Very good posts on this topic. There are the rules and then there are the "spirit of the rules". Whenever you read a rule book, you can usually tell what it is that they are talking about, and what they are trying to acomplish with the given rule in the given situation. The overall bottom line is trying to establish fair play. What I hate is when people do know what they are up to , but try to intentionally misrepresent a given rule. The spirit of the rules should apply, when there is a doubt in the execution of a rule. ask "why did they put this rule here?" , "what was the intent of the rule?" If you honestly answer this, you usually know how to properly interpret a rule.
It is when people try to shape them to benefit them in a paticular situation is when the problems come in.
One of my biggest irritations is when you play in a league or any match for that matter, and everyone knows everyone, and have all played many times in the past, but all of a sudden it is the end of the session, or tournamnet, and now all the rulebooks come out. Now EVERYTHING is an issue, and it all has to be checked and discussed, and interpreted, etc.
It always amazes me that people can get together every week ( or more often) and know how to play this game under all kinds of circumstances, then suddenly, no one has a clue how to proceed without checking a book or making a phone call.
I remember an APA match many years ago. This was in inhouse league. EVERYONE played in the same pool room EVERY week. There may have been 8 teams in all. Well my team was playing the final match and we were tied. It comes down to the last game. I am shooting the eight, my opponenet has a few balls left on the table. I have no good shot on the eight, and no good safety either, because he has a couple of hangers sitting there. I call (and mark my pocket) the cross side bank shot. Now my cue ball is very close to the eight ball, and I really am going to have a hard time getting the hit on the eight that I need to bank it. I end up jacking up my cue and basically shooting a short masse bank shot. Really just a curve to maximize the cut for the angle and spin to get the eight even close to the right line. Well, I made the intention very clear , marked my pocket, took a lot of time lining it up, looked at it from eight different angles, elevated my cue, took some practice strokes, and forgot everything, and fired it in. I was more suprised than anybody that it actually went in. Well my team jumps up, very happy about it. The other team says, you can't do that!, etc. Pulling out the rules, making phone calls. The end result is we got first place, but it was just ridiculous.
I do not want to argue whether it was legal or not. In fact I actually think that under APA rules you can't play any masse shots at all where you elevate the cue much. This is not the point. The point is that this was a very informal league in a small kiddie pool room where the highest ranked player was maybe a five. I could have played that shot at any other time and nobody would have blinked. They all knew my intent with plenty of opportunity to question it and check it, but of course it was expected to be a miss, and a loss. So nobody bothered.... untill it went in.
Just like there are regulations about tables, but by starting the match you are agreeing to the validity of the equipment. You can;t lose a match, go back later and measure the pockets and check it out, and say "that ddn't count, this table isn't regulation!" This is why the rule about it going to the shooter applies, it is harder to argue a position after the fact.
) think scratching on the 9 is a loss, but it's really just a spot up and ball in hand. I guess those would be "gentleman non-calls", much like not having to call every single hanger in a game, but only banks and so forth. Although giving up the game on a 9 ball scratch is not usually a foul but just respect for the shooter.
