9-Ball
Premium pass member! Good stuff here on the Kozoom website, I am happy Kozoom and EPBF have renewed their cooperation. Makes it just that bit harder to work at home, knowing I can watch the live action in such good quality.
It is the first time I watch the Eurotour with the new break-format and I have to say: good stuff. Some 7, 8 years ago we started to play with tapped racks, 1-ball on the spot. That meant a guaranteed ball on a soft break, every time a good spread of the balls and thus few opportunities to play hide-and-seek.
The elite players have an advantage over the rest of the field in various departments of the game: consistency of the break, ability to break from different sides of the table, push-outs, safeties and kick-shots. The tapped rack worked as an equalizer in that it transformed the game of 9-ball and 10-ball in a run-out game. The advantage of the better player was minimized...fewer moments in a match to implement the experience and knowledge, fewer moments to make a difference. Thus at some point in 22 Eurotours we had 18 different winners.
One could say that is a good thing, a way to boost participation. On the other hand how much would tennis be appreciated, the godlike athletic skills of Federer and Nadal, if they won just an occasional tournament because matches were only one set with the net 30 centimeters lower?
Over the years the breaking-format was modified. The 1-ball moved up with the 9-ball racked on the spot, the three-ball-rule was introduced but still...the organizers were 'outsmarted' by the players. But now it seems the solution to the equation has been discovered...the break-box. I have watched some two hours of Sarajevo-Eurotour now and I am yet to see a break and run; beautiful stuff! Instead I see moves: safeties, kicks, countersafeties and two-way shots. I can only hope the out-of-the-box break in 10-ball ads value in the same way.
Adding to my joy is that the quality of the Kozoom productions widens or re-opens the window of opportunity that Eurosport is. Kozooms experience with Eurosport and vice-versa makes future broadcasting of pool more likely. Furthermore I believe that this new breaking format gives the game more appeal for the big crowds. A media-weakness of pool is that it looks to easy especially compared to snooker. New-style in grind mode means a battle for initiative in almost every single game. That changes the character of the game. If then each department of Eurosport throughout Europe is willing and able to hire a knowledgeable commentator to explain the intricacies of the safety-battle...I believe in a bright future for the game.