People want to see a 147 for the rare event of witnessing something relatively unattainable. I'd argue that seeing O'Sullivan deliberately throw a 147 (assuming he would actually have done it) is a much rarer and more memorable event. Gambling is just that, a gamble and you're betting against Ronnie doing something bizarre from playing with his (slightly) weaker left hand to just marching out the arena. Barca gave the people they showed a lack of respect to a better chance of getting the ball much like any act of showboating and trying a highly ambitious ball compared to passing safely back to the keeper.
I think what you say is very true. I used to quite enjoy watching the snooker ... in the 80's. But since then it's gotten a bit stale and snoozker would probably be a more apt name for it. I have two friends that were pro snooker players in the 90's. They both gave it up because they got bored of doing the circuit. They said it had just got so tedious because nearly every other player on it were like snooker robots and had no character. Higgins and Hendry were the stand out names they mentioned but it's so along ago there may have been others. The truth is that they were young men and probably wanted to live it up a bit and in doing so was probably detrimental to their personal progression. If you wanted to reach the top of your game you had to eat, live and breath it. O'Sullivan being the exception and genius of the sport compared to the rest of them. Maybe snooker needs a makeover like the darts has. It's incredible how the PDC World Darts Championship has become a major sporting event due to Barry Hearn's foresight. Not too sure if Snooker players walking out to a pumping backtrack and sexy walk on models will work with that sport though. As for Barcelona, I couldn't really give a monkeys. It's the SPL in a warmer climate.
I caught a bit of a snooker tournament last weekend where they just play one frame against a ten minute count down and a 15 second limit per shot for the first 5 mins, 10 seconds for the 2nd 5. The players were walked to the table by a couple of leggy blondes, usually about a foot taller than the players, who seemed to find it embarrassing. It didn't do it for me, snooker's a lengthy, tactical battle and should stay that way. I gathered O'sullivan's protest was aimed at general insufficient financial reward in the game in general.
Here's another great example of a total lack of respect in sport.... http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/35470796
My two bob for what it's worth .................... Betting in sport should be a lot further apart then what it is today. For example - Back in the seventies, a pub could not have a Tab ( horse racing betting agency ) within 500 metres of it. Today as you know, you don't have to leave your chair. Here in Oz, we have for crying out aloud, gaming agencies sponsoring all main sporting bodies. To me, that is wrong and invites trouble. At one stage, we even had betting updates during NRL games but people rightly arked up over it. I don't care for betting, never have but I understand others like to bet. I always refer back to a famous Australian ( Gerry Harvey ) who owns all the major retail outlets ( Harvey Norman ) Oz wide. He owns the Magic Millions ( horse auctions around Australia ) ............ he says he's spent millions buying horses only because he loves them. He also says you'd never do it to make money, cause that won't happen. I've never met a wealthy self made gambler yet. They must do it for the love of it.
I've seen that before. And this is one area where, in my mind, cricket as a sport needs to identify where it wants to live. You can't have rules stating that this kind of dismissal is perfectly legal, and then berate a player for dismissing an opponent using a perfectly legal dismissal method. If you don't want this to happen, then change the rules. Otherwise accept it as part of the game. Cricket appears to be a sport striving for revenue and relevancy in the 21st Century, with T20 and cheerleaders etc., but they then adhere to a somewhat Victorian code of 'honour' where they are happy to say "I know the laws say you can do that, but come on, be a good chap about it...". It cannot work these days. All these things that they believe should be covered by the 'spirit' of the game, need to be added to the laws of the game. Because the real question shouldn't be "respect in sport", it's about respect in society, and how we've generally lost that in the chase for revenue, success and celebrity.
