This is something that Dan Wallace had posted a couple years ago with his experience with the Measle after playing the US Open, written quite well. I thought it was apt for your question. If you don't know Dan, he is a very well respected player that plays high caliber pool here in the Southern California area.
I'm writing for the first time on this site due to something that I have quite a problem with: the entire set of Super Pro television balls, including the infamous "measle ball". All of the balls in the set are the same size and weight as the measle ball. The problem is that they are all oversized.
I've played with the standard Super Pro set many times over the years and have never had any complaints; they play practically identical to Centennials. But the new television balls (in which the 4 and the 7 are different colors than usual) are decidedly odd. In fact, they are the only set of balls Aramith makes that play the way they do.
My main complaint is with the response of the cue ball. Being oversize it plays just like you'd expect: with less finesse. Here at the Open I've witnessed some of the worst safety play I've ever seen from players of this caliber, and the overall quality of pool has suffered as a result. The measle ball plows through angles, runs a couple of diamonds long, and is tediously slow to respond to the applied english, all of which is amplified by the slick, new cloth.
The easiest way to understand the difference, and therefore start to realize the extent of the problem, is to begin thinking of the measle ball as a mild version of a bar-box big-ball. It exhibits all the same characteristics to a lesser degree. This forces players to debase their games to a "just get open and try to make all the balls" mentality. I doubt if anyone would disagree that the most enjoyable aspect of watching high level pool is the amount of inventiveness and touch on display. Well, I've seen very little of that this week.
Another problem arises in that an oversize ball causes the table to play inappropriately. The Diamond table, a wonderful product, was designed and tested with the red circle cue ball. At the Open many players are claiming that the tables are playing too tough. They're wrong; the equipment is beautiful. If Centennials with either the blue circle or red circle ball were being used, you wouldn't hear any complaints at all.
Also, everyone's cue sounds awful on contact. A couple of players have told me that they are actually changing tips every tournament depending on the set of balls used to help compensate. One even told me he's switching shaft tapers from event to event! It especially makes it much harder for those of us who attend only a few events a year (meaning the majority of the field) to compete with the touring pros who get more of chance to adjust. Yes, I bought a set to attempt to get used to it, but no one in my home room wants to play me using the television balls due to the difference in play.
What strikes me as most ridiculous about the whole thing is that no one had any concerns about the playability of Centennials with the red circle cue ball. I understand the addition of spots on the cue and the change of some colors: it's useful for television. But why did Aramith produce a set that plays differently than what everyone approved of? It's sad that the players themselves can't get together to approve or disapprove the very equipment on which their incomes and their passions are dependent.
The owner of Diamond Billiards, Greg Sullivan, says that Aramith changed the phenolic in order to gain tighter tolerances. He says that the new phenolic has less "elasticity" than previously, causing the balls to depart from each other with less snap, i.e. sluggish.
Regardless of the cause, the playing characteristics of the new set do remove some finesse from the game. A good example of this is the final four at the Open: Parica, Strickland, Pagulayan, and Bustamante. All of them have strong, well rounded games, no doubt. But they are all also know as being among the most accurate shotmakers on tour, which will help to overcome less precise cue ball control. I don't think I'm going out on a limb to predict that over the course of the next year or so players who are known for winning largely through touch and percentage play won't be winning as many tournaments in the events where the television balls are used.
