Steve Davis

[ferret]

Its the hottest day of the year and I have been stuck behind a computer all day I need 20 questions to ask Steve Davis for an interview!!!!!! so 35 minutes in and I have two questions, what was your worst moment of your career? and what was your best moment of your career?........and thats it.

If any of you can think of any questions I would be most greatful :-) my head just ain't working today especially as I have really bad Hay Feaver today too SNIFF SNIFF AhhhhChoooow

Cheers

Kev

[ferret]

Sorry forgot to say I am in need of 5 more questions for Jan Verhaas too!!!!

[twiglet]

I would ask him how he keeps himself motivated? Its a tremendous acheivement to be his age and still competing

[reverse_side]

Face to Face interviews? Lucky bee tard if that's how you're doin it.

For Jan...
How would he handle being told that the amount of 'comfort breaks' being taken were excessive and it was down to the Ref's to 'sort it out'.

Also, for Steve....
1. We hear a lot about who's whose practice partner but who does he try and mash up on a daily basis and is there any special way that he gets the adrenalin flowing so he can reach his best when practicing?
2. If there's so many great youngsters out there, does he have the inside track on why the BBC or Sky haven't put on any Junior tournaments to show off the talent and inspire the the youth (the future)
3. Steve has such a natural brain for analysing snooker situations from perspectives such as technique, psychology and a champion that if someone was taking notes, it'd be a Haynes Manual for winning snooker matches. Has he ever thought about combining this with another autobiography?
4. Would Steve ever consider hypnotism to improve his consistency?
5. Is the game on the dawn of a breakthrough or breakdown?
6. Does he think it's slightly hypocritical for beer companies to avoid the same sanctions as tobacco firms when on a global view, tobacco only causes .1% more deaths than alcohol (4% as opposed to 4.1%).
7. On a lighter note, does he think a tournament could be hosted in a West End Theatre where nearly 3 thousand gagging fans could be squeezed in?
8. What would it take to make screw-in tips take over from existing glue-ons when having 5 or so ready "knocked-in" tips would avoid the worrying time of changing a tip?
9. It must make him feel very proud to have inspired SO many youngsters in more that 20 years in the limelight - he still does, does he ever draw any inspiration from the knowledge that there's thousand still trying to emulate him?
10. Why has there been a mission to make tables faster when the end result is an unlevel playing field of irregular conditions and kicks sometimes deciding matches?
11. Does he think that the Governing body might ever give a leading University for example the job of investigating kicks and then a plan of how to reduce them? Too many particles on the balls dissipates energy and increases friction easily summarises the loss of pace and angle change, but a Uni could travel to every Tournament and collect vast amounts of readings and data to present to the WPBSA / World Snooker.
12. Is there anything like a Players' Union that all the concerns and ideas of the Pro's can be channelled through?
13. What does Steve think about my idea of carrying the difference in points of a frame that ends in a re-rack? (Any advantage a player has earnt will not be lost and the Ref will feel more confident in a happy consensus from the players if he feels a re-rack is unavoidable)

.... gotta get some sleep now Kev, will crack off some more tomorrow if you like .... and some questions too I know!!!

(Twiglet, I'd imagine Steve still has a thirst for the game because he knows he's still pretty s**t hot and can give anyone a game; including Ronnie, Prem Snooker League this year for example. If it's the thing he does best in the world, he wants to drink down as much achievement he can possibly gorge himself on while he's still good enough. He's got a love of the game that fills a huge part of his soul that he'd struggle to replace so he can't get enough of the chance to perform at his best and winning a tournament by doing it consistently. If you've done something amazing for years and years and it stops becoming a habit, it's more difficult to give up on a target when you know you're very close to achieving something similar again - bet he can taste winning a tournament. He's so mentally powerful that it allows him to think positive and compete when others would fall apart. Many of the things Steve has said in the past have hit me in the chest like a gong and I've become a better player through living some of his pearls of wisdom years ago... and those of his modern day head)

[ferret]

Nice one I like those questions :-)

As for question 11 I am already talking to a professor at a leading university about this.........I'll keep you updated.

[reverse_side]

Glad to be of service (ho ho Wibmbledon; from my days at IBM they used to spell it that way) looking back, the Uni idea was something I thought of in my first Newbie entry.

Suppose you could ask the question about about carrying the points difference over after a re-rack to both of them.

As Steve's got a keen brain for latching on to ways to improve his game, see if he could see the value of snooker players' techniques being analysed (by the same Uni looking at kicks would be good) in the laboratory? I can imagine that any player would appreciate seeing how they hit a shot affects the white, e.g. if you improve your follow-through and it immediately causes a vast increase in the amount of imparted spin, you'd gain an insight into what can help your game an incredible amount. He and John Parrott did about 10 video clip insights inot the game using the ultra slo-mo cam so he's already half way there. (Wonder how JP got on with his chalkless rubber tip experiment he talked about recently) I'd guess that players like Ronnie would be the 'Angular Velocity King' if they were to invite the top Pro's in, we'd see why some players seem to whack the balls quite hard, but lack the infamous 'timing' to create much spin after impact as well. The Bruce Lee 'one inch punch' has lessons for us all if we wanted to learn.

TTFN

[twiglet]

I think out of habit players would prefere to chalk their tips anyway, it gives you confidence-athought there is a strong link with the amount of kicks experienced.
Only if the rubber tip performs consistently and in a manner that players are used too will it be taken seriously in my opinion.

[ferret]

I don't think I could use a rubber tip! I'll put this question to Jan and Eirian also to see what they think as referees.

I may also be doing a interview with Matthew Stevens soon so I'll ask him aswell.

[twiglet]

i can see why people are researching these rubber tips, but i think most snooker players just accept kicks as part and parcel of the game, although they are annoying when you get one. I wouldn't use a rubber tip to be honest!!

[reverse_side]

glitterati++, shoulders'll be wearing out Kev! As for Matthew, he's the type of player I looked at when he first appeared and thought there's a kind of vibrant fire within him that unlike some will power him on to future successes - for others, the 'fire in the belly' burns them out before their time... now we're cookin!

For Twiggers; Chalking your tip doesn't necessarily give you confidence, it's just a required routine as part of your technique that eventually becomes a second nature habbit reinforcing a framework of behaviour that can be positive or negative... 'referred confidence' is as tenuous as it gets IMO.

On the other hand, if you knew a new type of tip would give you 80% less kicks (assuming your opponent's the same) this couldn#t help but make you feel happier, calmer and more in control the fact something's been done to address one of the biggest problems in the game; mental power booster.

Specifically about rubber tips (John Parrott's presentation on his experiment would be nice here as there isn't any real 'research' being done in this area) it might be resolved with measuring tournament conditions; humidity, temperature ranges, carpet/curtain fabrics, table cloth material, barometric pressure, wind speed, room size, players' techniques, type of chalk, frequency and vigorousness of application etc etc, and then comparing the volume and frequency of kicks to build a wealth of empirical data to start drawing conclusions and action plans from t.

Anyway, you'd probably find (ironically) that instead of a block of chalk, you'd simply replace it with a pod of maybe an alcohol based solvent/cleaner to remove dust or any other friction reducing impurity... so you'd still need to apply a material every shot similar to the action of chalking.

If you can't imagine using chalk T, think about a possible time when every 'man and his dog' started to use a chalkless tip (whatever it's composition) and the number of (possible career and livelihood ending) kicks tumbled...... it would be a strong character that would reject such progress and retain 'old fashioned chalk'.... it would be a no-brainer 'at the end of the day' (BB6).

Lastly for Kev... there's a great idea I've got for improving the game for Pro's, amateurs and club hacks alike that could turn into a money spinner and Global initiative for every cue sport club club in the world. Will try and approach the right people in the future. 5% inspiration 95% perspiration as we know though.

[twiglet]

I agree that chalking the tip is routine, and its something that a snooker player has done all their lives. Until a product such as a tip that doesn't need chalking comes available and is consistently better than what we do now, then there is no better alternative. As for confidence could you really have leave a half ball cut back black to split the reds up without chalk, well in my humble opinion i don't think so?

Yes chalking is routine, yes it is a pattern of reinforcing behaviour, tenuous link to confidence well i disagree? It is part of the make up of a shot just like addressing the cue ball is!!

[reverse_side]

All pretty obvious until the half cut black; if I was playing the shot plain ball and especially without slapping the white, then if I hadn't chalked the tip before the shot I can't see myself quiverring in a heap worrying that all my confidence had colandered away; but that's beside the point really.

I concede that you would feel like there'd be a better chance of controlling the white if the cue ball has less of a chance slipping and causing a miscue if you were applying side, but I would also say that the fact you've played hundreds and thousands of balls (and hopefully potted the majority), the history of having to gauge angles in every shot and the memory of what you should be doing will give you the confidence to believe you're going to pot the ball, split the pack and retain position rather than the fact you've chalked or not chalked your tip - with better timing on a shot it will reduce the chance of a bad contact anyway.

The confidence you talk about is being able to rely on your equipment, you aren't a more confident driver just because you've just put a new set of tyres on your car - you believe you'll be safer. It's a basic requirement for playing the game that cleaning your cue or washing your hands allows you to deliver the cue more easily. There are other anologies to seemingly support looking after your equipment will give you confidence; a larger golf clubhead - but if it doesn't work, there aint no confidence boost there.

As for chalking your cue being part of your technique, I've yet to see Frank Callan, Terry Griffiths or Steve Davis (that I think you should really be concentrating on questions Ferret can pose to) spend any of their time dwelling on making sure the youngsters of the day apply some friction dust to their tip.

Pro's don't just accept it as part of the game as they make a specific effort to have the ball cleaned ever so often reduce the probability, especially on a crucia shot; not 100% that it will stop it happening though it probably gives the player an aura of 'best practice'.

If you can see why people are researching Rubber Tips; can you pass on who these people are, I've not found any info on this subject.

[zimrahil]

ask Steve who he considers to be the best player of all time and why?

Hendry or Joe Davis ? Or maybe someone else though I doubt it ?

[reverse_side]

that's a good one Zim, he'd help us see how he'd compare the legends of the past with the ones we're watching in the making - I wonder if steve could manage to show on the BBC what it'd be like playing with the equipment of yester-year; balls like shot putts and cloth like rugs; how would our Pro's get on?

I didn't know until last year that in some of the World Finals that Joe won (don't wanna belittle the achievements).... but!.... 'on a challenge basis' meant that he'd be waiting for a group of Pro's to play amongst themselves until the best of the group played him in the Final. (it's the way chess maestro's play tournaments today apparently... found that out last thursday)

Could Steve see a 'seniors' tour take off? Get Joe Johnson, Willie, Steve when he's not so good, Neal Foulds (xlnt bloke), Tony Meo, Mike "where's m'calculator" Hallet, Dennis, Virgo etc etc to put their hand in - off handicaps would be a leveller too. If only we had some firebrands and tongues laced with silk to massage Sky Sports or Greg Dyke's replacement (Mark Thompson) to stage some competitions; doubles even. Bring it on, we're thirsty.

[reverse_side]

http://www.thesnookerforum.com/commu...read.php?t=252

If people want to see some more engrossing Rubber Tip chatter!

Twiggers, you were the one to shrug off the possible innovation of a screw-in tip being used in snooker weren't you. It'd be so funny if a screw-in rubber tip was brought out, IWLMFHO, F**K ABOUT, and you'd be the last one to use them with everyone already on the band waggon.