Will be making my way up to Sheffield on Sunday to watch Murphy v Jones, then again on Wednesday, Thursday and the other Sunday.
Looking at the draw and form books, im gonna go for a Maguire v Robertson final with Robertson coming out on top.
Robertson has a pretty easy path until the Semis, while Maguire is coming back to form, has some dangerous names in his half, but I can see him doing really well this year.
Can't wait
Have to say I hope Ronnie smashes Ebdon off the table.
John Higgins tends to be watchable (and his wife's nae bad, either). And unlike his fellow countrymen Hendry & Maguire, JH always seems like someone who isn't a totally miserable sod.
I was of course hoping Steve Davis might make it through, but there we have it.
Yep I was gutted when Steve Davis lost in the qualifiers
. I remember a few years back him and Dennis Taylor replayed the final frame decider of 1985 shot for shot with a humorous running commentary from them both explaining what they were trying to do. It had them both and the Crucible audience in stitches
. They tried to replay so many shots to produce the same outcome as 85 but balls that were missed in 85 kept being potted by mistake and vice versa. Most notably Steve's cut back black into the corner went in and if memory serves me right he copied Dennis's finger wag celebration as if he had won
. Their attempted reinactment of that frame was one of the funniest things I have seen and it was good that Steve could make fun of something that at that moment in 85 must have been pretty galling. To think he led 8-0 and lost 18-17 on that final black, even now it still feels like yesterday and yet it was 27 years ago
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What do you think guys has Ronnie got the game to win the title. Me personally i can't see it, don't think he's got the patience to win another.
He's got the game - just not the brain.
What he said ^^^^
Ronnie is fantastic, but when he wants to be.
This is truly one of the highlights of the sporting calender as far as I'm concerned, I remember watching Stephen Hendry win the championships when he was only 17, the youngest player to achieve such a feat to date. When it comes to Ronnie O'Sullivan he is just a delight to watch, I remember watching in awe that famous match back in 1998 when he absolutely hammered Jimmy White 9 -0 such was the blistering form he was in at the time. 147's to me are allways special, I've seen Ronnie clear the table literally at the blink of an eye, really looking forward to what should be a very exciting and open compeition this year.
I don't see O'Sullivan as a factor in terms of winning the tournament as I doubt he will have the consistency of concentration and patience to do it. He has an almighty struggle on his hands just to scrape Peter Ebdon off the table in round one. Ebdon has just the sort of approach to the game that is most likely to upset Ronnies rhythm and patience. Even should he get past that test the draw he faces to win the title is in my view too tough.
He is a potential dangerous floater who could do some damage but win the tournament? No. I do think this championship has the potential to be the best ever. The number of tournaments on the circuit now is plentiful thanks to the existence of the smaller scale PTC tournaments to go alongside the majors. No player can complain at lack of match sharpness because the opportunity to engage in tournament play is very substantial. Players will arrive at the Crucible in good form and with a lot of match play in the bank. I cant wait for it all to start tomorrow on telly via the red button on interactive. And I shall be off to the Crucible in week 2 of the championship
. The babeshows will have to take a bit of a backseat in the next fortnight
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