Media

Ronnie’s American Hustle – Episode 1

Monique Film, Media ,

Yesterday evening, whilst Ronnie was at the China Open qualifiers, the first episode of the American Hustle was shown on HistoryUK and I must say, I love it! It’s informative, it’s interesting, it’s fun.

In fact just read this article , it tells you all you need to know.

Ronnie O’Sullivan’s American Hustle is much more than just a few games of pool… although the Rocket looks most at home with a table in front of him

  • Ronnie O’Sullivan’s American Hustle sees him touring famous USA pool halls
  • O’Sullivan is partnered by veteran sports broadcaster Matt Smith for the trip
  • The first show offered interesting history alongside the game being played 

By Mark Webster for the Daily Mail

PUBLISHED: 11:36 GMT, 27 January 2017 | UPDATED: 14:29 GMT, 27 January 2017

Last Sunday, not for the first time, Ronnie O’Sullivan was king of the hill. The sight of the Rocket lifting the Masters trophy in front of an adoring crowd at Alexandra Palace has become a familiar sight to telly audiences.

However, on Thursday evening, Ronnie wasn’t in Haringey any more. In fact, save for the fact he had occasion to have a cue in his hand and a tableful of balls in front of him, he was a man completely outside of his comfort zone.

The History Channel had sent one of snooker’s favourite sons on a tour of some of America’s most iconic pool halls to take on some celebrated heroes at their own game. 

At least, that is the basic premise behind the new series Ronnie O’Sullivan’s American Hustle, which debuted with a trip to New York City.

The good news is, it is clearly so much more than just watching Ronnie play a few frames of pool. No, the big break for me is that American Hustle also does what it says on the channel and positively wallows in the history and culture that helped shape the game, and indeed its country of origin, over the decades.

Which is why, shall we say, borrowing the title of a recent blockbuster film hasn’t ended up looking like daylight robbery. Because this American Hustle is a full blown road movie. That’s bursting with Hollywood backdrops, and what’s more, it’s a buddy picture, to boot.

Along for the ride is Ronnie’s mate, and of course dab hand at the telly stuff, Matt Smith. Matt’s part in the proceedings is very important. 

He not only uses his broadcasting chops to steer us through the various elements to the programme. He also makes sure that Ronnie remains unselfconscious on camera. Which can often be his nemesis when he’s asked to do anything other than simply set the green baize ablaze.

Which means that their trip up, under and around the city remained entertaining and easy going throughout – and with it, frequently enlightening. 

There’s a trip to Ellis Island. Some street basketball under a bridge. A hot dog from the street. A ride to the top of the Empire State Building, where we learned that the Ally Pally is just about as high as Ronnie likes to go, and that the Rocket’s cure for a phobia of flying is ‘Flappy Birds.’

However, even though Ronnie certainly seemed a happy tourist, he did look most at home when there was an oblong table in front of him. As they rode around in a vintage yellow taxi, Ronnie told Matt he ‘grew up playing pool in a pub’. But that was cue chalk and cheese ‘n’ onion by comparison.

So it was fascinating watching him taking on board hustling tips from Kid Delicious. Then practising the subtle art of the ancient ancestor of pool and billiards, carom. While he was absolutely in his element visiting Blatt Billiards, with its hoards of antique tables and loving crafted new ones.

Of course, the end game for the programme is to watch Ronnie in the lion’s den. Which for this episode, was a match against Queens legend Earl ‘The Pearl’ Strickland. 

Here, the whole thing became pure theatre. With Earl playing his role to perfection. While some stunning camerawork and editing gave the whole thing an appropriately filmic quality.

As I said, the Rocket winning or losing frames or dollars is why he and Matt went on their epic journey. That is clearly going to be a sight to see. But to watch O’Sullivan put the cue back in the bag and soak up a whole new world with his mate alongside him may just end up being this series’ ultimate winner.

Ronnie O’Sullivan’s American Hustle is on Thursdays at 10pm on HISTORY 

If you missed it, here it is

 

Ronnie about how he got involved in American hustle

Monique Interview, Media ,

Despite the misleading title, this article in ShortList is mainly about Ronnie and what drove him to do this series in America.

Ronnie O’Sullivan interview: “Flappy Bird cured my fear of flying”

25 JAN 2017

ronnie

Ronnie O’Sullivan, one of the finest snooker players of all time, sucks at pool but rules at iPhone games. Flappy Bird, in particular.

Here Dan Masoliver chats with the British legend to find out why he’s so obsessed with the annoying game, as well as discussing his brand new TV show about pool hustling in America.

In your new series, Ronnie O’Sullivan’s American Hustle, you and broadcaster Matt Smith go to the US and hustle some pool. What attracted you to the idea?

It was the travel. Going to places and experiencing things that I wouldn’t normally do. Once my snooker season’s over, I sit on the couch, I chill out, I go running, cook barbecues every night and that’s it. That’s my world. This was an opportunity to go out to somewhere I’d never normally have gone.

You’ve dabbled in pool in the past, playing in the International Pool Tour in 2006. Why haven’t you persisted with it?

I’m just not very good at it. The balls, the cues, the equipment – none of it does what I think it’s going to do. The noise of the cue when it hits the ball [he recoils, cringing], I want to put ear plugs in. It’s like asking Federer to play table tennis – he’s going to be all right at it, but he’s going to say, “Where’s the feel? Where’s the touch?”

You meet 55-year-old Earl ‘The Pearl’ Strickland in episode one, where he declares that he’s one of the greatest athletes that’s ever been born. Bit strong, no?

Most people would think, “F*cking hell you’re mad, how could you be the greatest athlete in America?” But he’s up there. He’s mastered his sport. It’s not as big as tennis or golf or swimming or whatever, but he mastered his sport. How much higher can you go than being the best in the world at what you do, whatever that may be?

Ronnie O’Sullivan – American Hustle Trailer

What would be the reaction if you made similar declarations of your undeniable talent?

I’d be big-headed. We love it when an American says it, we think it’s funny, but if a British guy says it, you think, “Who does he think he is?”

Americans worship their sports stars – do you think that people here would rather see you fail?

I get a general sense that every snooker fan that loves snooker wants to see me do well. And then I get the feeling that the people that run the sport would like to do what they did with Alex Higgins. While he was good for viewing figures they accepted him, but as soon as he started to not do so well, they threw him out of the game. So the sport will use me while I’m good, but the minute I drop off, it’ll be like, “Get him out.”

You’ve always been a bit of a maverick. Where does that come from?

I was brought up never to get too big for my boots. If I’d won a competition, it was history. Forget about it, move on to the next one. I was always taught to be tough, to not show any emotion, to feel like it’s me against the world. And that had an influence on how I live my life.

Has it made you ruthless?

I’m not like that. I love human beings. If I see a homeless guy, I go and buy him a sandwich and I say, “Look, here’s a bit of food and there’s a tenner, get yourself a packet of fags.” So I have empathy for humans. But as a snooker player, I’ve been brought up, ever since I was 10, to just be a machine.

We hear you’ve got a peculiar way of coping with your chronic phobia of flying.

Flappy Bird is the only thing that got me over flying. I got on a plane once, I had eight per cent battery. I said to the lady, “You’d better get me something [to charge my phone].” She said, “We can’t,” so I said, “I’m a bad flyer, you don’t want to see me if I start kicking off, because your passengers won’t like it.” She said, “I’ll get you some charge.” I was sh*tting myself. That [battery] is normally at 100 per cent the night before I’m going to the airport. Flappy Bird is my greatest cure.

Hold on, the smartphone game where you tap the screen to keep a nearly flightless bird airborne – that cured your fear of flying?

I’m being serious. I love it [he pulls out his phone and starts to play]. It’s the most beautiful feeling ever, when you’re going through [the pipes]. Look: the timing, the angles, the precision. Look! The dip, and then you get up there and you let it drop. That’s an art.

You’re actually remarkably good. What’s your high score?

It’s 295 on my phone, but I have about 350 on my iPad. That’s not bad. And I only do it when I’m on the plane, so I won’t do it for months, and then, boom: within 20 minutes I’m 180s, 200s. I could get 1,000, if I really put my mind to it.

Ronnie O’Sullivan’s American Hustle starts on 26 January on History at 10pm

[Images: JonEnoch, Eyevine]

American Hustle … frustration, China Open qualifiers and desecration of an icon

Monique Media, Radio or Television Show ,

historyukposter

Today, the first (of four) episode of Ronnie’s American Hustle will be out on HistoryUK channel at 10pm (UK time).  Most of us will not be able to watch it unfortunately, which is a shame because, going by the trailers, it’s very funny and very interesting. If you are looking for a streaming … you will find out that you can indeed register to watch it online … but only if you are a UK resident. The rationale behind such restrictive policies in today’s global world are beyond my understanding. Why?

Anyway, yesterday they published this very interesting podcast featuring John Virgo, David Hendon and Ronnie himself.

historyuk-1

Tonight Ronnie will play James Cahill in the China Open qualifying round. Earlier this week, Ali Carter’s manager was reflecting that, for top players who had just been competing in the Masters, in Ally Pally, going to battle it out in qualifiers in front a scarce audience, is coming down with a hard bump and that it was very hard to be up for it. In the end, Ali was lucky: his opponent withdrew, so he didn’t need to make the trip to Preston.

Ronnie doesn’t like the 128 tour, he doesn’t like to play in those qualifiers – none of the top guys do – and he’s obviously busy with the promotion of his American Hustle series, so,  I’m not expecting a great performance, although he should go through.

The venue is the Preston Guildhall, the former house of the UK Championship and the place where it all started for Ronnie, still only 17, when he won his first ranking title. It’s an iconic place. Shaun Murphy claimed he was “excited” to return there. Really Shaun? I find it awkward and unsettling more than anything else. This iconic venue, poorly lit, with partitions, almost empty, without any atmosphere … it’s a kind of desecration. Would you be excited to see “qualifying partitions” in a dark/empty Crucible? I don’t for sure. It won’t happen of course, the Crucible is far too small for that. But, well, you get the feeling …

 

Another nice interview with the BBC this time

Monique Interview, Media ,

Ronnie was speaking with Owens Phillips from BBC Sport 

Masters 2017: Ronnie O’Sullivan wants to win with the style of Lionel Messi

By Owen Phillips

BBC Sport

Reigning Masters champion Ronnie O’Sullivan says entertaining fans is more important than titles and he wants to be the Lionel Messi of snooker.

World number 13 O’Sullivan begins his quest for a record-breaking seventh Masters crown against China’s Liang Wenbo in the first round on Sunday.

But the 41-year-old told BBC Sport: “I want to try to win playing an exciting, aggressive and attacking game.

“It is OK to win, but I want to win with style.”

O’Sullivan said he wanted fans to be able to say he doesn’t just win, but he “delivers entertainment as well”.

“I think I have done that over the over the last five or six years,” he added.

“I have put on some magnificent performances – performances I am very proud of.

“Sometimes people say you can’t play like that and win. Well, Michael van Gerwen has proved you can, Lionel Messi proves you can, Tiger Woods does, Roger Federer does. I want to try to be one of them.”

Victory for O’Sullivan at Alexandra Palace would move the 28-time ranking event winner clear of Stephen Hendry and see him retain the title he won by thrashing Barry Hawkins 10-1 in 2016.

“I still want to win tournaments – but for me it is about people coming to watch, people switching on their televisions wanting to see good entertainment,” he said.

“It would be great to get another Masters, not because it’s the seventh, but because it’s the Masters. I don’t think ‘I’ve got to break the record’, I just want to win another Masters.

“I want to win another Worlds and another Welsh and China Open. I just want to win more tournaments.”

Although he dominated a one-sided final against Hawkins last season, O’Sullivan said a back injury meant he struggled and feared for his career.

“I slipped a disc and I couldn’t get in the right position for my shots,” he said. “Fortunately I overcame that a couple of weeks after the Masters and it is not a problem now.

“But it was really hard mentally. I was struggling because I wasn’t sure if I would ever be able to play properly again because of my back.

“Winning the tournament is the main goal and that was a great box ticked, but my performance wasn’t great. I have played a lot better and lost tournaments. I think I got a bit lucky in some ways.”

This time around he is far happier with his fitness – and his form – after a difficult start to the season.

93561557_ronniecue_rex

“The first two months of the season were difficult because I didn’t really practise going into the season,” the Essex man said. “I didn’t really play for three months.

“I lost matches early on and it wasn’t losing the matches that bothered me, it was how I was playing. I was struggling and getting to the last 16 was a good result.”

O’Sullivan reached finals at the European Open final in Romania as well as the Champion of Champions event in Coventry, before losing a high-quality UK Championship final to world number one Mark Selby.

“From mid-November to mid-December I had a really good month where I was happy with my form and I was enjoying it,” he said.

Mastering the Masters

The invitation tournament is one of snooker’s triple crown events and features the world’s top 16 players competing for a top prize of £200,000.

“Sometimes it’s the easiest one to win because you are playing against the best players,” said O’Sullivan.

“You know what they will do and what they will bring to the table; you know their what their best game is like, what their worst game is like and what their middle game is like. You know everything about their games.

“The tougher matches are sometimes guys that you don’t know; you don’t know their strengths and weaknesses.

“With the Masters you know what you are getting involved in.”

Ronnie and Mark Selby … je t’aime, moi aussi!

Monique Interview, Media ,

Judging by this double interview by John Skilbeck in the Belfast Telegraph, long are gone the days when there was needle between Mark and Ronnie. Mutual respect and even friendship built up as they learned to know each other better.

Ronnie O’Sullivan: Mark Selby ‘is a good lad’

By John Skilbeck

ronnie-o-sullivan

Relationship between Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Selby has been strained in the past

Ronnie O’Sullivan has had a change of heart about Mark Selby after getting to know the man he labelled snooker’s “Torturer”.

Defending champion O’Sullivan begins his bid for a seventh Dafabet Masters title when he faces Liang Wenbo on Sunday.

The dream ticket for many snooker fans would be an Alexandra Palace final between O’Sullivan and Selby, after their gripping UK Championship title match.

Selby triumphed in York, taking an afternoon stranglehold on the final before resisting a brilliant O’Sullivan fightback by producing spectacular snooker of his own.

The relationship between O’Sullivan and Selby has been strained in the past, with O’Sullivan’s attacking playing style countered by Selby’s more pragmatic approach. It led O’Sullivan to reveal in a 2013 memoir his scathing nickname for a player previously better known as the ‘Jester from Leicester’.

Such tags can stick, but the torture O’Sullivan has felt at the hands of Selby has given way to a better understanding between the pair, after they spent time in each other’s company during a run of exhibition events last autumn.

“We did a few nights and I like his mindset. I know he’s in the game for the right reasons and he’s a good lad,” O’Sullivan said.

“I know he’s a fierce competitor on the table and I know that if he does sometimes get a bit slow and play long, drawn-out frames, that’s not because he’s playing me. That’s just sometimes how it can go for him.

“I know it’s not intentional, he’s just a tough match player.”

O’Sullivan has suffered more painful defeats at the hands of world number one Selby than the setback in York.

In the 2010 Masters final, Selby charged from 9-6 behind to beat O’Sullivan 10-9, and four years later at the Crucible it was a similar story, the hot favourite seeing a 10-5 lead slip away as Selby scooped his first World Championship title.

Their conflicting ways of thinking make each clash between Selby and O’Sullivan an occasion to savour.

“I hit them with everything I’ve got, it’s like a wall and I try to walk right through it,” O’Sullivan said.

“Mark will try to defend and defend and make it difficult for you at times.

“I just want to get in there and eat the balls.”

While touring Bulgaria with O’Sullivan in the autumn, playing to new audiences, Selby welcomed the opportunity to forge a bond.

Selby, 33, knew all about O’Sullivan’s dislike for his methodical play, and it was a chance to show another side to his character.

“When he was making his comments I didn’t really know him – I had never gone out for food with him or anything,” Selby said.

“Then I did some exhibitions and shows with him around Europe, spent time with him and he is a great guy and it’s great he is still playing.

“Up until the World Championship final in 2014 when I beat him I probably still didn’t have his respect. But to beat him over that distance I think he knew it wasn’t a fluke.

“Also to come from 8-3 down and 10-5, since then I think I have won his respect and I hope it stays that way.”

Selby has replaced O’Sullivan as the man to beat, and he heads to north London as the holder of the World and UK titles.

His own campaign begins on Wednesday, with Selby aspiring to add to the Masters titles he landed in 2008, 2010 and 2013.

“It would be nice but you get four tough matches there,” Selby said.

“I’ve got Mark Williams, one of my good friends on tour, in the first round.”

Selby, in a typically self-deprecating style, is playing down his trophy prospects.

“It’s going to be tough,” he said, “but if I’m playing like I have been I’ll have an outside chance.”

Ronnie back on the radio + WPBSA competition to win a signed copy of “Framed”

Monique Book, Media, Radio or Television Show , ,

Ronnie will be back on PhoenixFM at 6pm (UK time) with Chris Hood for the next instalment of Midweek Matchzone. 

Also Worldsnooker organises a competition today

Thursday 29 Dec 2016 12:50PM

Ronnie O’Sullivan’s first novel Framed was published by Orion last month and we’ve got a signed copy to give away to one lucky fan.

For a chance to win, just follow us on twitter @WorldSnooker1, look out for our competition tweet today (December 29) and retweet it – we’ll then pick then winner at random.

Framed

Here’s a synopsis of Framed…

Frankie James is a young man with a lot on his shoulders. His mother disappeared when he was fifteen; his father’s in jail for armed robbery; and he owes rent on the SoHo snooker club he inherited to one of London’s toughest gangsters, and now things are about to get a whole lot worse.

His brother Jack turns up at the club early in the morning, covered in someone else’s blood, with no memory of the night before, and with the cops hard on his heels. With Jack banged up, awaiting trial for the vicious murder of a bride-to-be – a murder that’s sparked an even more vicious gang war between London’s two foremost crime families – Frankie knows a conviction could quickly turn into a death sentence.

To prevent that from happening, he needs to find out who framed Jack and why, but that means entering the sordid world of bent coppers, ruthless mobsters and twisted killers that he’s tried all his life to avoid getting sucked into. Now, however, he no longer has any choice. But in the dog-eat-dog underworld of 1980s SoHo, is he tough enough, and smart enough to come out on top?

A day of interviews

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Ronnie was yesterday morning on ITV for “Good morning Britain”, talking about his last novel, “Framed”, as well as snooker and life in general.

rosgoodmorningbritain22-12-2016

The “Good Morning Britain” team shared the link to the show on their twitter account.

After that Ronnie was on talksport radio, with Alan Brazil on SportBreakfast

rostalksport22-12-2016

It’s available on the Show’s Facebook page here :

It was a very positive interview, where Ronnie re-affirmed his love for his sport, praised fellow pros and tipped young Zao Xintong to become a World Champion soon. He also talks about his show on History Channel, American Hustle.