Surveying the green felt North Shore * Two new billiard hails now open for business on the “LET IT alone, let's to billiards: ’ Come Charmaine." A fellow. by the name of Shakespeare, in 1607, had his character of Cleopatra offer this sentiment to one of her attendants in the play Anthony and Cleopatra. By A.P. BeCredie Sports Reporter Almost four centuries after the old bard had the Queen of Egypt chalking up a cue and cne-eying a double-bank shot, the game of billiards continues to capture the public’s imagination. Over the centuries, the game of billiards has developed into many variations, though the equipment of the game — a rectangular six- pocketed tabic, balls and leather- tipped cue — has changed Tittle. Today, the most popular forms of billiards are snooker and eight-ball, sometimes referred to as ‘‘solids-and-stripes.’” Snooker comes from India. To pass their time during the uneventful rainy season in India in 1875, British military personnel stationed at Jubbulpore played what was known as black pool. A young officer named Nevil Bowles Chamberlain . (later to become General Sir Nevil) sug- gested adding a pink bail, then ‘other colored bails, allotted to : certain points on the table. This was the birth of snooker, a “term originally applied to first- year cadets at the Royal Military College in Woolwich, England. Another common phrase in the world of sport, to put a little “english” on a shot, also finds its origins in billiards. In £825, aa Englishman named Joha Carr, developed a unique shot called the ‘‘screw-stroke,’’ aided by a magic powder he ap- plied to the tip of his cue. ret Pes NEWS photo Mike Wakelield CRAIG FREEMAN lines up 2 shot on one of the new snooker tables at the recently opened Biue Shark Billiards hall, located on the second floor of Thundezbird Lanes bowting alley in North Van- couver. When it was discovered that the powder was really just common chalk, Carr’s lucrative magic- powder business went to dust, but his stroke became a necessity in any serious biHiard player's stable of skills. During the last half of the 19th century, professional players would publish challenges in local newspapers; ‘‘Mr. 5. Bessinger challenges any man in Canada to play a game of billiards, 1,000 points, push-shot barred, 4-bali games. Stakes, from $250 to $500 a side. Challenge holds 60 days from today.”’ ¢ The term ‘‘pool’’ includes more than 60 games played .on an American table, though the major pool games are 8-ball, 9-ball and straight pool. Canada has nigh calibre of billiard players. Most notable of late are Cliff Thorburn — with 21 perfect snooker games (147 points), and the first perfect run in World Championship play during a 1983 match — and Natalie Stelmach and Sue Lamaich, the only women in the world to have runs of over 109 points... There are over 2,500 public pool rooms in Canads serving over 250,000 active players. The social stigma of the pool hall is all but a celluloid memory as many rooms are now well-furnished and cater to a sophisticated clientele. Two recent additions being heralded by North Shore billiard players fit the mold of the well- long enjoyed a world-class Molson Indy Vancouver finds a INQUIRING MINDS want to know how much money Press Indy site. Michigan-based lawyer John Frasco realized during the three years he staged the Molson Indy Vancouver, not to mention how much he pocketed earlier this month by sell- ing the rights to Malson Breweries. + But nobody’s talking, and nor should they be. Frasco delivered the CART/ PPG IndyCar World Series event to Yancouver in the fall of 1999 as the sole promoter under a company registered as Canadian Indy Motorsports Ltd. As the former chairman of Champicnship Auto Racing Teams Inc. (CART) — the gov- erning body of IndyCar racing — Frasco was well aware of which doors had to be opened and how to go about opening them. He had an automatic ‘sugar daddy’? in Molson Breweries bas- ed cn Molson’s experience and success the previous four years in Toronto. The difference was Molson owned the event in Toronto and would settle for being the title sponsor in Vancouver, paying great gobs of money for the rights Greg Douglas a GOAL LINES Originally, Frasco signed a three-year agreement with Con- cord Pacific Developments Lid., owners of the downtown Pacific In years one and two — 1990 and 1991 -- Frasco was in high gear on the Vancouver scene. He made himself responsible for the overall management of the event, undertaking every detail relating to administration, attendance, media coverage, publicity oppor- tunities and sponsorship agree- ments. Then a in 1992, Whether Frasco resigned himself to the fact Concord Pacific wouldn't be interested in extending its contract beyond the three years, or whether he was simply satisfied with the profits he’d made over the three-year run, is unclear but, he seemed to lose interest. His trips to Vancouver became sparse almost to the point where he was an absentee owner. Concord Pacific vice-president Jobn Markouiis was refreshingly candid when he said Concord and Frasco negotiated fruitlessly for roughly six months and it wasn’t until! Molson bought him out that a new deal seemed possible. Strange thing happened respected, family-oriented centres: Blue Shark Billiards This converted five-pin bowling alley billiard hall, opened on the Labor Day weekend, offers thir- teen brand-new tables; cight 4’x 8’, three 4’x 10°, and two snooker tables. The classic billiard hall feel is evoked by cedar wainscotting and dark green felt decor, but the non-alcoholic bar’s offerings — herbal tea, espresso, cappuccino — are most certainly a nod to the "90s clientele manager Bruce Curry is hoping to attract. Wednesday night is 8-ball night. Starting’ at 7 p.m. every Wednesday, piayers can pay $10 and compete in the double knock-out tournament, with first prize totalling 40% of the kitty. 44 The term pool includes more than 60 games played on an American . table. 39 Blue Shark Billiards is located on the second floor of Thunder- bird Lanes, 120 West 16th St., North Vancouver. Magic Moments Billiard Club A strip mall on Marine Drive is an unlikely place to find a classy pool hall, but Magic Moments Billiard Club owner Majid Maghsoudi is confident that his newly opened establishment will please players of all calibres. Running a tight ship is upper- most on the former restaurant owner’s, and life-long billiard fa- natic’s, list. Posting signs that read ‘‘We reserve the right to refuse service’’ and ‘‘No person under the age of 18 allowed on premises after 12 midnight,’ it is evident that Maghsoudi is hoping to fill his two rooms with players who will appreciate the smoked glass, dimly tit surroundings. Magic Moments has 14 new Na- tional tables, including four snooker tables in the back room for the more serious-minded players. Every Tuesday night at 7 p.m. the club holds an open 8-ball tournament. Magic Moments Billiard Club is located at 730 Marine Dr. in North Vancouver. way despite the cost To quote Markoulis: ‘‘Frasco had rot sedured some of the guarantees he needed from CART and, for various reasons, we didn’t make any progress. Molson picked up the negotiations a few months later. Talks with the brewery were three to four weeks. We started negotiations with Frasco maybe eight or nine months ago but they were termi- nated because we weren’t making any progress.’’ Then Markoulis told the real story, where the Molson execu- tives maintained a clean corporate image by refraining from throwing stones. Ron Simpson, Molson vice- president of sports from head- quarters in Toronto, announced that Frasco had been retained by the brewery as a consultant. “J wouldn’t characterize that we saved the race,’’ Simpson politely said. ‘‘f think we got things put together quicker than John might have been able to. John’s happy with his role as a consultant. It was important for us in terms of managing this event to have someone with his kind of experience. We were faced with a fairly black-and-white situation. We had to find a way to make this happen.”’ It was Simpson who'd been des- ignated by Molson to accept the three-pronged challenge that in- cluded taking Frasco out, getting Concord Pacific ‘‘back on track’’ if you will, and convincing CART to provide conditional approval for a four-year extension to the Molson Indy Vancouver sanction. The man batted 1,000. Concord agreed to a minimum three-year partnership with Molson, CART went for the four-year extension and Frasco cashed in (again) by selling his territorial property. What Frasco netted throxgh his wheeling and dealing over the past three years is nobody’s business. _ That’s what private enterprise is all about. As Simpson said, ‘*We (Molson) had to find a way to make this happen.’’ He could have added: ‘‘despite the cost.”’