Entertainment For Lively Minds
Alex Higgins has died
In this era of bland sports stars whose every utterance seems to be filtered through their PRs, I would like to pay tribute to the great Alex Higgins, to whom the epithet "charismatic" is entirely apt yet woefully inadequate. He crackled with life and energy, particularly in his brilliant prime. The way he eyed up a potential pot on the snooker table one would think he was daring the ball not to find the pocket. He twitched and strutted around the baize, beaming with joy after an excellent shot and frowning with despair after a bad miss. He veered wildly between gentle humility and extreme arrogance, shedding tears of joy upon winning the world championship and coming to blows with fellow professionals and WPBSA officials. This duality of character was that of an extremely complex man whose unpredictable temperament and incredible talent brought him legions of fans. He was responsible as much as anyone for the explosion in popularity of his chosen sport. A handsome, rebellious cove who magnetized crowds with his maverick genius - he will be sorely missed.
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The greatest break I've ever seen...
Crumbs!
The early part of that break is characterised by stunning potting and catastrophic positional play. Then suddenly with the third to last red it all snaps into focus and he looks in complete control. He was never dull.
I'll always remember the second time he won the world title, weeping buckets as he held his infant daughter.
I thought that about the positional play
But my mate Big Tony who knows a thing or two about the green baize says it was all intentional - the first pot was tricky, so Higgins didn't want to leave White with an easy pot if he missed it so he left the white in tricky positions. Once he was more comfortable with things, he went back to conventional play.
Bugger
that's brought me down to earth with a bump. I know he'd been so ill but it's still dreadful news. To watch him prowl round the table chalking and re-chalking his cue finally taking up his position and potting with a flourish defined snooker and it's 80's rebirth. It makes it virtually impossible for me to watch now unless Ronnie is playing, Higgins is a man who went beyond his sport like only a very special few. RIP.
The parallels with George Best
are unavoidable and compelling. Both from a similar part of the world, both of similar ages, both gifted with perhaps the most exciting talent that these islands have produced in their respective sports and both cursed with a similar self-destructive trait.
He certainly was the first first snooker player I ever noticed - single-handedly in my eyes and those of many others, transforming its image.
I hope that the Hurricane rests in the peace that seemed to be at best fleeting in his all too brief time amongst us.
Two words..
'badly' and 'advised'.
Touch of Genius
He was blessed and cursed in equal amounts but without him Snooker would not have gained its prominence. I loved his maverick attitude and his flamboyance, his willingness to stick his fingers up to the stuffy hierarchy. Snooker was better for his presence just as Tennis was with the likes of Nastase and McEnroe and Football with the likes of Best, Bowles, Charlie George and Frank Worthington. We need more of the naturally gifted and less of the manufactured perfection. Be at peace Alex.
Sorely missed
What is it with Norn Iron and producing flawed geniuses?
Great shame
My favourite quote about him was to the effect that in any frame he was quite capable of potting the unpottable and missing the unmissable, which is what made watching him so compelling.
When I were a student in Manchester..
Back in the late 80's, we'd often have a drink in The Sherwood in Fallowfield of a Saturday lunchtime. Alex was there a lot of the time, alternating between juicer and bookie's opposite.
How many geniuses have there been in sport who don't have the word "flawed" as a perpetual prefix?
Yeah, used to see him in the............
......Barleycorn on Barlow Moor Road, Didsbury around the same time.................(I was at Needham Hall).
If there was ever an
If there was ever an anti-hero, a guy who had problems, who wore his heart on his sleeve and was passionate about his sport - it was Alex Higgins.
People of a certain age group (I'm 48) remember him from Pot Black. He was so different. He was going downhill for years and his demise was not unexpected but it still slightly shocked me and made me think for a moment