MarkO

Anyone else watch this? I love snooker.

Watched it for years. This year, I'm in the enviable position of working from home, which means I can watch all the coverage.

Not only that, but the wife & I have tickets for all sessions of the final, so we'll be watching it at the Crucible for the first time in a fortnight.

Crapaud62

Watching it now.
Higgins vs McCulloch.

Bit of totty as a referree. Makes a change from the fat old bloke who looked like oddjob.

How do you get tickets for the final?

MarkO

Yeah, first ever female ref. She has her own website too. Quite tasty with a pool cue, it seems (no, not in the way you're thinking ).

To get tickets, you have to send an SAE to the Crucible ticket office (do it just after this year's championship has finished). They'll then send an application form out once the draw's ready - usually in late Nov/early Dec.

You then fill out the form, stating which sessions you want, and which you want as a second choice if the first choice isn't available. You give your credit card number, post it off, and cross your fingers.

At the end of January, they draw the application forms out of a hat, and it's first-come, first-served as to who gets their first choice sessions. So it's pure luck as to whether you'll get the ones you want. We had the semi final sessions down as our second choice, but luckily got tickets for all of the final sessions. The only downside is that it cost about £165 for both of us! Oh, and we can't enter the BBC competition, as we already have tickets.

Full details on the Sheffield Theatres website.

Good links:

www.worldsnooker.com
www.embassysnooker.com

MarkO

Oh, and just to keep it interesting, we've got a few bets on too. Nothing serious, money-wise, but fun all the same:

25/1 £3 to win - Peter Ebdon
25/1 £3 to win - Stephen Lee
80/1 £1 to win - Jimmy White
18/1 £3 to win - Matt Stevens
100/1 £2 each way - Joe Swail
14/1 £2 each way - Ken Doherty
100/1 £1 each way - Alan McManus

The Ebdon bet is a hedge - we don't like Ebdon, but at least if he have to watch him win the final, we'll get £75 compensation to make up for him.

Crapaud62

Shame old Jimmy White is out

That Stephen Lee that beat him is a bit of a bloater though.

MarkO

Yeah, real shame. He was playing well, too. Stephen Lee's a nice bloke though, so you can't fault him for eating too many pies.

Ken Doherty's not exactly looking convincing either.

Crapaud62

Hope you're enjoying it MarkO

Crapaud62

Well Marko, you certainly got your monies worth.

Must have been great there for the final.

Update us on what it was like if you have the time.

MarkO

Some of the pics we took whilst we were there:

MarkO

It was absolutely superb.

We were a bit worried after the second session on Sunday that we weren't going to see anything on Monday evening, and that it was going to be a total whitewash. Luckily though, 'Comeback Ken' did the business and kept it exciting. It was a shame he didn't go all the way though - particularly as we had a fiver on him at 10-1 (the odds before play resumed on Monday afternoon!).

It was a superb experience, and we will definitely be going again in future. The Crucible is very small, so even with the worse seats we got (we had different seats for each session) which were 3 rows from the back, we were still only 30-40ft from the table. And the atmosphere is amazing - I don't think I've ever heard 900 people being so quiet.

We saw a few of the players at the Stage door after a couple of the sessions, and got a couple of autographs. I've never really bothered with the 'celeb' thing before, but it's quite fun, and it's great to be able to have a 2-minute chat with them. Mark W was a grumpy b@stard though - on Sunday evening he was standing outside waiting for Terry G to get the car keys; must have been there for over 5 minutes, and there were only 3 of us outside, yet when we asked for an autograph he didn't even say 'no' - just blanked us. Bit stupid - particularly as he was 11-5 up at that point, so should have been relaxed.

Ken, on the other hand, was a top bloke - despite being down at that stage, he stopped, chatted, did some photos, signed autographs etc. Lovely guy.

Spoke to Paul Ince too, who was gutted that nobody recognised him and asked for autographs . Also saw Prince Nas on Monday night - he's got a double chin now, so won't be fighting in the near future!

All in all, though, a superb weekend. I'll post some pics up later if I get the chance....

[Edited by MarkO - 5/7/2003 8:38:17 AM]