I've watched John's entire 434-ball run for the 3rd time now. Still marvel how instantly he recognizes & achieves near-perfect position

Have you ever played anyone who didn't make some form of erro or mistake especially in long time frames. Human and could have easily been over looked. In viewing Chinese Joy Cups one of my biggest peeves is the vest that the players have to ware has these stick on advertisements patches that come loose and touch a ball , Auto foul ball in hand... Human just not right..
 
Bob Jewett said:
I have a three ball that if you set with the number up and facing away from you and bank it straight up and down the table about a diamond from the side rail to your right, it will curve enough at the end to make the bank, like below. If the ball is not turned the right/wrong way, it won't curve or it will curve the other way. It seems to have a heavy side.
Click to expand...
Interesting! Was that an old set of balls, or just something that got through QC?

If you're playing somewhere new, and want to check the cue ball, is a test like:
  1. red dot in front, lag shot
  2. red dot on the side, lag shot
  3. if 1 or 2 doesn't roll straight, put the red dot on the opposite to 1 or 2 and see if the roll is opposite.

Is that much of a test sufficient to detect a cue ball with poor weight distribution or asymmetrical wear?

Any idea how far off spherical a ball can be without being visibly noticeable? 1/64" or 1/32"? I remember you discussed that one cue ball and the measurements you took and think i remember noticing that it was about 1/32" below 2.25".
 
Bob Jewett said:
I have a three ball that if you set with the number up and facing away from you and bank it straight up and down the table about a diamond from the side rail to your right, it will curve enough at the end to make the bank, like below. If the ball is not turned the right/wrong way, it won't curve or it will curve the other way. It seems to have a heavy side.

View attachment 586732
I owned a cue ball that was similar but only about 6 inches of roll-off at the end. That was when I was playing on fairly slow cloth, though.

I think this kind of problem does not apply to John's scratch because the cue ball was spinning rapidly which means the heavy side would not be staying on one side.
Click to expand...
If the cue ball was that out of balance I doubt he would have gotten so far.
 
Couple more possibilities:

Force follow can hold more than a table length in the wrong direction. Friend of mine who attended some billiard conservatory came back with this force follow cut - you've seen it where outside spin is fighting force follow finally breaking to the side cushion in a magical arc. He learned to do this down the entire length of the table where the outside spin finally gets traction on the second cushion. Very pretty and not something I've ever seen in pool.

So I examined the youtube clip looking for evidence of this kind of action thinking it possible the cue ball bounced all the way up table on residual energy; the slight forward roll finally taking control. After all it smacks the stack nearly square into a line of four balls. Nothing conclusive but still possible - at least to me.

Peripheral to this, I flashed on the notion that the 13 and three other balls behind had imparted that mysterious throw effect - mysterious because WTF is throw supposed to be (?) thereby adding one more bit of immutable impetus to a ball that was trying to self destruct.

Or everything else previously stated.
 
straightline said:
Peripheral to this, I flashed on the notion that the 13 and three other balls behind had imparted that mysterious throw effect - mysterious because WTF is throw supposed to be (?) thereby adding one more bit of immutable impetus to a ball that was trying to self destruct.
Click to expand...
prorsus...
 
gerryf said:
Interesting! Was that an old set of balls, or just something that got through QC?

If you're playing somewhere new, and want to check the cue ball, is a test like:
  1. red dot in front, lag shot
  2. red dot on the side, lag shot
  3. if 1 or 2 doesn't roll straight, put the red dot on the opposite to 1 or 2 and see if the roll is opposite.

Is that much of a test sufficient to detect a cue ball with poor weight distribution or asymmetrical wear?

Any idea how far off spherical a ball can be without being visibly noticeable? 1/64" or 1/32"? I remember you discussed that one cue ball and the measurements you took and think i remember noticing that it was about 1/32" below 2.25".
Click to expand...
I did the standard balance test which you have described above. The cue ball did not visibly roll off.

The set was one that John had been using for a long time.
 
Bob Jewett said:
I have a three ball that if you set with the number up and facing away from you and bank it straight up and down the table about a diamond from the side rail to your right, it will curve enough at the end to make the bank, like below. If the ball is not turned the right/wrong way, it won't curve or it will curve the other way. It seems to have a heavy side.

View attachment 586732
I owned a cue ball that was similar but only about 6 inches of roll-off at the end. That was when I was playing on fairly slow cloth, though.

I think this kind of problem does not apply to John's scratch because the cue ball was spinning rapidly which means the heavy side would not be staying on one side.
Click to expand...
You should make a video on it!
 
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