It just astonishes me that individuals think that the only way it's safe, is that it has to be jam tight or frozen! It's gotten to be that way, because of the invention of these cheating aids known as jump cues!:angry:
Learn to kick properly and you'll learn and appreciate the beauty of any safety!
These gimmicky jump cues completely disrespect the knowledge and ability of the player that has successfully executed a shot that has left you with an obstructed path to the object ball!
Pool balls where never intended to leave the surface of the table. They are round so they ROLL around the table. The only things they should bounce off of are rails and other balls! JMO
Actually some think that pool evolved from croquet. In croquet people make jump shots. If you go to bars where people don't have a clue about the "official" rules you will see tons of people playing jump shots where they scoop the cue ball.
In fact no one knows how the game was "meant" to be played because it's been in a state of evolution for hundreds of years. Maybe it was meant to played with a mace because that's what they played with 350 years ago. Maybe it was intended to be played with one hole in the center of the table.
The Evolution of Billiards
Maybe pool was not "intended" to be played on a LEVEL surface;
"Until the middle of the eighteenth century, billiard tables were crudely constructed, with little concern given to the stability of the piece. The bed was nothing more than a thin wooden board, and the inner construction did little to keep the board from warping. "
http://www.tradgames.org.uk/games/Billiard-Family.htm
Maybe pool was never meant to be played with a leather tip.
Maybe pool was never meant to be played with chalk.
Whoever invented indoor tables games using balls and a stick surely set down a lengthy treatise on what they meant the game to be.
All of these so-called innovations are distortions of what the game was meant to be.
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Here is what I think about the whole "the way pool was meant to be argument"
All of these games where you have a set of balls and a striking implement and a tightly contained playing surface have one thing in common. They all require the player to use an INERT object to strike ONE ball and make it move. The player must rely on his own judgement and proficiency to make that ball do anything. This has been a constant throughout the evolution of the billiard games.
Diamonds were invented and put into use to aid in sighting I think.
In any event all of the innovations that have been put into the game from the striking part of the game have been in the service of INCREASING the range of shots and INCREASING control over the cue ball.
For example:
- Turning the MACE around to use the skinny end to strike the cueball.
- Adding a piece of leather to the end to increase friction and protect the wood.
- Using chalk to increase friction.
- Making comfortable tapers to aid with a level stroke.
- Creating low-defelction and radially consistent shafts for dependable consistentcy. (and more spin if you beleive the ads)
- Using shorter cues to comfortably execute legal jump shots.
- Gloves to eliminate friction on the bridge hand.
- Ass weights for stability.
- Bridges and cue extenders to comfortably reach the shot.
All of these things and more were introduced in crude form and all of them have EVOLVED into what we have now.
None of them take the shot for the player. The player has to step to the table with his striking instrument and strike the ball. How well he controls the ball has everything to do with his skill because the INSTRUMENT is presumed to be the best that is available for the task.
In other words if Minguad were resurrected from the grave then you wouldn't see him trying to compete with today's players using the same equipment from 1792.
The way the game was MEANT to be is to allow the player to gain the most control possible over the cue ball using their own muscles and brain. Not to limit them because of equipment.
A modern jump cue is a CUE. It's use does not harm the balls, does not harm the cloth, does not harm the slate. It has been approved for amateur and professional play by all national and world associations governing pool worldwide. Only private, for-profit groups such as the APA and some tournaments forbid this cue because of personal bias on the part of the founders/directors.
You can debate all day long about the pros/cons of USING jump cues and what they mean to the way the game is played. But please stop with the argument that it distorts the way the game was MEANT to be played because history clearly shows otherwise.
