Steeped in 'tradition'?
Thank you! and I'd like to add...
Any tennis players out there. Well, actually, OLD tennis players, or former tennis players... Anyway, there once was a time when tennis rackets (excuse me, 'racquets'?) were longer, with smaller, rounder heads. Someone came along with a new design - Prince, I think - that was shorter and had a larger head. They were great for kids because the 'sweet spot' was much larger, making for more effective hits and fewer whacks to the frame. People who were new to the sport liked them because it made learning and playing easier. My brother and his friends, accomplished high school and college players, looked down on the new rackets as 'kid stuff' (novelty rackets?) and balked at ever owning one. The rest, as they say, is history. Do you think tennis has suffered because of it? On the contrary: Tennis got faster, tougher, and more agressive play at the net evolved. As the designs improved and good players put them to work, levels of competition shot upward. Want an eye opener on the subject? Find some 'older' footage - in this case, anything before 1970 - of the top tennis events in the world, and compare them to today's pro events. But I'm sure Tony won't find this analagous...
My posting from another board:
So if I decide to change the shaft on my regular playing cue to something thicker, with a 14mm tip, and I decide to replace the tip with a Talisman X-hard, none of the people now complaining about 'jump' cues will be upset when I JUMP the cue ball?
I bought one of the Bunjee copies with a phenolic tip, learned what it could do, and then put a Picone phenolic tip on my sneaky Pete. Now I jump full balls with the sneaky Pete, if they're between 1.5 to 3 spots away. The full-size stick affords me good aim and control. The short stick is best used on hangers. Using the same form and stroke I use with the sneaky Pete, I can now jump 1/2 a blocking ball with my 'regular' Predator, which has a Tiger Everest tip - not the hardest of leather.
I'll wager that many of the people calling for 'jump' cue bans can't reliably jump a full ball with their playing cues. I know a guy in our SF league (Evan B.) who can, and he only has his one playing cue. I checked it out. Its got a thick shaft that doesn't flex much, with a 13.5mm LEATHER tip that's hard as a rock. Would you say he's playing all the time with a 'jump' cue?
If the rules of the game(s) are a matter of BCA's governance, then it seems petty for different pocket billiard associations and tournament directors to 'ban' equipment approved by the BCA. If my opponent knows I can jump over a ball, it doesn't make it impossible for him to jam me up, it just means that he has to give me less room OR change his strategy to jamming up my OBJECT balls instead of just the cue ball. It's not really a difficult concept to grasp - just different.
Who out there can honestly say that top players today don't already enjoy a wider range of capability and better accuracy through the technology of their equipment? Should we start to consider banning 314 or 'X' shafts because they might deflect less than your 'traditional' shaft?
If I were a room owner, I'd probably have a rule against jumping (with ANY stick) for any play other than sanctioned tournaments. It DOES damage the cloth. NOT because of the stick hitting it (which I'm sure can happen), but from the hammering impact and slide of phenolic ball on the cloth. Just look at the jump cue sales demo tables at Vegas. I would consider it necessary to protect my business investment in cloth. Having said that, I'd still allow jumping in sanctioned tournaments because it's a skill that's allowed by the rules of the games. The 42" limit on stick length is understandable, because you have to allow for such lengths of stick to satisfy the need to overcome obstructions in some rooms or bars. I suppose, though, that when someone picks up one of those obstruction sticks and uses it to jump a cue ball, then we'll all have to start discussing a ban on those, as well.
Lwesthoven
justanotherweeklyleagueplayer