bsmutz said:
I guess that's what's bugging me enough to post this. If I had accidentally moved the cue ball, I would have expected a foul. When the accident is outside the shooter's control, I would think that it should not be a foul. What if a ceiling tile fell or someone threw a beer bottle across the room? Would it be a foul on me just because I happened to be the one shooting at the moment it happened? If so, I consider this to be completely lame. I did not cause the movement of the cue ball. Someone else did. Since the person that caused the movement wasn't playing in the game, I would think having the opponent reset the balls or reracking would be the most fair way of dealing with this type of situation.
Ruling questions... There will always be touchy rules whereby there will be different interpretation of how it really should be (i.e. many might say that it should be call 9-ball only in that game). We will all have some preferences, which may be different than what the rule really is. Often times, if you're not close minded to one point of view, then can understand that there is a valid viewpoint which makes the rule more understandable than at first perception. Rules often develop to their current state from evolving over time and consideration of a broad range of issues, rather than a single minded case by case basis. Since there are so many different ruling organizations, there will obviously be many different viewpoints. The key is always to understand the rules of the organization which you're involved in, and then the challenge is your ability to adjust and succeed within that ruleset.
In many situations, people often have more power or control than they believe at first. As was mentioned earlier, sliding into the vicinity of another player/shooter, would mean that you have more responsibility than originally imagined. This recommends that players should have an awareness of what's happening around them. Awareness is a vital factor in preventing these incidents. Next, since the original post, is in reference to a team environment, then increased awareness could be used by fellow teammates (whether it be teammate, captain or coach) to prevent these incidents. Could even take it to the next level, of preemptively analyzing and acclamating to an event location (as many pro's would do i.e. Jeanette Lee).
Otherwise, you really open the door to slippery slope and/or fine line arguments which you, Bsmutz, refer to; ceiling tile, beer bottle, ... hot chick, waitress walking by, argument, fight, birthday celebration, kids, or any other unpredictable behavior, which could be expected in a public establishment.
What if scenarios:
you don't reset the balls the same
there's an argument over how they should be setup
if not enough balls, who's gonna pay...
rerack - who breaks? current shooter or original breaker?
the new arrangement is easier or harder ball layout (magnified when the resulting layout is followed up by a runout that would've been unlikely in original situation)
How about unscrupulous activity, such as having a plant (person) intentionally bump into an opponent at a designated time?
Does the player still get to complain about being sharked and their concentration broken from the incident? How much time they get in order to retain focus?
Sometimes seemingly unreasonable rules are in place to keep it simple, eliminate nuance, and to forward the action. We all understand the frustrations of such an unusual occurence. The question becomes how quickly can you bounce back and recover and regain composure, if and when given the opportunity.
