One reason Joe. IT'S EXCITING! The fans LOVE to see the money ball go on the break. You and I both know that. Player B trails Player A 10-8 and runs out to get to 10-9 down. Now he pops in the money ball and it's hill-hill. The crowd is going crazy! One game for all the marbles!
Another thing that is very exciting is seeing a player get up there and string a few racks. Johnny Archer is trailing Shane 9-4 in a Race To Eleven, and he hits him with a five pack to tie the match. Once again, the crowd is going wild.
I look at things from the point of view of a promoter and observe what the audience likes. After all we are an "entertainment" type sport, attempting to attract the largest audience possible. By the way, running racks in Ten Ball is much more difficult. But you already know that and so does Donnie.
What some people are trying to do is take all the excitement out of the game. Let's spot the money ball, alternate breaks, call shot etc. etc. All garbage as far as I'm concerned. There's nothing wrong with the game the way it has been played for decades. The players got better, and the rack wars got worse, so let's add a ball and make it Ten Ball. That's all right, but the rest of the rule changes are unnecessary and unneeded.
Just my two cents plus change. :smile:
One more thing, Donnie is right. Put a tight rack up there, and it's hard to even move the money ball. I've racked for literally dozens of final matches, and can't think of too many nine balls on the break. Maybe a handful is all. I was the one that put a stop to Earl's nine ball flying in when he ran the ten racks in Dallas. He made exactly zero on my five racks.