It's hardly a secret that I love to watch Eddy Merckx play. My admiration for his game started many years ago, when I had the privilige of being his opponent in the Belgian league, in his home room in Schelle near Antwerp. That match arrived at the halfway point after 5 innings, and the scoreboard read EM 23, - BvM 0. The elderly and very polite referee asked me if I wanted to take a short break, and I said: "No thanks, I don't want to lose my rhythm."
We also met in the Dutch league, a few years later. I did rather well in those two (home and away) matches, at one point I even had a 34-33 (in 29) lead. Eddy being Eddy, he had beaten me 34-50 three innings later.
What is it that sets Merckx apart from other great players? He may have been world champion twice and hold that unbelievable world record of 50 in 6, but we still feel that Caudron has even more natural talent, that Jaspers has an even straighter delivery of the cue and makes fewer mistakes. Merckx did not rewrite the 3-cushion textbooks the way Blomdahl did. Does he have his own unique quality?
He most certainly does.
It may not be there in every match he plays, because he's not "on top of his game" as often as the three guys I mentioned above. But it showed up yesterday, when he faced Korean Jun Tae Kim and was 12 points behind. Merckx ran 10 to close the gap, and when he missed the eleventh, you could have taken a spoon and scooped the disappointment off his face. The Korean player went on to lead 31-25, and Merckx came to the table, in serious trouble.
What happened next was like a déjà vu to me. Merckx went into Must-Make-Mode. You can see it in his body language, and in his eyes. He realizes that he's come to the end of the line, there are no do-overs or second chances anymore. If he misses, he'll lose. He's in a hole, and the only way to dig himself out, is to not miss. You can almost hear him talking to himself. DO. NOT. MISS.
After the second point, I turned to a friend in the audience, and said: "He's going to run another ten, you know." Predicting 3-cushion is next to impossible, but for once, I was right. Eddy ran into all sorts of trouble during that run, the balls were far from kind to him. But he hit great shot after great shot, and that second run of ten-and-out gave him the match. In retrospect, it gave him a place in the final, because a day later he lost to Bury and to Sayginer. Three losses, and he would have not made the final 16.
The quality that stands out the most in Eddy's game, is courage. He's quite capable of playing a defensive game, and he sometimes does. But that's not his signature. The ingredients for a true Eddy Merckx moment are a painful scoreboard, a strong opponent and a horrible position. If he's in dire straits like that, sit up and pay attention. You may see things you want to tell your grandkids about.
Tomorrow the Carom Cafe will host another Blomdahl - Merckx. We' ve had several in New York, in the past few years, and they've varied from pretty good to unforgettable.
I say: Lights. Camera. Action.