Position Paper – Jump Cues. By Tony Annigoni - ANSWER BY JOHN BARTON PART ONE.
In light of our recent change in policy discontinuing use of Jump Cues, I would like to elaborate on some of the reasons behind this decision:
Mr. Annigoni I must respectfully disagree with you. I know from your reputation that you are an accomplished player and billiard room proprietor. I am a billiard equipment manufacturer and a fair player. I say fair because I know that I am not championship caliber but I am good enough to give champions a workout once in a while. I have over 20 years of pool playing experience. I have been manufacturing and demonstrating jump cues since 1998. I have conservatively performed well over 100,000 jump shots and taught about 1000 people to jump using the jump cue.
First and foremost, despite assurances to the contrary by manufacturers, the proliferation of jump cues not only alters the tradition behind the game, but also without question affects the cloth and the overall playing condition of the table.
Over the last four years I have shown conclusively that jump cues do no harm to the table. The occasional jump shot whether performed with a jump cue or a regular cue does no more harm than a masse’ shot or a break shot.
I don’t know what tradition of the game you are referring to. Currently there are five games that I can name which are contested in both professional and amateur levels, nine-ball, 14.1, eight-ball, one pocket, and banks. Of these games the only ones that jump cues are really needed with any frequency are nine-ball and eight ball. Of those two games the rules have changed dramatically over the last 20 years to the point where not contacting the object ball carries a severe penalty and between good players often means the loss of game. So which tradition are you referring to? That jump cues alter the game is undeniable. So did the leather tip, chalk, rubber rails, phenolic balls, worsted cloth, table and pocket sizes.
Despite numerous attempts by self-proclaimed billiard experts to use golf as a comparison, golf is simply not an appropriate analogy. The playing surface in golf is not one that consists of a flat or regular substance throughout.
Having lived part time for 5 years in Monterey one of the most spectacular and historic golf Mecca’s of our time, I have had the opportunity to discuss this with numerous golf industry experts. It is a matter of fact that golf courses that have spectacular changes in elevation, surface, length of rough etc. are well prized for their difficulty as well as their drama and beauty. Currently the golf industry in general is struggling with improvements in technology that allow the average player to hit balls as straight and distant as Tiger Woods who regularly spends numerous hours correcting and perfecting mechanics tendencies in order to preserve the history and integrity of the golf record books as well as the mystery and right of passage required to attain his skill level.
The golf industry is struggling or the golf association is struggling with the technology issues? Do your golf friends favor going to one club for all shots? How about restricting all golfers to the equipment used in say 1950? You know very well that even if the average player can hit the ball as far as Tiger they still have no chance to win. And what happens when Tiger uses the new club? He becomes that much better.
As for the history and integrity of the game of golf and whether Tiger practices to maintain them I disagree again. Tiger started playing golf as a child and he doesn’t use the same equipment that Arnold Palmer did. He uses modern equipment that has been evaluated by an organization and approved for use. In contrast you are taking it upon yourself to speak for the sport and the industry.
Although you say that golf is a false comparison isn't it true that you can play in Boston or Monterrey and expect to be able to use the same equipment in both places? Why are you taking this away from your players?
I find it surprising that prominent members of the billiard inteligencia, might not consider snooker as a corroborating reference.
I don’t know who or what you are referring to. If you had bothered to research this topic on the billiard newsgroups you would have found out that the comparison to snooker has been discussed dozens of times over the last eight years.
They certainly have simplified the matter by outlawing jump shots and masse's. While swerve is allowed, any shot that could possibly result in a foul stroke is regulated against, including being allowed a free shot away from a frozen ball.
You fail to point out that snooker, as played in England and as used in your reference, has no requirement to contact a rail after the cueball strikes the object ball and also has no ball-in-hand penalty for fouls. I do not think that masse’ shots are prohibited but I could be wrong. The point is that snooker forbids the jump shot not the jump cue. It is a different game with different rules.
It is not surprising to me that snooker is frequently played in front of large crowds for 1st place money as large as 300,000 pounds, while billiards and pool languish in obscurity.
The great games as we knew them are currently reduced to sideshows such as trick shot competitions and glorified tit’s and ass reviews. The perhaps unintended result is the great players of our age being forced to travel the countryside, like aging gunslingers or displaced samurai known in feudal Japan as Ronin
It’s called the X-Games, Baseball, Football, Basketball, Hockey, Beach VolleyBall, Wrestling, American Gladiator and a host of other things that compete for American viewers attention. What great games are reduced to trick shot shows? None. Pool is shown quite a bit on TV in the dominant game of nine ball. Is it in the way that we hard core fans want it? Not yet but it is there. As for the Samurai analogy, I don’t suppose you have ever been exposed to the Snooker hustlers who roam Britain and the world. Any pool player has chosen their path they know what lies before them. This has nothing to do with jump cues.
I will certainly give the industry credit for lack of business sense in this case for supporting continued rules aberrations that relieve players from the need to develop skills one might acquire playing three cushion, carom, and snooker thus further reducing the need to continue to support these games financially. Fortunately, the rise of the playing contingents from billiard playing countries emerging on the pocket billiard scene may stem the tide as their skill in safety and escape from same, given today’s rules, increase their opportunity to dominate most fields.
The industry does not make the rules. The industry responds to the rules. The rules published by the BCA are made by a committee of players who review them yearly. Any game that is popular will be serviced by the industry. The industry, through it’s trade organization, the BCA is doing it’s part to support the popular games. There is no mandate for the industry to support Snooker or Three Cushion Billiards.
I don’t know what you mean about playing contingents from billiard playing countries but I assume you mean that these players will inspire pool players to learn to kick. First of all you should know that billiard players are usually the ones who adopt equipment that will help them win more. Billiard players usually bring at least four cues to the match. As for whether they can dominate 8 and 9 ball I beg to differ. As one who has played on league teams with world class billiard players I concur that they are phenomenal with the kicks and caroms but also human and beatable. For example, when the opponent is running racks all they can do is warm up the chair like anyone else.
Personally, I suppose it might have been the path of least resistance to simply have pursued snooker some 35 years ago. But that was then and this is now. Fortunately, the USPPA and Tony Annigoni are not beholden to any billiard industry entity other than our own, and will not be influenced by patrimony now or in the future.
Correct me if I am wrong but Snooker has never been a popular game in the United States. It is a fringe game imported by English gentlemen farmers. Billiards and Pocket Billiards were always the popular games. What does this have to do with jump cues?
End of part one.
. I know Tony pretty well, and I have no doubt that he believes he is doing the right thing, and who knows, he might just be right. 
