Healthy, Wealthy and Wise!
Yesterday was jam packed. The Crucible’s Tudor Square was busy with Sunday coffee drinkers, Cuezone snoopers and dedicated fans. Many pulled up a pew in front of the big screen for the eagerly awaited O’Sullivan-Ding rematch – which for Rocket fans, was almost too good to be true.
He silenced the sceptics by zooming to an (unexpected?) 8-1 lead. We hate to say “we told you so”, but Cuef@cts predicted that Ronnie would win with ease, so we’re not surprised!
The 20-year-old first time-qualifier didn’t present much of a challenge for the World number three, in fact he may as well have stayed in his dressing room for the first few frames.
Despite an awesome command of the baize and almost 100% pot rate for the first half-session, there is still a general feeling that Ronnie has yet to produce his best form.
I love it.
This afternoon also saw Parrott and Davis take things to the wire. As a staunch nugget fan, I felt a little flinch of sadness to see him go out but John played well and I’m now looking forward to top-notch punditry from Steve.
Pundit, by the way, comes from an Indian word meaning “wise man”. There you go Jimmy, nevermind not qualifying, you are officially promoted to the rank of wise!
Health seems to be very much on the agenda in 2007. Shaun Murphy has lost 3 stone in a bid to make fitness part of his preparations. Nice one Shaun – and you might want to know you can carry on exercising during your session today because a frame of snooker notches up around 0.5km on a pedometer - and that’s a Cuefact!
So, next time you fancy a pint, rack up some reds at the same time. A few frames a day, keeps Mr Motivator away!
John Parrott was seen yesterday morning reading Bobby Robson’s column over a light breakfast. Maybe passing on the full English contributed to his winning form later in the day?
And Matthew Stevens, prior to beating Delaney, was spotted in Waitrose. He apparently bypassed the ready meals after eyeing up the convenience food for some time. That’s right Matthew, get those greens in.
Ebbo - another health conscious player, and keen swimmer – (well, who wouldn’t be in Dubai?) also won a place in the final 16, guaranteeing himself a cool £14,000.
The Cuefactor team hopes to be looking in more detail at the health aspects of the game – and stay with us for an exclusive take on ladies’ snooker.
Women in a man’s world – a welcome evolution of the game or a futile drop in the old-school ocean?
You can let us know your thoughts on these and other topics – email us at ………
