Friday, October 28, 2005

Robbed At Dart Point

This was very nearly another Deadeye and should have been. The first two darts nailed the double bull and the third dart was in there. It was heading for the very center right between the first two but then deflected into the single bull. Agonizingly close to my second Deadeye. A five count is still pretty nice, though!

Thursday, October 27, 2005

A Real Poke in the Eye

So the cosmic forces have aligned to poke me in the eye. I have not thrown a dart since our loss on Tuesday. I picked them up today, just now, and threw the hat trick pictured to the right. No darts in two days and what a way to start. Juergen is right. There must be a flaw in my mental game. But perhaps it is just that I throw on my practice board at home so often, and I have hit so many great shots, that my confidence on this board in particular is rock solid. Whereas when I get to the bar, with different lighting, different board quality (wires and staples there vs. blades at home), different air (smokey-chokey there vs. clean at home), etc., it is different enough that home practice counts for not very much. What makes this all the more cruel is that on Tuesday, the second match I was in was cricket. And we had them under our thumb right down to the very end and then I couldn't hit the bull. They in turn punded the bull and killed us. It was a bloddy mess. Since when can I not hit the bulls? That is one of my strongest targets normally. And before the match on Tuesday I hit my first Deadeye, hit several hat tricks in warm up too.

This mystery remains to be solved.

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

I Don't Understand

How can I have incredible practice rounds all day and then hit absolutely nothing at all during league? I had the worst night of darts I have ever had (at least within memory). With the exception of a couple mid-fifties outs, I hit squat for the entire duration of the match. My team lost 16-3. Ouch. That is our most crushing defeat to date. And although my people were joking at the bar afterwards, I can't help but feel they were discouraged. None of them had any interest in throwing more darts!

Of the 3 points we did win, one point came in a doubles 501 game that my partner and I won. I hit a 58 out in that game for the win. The other two points were from a singles Chicago match that I won (I won the cricket game we opened with, and then hit a 50 out (s18, s8, d12) for a quick 2-0 win in that match). Other than these two wins we lost everything else. And the worst part is that I was on fire all day during practice, and then on fire during the hour warm up before league play started. On fire to the point that my teammates were commenting on it. I could not miss the bulls, nor my doubles. And then like magic the league play starts and my fire is doused with 1's and 5's.

Anyway. Enough dwelling. I look forward to the next match. We have a bye next week and then we play against Nicos the week after. They are formidable opponents to say the least and they trounced us when we first encountered them. Nonetheless, I am certain we will beat them this time!

Here is a completely random pic from a long time ago. It has nothing to do with last night's defeat or this post.

First Ever Deadeye


This shot made me happier than just about any shot I have ever made. Even more so than my first Ton-80. I had only ever seen this done once. My good friend and teammate in Seattle pulled one off in practice before a consolation tournament a few years back.

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Seventh Lifetime Ton-80

It has been since July 15 since I have last hit a "max". So this was just the shot I needed to bring myself out of a rut in dart playing. But in all fairness I haven't been in a slump necessarily, just a rut. I have been doing decently in league but not spectacular. I have hit several Ton-40's and Hat Tricks, several other low tons, etc. but not consistently. So I have been shooting above average, just not at the level I desire.



My accuracy with the darts pictured above surprised me a little. I have been in the mindset lately that 24 grams is pretty much the perfect weight for a dart. Depending on the dart of course. Front loaded darts have a wider range of acceptable weights. For example I have been throwing my 27 gram GT3's lately with pretty good accuracy and not suffering due to the extra grammage. So when I picked up the 16 gram darts (in the picture) and started hitting things I was surprised. I put a slightly smaller flight on them (pears) and found they flew pretty much straight and with a good flat trajectory. I did notice that I throw these darts harder. I think this is in response to their lighter weight, and according to a book I am reading (How to Master the Sport of Darts) throwing harder is a more accurate style than lobbing high-arced trajectories. Time will tell.

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

Hot and Cold, Hot and Cold


The bad news is we lost our match last night 13-6. The good news is that we did better this week than two weeks ago and my teammates were pumped even at the end when the match was over. Despite back to back stompings my team is happy and looking forward to the next match! No morale boosting necessary for my troops. Talking to them each after the night they all felt that they were throwing well and that each game they had a fair chance to win. And I am certain they did! In one singles match my teammate took out 88 by going 20, 18, double Bull. I was terrifically impressed. I advised him on the round as such: first dart goes to the trip 20. (He missed into the single.) 68 remained with two darts. Second dart goes to the trip 18. (He missed into the single.) 50 remained with one dart and he nailed the double bull. In the end he missed his intended mark with the first two darts and still took out the 88 for the win.

I personally did both quite well and quite poorly. In cricket especially. In my first cricket doubles game in my last round I hit 15, bull, double bull to win. That was exciting. But in my only singles cricket match I allowed myself to be demolished. It was not a lack of strategy either, it was a lack of accuracy. I hit squat that game. But in the next doubles cricket game I hit 5 bulls in the last couple of rounds to come back from behind and win it for us. Fun times.

In the '01 games I did manage to take out 4 once for a win. Other than that I had a poor night. No tons, nor many trip 20s at all. Perhaps next week... By the way the pic has nothing to do with last nights match. I just thought it made a nice visual.