My favorite referee moment

jay helfert

jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
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Silver Member
One of my worst moments as a ref was while working the U.S. Open. One of my jobs was to take down the name cards for completed matches and put the new ones up for the next match. I was walking through the arena after coming back from a short break and saw a table with no one there and didn't notice any activity or cues nearby. The score on the wire was 10-9, so I assumed that the match had ended. I got the bridge and took down the name cards and returned the beads to 0-0, and went looking for the cards for the next match scheduled on that table.

When I returned both players were at the table staring at me. You know, the ones who had "completed" their match. I wasn't sure what to say, so I blurted out, "who won?" I was informed that the score was 10-9 and they had taken a break. Both their cues had been placed under the table, along with their cases. I quickly made my apologies and retreated as fast as I could, not noticing the spectators who were snickering at me. Later on, one of those spectators told me he and others had watched me, wondering what I was doing. No one said anything. They wanted to see what would happen when the players returned.
 
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sjm

sjm

Older and Wiser
Silver Member
Best ever ref moment was when Earl Strickland, the day after "behaving badly" at the Mosconi, appeared with flowers for Michaela Tabb.
 
ShortBusRuss

ShortBusRuss

Short Bus Russ - C Player
Silver Member
jay helfert said:
One of my worst moments as a ref was while working the U.S. Open. One of my jobs was to take down the name cards for completed matches and put the new ones up for the next match. I was walking through the arena after coming back from a short break and saw a table with no one there and didn't notice any activity or cues nearby. The score on the wire was 10-9, so I assumed that the match had ended. I got the bridge and took down the name cards and returned the beads to 0-0, and went looking for the cards for the next match scheduled on that table.

When I returned both players were at the table staring at me. You know, the ones who had "completed" their match. I wasn't sure what to say, so I blurted out, "who won?" I was informed that the score was 10-9 and they had taken a break. Both their cues had been placed under the table, along with their cases. I quickly made my apologies and retreated as fast as I could, not noticing the spectators who were snickering at me. Later on, one of those spectators told me he and others had watched me, wondering what I was doing. No one said anything. They wanted to see what would happen when the players returned.
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Lol... That's pool players for you, Jay... They'll never pass up an opportunity to see some sh*t go down!!!
 
wigglybridge

wigglybridge

14.1 straight pool!
Silver Member
can't remember who was playing, but in a 14.1 match that's on video, Ken Shuman picked up the break ball when racking for a final some years back. they of course didn't have video like in the snooker match with Michaela...
 
sjm

sjm

Older and Wiser
Silver Member
In the PPPA World 14.1 Championships at Asbury Park (it was either 1976 or 1977), there was a hurricane during the tournament.

Somebody mistakenly opened, briefly, one of the doors closest to the table on which Larry Lisciotti was playing, and all the balls were blown to the same rail, creating a ridiculous situation. The ref had no precedent on which to draw, so he asked Larry and his opponent to reproduce the position of the balls. Suffice it to say, neither knew where the balls had been but they took a shot at doing so. Once they did their best, the ref asked both of them whether they were satisfied with the corrected placement of the balls and both said OK.

As Lisciotti told the story, this created a dead ball which he went on to shoot. It was always one of Larry's favorite stories.
 
Get_A_Grip

Get_A_Grip

Truth Will Set You Free
Silver Member
I was just watching this match from the PI and what I would think would be a very simple ruling, was being argued by Jeff Ignacio. Jeff was losing pretty bad.

Go to 1:02:00 minute mark.
https://youtu.be/nymXe2YG_0g

No ref involved, but still....


Sent from my iPhone using AzBilliards Forums
 
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ShortBusRuss

ShortBusRuss

Short Bus Russ - C Player
Silver Member
wigglybridge said:
can't remember who was playing, but in a 14.1 match that's on video, Ken Shuman picked up the break ball when racking for a final some years back. they of course didn't have video like in the snooker match with Michaela...
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By definition, if you watched this on video.. they had video... :-D
 
Bob Jewett

Bob Jewett

AZB Osmium Member
Staff member
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sjm said:
In the PPPA World 14.1 Championships at Asbury Park (it was either 1976 or 1977), there was a hurricane during the tournament.

Somebody mistakenly opened, briefly, one of the doors closest to the table on which Larry Lisciotti was playing, and all the balls were blown to the same rail, creating a ridiculous situation. The ref had no precedent on which to draw, so he asked Larry and his opponent to reproduce the position of the balls. Suffice it to say, neither knew where the balls had been but they took a shot at doing so. Once they did their best, the ref asked both of them whether they were satisfied with the corrected placement of the balls and both said OK.

As Lisciotti told the story, this created a dead ball which he went on to shoot. It was always one of Larry's favorite stories.
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That was the 1976 PPPA tournament which was their first. The hurricane was Belle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Belle My flight into Newark was one of the last to land for a while. I found my way to the Asbury Park oceanside arena -- it was built half over the water. Once I got inside and started to dry out, I found a seat and started to watch a match. You could hear the wind. The arena was large enough for hockey and had a very high roof. They have done bull riding there since.

Herb Lehman was the player at the table. He was studying the shot for a safety -- the balls were pretty spread out but he had nothing to shoot at. Suddenly the exit doors at that corner of the arena blew open and rain blew in horizontally across Herb's table, pushing all of the balls to one end. The scorers' projector screen blew over onto them. I was wondering whether the roof would hold. It did.

When the mist cleared, Herb restored the position and played a safety.

Perhaps there was similar excitement on another table, but the main blast was on Herb's table.

That was the second time I had seen rain go horizontally across an indoor pool table.
 
$TAKE HOR$E

$TAKE HOR$E

champagne - campaign
Silver Member
I was in Olathe a few years ago at a big tournament, 100+ players. There were a few situations came up, but the most memorable was when two players were playing a match well into the tournament and I believe one made shot where the cue ball really had to take a ride around the table. He will be player A and his opponent player B. After the cue ball was struck and while it was still moving, player A inadvertently hit a ball that might have been in the cueballs path. Both players were top tier in the tournament, player B calls a foul and player A disagrees, if for no other reason than there was no ref around. It was a freak shot that no one would have ever called a ref to watch anyway. Player B goes clear across the poolroom and outside the building and brings the TD back and describes what happened, at least his take on it. Player A disagrees and without much dispute the TD picks the cueball up and hands it to player B. Maybe it was a foul and maybe it wasnt...but the TD was dead in the wrong.

Maybe someone like Jay can chime in on that ruling

Only reason I remember is because I dogged it not buying Skylar back then for a handful of magic beans and he won the damn thing :withstupid:
 
ShootingArts

ShootingArts

Smorg is giving St Peter the 7!
Gold Member
Silver Member
spectators?

$TAKE HOR$E said:
... Player B goes clear across the poolroom and outside the building and brings the TD back and describes what happened, at least his take on it. Player A disagrees and without much dispute the TD picks the cueball up and hands it to player B. Maybe it was a foul and maybe it wasnt...but the TD was dead in the wrong.

Maybe someone like Jay can chime in on that ruling

Only reason I remember is because I dogged it not buying Skylar back then for a handful of magic beans and he won the damn thing :withstupid:
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Just a question: Did the TD maybe consult the spectators? Not something I like but some rules in the past, perhaps still, allow the official to consult the spectators if he didn't see the shot. Not a rule I like because this rule may turn the decision into a popularity contest but it did exist, might still.

Hu
 
A

AtLarge

AzB Gold Member
Gold Member
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ShootingArts said:
Just a question: Did the TD maybe consult the spectators? Not something I like but some rules in the past, perhaps still, allow the official to consult the spectators if he didn't see the shot. Not a rule I like because this rule may turn the decision into a popularity contest but it did exist, might still.

Hu
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From the WPA Rule Regulations:

"5. PLAYING WITH AN “AREA” REFEREE

... If a dispute arises between two players in an unrefereed match, and the area referee is asked to make a decision without having seen the cause of the dispute, he should be careful to understand the situation as completely as possible. This might include asking trusted witnesses, reviewing video tapes, or reenacting the shot. If the area referee is asked to determine whether a foul occurred and there is no evidence of the foul except the claim of one player while the other player claims that there was no foul, then it is assumed that no foul occurred."
 
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