Just out of curiosity.........
This weekend a foul was called that I have not ever seen called in regionals or local events. It was for touching the cueball before it stops
after making the 8ball.
I knew it was a foul but when it was called on our guy I was shocked. I was more shocked that the LO upheld the call.
I am not talking about a cueball rolling near a hole but rather one that basically has stopped or has 2 inches left.
Afterwards my team started watching and I saw it called 3 other times. I actually witnessed the cueball being stopped like this or balls being moved into the cueball in almost every match for two days. Not one was going to scratch or be near the pocket even.
Any reason why I would just now see it called four times in two days?
New rule book or something???
Our opponet said that a rule was a rule even though ALL of his teammates agreed that the ball was no where close to scratching or even moving much.
I think that it should have been handled like this....
LO asks if ball was close to scratching .... if opponet says no then warn the team that touched the ball...
My example to the other teams was that if I was stripes and knowingly hit a solid shouldn't I give up ball in hand. I could state that the rule states that someone needs to be watching the hit.
You need to play with strong morals IMO. I thought that the teams calling these fouls were looking for easy ways to win.
I can't speak for your LO, but I'm sure they'd be happy to explain why they rule the way they do on this if you contacted them directly. I can tell you why we rule that way, though.
While in many cases, a cue ball rolling to a slow stop is usually harmless and probably not going to fall in a pocket, some teams will purposely try to win that way. It never fails, when one team calls a foul on the other team, when I go over and ask each team, one team said it was definitely going to scratch while the other says there was absolutely no chance. I have to rule one way or another, and since I didn't see it, how can I make a fair ruling if there isn't a rule in place that clearly defines how to handle a situation like this. I certainly don't want to rule in favor of the team that was more animated on whether it was a foul or not, and I don't want to rule in favor of a team that is trying to steal a gam.
So, we instruct every team prior to events like this that you are not allowed to touch a moving ball. At no other time in a game are you allowed to reach out and touch a moving ball without it being a foul, so if you do it on the 8 ball, a foul will be called just like any other time.
There is absolutely no reason to touch a moving cue ball after pocketing the 8 ball. Instead of grabbing the cue ball, go grab the balls out of the pool table to roll to your opponent to rack the next game. Go to your table and high five your teammates. Do anything else, but don't touch that cue ball.
In past rulings that I have made, more often than not, the cue ball wasn't rolling fast, but it was fairly close to a pocket. Close enough to get one team worked up over grabbing the ball. My solution? Just don't do it. You can't lose a cheap game if you just don't do it.