conquer Europe." It seemed like he had built up an army of Snooker and Darts players and was ready to invade Germany and the rest of Europe. Luckily it was just his aim of more Ranking events in Europe. I'd still be on your guard though if I was part of the army of a European country. Could those guns beat Darts and snooker cues?
Barry might have to work on his promotion though, announcing the new German event was big news. So why did he announce it in The Guardian of all places? The paper that only 3 people read? And they're all in it for the free posters.
And finally I would like to end on the note of BBC ruining my shirt. I was just taking a sip of water when Ronnie suggested to Ken Doherty that he should wear a thong. The thought of it made me spit water everywhere. Not as much as when I took a sip while John Virgo said to his commentary partner during the UK's, "He'll just be trying to get as close as possible to that black Willie."
Nasty.
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