2004 UK championship

[Sonny]

How come I'm the first person to start a thread on this?

....anyway, my money is on that Maguire kid to go all the way. I'm seriously impressed with him after watching him dispatch the player most of us thought was about to dominate the season, twice in as many weeks.

I must admit I'm really starting to like the set up at the Barbican. It's been there for a few years now and I'm starting to get the familiarity that I have with the Crucible. I think the whole set up is very classy. I'm going to the first semi final next friday and I can't wait.

Naturally the other main plus for this years event is the interactive service the beeb is giving. I loved that service at the worlds as it ended years of frustration at matches being cut off at vital times, and it gives more of a sense of actually being there at the venue. This morning I just tested the tv without knowing, and saw "snooker interactive" on the menu. I went "yusssssssssssss"

[Templeton Peck]

York is my favourite venue. York is such a beautiful place I enjoy the visit in a way a trip to Preston just doesn't do it for me. If you're looking for somewhere decent and relatively cheap to eat there's a fantastic little upstairs cafe next to the Hilton hotel. It seems to be staffed mostly by 15 y/o girls but the food is great.

Saw the Williams and Hunter matches today (anyone else there?), and kind of ended up wishing I had visited the Jorvik viking centre instead. Ali Carter's century break was the only real highlight; it didn't look on at first but he pulled out some crackers. Anyway, Maguire is really starting to look the part - you're beginning to think the seeds might stand a chance against him if they play well rather than the other way round. Come the end of the season he may leap straight into the top 8 never mind the top 16 (has that ever been done before??)

Anyway, there are only three top players left in it now - Hunter, Ebdon and Lee, and one of those two will be definitely going home tomorrow. Lee and Hunter don't have good track records in multi-session matches, so on paper maybe this is Ebdon's year again. If Hunter was to win it though I think it would make him the firm favourite at Sheffield next year.

[chrisdebag]

the welsh are dropping like flies i think they are all waiting for the worlds when i hope to be there

never watched snooker in york but stayed there in 2000 for a holiday went to the railway museum and the castle dungeons and drank a lot in the royal oak

maguire is playing great stuff

[Snooker]

Well Maguires looking as if he's going to win.

[Templeton Peck]

Don't be too sure - I've fancied Gray for a long while now (in a non gay way!). He tends to be very adept at seeing off players in top form (remember the 2000 WC where he beat Ronnie after he hammered in FIVE centuries?), and he's a very good pressure player too. I have a sneaky feeling he could pinch this and I think he's a player on the verge of making a breakthrough to the top of the game. Maguire will take some stopping though. Given the odds I think Gray is well worth a gamble.

[Sonny]

Well I've gotta stick with Maguire seeing as I tipped him as soon as he beat Ronnie but I'm aware of how well Gray can play and remember well the time he beat Ronnie at the Crucible - didn't he do some cushion first plant into the middle pocket when he was 9-8 down which was shot of the championship?

Anyway, on another note I was very ****ed off on Friday because I went to the Barbican to watch the semi final and to my utter dismay we weren't allowed to sit in the balcony area like in years gone by. The woman there was a complete jobsworth who was making sure we didn't sneak up there by making doubly sure we went to our allocated seats by acting as our personal escort. We said "**** this" and went down the pub for the rest of the day (Edinburgh Arms).

I mean what the hell was all this about? Players families only in the balcony - like all 300 or so seats were required for David Gray and Joe Perrys loved ones? Bollocks! I'm still fuming even now. The cool thing about going the Barbican was being able to sit in the balcony and nip off for a beer every so often and watching a couple of frames on the screens outside the arena, then going back in before the start of the next. It wasn't sitting next to some lardarse heavy breathing fatty making you have to sit all scrunched up getting arse cramps because you can't move, and knowing how much of a pain it is to nip out between frames because 20 people have to stand up to let you out.

So are they telling me that once the tableside tickets are all gone that they're not going to take in extra income by selling balcony seats like in previous years? Where is the sense in that?

[Sonny]

What's all this points stuff next to the post count?

[Snooker]

If you view http://www.worldsnookerforums.com/showthread.php?t=91 it explains it all.

[Sonny]

yeah I got the email as well

[Sonny]

I just went up by 20 points for that! Cool

[chrisdebag]

sonny have you ever tried actually watching the snooker hehe ahem

[Sonny]

is confused....