Pitched Battle

Week 1 was a nice start!

Last night went swimmingly. Two of my teammates I have known previously, three I met for the first time last night.  We won the match last night 17-8 against a traditionally strong team, The Dudes Abide.  My own performance was mostly satisfactory, but a little bit lackluster. I had one ton and a few 5 counts, but that was it for glory points. On the other hand I only lost one game all night and even that was a nail biter: Bill B beat me in singles cricket, but I made him fight hard for the win. Despite the loss, that was probably my most enjoyable and satisfying game all night long. 

I really enjoyed playing games with my new teammates as well. They seem energetic, good natured and happy to engage in league play which is a very nice vibe. I have been trying to sell my team on the philosophy that this season is first and foremost an opportunity to have fun and spend time with friends, and secondarily an opportunity to improve ourselves as dart players. I really believe that!  I have captained many times before in my decade+ of playing league darts. But I have always only been a captain, filling out forms and interfacing with the opposing captain. This season I want to also be a coach. I want to help my teammates become better players, both mentally and in technique. I am interested to see how well I do in this regard. I am not completely sure how I will go about it, so I guess I'll just figure it out as we go. Job number one will be to 

1. divide my team between experienced and inexperienced and pair them like that for doubles games. That way the experienced player can coach the inexperienced player on strategy. 
2. I also want to have workshops (or just plain old practice sessions) where we can take the time to discuss the finer points of technique and strategy. 
3. Maybe have short team meetings before each match to do a small pep rallyish kinda thing, remind the team about the importance of courtesy and sportsmanship, and that kinda thing. 
4. Work on the mental game. Not sure I am qualified to do thins exactly but I will be soon. Maybe start with the concepts of not thinking anything that

Louis Brown

My team name this season, Spring 2014, is "Louis Brown". Let me explain.

The very wonderful pub sponsoring my team this season is called The Ballard Station Public House, in Ballard, Seattle. The theme of the pub is narrow enough to be really interesting, but not so narrow as to be obscure. Read about it here: http://theballardstation.com/about/

When my wife and I were living in Pittsburgh, we had a very good friend who was one of the most well read and well versed in history people we've ever known. He had a love of many topics, from WWII to glassware, and had an amazing store of knowledge in almost every area of history. Among his favorite topics were trains, their history and lore, and the intersection of those two.

His name was Louis Brown. He died last year.  We miss him.

I think about him often, especially when I think about trains or history in general.

17 gram Voks Javalins

These sweeties are a nice little dart. I have not maxed with them yet, but they feel real nice coming off my hand at the oche.  They are a 17 gram version of the Voks Javelin style "Fulcrum" dart, although when I bought them they were not labeled "Javelin" in any way so as far as I am concerned they are a one-off creation that may not fit in the Javelin line.  Furthermore, the metal they are made out of seem a heck of a lot darker, than shiny new nickel tungsten, and their size doesn't seem to match their weight, so they may not be tungsten at all.

These are the points. They seem to be industry standard movable points:

A Happy Omen

But hopefully not a jinx.

I am entering league again! Very happily I have managed to scrape together enough players for an A-League team to be played out of Ballard Station Pub this Spring. Half the guys I know and half I don't. Last night we met for a team practice, and as usual I brought two sets of darts with me. The Dennis Priestleys seen above and the old 28 gram GTs that I bought years and years ago. Some how I managed to squeak out wins in most of my games including the five count above and another four count in bulls with the GTs. I feel it will be a fine season!

44

These darts were given to me by a lady whose dart aficionado husband passed away. I am happy to honor his memory with a Ton-80.

Another back-blogged maximum.  I don't remember where I was when I hit this.  I want to say I was at home because those are clearly FitFlight stems and I do not think these darts were given to me with that system.  It would be unusual for an old timer darter (especially one who passed away) to just happen to have dressed his darts in my (then) favorite modern stemming-flighting system.

These darts came to me in a blue, snapping, folding case that said "P.E.N. Darts Netherlands Range" or something to that effect. I do not know for sure what they are but I may try to track them down at some point.

Round of 9 at Work

8 Marks for the Win (and the Win!)

Probably my finest out ever. Double bull, trip 19, trip 18 in a doubles cricket game to come back from behind and not just win the game... But that game won the match. I think I'll remember that one for a long time :)

Looking back I wish I had taken the time to record more details from this match.  I don't even remember who we were playing at the time but it was probably a Knarr team.  Maybe Mason's or Mike Hall's.  This happened almost 7 years ago (from this written update (not the pic or the post)) and the details are lost to me now.  But not the feeling.  I still remember the feeling of a strong victory washing over me, and the warm glow it leaves behind.

9 Count

9 Count in a cricket game. They'll gimme a patch for that :)

So I guess that Ton-80 during warm up was not my only good darts after all :)

43

Ton-80 before league. I hope it isn't my only good darts tonight!!

Back Blog :(

I don't remember the specifics of that night, but I do remember I was on fucking fire.  The league week after this shot I know I hit an 8-mark cricket round to win the winning game of the match.  Those were the days.

42

Nothing like a tight ton-80 with fat darts ;)

Back Blog Alert! This is April 2019.  No idea where this max occurred or the circumstances of the Max.  But those darts are the 21 gram Harrows "Rhino" darts, quite special because they have a tungsten nose, and a mostly brass body with some mighty fine knurling.  Dare I say "gnarly knurling"?

Voks Raptor Soft-Steel darts with extras

21 gram Harrows Magnum (97% tungsten) steel tip

18 gram custom soft tip darts

16 gram DMI Radart ST soft tip darts

30 gram Copper Tanks

"Tanks" is the name given to these dart by my teammates. I have no idea what they really are.

26 gram old ringed Bottelsen Hammerheads

23 gram custom smoothies

30 gram vintage Copper Monsters

28 gram Bottelsen Black GT Hammerheads