When you watch it, be sure to set this formerly live-streamed video to the maximum 720p quality and you’ll find it’s plenty crisp and clear enough to easily read even the numbers on the balls (in the full-screen mode). The great video quality makes studying Sigel’s stroking and positional nuances (and the results of his minor but frequent miscalculations) much more effortless and thereby more entertaining, or at least quite involving.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSlaY9nMzGI
In spite of the advance notice in the title of this thread, for us Sigel fans the suspense never lets up as to how, when, and if any of the speed and angle miscalculations will soon end Mike’s run. Mike was never one to be shy about letting spectators know that some perceived minor or major problem or result is severely frustrating him. And then he overcomes it like a champion, until the next one presents itself just few minutes later.
This video amply shows that you can’t get into the smooth rhythm 14.1 demands with so many breaks in concentration occurring, so it’s quite amazing that Sigel manages to cobble together enough moments of sustained excellence alternating with pressure-related miscalculations to produce this run at his age.
It’s from the 2011 World 14.1 Championship. Blessed at least with the absence of a shot clock, Mike is ultra-fidgety, even nervous and head-shakingly indecisive throughout the first rack (also with a lot of vigorous and livid cue bumper carpet slamming) and you’d bet against anything but a short run.
But, via pure talent and the adrenaline of plenty of frustration-induced and even angry temperament, Mike fights his way through virtually all seven-plus racks in just about 60 minutes. His opponent, Oliver Ortmann is pinned to his chair, relegated to racking duties and simply watching/forebearing Mike’s continual struggle with the new and apparently overly fast (for Sigel) cloth.
Watching the video today, and silently rooting for the run to continue at every stumbling point, I couldn’t help occasionally thinking about CJ’s thought provoking observations regarding pro players’ shaft elevations, wrist engagements and apparent diverse gripping techniques . . .
. . . When he’s not shooting with an open bridge or shooting off a rail, most longtime Sigel fans are familiar with the unusual closed bridge he employs, with his palm typically *not* touching the cloth, his hand elevated onto three fingertips. I guess for him, it gives a special sensitivity to the variety of shaft elevations he employs as he’s precisely blending intended englishes. For us mere mortals, that bridge does feel mighty wobbly without a conventional palm contact.
Arnaldo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSlaY9nMzGI
In spite of the advance notice in the title of this thread, for us Sigel fans the suspense never lets up as to how, when, and if any of the speed and angle miscalculations will soon end Mike’s run. Mike was never one to be shy about letting spectators know that some perceived minor or major problem or result is severely frustrating him. And then he overcomes it like a champion, until the next one presents itself just few minutes later.
This video amply shows that you can’t get into the smooth rhythm 14.1 demands with so many breaks in concentration occurring, so it’s quite amazing that Sigel manages to cobble together enough moments of sustained excellence alternating with pressure-related miscalculations to produce this run at his age.
It’s from the 2011 World 14.1 Championship. Blessed at least with the absence of a shot clock, Mike is ultra-fidgety, even nervous and head-shakingly indecisive throughout the first rack (also with a lot of vigorous and livid cue bumper carpet slamming) and you’d bet against anything but a short run.
But, via pure talent and the adrenaline of plenty of frustration-induced and even angry temperament, Mike fights his way through virtually all seven-plus racks in just about 60 minutes. His opponent, Oliver Ortmann is pinned to his chair, relegated to racking duties and simply watching/forebearing Mike’s continual struggle with the new and apparently overly fast (for Sigel) cloth.
Watching the video today, and silently rooting for the run to continue at every stumbling point, I couldn’t help occasionally thinking about CJ’s thought provoking observations regarding pro players’ shaft elevations, wrist engagements and apparent diverse gripping techniques . . .
. . . When he’s not shooting with an open bridge or shooting off a rail, most longtime Sigel fans are familiar with the unusual closed bridge he employs, with his palm typically *not* touching the cloth, his hand elevated onto three fingertips. I guess for him, it gives a special sensitivity to the variety of shaft elevations he employs as he’s precisely blending intended englishes. For us mere mortals, that bridge does feel mighty wobbly without a conventional palm contact.
Arnaldo
