Friday, August 11, 2006

15th Lifetime Ton-80

With yesterday's hit not only did I get my 15th ton-80 under my belt, I also tied my ton-80 number for last year at 6. So one more and I will have accomplished my first new years resolution for this year (to hit more ton-80's this year than last).


My favorite aspect of this particular maximum though is the fact that it came on the back of my newly discovered Unicorn Big Brass Beauties, as I am calling them. Not only did I squeeze them all in the treble but if you'll notice, there is plenty of room left over for more. In fact nearly half the treble is unobstructed. I could hit a symetrical ton-80 into the other half! (Well, okay maybe I couldn't but Steve "Magic" Coote or Paul Williams could.) I have been told by so many people that they wish their darts were skinnier or that they were looking for some skinnier darts so that they could fit in the triple 20 better. In fact it is a commonly held belief that skinnier darts have the effect of improving your average over the course of game for this reason.

I cannot help but to balk at that a little.

Afterall, the Late Great Jim Pike probably never threw a tungsten dart in his life yet he is credited with darts feats the current msters could only dream of. If it is so hard to fit modern brass darts into a treble how could he have become the legend that he is? Have you seen the darts that were commonly used in that era? There are huge by comparison yet modern brass darts still have the stigma of being too big. Listen to this story:

When I was in league in Seattle during my last season there some of our teammates did not show up for the match. One because he was mad at another teammate, one because he was lacking in the commitment department, and one because of I cannot remember. So our captain runs accross the street to a different bar to try and find a sub (we were in the Knarr). He comes back with a guy who normally plays A League, but was not on a team that season (which is the only reason he could sub). He has no darts with him so we offer to loan him some for the evening. I had my Rhino's with me, but I was using my Widows. I offer him the Rhinos (brass darts with a tungsten tip) and he looks at me like I am crazy, and says:

"No way I am not throwing those, they are way too fat."

There was no way in heck I was going to give up my Widows to this guy so someone else lent him darts, and he proceeded to throw rubbish all night, whereas I had a good evening. I cannot remember if we won or not. But I do remember that while he could not hit the red side of a barn, he did allow us to not have to forfeit, for which I am certainly grateful. However this is how I wish it had played out in hindsight, afterall my game was on, and his was off:

"No way I am not throwing those, they are way too fat." (him)
"Okay, no worries. Throw these Widows and I'll throw the Brass. Lets play a quick game to warm up." (me)

I am certain I'd have beat him. I think that the thickness of a dart may have some minor effect on hitting your triples but not that much. I'd say that nailing a Maximum is 99% ability, and maybe 1% real estate. If that. Anyway, after the match that night I hit my first ever White Horse in a game against a teammate. I was definitly on.

6 comments:

Tommo said...

One of my team mates uses brass. He tried a similar shape in tungsten recently (bought by me as thanks for an old Apple Mac he gave to my kids), but he just didn't take to them and has returned to brass. If your grip requires a wider, larger dart I can see why tungsten would work against you.

ny81him said...

What is a White Horse??

Jason said...

I believe a white horse is hitting three triples in a round of cricket - and they have to be different triples. ie: t20, t19, t18. I've also heard this called a Triple Crown or a Ro9 (Round of 9).

jsobo119 said...

nice zeeple... Still trying to get my second... although since my first max I have hit 9 count on 18's 2x and 16's once... and tonight I actually hit 3 double 1's in practice... and I got my camera out and took a pic just for you!

I show up at your website and see another max! nice!!!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on your 180. I'm still counting mine too. No. 70 this year. Cheers from Germany

Zeeple said...

Thanks for the congrats and the well wishing guys.

mcvickj: Good point about Manley's darts. I know he goes for the thicker nose than some of the other pros but he is still throwing tungsten darts. I wonder if any of the current pros throw any brass darts. Prob not.

Tommo: Awesome to hear that there is a quality darter out there throwing brass and validating my usage of them somewhat. I have briefly considered tracking down of some of the old satinlux stuff from Unicorn and having them redone in a variety of metals but I need to save my money at the moment.

ny81him and jason: a White Horse is pretty much as Jason describes although not exactly. A white horse has to be three triples in Cricket that contribute to the game but do NOT score. A round of nine can be any three triples whether they score points or not. So if you already had one 20 marked, and the next round you hit trip 20, trip 19 and trip 18, scoring 20 points then this is a round of nine, but it is nnot a White Horse. I have heard some people call a round of 9 that generates score a Black Horse, but I am not convinced that is accurate.

jsobo: cool doubles trick! I just got back in town and am catching up on blogs etc, so I will check it out soon.

jurgen: 70? You gotta turn pro.