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Crucible Curse
The "Crucible curse" (also known as "The curse of the Crucible" or sometimes the "Crucible jinx") is a quip in professional snooker referring to the fact that every first-time world champion has failed to retain the title the following year. The curse dates back to 1977, when the tournament moved to its current home, the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. Several world champions did successfully defend their first title prior to the championship's move to the Crucible Theatre; the last player to do so was John Pulman in 1964. Since 1977, eighteen world champions have experienced the curse, the most recent being the 2019 World Champion Judd Trump who was beaten in the quarter-finals of the 2020 event. The curse The first-time world champions listed below all experienced the "Crucible curse", as they did not successfully defend their title at the following year's World Championship. Of the eighteen players to have won their first world title at the Crucible Theatre, six lost in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sports-related Curses
A sports-related curse is a superstitious belief in the effective action of some power or evil, that is used to explain the failures or misfortunes of specific sports teams, players, or even cities. Teams, players, and cities often cite a "curse" for many negative things, such as their inability to win a sports championship, or unexpected injuries. American football Detroit Lions In 1958, the Detroit Lions traded Bobby Layne to the Pittsburgh Steelers, with Layne responding to the trade by supposedly saying that the Lions would "not win for 50 years". The veracity of this story has been disputed, particularly because the quote was never published at the time. Despite this, in the 50 years after the trade, the Lions accumulated the worst winning percentage of the 12 teams in the National Football League (NFL) at the time, and are still one of only two franchises that were in the NFL prior to 1966 that have not yet played in the Super Bowl. The Lions' lone playoff win came again ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steve Davis
Steve Davis (born 22 August 1957) is an English retired professional snooker player who is currently a Sports commentator, commentator, musician, DJ, and author. He is best known for dominating professional snooker during the 1980s, when he reached eight World Snooker Championship finals in nine years, won six world titles, and held the List of world number one snooker players, world number one ranking for seven consecutive seasons. He was runner-up to Dennis Taylor in one of snooker's most famous matches, the 1985 World Snooker Championship final, 1985 world final, whose dramatic black-ball conclusion attracted 18.5 million viewers, setting UK records for any broadcast after midnight and any broadcast on BBC Two that stand to this day. In addition to his six world titles, Davis won the UK Championship six times and the Masters (snooker), Masters three times for a total of 15 Triple Crown (snooker), Triple Crown titles, placing him third on the all-time list behind Ronnie O ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1992 World Snooker Championship
The 1992 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 1992 Embassy World Snooker Championship for the purposes of sponsorship) was a professional Snooker world rankings, ranking snooker tournament that took place between 18 April and 4 May 1992 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. John Parrott was the defending champion but he lost 12–13 to Alan McManus in the quarter-finals and fell to the Crucible curse, becoming another champion unable to defend his first world title. Stephen Hendry was the eventual winner, after defeating Jimmy White 18–14 in the final. At one point White led by 14–8, but Hendry then won 10 successive frames to secure his second World Championship title. The tournament was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy (cigarette), Embassy. Tournament summary * Debutants at the Crucible this year were Peter Ebdon, Mark Johnston-Allen, Mick Price (snooker player), Mick Price, Chris Small, Stephen Murphy (snooker player), Stephen Murphy, Ni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steve James (snooker Player)
Stephen James (born 2 May 1961)White, Jason (2002) "Steve James: Crucible or bust for James; Last act beckons in great entertainer's compelling snooker tale", ''Sports Argus'', 26 January 2002, (confirms May 1961) is an English retired professional snooker player. Career A former postman, the high point of his career was his sole ranking title – the Classic in 1990, beating Australian Warren King 10–6 in the final. His world ranking peaked at number seven the following season, the best of his five seasons in the top sixteen."Booze nightmare for snooker star who blew fortune", '' Sunday Mercury'', 28 June 1998 On 14 April 1990, in his match against Alex Higgins at the World Snooker Championship in Sheffield, James became the first player to produce a 16-red total clearance in competitive play. In other words, he potted 16 reds and 16 colours consecutively, followed by all the coloured balls in order: a situation that was only possible because he was awarded a free ball be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stephen Hendry
Stephen Gordon Hendry (born 13 January 1969) is a Scottish professional snooker player who dominated the sport during the 1990s, becoming one of the most successful players in its history. After turning professional in 1985 at age 16, Hendry rose rapidly through the snooker world rankings, reaching number four in the world by the end of his third professional season. He won his first World Snooker Championship in 1990 aged 21 years and 106 days, superseding Alex Higgins as the sport's youngest world champion, a record he still holds. From 1990 to 1999, he won seven world titles, setting a modern-era record that stood outright until Ronnie O'Sullivan equalled it in 2022. Hendry also won the Masters six times and the UK Championship five times for a career total of 18 Triple Crown tournament wins, a total exceeded only by O'Sullivan's 21. His total of 36 ranking titles is second only to O'Sullivan's 39, while his nine seasons as world number one were the most by any player ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1991 World Snooker Championship
The 1991 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 1991 Embassy World Snooker Championship for the purposes of sponsorship) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 20 April and 6 May 1991 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. Stephen Hendry was the defending champion, but he lost in the quarter-finals to Steve James and thus fell to the Crucible curse, becoming another champion who was unable to defend his first world title. John Parrott won his only World Championship title by defeating Jimmy White 18–11 in the final. It was the third time that White had lost in the final after 1984 and 1990. The tournament was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy. The highest break of the tournament was 140, made by Jimmy White. Tournament summary * Future champion Ken Doherty made his Crucible debut, losing to Steve Davis 8–10; former champion Joe Johnson qualified for the last time, losing to Dennis Taylor 6–10. Bot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joe Johnson (snooker Player)
Joe Johnson (born 29 July 1952) is an English former professional snooker player and commentator, best known for winning the 1986 World Championship after starting the tournament as a 150–1 outsider. A former English Amateur Championship and World Amateur Championship finalist, Johnson turned professional in 1979, and after several years as an unranked player, reached the final of the 1983 Professional Players Tournament, where he lost 9–8 to Tony Knowles. In 1986, as an underdog, he defeated Steve Davis 18–12 to win the 1986 World Snooker Championship. The following year, he reached the final again, losing 18–14 to Davis. At the 1987 UK Championship, Johnson came close to making a maximum 147 break, missing the pink ball on 134. Johnson also won the 1987 Scottish Masters, the 1989 Norwich Union Grand Prix and the 1991 Nescafe Extra Challenge before retiring from professional play in 2004. He has also won the 1997 Seniors Pot Black and the 2019 Seniors Masters, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1987 World Snooker Championship
The 1987 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 1987 Embassy World Snooker Championship for the purpose of sponsorship) was a professional snooker tournament that took place between 18 April and 4 May 1987 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was the sixth and final Snooker world rankings, ranking event of the 1986–87 snooker season. The championship was the 1987 edition of the World Snooker Championship, first held in 1927 World Snooker Championship, 1927, and had 32 participants. The highest ranked 16 players were awarded a place in the first round draw, whilst a pre-tournament qualification event for 104 professionals was held between 26 March and 4 April at the Preston Guild Hall for the remaining places. The tournament was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy (cigarette), Embassy and had a prize fund of £400,000 with the winner receiving £80,000. Since his 1986 World Snooker Championship, 1986 victory, Joe Johnson (snooker playe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mike Hallett
Mike Hallett (born 6 July 1959) is an English former professional snooker player and commentator. Career Hallett was born in Grimsby on 6 July 1959. Having won the national under-16 title in 1975, he turned professional in 1979. His world ranking peaked at number six in 1989–90, after his only ranking tournament victory at the 1989 Hong Kong Open in which he beat Dene O'Kane 9–8. In a semi-final match against John Parrott in the 1988 Benson & Hedges Masters, he recovered from needing four snookers to win the decider 6–5. However, he lost 9–0 to Steve Davis in the final, the only whitewash in the Masters final. Three years later, in 1991 he reached the Masters Final again at Wembley where, in the best-of-17-frame match, he surged to a 7–0 lead over Stephen Hendry and missed a pink which would have put him 8–0 ahead. He then moved into an 8–2 lead and needed just the pink and black to clear for the match in the eleventh frame, but missed the shot with the rest. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dennis Taylor
Dennis Taylor (born 19 January 1949) is a Northern Irish retired professional snooker player and current commentator. He is best known for winning the 1985 World Snooker Championship, where he defeated the defending champion Steve Davis in a final widely recognised as one of the most famous matches in professional snooker history. Despite losing the first eight frames, Taylor recovered to win 18–17 in a dramatic duel on the last . The final's conclusion attracted 18.5 million viewers, setting UK viewership records for any post-midnight broadcast and for any broadcast on BBC Two that still stand to this day. Taylor had previously been runner-up at the 1979 World Snooker Championship, where he lost the final 16–24 to Terry Griffiths. His highest world ranking of his career was in 1979–1980, when he was second. He won one other ranking title at the 1984 Grand Prix, where he defeated Cliff Thorburn 10–2 in the final, and also won the invitational 1987 Masters, defea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1986 World Snooker Championship
The 1986 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 1986 Embassy World Snooker Championship for the purposes of sponsorship) was a professional snooker tournament that took place between 19 April and 5 May 1986 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was the sixth and final ranking event of the 1985–86 snooker season and the 1986 edition of the World Snooker Championship, first held in 1927. The total prize fund was £350,000 with £70,000 awarded to the winner and was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy. The defending champion was Dennis Taylor, who had defeated Steve Davis 18–17 in the 1985 World Snooker Championship final to win his first world title. In defence of his title, Taylor lost in the first round of the event 6–10 to Mike Hallett. Joe Johnson the world number 16 defeated Davis 18–12 in the final to win his sole ranking event. Prior to the competition, the bookmakers' odds for a Johnson victory were 150/1. There were 20 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tony Knowles (snooker Player)
Anthony Knowles (born 13 June 1955) is an English former professional snooker player. He won the 1982 International Open and the 1983 Professional Players Tournament, and was a three times semi-finalist in the World Professional Snooker Championship in the 1980s. His highest world ranking was second, in the 1984/85 season. Knowles was the British under-19 snooker champion in 1972 and 1974. He turned professional in 1980, and surprisingly defeated the defending champion Steve Davis 10–1 in the first round of the 1982 World Snooker Championship. In 1984, tabloid stories about his personal life were published, and he was fined £5,000 by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association for bringing the game into disrepute. His other tournament victories included the 1984 Australian Masters and, as part of the England team with Davis and Tony Meo, the 1983 World Team Classic. Career Tony Knowles was born in Bolton on 13 June 1955. He began playing snooker at the ag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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