21 gram Harrows Rhinos

20 gram Puma King's (97%)

22 gram custom Copper Tungsten darts

23 gram smooth Copper Tungsten darts

Dynadags and Dynastar Combo

22 gram Latinum Colin Lloyd's

20 gram Halex Tungstens darts

20 gram Stag Dartcraft darts

These were an ebay purchase and the seller claimed they were a Stag Dartcraft product.

24 gram Bombs with Alpha Omega case

23 gram unknown darts

These darts are an unknown make and model but they have a terrific grip. Very reminiscent of the Magnum line from Harrows. If anyone has any info on these darts I'd live to know who makes them to see what other darts in their line up have this grip.

18 gram Mavericks

24 gram John Parts (95%)

25 gram Peter Evisons

18 gram Target Distinction2's

Dart Collection on Photobucket

Sometimes it is advantageous to have all of your dart collection on one page of thumbnails :)

The link is here:

• Dart Collection

and also on the upper right of the blog at the top of the link bar. I'll try to keep it current but that may be challenge give how frequently I trade away darts in my collection.

25 Gram Voks Rainbow Sidewinders

This is a recent acquisition that left me feeling ambivalent almost immediately. Perhaps I just need time to warm up to them.

I was attracted to them in the first place for several reasons, first and foremost because I occasionally lament the trading away of my Bottelsen Gorilla Grip Hammerhead darts, and these seemed like a more affordable version of that dart. However, the nature of the mechanism that moves the point seems odd to me. I am thinking about replacing the points these darts came with with something else.

Dart Maul Wins :)

Last night was a great finals match in the ECDO B League. Of course, our team was probably playing slightly below its level, given that we likely would have signed up for the A League if it weren't for all those darn Thursday night soccer practices, and also given that we (for the most part) decimated every team we hit this season. So on the one hand it was no surprise that we won the finals but on the other hand, the team we played against in the finals matched was able to keep it close and pushed us all the way towards the far end of the score sheet. They took eight off us in the end. So I am happy for a lot of reasons. I am happy because we won and that always feels good, but I am also happy that we had to fight for it in the last match of the post season. If it were an easy victory I am certain it would not have meant that much to us.

But it wasn't, and it did ;)



The darts I used last night were the 26 gram Mavericks that I picked up off a defeated player way back in the day, and the recently acquired 24 gram 95% Parts. They both threw pretty well for me last night although I think I get a slightly better vibe off the Parts than off the Mavs. I did not wow myself in my performance last night by any measure with one exception (other than a general trend toward winning that is) and that one exception was a singles cricket match I played against one of their better, more seasoned players (Russ).

The cricket match started off with quickly closed 20's but he left the door open on the 19's. I had one already and threw a 7-count in the 19's to leap ahead early by 95 points. From that point on I stayed a steady course, closing (or opening) each number as I came to it up until the 16's then, after a single mark round I picked back up and finished the game with few misses and it was a clear decisive victory from the outset. So I was happy with that win more than any other of the night. My other singles was a 401 win over one of their weaker players, but that game was close. We both had several rounds throwing at our outs before I finally hit my D10 to win. A close call.

The evening started out with a small scare actually. They won the first three games of the match and it was not until I won my singles 401 game that we even had a non-zero score. But we won 4 of the 5 crickets and got a slight lead on them (Who Darted?). We kept that one game edge on them most of the night, until we got into the doubles cricket where we took 3 of the first 4 to win. I enjoy the team we have. Dart Maul was fun but I am hoping for a different team name in the Spring.

Cocodarts has a nice ring to it :)

Semi-finals down, Finals to go...

Tonight's match felt great. We played against Team Drinks which was the fourth place team and we beat them handily but they put up a good fight and they are all good people to boot. The evening started out well. We won all five of our singles 01 matches and I was pitted against their captain, easily the best player on their team and I won. I was a little surprised as he is their best player and I think in the past he has had his wicked way with me on many occasions. But tonight I bested him the at least two tons and a decisive first dart out. That felt good and for me it set the tone of the evening. Then when I met him again in cricket he opened a can of whoop ass and despite a semi-heroic five bull round to catch up to him he still won. Good for him. He is a good guy and I think he should be proud of his teams accomplishments this year. Once we were done with the singles games I believe the evening was 7-3. By the time we got to the first doubles cricket game we won the match.

As I was pulling into the driveway, and whether or not I should have been driving is questionable, I got a text from the tavern rep indicating that at the other semi-finals match the third place team bested the second place team. This is good for us. The second place team almost beat us the last time we met them and I felt like they had a real chance against us in the finals. The third place team, tho, should put up less of a fight as far as I am concerned. They have one bat and I know how to take it away ;)



The above pic is the darts I used tonight. The set with the red stripes is the primary set and the 21 gram Magnums were the go to set for when the main set felt weak. Tonight though I almost used them interchangeably. I felt good all nifty so there was not the constant changing of darts that I sometimes fall into when I am simply not hitting my targets.

Warriors for Trade

These darts are one of the more interesting sets in my collection, but due to the way they conflict with my preferred gripping style, I'd rather trade them out of my collection for something more appealing to me. It is a 90% tungsten dart, relatively short, with a very unique stem application. The stems are actually the top portion of the "Spinster" stems, available from sites such as A-Z Darts. The pic below indicates how they are currently configured, with Spiroline flights and flight protectors. As you can see there is a wee bit of rust on the points due to non-use, but this can be very easily removed with a fine grit sandpaper and the tungsten in the barrels has darkened just slightly with age.



I picked these beauties up at least five years ago and I still have the original case the came in. In the pic below you can see there is one spare set of stems (which are super super short) and the info card that comes with the darts. The spare flights were chewed up years ago (but they don't last long anyway).





There is no threading in the back of the dart. The stems are a push-in system and they spin too which makes the stem application doubly interesting in my opinion.


I have found a new home for these darts tho. They will soon be making the long happy journey to their new owner in the UK (who goes by Littleman124 over at DartPlayer.net). I am happy to have known them and had them in my collection but I to keep darts that will almost never be thrown again by me seems pointless and a little cruel. In exchange, I will be receiving a set of mature (grizzled, even) CT Fatties. I am looking forward to their arrival.

41

This shot occurred yesterday (within an 18 dart 501). Thanks for the pic Jake!



Another back blog.  I appear to have been using my 21 gram Steve 'Magic' Cootes, wearing medium (or maybe in-between) nylon FitFlight stems with gray standard FitFlights.  In those days Jake, Nathan, and I used to play a lot of darts at work.  Those were good days.

40th Maximum

Fun with darts: Ton-80 on in a four way 501.



This is a back blog.  I just noticed from the original text that this is an "on" which means that it was my first round of darts in a game.  If that is true (and I have no reason to doubt my original text) then I'll need to update my side bar to reflect it.  Sadly, I was not blogging much in 2010 (today id April 17, 2019).

From the pic I would say I was using the Target Sports, which I think were 25 grams, medium white nylon stems, and the smooth standard polys that came with the Sports.

39

Maximum at work (yes I am goofing off a little).



This post is a back blog. This max came during "the long dark" as I am now coming to think about the span of four to five years in which I did no blogging at all, and in which I fell out of darting for a time. It is hard to tell what I was using by looking at the photo.  My cameras have always sucked, at least until the more recent iPhones, anyway.  Straining my eyes at the pic though I am strongly suspecting that these were the Co Stompe "Matchstick" darts that I loved, and then traded away for something I thought I would love more (but probably didn't).

Trading Away the EL's

I am very happily trading trading away my 21 gram Eddie Lawrence signature darts (bought off someone over at SEWA) seen here:


To a gentleman named Johan in Sweden. I will be sending him exactly what is shown above. The darts themselves, which are in pretty good condition and short nylon stems and the two sets of unused pear shaped flights. The darts came to me in the case shown, even though that is clearly a Unicorn case and not a Puma case. So that's what I am sending to Sweden. I look forward to what he sends me in return...

I wonder what it will be!

- Posted from my iPhone

What's the Best Out for 90?

I do not know the best out. In this particular game I went 20, 20, 50, and while that might seem like madness, there is a method to it! The reason this was interesting enough to me to take a picture (read: interesting enough to make me think about the blog) is because not 5 minutes prior to this hit, I was in a discussion with Warren Mundt regarding the best out for 90!


It was last night, and my teammate John and I were going through a Chicago Round prior to the semi-finals (we were about to play against Warren's team). We were on cricket and I hit a five count in 18's. While my brain was spinning Warren called out from the other board where he was warming up: "90. I remember that because a 90 out is triple 18, double 18." I responded with something like: "True, that is a common out, but I have to say, I don't like it." Then the 90 Out discussion ensued.

What it boils down to is that there are two camps. Those who follow the advice of just about every out chart ever printed: T18 - D18; and those few of us that think like me: T20 - S10 - D10. And the reason I think this is a better out strategy for 90 is essentially because if you miss into the single 20, 70 is still a good two dart out. To spell it out bit, with 70 and 2 darts you should go T20, D5, because if your first dart misses into the S20 then you still have the double bull with your last dart. You are maximizing your backup plan. So I think another good way to think about this is like this:

Which is the better two dart out? 70 or 72? I asked that same question to Warren and he agreed with me that 70 is a better two dart out because there is nothing you can aim at on the board where if you miss into the single you still have a one dart out. With 70 you do. With both out strategies for 90 you are aiming at a triple. If you miss your triple, you are better off with 70 than 72. Anyway, we had this small discussion while John and I were playing cricket, and then next up in the Chicago Round was one of the 01 games and I ended up with 90. Testing my theory I aimed at the triple 20 and missed. 70 left with 2 darts: I aimed at the triple 20 again and missed again! As you can see from the picture the last dart validated me just fine and dandy.

- Posted from my iPhone

18 darter

This ties my previous best games. As I recall from the game I hit my 60 out with 3 darts, and not two as I previously misremembered. Another reason this game was special for me is because I am certain this is the first time I have ever hit back to back ton-40's. Now if I can only do that with maximums ;)

This game occurred at work. I was playing a three way 501 with Jake and Nathan. I am fortunate in that I am afforded the opportunity to take a break once a day to throw a couple of games with my colleagues. It makes for a nice break in the day and allows me to refocus a little better when I get back to my desk.


This ties my previous Lowest Game of 18 darts, which occurred against my friend and former captain at work sometime in April 2008, and then again in June.

- Posted from my iPhone

So Far So Good

The title is because I snapped the pic early during the match on Thursday and I had a thought to actually blog from the match itself since I finally have a phone I can do that from. But my turn came up suddenly so I just had time to save the post instead of upload it. The picture itself is of a neat doubles trick that I pulled off in warm up against my first 301 opponent of the evening, a good shot in his own right, Derwin.


I like to go on in DIDO games with the double 11 since I have more vertical play in my misses than horizontal. Frequently I'll end up going on with the double 14 or double 8, which suits me just fine. In this particular warm up, all three warm up shots found their mark and it made me happy.

On the whole it was a good match. My teammates on the Dart Knights, John, Jeff, Andy and myself took on the Sofa kings in their home bar, the Kort Haus. An excellent establishment with a friendly bartender and lots of good munchies. I didn't really look at the standings all night although I am fairly certain we won the match. I did look at the glory points near then end and I believe I ended up with 661, which would be 4 tons, a ton-40 and a 121. The fact that I didn't look at the score sheet throughout the night should tell you something: I am starting to get a little burned out on darts. This is a sentiment that is also being expressed (and felt) by other teammates as well. We are all off our game somewhat, we have less enthusiasm than we did last season, and we keep talking about doing something else on Thursday nights but staying a group which I like the idea of. They are all a good bunch of guys.

In terms of personal performance, the night started iffy for me. After the doubles trick (pictured above) in the warm up, I promptly lost to Derwin despite getting on in the first round (on a double 11). To be fair he is a good shot and I had a few shots at an out but I didn't connect. He earned the win. My second 301 game was a win, although I do not remember the details. I then had the hands down funnest game of cricket I have played in recent memory. Up against Angie B., who is as deadly on the oche as she is friendly off it, I fell behind quickly. She had me on the ropes the entire game. In then end though, I couldn't miss the bulls and I couldn't hit the 15's, while she couldn't miss the triple 15 and did not fair so well on the bulls. It ended up being a tight point war and we both collected just over 300 points before I finally took it out. I think I won that game by virtue of luck.

I do not recall the specifics of the doubles matches, although I have the general feeling that my 01 games were better than my cricket games. I opened the team game with a ton and we won that too. I think we won the match, but however it went I am certain it was not a landslide in any direction.

Goodbye 2009

As my final act of darting for 2009 I hit a couple of nice outs. This one was a 125: bull, T20, D20, to finish off a quick game on the work board.

Good In, Good Out, Ugly Night

My second week in the season (almost a full week ago now) blew major chunks overall. My performance was poor to say the least and for the first time in a long long time I felt something insidious creeping into my game: Doubt. I felt it very saliently at one point in the night and at that moment, which was a moment of frightening clarity, I realized that I had been more or less coasting through the day (and lately in my life in general) in a state of... well I am not sure how to describe it... certainly not denial or anything like that, but at the very least I have let my guard partially down against those things which will dull your mental edge. Doubt in other words. Perhaps it is work. I have an awesome job that love but I have been putting in so may hours lately and stressing during s many of them that this might have played part in my recent demise.

Time to get mentally tough again.

Back to the night. We hosted the Knarr-cosis team at Coopers and did well against them overall. We took 14 off them out of 25 and that was nice, especially against the really high quality throwers they have, but I feel that I did not contribute significantly to the win. I lost all of my singles, and I was not involved in too many winning doubles games. The highlight of the night for me was my 109 in (32, 20, 57) in one of the 501's and in a different 501 a 110 out (20, 60, 30).

170-In (in practice)

Well what do you know about that? While throwing darts in my garage the other day I had spectacular showing of good hits and low(ish) dart games and the crowning achievement was this here pictured 170-in. This is a first for me, ever, and I often fantasize about pulling one of these off in competition. The game that this throw started did not end spectacularly at all, in fact it was completely unrememberable but the start was a nice highlight of my evening.

The darts I was using are the darts I used to hit my first ever competition 180 (previous post) and they are the 21 gram Cootes.

Someday I am going to hit a 170-in in competition. I can say this with authority because I always try for it even though maybe I should not be and maybe by always doing so I am cheating my teammates a little bit. Is this possible? Let me explain what I mean. As a member of a darts team, or any team for that matter one is expected to eschew personal glory in favor of making decisions and throwing at numbers that will better increase the chances of a in. The classic example of this is: Player A is at 131 points. He hits a single 2 and then a triple 20 with his first two darts leaving 51 with one dart in his hand. What does he do? Does he go for another single 20? If he hits it he gets a ton which is added to his "all star" points (personal glory) but he leaves his partner a 31 out. Or does he go for a single 19? Hitting it would leave his partner a nice 32 out but with 99 scored in a round he would not be able to all to his all star points?

I am the guy that goes for the 19. Not the 20. I am not that big a prick, and I am a good team player (in fact I was the captain for years) and so I have always had a very strong 'advance the team' mentality. But then how do you explain that I have at least one selfish dart in every 01 game whether it is a singles match or a doubles match? When I m trying to get on in a DIDO game my first dart is always, always, at the double bull. Hit or miss I do not spend any more at all trying to get on this way. My pattern is that I throw the first dart at the double bull. If I m so lucky as to have a hit I'll go for the triple 20 on the next two darts (like in my garage the other day!!) If I miss, my second dart goes at the double 20, if I miss then the third dart also goes double top. If I do not get on in my first round, then I go double 16 next round till on, and if that doesn't work I go double 11 until I am on no matter how many rounds. So this one selfish dart is all I afford myself during any given 01 game.

And I am at peace with that ;)

As Stoked As It Gets

Last Thursday, during the first match of the Fall 2009 A League season, during my first singles 301 game in fact, I hit the very first Maximum I have ever hit in competition. I could NOT be more stoked.


That hit carried me all night. Don't get me wrong I did not falter after that. I went on to collect a modest 520 all star points with a ton-40 and two more tons but the elation that that maximum carried with it stayed with me. I was cloud-nined for the rest of the match. I hope this stroke of happy play heralds in a very successful season for me. I have to say I have been more feeling like practicing lately on account of it so maybe this will be a case of success breeding success. Life tends to be that way after all. Winners become more winnerly and losers have a tendency to wallow in their loserness too much and so it may be with dart play as well.

I will practice and do well this season. Maybe hit some more maximums!

Thursday was fun for many reasons. Here is how the night went for me: we started the match with the team game, I didn't hit anything spectacular during the game but I was happy to hit the winning double for a nice opening win for our team. We then launched into the singles 301 games which is my favorite, and I won mine, hitting a maximum to leave 32, and taking that out a round or two later. This win was against a true gentleman, who borrowed me his phone to take a picture of the maximum, and is the only person I know who likes Eagles (the majestic bird, not the band) as much as I do. Despite my very unprofessional action of pausing the game to take a picture, he (I think) still likes me.

I played two more singles games but they were both cricket. I lost a point war, just barely, to Jim Carsner, and then won a low scoring cricket game (just barely) against Paul. In doubles I fared okay, picking up a ton-40 and two tons along the way but I do not remember the specifics of the games. I know I ended up 3 for 3 in them. Could be better, and against the very dangerous team we were up against, it certainly could have been worse. Our team lost the match 11-14 but I was happy to pick up that many games against a team that will in all likelihood make it to the playoffs (if not the finals).

Over all good opening night for the season.

WeLoveDarts.com Surprise!

I was delighted to receive a copy in the mail of the most recent issue of welovedarts.com which is a print darts mag out of the UK. It was sent to me by a blog fan in Portugal named Vasco. Thanks Vasco! The reason he sent it to me has to do with a small snippet on page 17 that mentions my blog.


I read through the magazine page by page and I found it to be fantastic. What a great mag. It looks like it'll be a terrific was to keep up on what is going on in the UK premiere and pro levels. Not to sound unrefined or blue collar or anything but the best part was the article between pages 56 and 61. Pick up a copy and see what I mean. I hope she really is into darts although it seems too good to be true. But what the hell. Hope has kept me alive for 30-plus years so who am I to argue.

Also cool is all the ads for the darts and darts equipment. Dart geeks like me like to see whats new and this mag has a good amount of it.

21 gram Unicorn Adrian Lewis Contenders - SOLD

SOLD! So another victim of the Purge is pictured below. The Lewis darts which I recieved in trade several months ago have found a newer better home where they might actually get some air time.

I think I would have liked these darts quite a bit more had they been just a little bit more on the short side. I threw them for a very short while and never in league. One of the characteristics that I really do like about them is the width of the grooves near the front of the barrel which is where I go my primary gripping. While this may not be my favorite dart that I have ever thrown, I am certaily glad that it passed through my collection even if in a highly transient manner. It is good to get to know the different darts out there and also it is nice to feel the darts in your hands that the top ranking pro's use. It is like having an exact replica of Ichiro's bat for example.

SOmetimes I wonder if it would not be a good idea to keep a set of Phil Taylor's current preferred dart on hand even if it is not my style dart. That way if I ever get itchy fingers and start feeling the call of the online dart stores I can pick them up, throw my 26, and think to myself: "If Phil were throwing these that would have been a maximum." Why you ask? What better reminder is there that it is not in the darts, but in the thrower.

A New High In

My previous high in was 140. This occurred on 5-11-08 during the Sunday Luck at Coopers. It ended up being a 24 dart game, and a win. However, last Thursday at Murphy's pub I had a fine 142 in against Dart Dwarf. I think I'll update my side bar :)

A Semi-Fine Night

Cocodarts (that is my current team name) opened up a few cans of whoop-ass this Thursday during the A-League Spring 2009 semi-finals match. We won 13-7 which is a greater margin than I would have expected considering we were up against a very high caliber team in the Aucham's Razor. AR (as we call them) is a fine team full of really terrific people. Anyone of them I would be happy to call a teammate in the future because they are all good people and they all take the sport as seriously as I do. Especially Paul with whom I share an affinity for Eagles (Eagle Scout that I am).


The above pic was taken in my garage a long time ago. It was a fine moment for me although it occurred in practice and while I was alone. On Thursday however, I repeated the feat (a 142-In: double 22, triple 20, triple 20) during my second singles 301 game against AR's captain (Dart Dwarf). That game was a modest ten dart game for me: 142, 59, 60, 40 (first dart) but it made me feel good, and it fueled my team's desire to win. I also had a very enjoyable cricket game against Paul. I was out of the gate early forcing him to chase most of the game, until I couldn't hit my 15's. He killed the 15's forcing me to point him elsewhere (20's) and then once I finally got my 15's he killed the Bulls (as he always does). I did barely beat him though, but it turned into a minor point war and got my heart racing a little bit (which I like).

The Purge Has Begun

I have always believed (at least) two things about myself unshakably: Generally: when it comes to possessions I am a minimalist at heart and I find myself to be a happier person when I feel that there is little-to-no clutter in my life. And Specifically: I am not a collector of dart "stuff" and I do not own or buy things just for the sake of owning them. It is enough for something to be interesting and fun without having to actually own it. That is to say: I can (read 'should') appreciate the beauty of a flower without having to pick it.

Thus you can imagine my dismay when I realized I'd collected over 70 sets of darts in just a few short years and a bunch of other dart crap on top of that. I have sets of darts that not only do I never use them, I do not even like them. How did this come to pass? As a person who ostensibly values experience over possession to find myself in such a situation is embarrassing and quite contrary to my own self image. Thus it is finally time to do something about it.

Fire Sale!

Not really. But I am selling off most of my collection, slowly and intelligently. I am trying to find good homes for some of my more interesting sets and I am willing to part with almost everything except for a few custom sets I have had made, some darts which were gifts, and one or two others that are sentimental. Thus, if you see anything on this blog that you think you might like to buy please let me know and I'll indicate whether I'd be willing to sell it or not.

I currently have several sets on ebay (just look for therealzeeple) and I am listing items for sale through SEWA as well. Additionally, I'll be trying, attempting, intending, to maintain this informative post as well:

Dart Bloat

After all, I do want the memories, right?

My Grip

I would describe my grip as a three finger grip, with the first finger (middle finger) straddling the point where the point enters the barrel of the dart. in other words, my middle finger is usually (depending on the dart) half on the point, half on the barrel. With very very short barrels, like my Nobu's, the finger is completely on the point of the dart, where with longer barrels I have found that my finger stays right on the end of the barrel without touching the point at all. The second and third fingers are more or less parallel near the back of the barrel. For this reason I lean toward barrels that are neither too long nor too short (one exception being the Nobu's) with front and back grippage. Knurling and grooves mid barrel or on the front half of the barrel do me no good really as my fingers almost never come into contact with it. Here is my grip:

I have been known to alter my grip somewhat depending on the barrel. My 15 gram Featherlight's for example are short with an absence of back barrel grippage. Thus I have moved my back two fingers up to mid barrel which makes for something of a tight and pinched grip, providing the feeling of "pulling" the dart behind my hand before the release. Instead of "holding" the dart, which is the feeling I prefer.

More Great Darts from Jeff Pickup

I got an email recently from our favorite dart maker north of the border which included some really nice looking darts. Jeff Pickup never ceases to amaze me with his fine craftsmanship. First, the goods:







Now, if you are interested in any of these darts, I encourage you to contact Jeff yourself for prices and customization. After all, customs are really his forte, and he has an uncanny knack for giving you what you ask for.

If you wanna order darts from him, you can send him an email here to ask about pricing: Email Jeff and ask about prices!