I assume you mean the CB, and I would not call unsportsmanlike conduct, just the regular foul.
Rule question
- Thread starter terhje
- Start date
If the referee lets me get away with a single contact of tip to ball for as long as I please as a single foul, I can rerack the balls and corner hook my opponent in a single "shot". I think that should not be allowed. The other end of the spectrum when you are against the rack with no good way out is a very brief poke towards the balls where you withdraw the stick as soon as contact is made. Maybe that should be allowed. Where and how to draw the line is the problem. Should pushing an inch into the cluster be allowed? How about in two different directions? (Start going west and then turn to southwest.) I know about how much the top players used to do, but I think that was often over the line.
And, again just to be clear (because you have not answered me yet on this one), when someone is pushing the cue ball into the rack, leaving it on the tip one or two seconds with the intent to rearrange the scenery is it just a foul or unsportsmanlike?
Just to be unclear again, I'm not sure where to draw the line. I don't think this is covered well in the rules.
I suppose you could say "any visible contact time" might be considered unsportsmanlike. Normal contact times are under 5/1000ths of a second and it's pretty much impossible to judge a duration as short as 1/100th of a second, so any normal contact looks instantaneous.
I hope what you read in the rules and said in your post #26 changed your mind about the above sentence.
You can't just willly nilly do anything you want to and say it's just a 1-point foul. You have to make a "shot," which involves a "forward stroke motion of the cue stick." As I said before, when playing with frayed nerves under high pressure, it can be difficult to actually make a "stroke" and still only slightly move the CB. It's possible to seriously err in such conditions -- opening up a shot for your opponent -- whereas just tapping or touching some portion of the CB is done more easily.
I think that you are right. Based upon what Bob has been saying and what the rules say, I think you have to make a "stroke" when you do an intentional foul.
However,....Tournaments and leagues are full of people who have been taught that as long as you make sure you are tapping with the tip and not the ferrule, all is good. I think it would take a massive effort to re-educate.
I will try to set an example and start fouling with a stroke, even when I am trying to rearrange the balls.
Yes, tapping with the tip at odd angles and pushing to rearrange the furniture are common practices in casual and league play. I just accept it from others (while not doing it myself) rather than getting into a discussion/debate/argument/fight about this nicety of the rules.
No, it is not a foul, assuming you make a legal stroke.