Cowboy Dennis
Verified Member
Some people like Doc and Bill Stroud have said that a foul is a foul but they neglect to mention that if nobody calls it a foul then it's not a foul. Here's an interesting sequence that I had never noticed before in the Ervolino/Sigel match from the 1991 L.O.P.. I was looking for something else when I saw this. Johnny was cutting the 2 ball and playing the cueball three rails for shapes. When he shot he hit the 5 ball with the shaft of his stick and moved it several inches to his right.
As fate would have it, he missed the 2 ball and the cueball came around three rails and hit the 8 and then the 5 balls. In other words, he hit the ball he moved with his shaft (5 ball) with the cueball on the shot. I don't know which rules they played by at this tourney but it's a foul everywhere I've ever played.
But guess what, nobody noticed it. Not Sigel, not Ervolino judging by his reaction to missing the 2 which is what he was looking at, not Cornbread, Freddy, Buddy Hall or Grady said a word in the booth (about it being a foul). They were probably watching the 2 ball and the cueball, not the 5 ball. Nobody called a foul on this shot. Was there still a foul? A referree may have seen it but there are legitimate reasons at times for six people not to see a foul occur. Mostly because they weren't looking for it, I would think. If they were playing by rules that I'm not aware of I sure hope someone would tell me.
As fate would have it, he missed the 2 ball and the cueball came around three rails and hit the 8 and then the 5 balls. In other words, he hit the ball he moved with his shaft (5 ball) with the cueball on the shot. I don't know which rules they played by at this tourney but it's a foul everywhere I've ever played.
But guess what, nobody noticed it. Not Sigel, not Ervolino judging by his reaction to missing the 2 which is what he was looking at, not Cornbread, Freddy, Buddy Hall or Grady said a word in the booth (about it being a foul). They were probably watching the 2 ball and the cueball, not the 5 ball. Nobody called a foul on this shot. Was there still a foul? A referree may have seen it but there are legitimate reasons at times for six people not to see a foul occur. Mostly because they weren't looking for it, I would think. If they were playing by rules that I'm not aware of I sure hope someone would tell me.