Intentional Fouls - Illegal, Good Strategy, or Poor Sportsmanship?
- By boogeyman
- Main Forum
- 63 Replies
The game has already succumbed to jump sticks and as a result, the kicking component will become progressively weaker.Scenario:
You are playing last-pocket 8-ball and your opponent has made all of his balls and shot the 8-ball without making it, but left it very close to his last pocket.
You come to the table and do whatever you can do and find yourself in a situation where if you screw up, you will leave him a good shot on the 8-ball and lose the game.
Some of your balls are kind of clustered in one part of the table and you decide to intentionally shoot his 8-ball so that it is now behind your cluster preventing him from having a makeable shot on the 8-ball into his pocket even though he has ball in hand.
Is this legal, good strategy, or poor sportsmanship?
I personally don't want the defensive game to weaken. I believe the APA rules (for one) don't even allow for a "3-foul rule."
Our game seems to be tilting back toward rotation games like 9-ball (a la the WNT) and is becoming more of a "shooter's game." We're seeing new players coming up who can shoot laser-straight, but are not learning the nuances.
I refuse to allow our game to lose it's most strategic tool: playing defense regardless of the context.
Personally, I wish there were more one-pocket and straight pool tournaments.
So sure, it may seem like "dirty" pool but defense is part and parcel of our ever-evolving game.