Earl Ball 2006 08 21.

DON’T KNOW THE COVER OFF!

At the tournament in Lakeland, I saw an unfortunate thing happen.  It was the last frame and Walt Stoddard had the lead 28-20, the other team had the last hammer.  Walt had a good 7 hidden by two blocks and Chuck Moulton also had a seven on the same side of the board but Walt could see half of it.  If he can get it off, he wins but he hit the cover block on the way by, opening up his hidden seven.  It’s wide open, but Chuck has to shot from the corner as if hiding behind a St Pete and he hadn’t had that shot the whole game, you guessed it, he missed the block.  Walt, of course, was thrilled and Chuck was sick; it was important because Chuck would have been part of a five-way tie for first and as it wound up Ted Shallowford, Walt’s partner got a piece of first.  I’m sure Walt wished at the time that he’d done anything but that, he probably should have covered half of the 10 to Chuck’s side of the board so Chuck couldn’t beat him and the eight for a tie would have been no given.  As far as Chuck’s situation is concerned, you have to get an idea of what will happen if you shot behind the hides during practice, even if you only get six practice shots or you have to practice these shots during the first couple frames of the game so you are ready in case of a critical situation.