The number of people waiting for trains at London’s Kings Cross station was reminding me of Penn Station back in New York City. I’m a native New Yorker, so crowds do not usually cause concern. However, this Sunday crowd were more than usual, as Volcanic Ash had resulted in a four day Airport shutdown. Everyone stranded had been looking for alternative travel. As I looked up at the Departures board, the 11:30 to Leeds was flashing “Fully Booked.” That was the train I had booked tickets for two months ago. I could not sympathize with these displaced travellers as I only had my final destination in mind-Sheffield.

Three hours away from attending a few days of the 2010 World Snooker Championships, I expected Sheffield to be historic for a steel industry past and high unemployment. The 1997 film, “The Full Monty” was all I could refer to, and I expected to hear loudspeakers wailing Hot Chocolate’s “you sexy thaaang” the minute I stepped off the platform. Instead, there was representation that the sporting event supported employment, and even, tourism. Transport and street light signs weren’t hard to find; huge banners, posters, flags all advertised “Sheffield Snooker City.” Even the newsagents had sandwich board headlines declaring “Hearn Secures Crucible Deal.” It was like a visual experience of walking into a dream; One of which Snooker was more familar than Football to the United Kingdom.

All this daydreaming became surreal the minute I reached the Crucible Theather. Everything I’ve watched on the BBC was inches away. I tried to make the most of this experience by taken photos and chatting with various people inbetween the Crucible and the Cue Zone at the Winter Garden. It was nice to interact with the Betfred sponsors promotional staff, Crucible employees, and the dedicated people of the charity, KillingCancer (promised 147,000 pounds from Betfred if any player could make a maxium break). For the 1st afternoon in town, I felt like a pig in mud.

King Hendry (not Mighty Mouse or the Crucible) saves the day

In the evening, I attended The conclusion of the first round match between Steven Hendry and Zhang Anda from the 6th row. Honestly, inside the famous venues theater, its hexagon design seemed less impressive than the experience of spotting CJ from Eggheads with a prime seat on the matchroom floor. Though the theater was suitable, I was going to miss the one table format as a dividing screen was lowered to accomidate two separate matches. The claustrophobia subsided when play got underway as immediately I became focused on the match.  Hendry looked like he was going to lose with the battle that the 18 year old Zhang Anda was dishing out. I had to agree with the commentators that Anda’s potting style of “rolling in balls” and strong temperment was as amazing as his progress in the qualifers to even face Hendry in the 1st place. I did not have a favorite to win the match but when the scoreline was at 9-7 to Anda, I though Hendry’s number was up and scrambled to take a picture of the score on a monitor. I got the photo, followed by a security guard’s warning and tried to forget the embarrassment when the players returned back to their match. A short time later, Hendry was unfazed to advance to second round as his professionalism set in to win 10-9. All-in-All it was a very good game to witness to wet the appetite for more matches to come.

On Monday, the weather was terrible as it rained all day. I went over to the cue zone quite early to attempt a contest on a tournament table of potting a red and then a color ball located together next to each pocket. A couple of tries(and a coaches’ advice) got the red ball to roll in the hole, but since the yellow wouldn’t go down, I didn’t win anything. More satisfying was the opportunity to eat brunch and stay dry inside the Crucible Corner restaurant, which had a great view from its windows of the outdoor big screen showing the morning sessions of Williams Vs Campbell and Fu Vs Gould. The dreary weather forced me back inside the Cue Zone and I nearly tripped over a signing session that was ending! Quickly, I panicked and flipped through my Crucible program to find the pictures of Mark Allen and Stephen Hendry. Dutfully, they both signed the book, but I was too speechless to ask for a photo and walked next to an elderly lady to take distance shots. “Who’s that man on the left?” the woman asked, “That’s Stephen Hendry!” I proclamed. “oh, I’ve heard of him…” she replied, yet still looked confused about the commotion. I looked at my watch in horror and thought “What am I still doing here? Run!”

Back into the Crucible, I was two rows from the back of the theatre with a center view of the table. In this match, beggers could not be choosers as only 7 tickets that afternoon had been returned to the box office and every seat was sold out, so I could forgive a boy nearly spilling cola on me to get in the center of my row. The monitors were airing an interview on a loop which was a good distraction. Rob Walker, the announcer began his usual speeches which felt like the gettiesburg address as excitement was building. In my mind, it could have been a solo player exhibition match, but whatever it was I knew my camera could get confiscated or produce blurry photos as my nerves set in. His Ian Brown theme song blaring into the crowd was inaudible as the audience reacted strongly to Walker introducing “THE ROCKET-RONNIE O’SULLIVAN!”

Watching O’Sullivan’s @$$ From Space

I’ll admit, I love watching Ronnie play snooker as much as I enjoy his stretching over the table during tough shots for purely my entertainment value. However I forgot how high up I was from the “action” and concentrated on the match. Liang Wenbo, the opponent was whom O’Sullivan beat in the final of the Shanghi Masters last September was not the easiest draw. When Wenbo was break building, you couldn’t help but appreciate his style and he’s no push over. Even 2-7 down he played well in what had been described as “scrappy frames.” O’Sullivan was showing some flair, but he was also missing some chances some easy reds and his trademark of spliting the pack of reds with the black mostly went wrong. As the announcers pointed out, it had taken him “3 or 4 attempts to end frames.” My opinion was an unluckly run of the balls was responsible for the lengthy session. O’Sullivan didn’t look to be too annoyed with the match, yet at one point, he received a referee’s warning for “flipping the bird” at a missed red. Since I was miles away in the audience, I found out post-match about the red ball incident and any future warning could lead to a docked frame for Ronnie in the next session. Who knew?

Do It For Wales or Steve Davis

That evening, I had tickets for Mark Williams to take on Marcus Campbell. Truth be know, I was more thrilled that Steve Davis would be playing his match against Mark King at the same time. I hoped I could view a glimpse of the other match but I knew it was a privilege to see Williams play as much as Hendry’s the day before. I was basically in the same row as the Hendry match but a slightly better view. Though the audience was rehearsed to give a standing ovation for Steve Davis’ 30th Crucible appearance, with no false intentions, everyone obliged. Described in the cue zone by a mature fan as “the Quintessential Englishman,” Davis oozed elegance when he stepped out on the matchroom floor. This was Steve’s house and everyone was welcome.

As the Welshman Williams began his match, once again as I had heard back in London during his appearance at The Masters, someone had yelped “Do It For Wales!” In this match, I would have preferred to yell “Do It so I can watch Steve!” as the match wasn’t as slow as it was sluggish. Williams, at times can be mildly stuck in his fluency, but his sparring with Scotland’s Campbell took the cake. At one early point, neither player would suggest a re-rack when it was clear it should have been quickly taken. As I was unfamilar, It was entertaining to see the type of player Cambell was as he did show some flair yet Williams always had a better reply, and eventually, won 10-5. Fortunately, The Crucible raised the dividing matches screen and I was able to move down a few rows. I was just in time to see Davis look at a shot, squat down to eye level the balls, get back up again and repeat while the referee joined in with this dance. “Interesting” Steve Davis, indeed, but not boring as the remaining three frames length was welcome(just don’t ask what time I got back to the hotel….).

On the last day of my trip, it was finally sunny and warm. I returned to the Cue Zone early try some more basic shots on the Snooker table. I had some natural nerves and was a bit frusterated with my inability to hit the cue ball in its center to pot the red, straight forward into a middle pocket. It would always drift, until I hit the ball low and twice managed to pot the bloody thing. Happily, I was alerted I had successful stun shots under my belt. Later, I had a good opportunity to walk around outside and view two of the morning sessions on the outdoor screens. Ding was 2-0 up in his 1st round with no sign of losing to Stuart Pettman. Ding’s match was easier to call than Mark Davis V Ryan Day as neither player was more in control at the time. I felt bored with these developments and turned back in the direction of the Cue Zone to see filming going on outside. It was accessible to speak to Ken Doherty and John Parrot after taping had finished, so I went for my chances to get autographs. Meeting Doherty felt like asking an employer to initial paperwork; it was simply a routine for him to sign my book. Meanwhile, Parrot was taking pictures with others but after feeling a bit disappointed with Doherty, I just walked away. Later, I built up the courage to ask for a picture outside with Martin Gould and wished him well in his match against Neil Robertson(who wound up winning the entire tournament). Gould was the one player I had gotten a photo with on my trip and was fortunate to get Steve Davis’ autograph, so all I can say is Doherty Who?

The afternoon session was Neil Robertson Vs Fergal O’Brien and Ronnie O’Sullivan v Liang Wenbo. Though I had no intention of viewing Robertson’s match, I was able to see both matches as a O’Sullivan led 7-2 into his 2nd session. From the outset, it looked like no way there would be an upset. Only 3 frames would secure his place into round two to face Mark Williams. I never wanted the scoreline to become 7-9 as Wenbo won five frames out of the seven. When O’Sullivan got his two frames on the board, it was hard to watch Wenbo swoop in when Ronnie only needed one frame to win. It was like a role reversal from the players as Wenbo was scoring heavy with good break building. O’Sullivan wasn’t dominating the session and either he was waiting to get amongst the balls or the positional shots were weak. At one point, when an unlucky run of the white ball left him between the pack in line with the black ball on its spot, I saw the ball heading in the right direction and gleefully shouted “Get in.” After the tricky black dropped into the pocket, it was was unfortunate that the celebrating ended as the next shot was missed. The match was losing momentum and the crowd was rather frozen as nothing was happening except the idea of O’Sullivan winning despite Wenbo’s conquest to tie the match. I couldn’t help feeling glum and looking over at Robertson’s match. Sadly, the other match looked like it was being played in slow motion and uneventful, so it was a true celebration to watch some O’Sullivan magic in his last frame as he effortlessly returned to form. A sigh of relief and a glance at my watch told me that I had a long journey home and I needed to leave Sheffield.

I wished I could have stayed at the crucible for all 17 days, but I had a good taste of the event. Going back to work I took my “world snooker” calculator in that I bought at the crucible. A co-worker was yelling down the phone “what’s the Hendry score now?” “7-5″ I kept repeating with another co-worker, but our answer was ignored. Five minutes later, the office Hendry fan was tuned into our “7-5″ bleeting ready to discuss Sheffield events. I would have preferred to get back into the Crucible as the experience was obviously over way too soon.

by Meredith Floate