Logonewstvcommunitystore

Game IconCarom

'The game I love to play, the players I love to watch'

06/11/2014

Published by frits bakker

commentlinktwitterfacebook
thumbnail
© © Edmund Mevissen
Torbjörn Blomdahl on the cover of Bert van Manen's book

(by Frits Bakker)
Two things will never be the same again, is what I thought when I had first browsed through 'The Blomdahl era'. From now on, after an evening of hard work or a day of cycling, I'll reach for my copy of Bert van Manen's little masterpiece and go to sleep with one of his beautiful anecdotes and stories. More so, my life in sports has been enriched with a collection of columns, records, stats and lists that will be from now on be ever so valuable when I am writing and reporting about billiards.

'The Blomdahl era', a book named after the great Swedish virtuoso who took over the crown of Raymond Ceulemans, is not just a book to recommend. Everybody who plays billiards should have it, if they are fascinated by this sport and aware of its rich history.

Bert van Manen (24 August 1957 from Ede) is one of my favorite writers on the modern medium that is Facebook, a brilliant columnist, English translator, and guardian of an historic archive with records, stats and match results. In my opinion, he is the king of the metaphor and the one-liner.

In 'The Blomdahl era' he takes us billiard players on a dream trip, phrased in the elegant English that is second nature to him. Three-cushion is blessed that he was captivated by our game at an early age, developed into a proficient player himself, and is now able to describe the technicalities of the game, the mental aspect, attack and defense from within.

Just a few examples: Diamond systems, a big help, or a big lie? The famed but also cursed systems based on the diamonds in the rails. Bert van Manen digs deeper, and finds: ,,They are based on the assumption that all tables are identical, and a system can be applied to every table in the same way. That is not even a half-truth. It's a big, fat lie. And yet, millions of amateur players worldwide have fallen for it.''

The author makes a little side-step when he talks about poker. ,,I don't play it myself, but I watch it and I can't get enough. You are a good poker player when you find the perfect balance between science, calculation and intuition. You need strong nerves, courage and concentration. A bit of personality does not hurt, nor does a little luck...Sound familiar? Does it remind you of any other game?''

We go from 'The run of the ball, we love it, we hate it' to 'We are soccer nor snooker'. We travel back to historic places and tournaments, such as the famed Crystal Kelly, the Agipi Masters and the Carom Cafe in New York.

Memorable matches flash by, such as Eddy Merckx's phenomenal 50 points in 6 innings, the four players who shone with the shared world record high run of 28, including Frédéric Caudron who did it during last year's European championship and finally lost the match.

Bert van Manen wonders:

,,What if China discovered 3-cushion?

In ,,Citius, altius, fortius'' he advocates for billiards as an Olympic sport.

He examines the inner workings of a billiard player, and describes the best of the best: Frédéric Caudron, Dick Jaspers, Kyung-Roul Kim, Marco Zanetti and other players from the highest caliber.

Most of all, the book deals with Torbjörn Blomdahl, whose name is on the cover. In the foreword, Bert calls him the natural successor to Raymond Ceulemans, and the most defining player of the last thirty years. ,,Nobody has innovated the game like he has, nobody comes even close to his 42 World Cup victories.''

And finally, there are all these wonderful stats: all the world champions from 1928 (Soussa, Reims) to 2013 (Caudron, Antwerp). The world records in 3-cushion (Komori, Ceulemans, Forthomme, Caudron, high run 28), Most points without a miss (2008, Jaspers, 34), Best match average (2011, Merckx, 8.333 average). All the European champions since 1933. All matches of 5.000 average and higher.

Bert van Manen has - with Torbjörn Blomdahl as his protagonist - written one of the best billiard books ever.

The Blomdahl era

door Bert van Manen

Coverfoto: Edmund Mevissen Drukwerkconsultancy - Bunnik

ISBN: 978-90-9028327-2.

Comments