German Masters

[Odrl]

A big thumbs down to Eurosport for not showing the final of a tournament where they are the host broadcaster. I can understand staying with one of the biggest tennis matches of the year and missing the start of snooker because of it, but now we are going to have studio analysis as well, probably followed by a few more of those stupid "best jumps of the night" compilations that serve no purpose? Come on, let's have the snooker!

[Billy]

I was wondering where it was. ES scheduling is an absolute farse. The Sky EPG for this channel serves no purpose whatsoever.

[PatBlock]

A big thumbs down to Eurosport for not showing the final of a tournament where they are the host broadcaster. I can understand staying with one of the biggest tennis matches of the year and missing the start of snooker because of it, but now we are going to have studio analysis as well, probably followed by a few more of those stupid "best jumps of the night" compilations that serve no purpose? Come on, let's have the snooker!

It's not really Eurosport's fault thought is it, it's our great promoter Barry Hearnia. He's the one that brokers the deal, so he's the one responsible for making sure we get decent coverage rather than this half arsed 'not really bothered cause it's only snooker so no one's watching anyway' attitude. It's pathetic and Hearn's to blame, the buck stops with him.

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[Neil Taperell]

I’m confused, sitting here watching it on Eurosport ?

[Odrl]

I’m confused, sitting here watching it on Eurosport ?

Not sure when it started in the UK, but on the continent we missed quite a bit of the start because of the aftermath of the tennis final. Well, I say "missed", but of course I watched it online instead. :smile:

I actually don't have a problem accepting that other live sports overrun from time to time, but it's those little compilations of highlights that they show between different programmes that really get on my nerves. They are not advertisements, so why can't they skip them if there is live sport to be covered? And they do the same thing between frames sometimes, instead of commercials they show those things for several minutes while the players are just sat in their sits, waiting to be allowed to continue the match. No excuse whatsoever.

[DeanH]

British Eurosport is fine
must be the European/International side of Eurosport.

[Odrl]

A very nice session of snooker, with the match set up perfectly for tonight. Definitely hoping for a 9-8 either way. :smile:

Unfortunately my mother didn't enjoy it quite as much it seems. "4-4?! That cretin Robertson, just smashing balls around. He led 4-2 and now it's 4-4. He is just like Williams." :biggrin:

[PatBlock]

British Eurosport is fine
must be the European/International side of Eurosport.

Did you have snooker punditry during the interval, or tennis? I'm watching on the ESplayer in the UK and had tennis chat instead of snooker.

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[DeanH]

no punditry, only commentary

at the MSI they did show the interview with that tennis player who I think has won a big event....

[PatBlock]

no punditry, only commentary

Well, for the final of a ranking tournament, that's not really goo enough is it.

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[DeanH]

quite usual on Eurosport, they tend to only do punditry on the big ones
got used to it

[PatBlock]

quite usual on Eurosport, they tend to only do punditry on the big ones
got used to it

I know, I know. I just miss Ronnie. :wink:

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[Billy]

Why do commentators always say, “Oh, how has that not gone in?” when a player rattles a pot in the jaws??

At a guess, I’d say it’s because it hit the jaw and rattled.

[DeanH]

Come on Robbo!

[Odrl]

A highly enjoyable evening of snooker for me. I actually watched it with an hour's delay just so I could get my midnight finish, and it actually worked out almost perfectly. And it was my favourite pair of commentators as well. :smile:

I think how tight the table was really contributed to the enjoyment tonight. It gave the match that "old school" feeling where the players had to work really hard to get in and put breaks together, and they deserve credit for still scoring pretty highly. Robertson kept getting within a fraction of knocking those long pots in though, so on a slightly easier table the centuries could have been flying in all evening. :smile:

After a really strong start to the season, Trump's dominance was actually starting to get challenged by Robertson and others over the past month or two, but tonight he showed once again that he is the best player in the world at the moment, beating a player that had looked almost untouchable earlier in the week. With the China Open now removed from the calendar, it feels like the World Championship is almost upon us, and the question whether Trump can successfully defend it will be asked more and more frequently. At least Robertson has put himself in the other half for the moment, climbing up to 2nd in the rankings. :smile:

On a more negative note, all that talk about the additional prize and the Shoot Out is somewhat annoying. The only way the Shoot Out becomes a "big event" in that context is if Trump actually wins it, but since it's a series of best-of-1 matches, the results are virtually random. Just give it a rest. I'm actually not a fan of this supposed "series" at all. Even if you lump the German and the European Masters together because of the geographical proximity and the cultural similarity of the countries they are held in, the other two events clearly have nothing to do with them. If there is an extra 150k available, why not just put it into the prize money for the German Masters, considering it's one of the most popular and well-attended events on the tour? All the Chinese events have a first prize of 150k or more, despite the poor attendances, so why not just try to match that here, instead of awarding extra money to the winner of some arbitrary series?

Anyway... A few weeks until the next event with matches of medium length now, but quite a bit of short-format snooker until then as well, starting tomorrow. :smile: