A Thursday night of snooker in downtown Toronto Canada. No tournament - just people who want to play. Not bad, huh?

So Matt’s here practicing at the club, but I noticed this.

Hey, dads/grandpas/uncles/brothers: when’s the last time you helped your daughter/granddaughter/niece/sister practice snooker?

Might be something to do.

After all the snooker we watched over the past month, many of us could pull off fair impressions of some of our favourite (and not-so-favourite) commentators. But they probably wouldn’t be good as this guy, who takes on Willie Thorne (“in fairness”), Steve Davis (“Yes”), Phil “Stat Man” Yates (Valerie’s fave) and John Virgo (“WHERE’S THE CUE BALL GOING?!?”). Thanks @snookerbingo and @snookerbacker1.

Steve Davis as “The True Face of God” in the new music video for “Clairvoyant Fortnight” by appropriately prog band Knifeworld. Typecasting…

See? There’s hope yet for Canadian snooker! :-/

(Actually, we have legitimate news on that coming in a podcast this week, hopefully.)

BetFred has done a good job this year at the Worlds with post-match press conference videos on YouTube. Here they wrap many of them up in a review of what’s been a remarkable event, and a preview of the final to come. If World Snooker did half the job all season that they and BetFred have done promo-wise with the Worlds, snooker would be in a much better place now.

I know the World final is coming up between Ronnie and Ali, and we think it’s going to be brilliant whoever wins (though, c’mon Ronnie!), but look to the future for a second and check this out.

Dong Dong Chan is almost 14 years old and is based in Hong Kong. His snooker idol is of course Marco Fu. He’s made very good impressions in the Under-21s, and has some pretty amazing videos of his practice and exhibitions. But this video is a practice where he’s acting as assistant coach at the International Youth Snooker Academy in Hong Kong. ASSISTANT COACH AT AGE 14. It’s like instilling the right techniques on top of each other for when he goes out among the jackals. And look at the these kids and the exercises. Look at the process. Look at how they separate the table for more kids to practice other specific things. These aren’t machines, guys. These are humans who are enjoying learning technique and teaching it. It’s possible. Anytime you get your back up about the rise of Asian players, remember this and ask yourself what we can learn and teach our own kids…and ourselves.

fuckyeahsnooker:

Peter Ebdon has been helping Ali is in his prep during the latter stages of this tournament and seems to be introducing him to his vegan diet.  Maybe he should be introduced as ‘the chef’ from now on. 

Photo a la @mngrsteve147  “Pre match prep - Ebdo stylee. #thatsallimsayin”

When I texted Matt that Stephen Hendry had announced his retirement, he didn’t really believe him. “We shall see after the short mid-season break. Do u really think he can watch and commentate?…When he knows he still has the magic?…” I tried to tell Matt Hendry said he’d made the decision months ago and sounded very content with it. “I still think there will be second thoughts. He hinted at this a couple of yrs ago. Competitive snooker is very addictive.” I told him he’d said he felt he’s played below his standard for about 10 years, which is a very long time, and that he’d still play in Snooker Legends events, along with his work in Chinese pool I’d posted about months ago. Matt noted, “As long as he stays in the game he will be happy. World Snooker should get him on the Board of Directors. They normally have at least 2 Scots.” But still he didn’t quite believe this would be an issue, as he still questioned how solid Hendry’s decision was.

This morning, he heard this video while getting ready for work. He didn’t even have to see it. There is no more questioning. “I’m sad,” he said as he left.

- Valerie