Sorry to resurrect such an old post. I was searching for one of Bob's posts and came across this thread. I realize that the Original Poster hasn't even logged in in over a year, so he may not even read this. However, I was surprised at the general agreement that the OP should have been completely out of luck after that shot.
Perhaps the shooter just didn't fully understand how easy it is to rule the shot a foul when the CB behaves the way it did. Or maybe he was worried that the OP was trying to twist the rules to take advantage of him.
I agree with and understand the rule that arguments go to the shooter. I also agree that the OP should have called the Tournament Director from the get go. However, I think there may have been a fair way to settle the argument, and wanted to see if anyone would agree with me.
The OP calls the TD and says something like the following, "Here is what I witnessed on this shot... CB 2 inches from OB. Shooter hits CB and follows through. CB follows forward at ~100 miles an hour up and down table several times. There was no delay after the CB contacted OB; it just shot forward at high speed."
Is it fair to call the TD over and say this? This gives the TD a chance to say to the shooter, "Do you agree that this is what happened?"
The shooter might then say, "Yes, that's exactly what happened, but I don't think I hit the CB twice." In that case, I would think the TD would explain that, yes, this CB action is a characteristic of a double hit, and it is ruled to be a foul.
Or the shooter might say, "No, I didn't follow through much on my stroke. The CB sort of paused for a moment after hitting the 1, and it only went up table and half way back down."
Then the TD might say, "Sorry, OP, argument goes to the shooter. I have to rule it a good hit."
What do you guys think? Would it have been fair for the OP to call the TD like that? If the shooter agreed with the OP's description of the shot, would it have been fair for the TD to rule it a foul? I think so, but JMO, and I'd like to be enlightened if the general consensus is 'no'.
Maybe this is unfair, because it would allow entrapment of lessor players into a foul?
