A Bar Player's Guide to Winning Darts

I have read this one before, a long time ago, when first getting into darts.  I don't remember if I got a lot out of it at the time, but having reread it recently I decided to jot a few things down.  The book is short, like 120+ pages with lots of pictures.  Nothing in it is overly complex, it unquestionably aimed at the novice player, and can be read in the space of an hour and a half, tops.



Interesting (to me) tidbits:

The author's home bar is the Fox and Hounds Irish Pub in Brandon, Florida.  Just outside of Tampa, I could easily swing by it on the way to a relative's house next time I am in Florida.

I always wondered why old wooden darts were called "Widdies".  As it turns out, they are called such because there is a company in Philadelphia called the Widdy Dart Board Company.  I guess only some of the old wooden darts are properly called Widdies!  Some day I will visit to them and ask for a tour.

The author quips that "you cannot outspend your opponent to gain victory" which is deliciously true.  I love it that a guy shooting $300 designer darts from Japan, supplemented with every conceivable technology built into the dart, can be bested by a person shooting a $3 set of brass darts. You absolutely cannot buy an edge in this game.

The author does what I have always done:  brings two sets of darts with him when he goes out to play (presumably in tournaments and league nights).  I have always done this, usually alternating between the sets throughout the night but I am going to stop this practice.

At one point he states that only the barrel matters.  As long as your barrel fits how you hold the dart and is the weight you are most comfortable with, everything else is "fluff".  I disagree.  Darts have to be properly and carefully configured.  The size of the flight matters and so does the length of the stem.  Misconfigure a dart and even the most perfectest barrel will not fly right for you.

Through league play he learned the same hard lesson I learned: carry chalk and dry erase markers with you to league night.  The bars WILL NOT FUCKING HAVE THEM.  Sadly though, in the Seattle league we have moved to an electronic (cloud based) scoring system.  It has its conveniences, of course, but is an extraordinary departure from darts tradition.

The author superglues his flights to his nylon stems.  I was blown away when I read that, but he has vision issues so it is understandable.

He states that when your darts land in the board they should end up angled up slightly.  I disagree.  They should be completely perpendicular to the board and not angled in any direction.  They should hopefully be mostly invisible to you when you are aiming your next dart.

One thing he says that I like a lot, and which I think I have mostly failed to do in my time as a dart player is that, in practice, a player should endeavor to cultivate the best ratio of speed to accuracy he can.  In other words, your darts should be delivered strongly and quickly to the board, while not sacrificing accuracy.  I know I don't through hard enough.  I need to be less weak-wristed in my throwing and cultivate a strong delivery.  I have actually been working on that lately but it is hard after so many years to change your throw.  But I am convinced that is the next step in the improvement.  According to the author, this will more likely than not involve cultivating a "snap" at the end of your delivery, and it is this snapping of the dart the provides the speed to board.  An old workmate of mine has this naturally and he is a good player.

He also states that there are no bad numbers on a dart board.  Depending on the game this is absolutely true.  In Cricket however, most of the numbers are not used, and in any 01 game, every single is important (usually while setting up out shots) and every double is important (you never know where you will have to go out), but I seriously cannot think of a use for some of the triples. When would you ever need to throw a triple three, for example?

When it comes to discussing the most common games, 01 and Cricket, I find aggravation and also delight.

First he asserts that 301 is the world's most oft played game and I heartily disagree with this.  The world's most oft played game has got to be SIDO 501.  That is the mainstay of all tournament and league play outside the US.  Not 301.

He also asserts, not once but on four separate occasions, that to win Cricket, in addition to having closed all the Cricket categories, you must have more points than your opponent.  This is false.  You may consider this quibbling on semantics but I consider that statement to be not only inaccurate, but potentially misleading to a new player.  In reality, to win a game of Cricket, you must have closed all of the cricket numbers, and not have fewer points than your opponent.  That's right.  You can have the exact same number of points as your opponent, and still win, so long as you have closed your numbers and he has not.  He is not the only author to commit this error.  Many have, and it is frustrating and aggravating every time I see it.

Another quibble I will make is on terminology.  He refers to the act of hitting all three of the required hits in a bed and then still being able to score on them as "closing" the bed.  I believe this is also inaccurate terminology.  If you hit your three marks on a bed and your opponent has not, I believe this is more correctly referred to as "opening" that bed.  As in, the bed is open for scoring until your opponent closes it.  once both players have hit their three marks in a bed, only then may it be referred to accurately as "closed".  It is worth noting that while I am not the only one who believes this, not everyone agrees.  Wikipedia does, however :)

The author also shows an incorrectly written Cricket scoreboard.  He shows the score of '18' written next to the 18 bed on the score board instead of the top of the scoring column where it should be.  This is misleading for a couple reasons.  First, it make it seem that extra scores in a bed are to be written next to the bed.  This is not the case.  Points should be tallied in a score column.  Second, it does not make it clear that points are totaled as you go in the game not tallied in the end.  For example, a newbie player might look at that picture and wonder "So, if I get an extra 15, do I write '15' next to the 15 bed?  Or add it to the 18 and write it somewhere else?"

The book introduces, to my utter delight, a variation on cricket that I had not seen before called "Texas Cricket" in which you include Doubles, Triples, and "Colors".  The doubles and triples means that you need to hit three of each to open or close that category, and "Colors" means that you need, in one round, to plant your three darts into three different colored beds.  I think this is interesting because it requires hitting a triple or a double to get at least one of the colors.  If you only need to hit three of the same color you could aim at the fat singles and get it easily.

I also like it that the author covers Cutthroat Cricket, as most books do not.  It is an excellent barroom variation for when you have three people and wanna play darts.  Essentially, you give points away instead of keeping them, and lowest score wins.  In a similar vein, he also provides the best description the American Dart Game that I have ever seen in a book.  Usually the focus is exclusively on the British game.

He says "Abel slew Cain again."  Pretty sure it is the other way around, bro.

I love the darts ladder idea.  If I were in pubs more, or if I had my own place, I would totally set one up.

Love the other games section, as always.  Here are the new ones I have not seen in other books (yet):

Golf
I have heard of Golf being played before but I have never seen the rules written out explicitly.  I am sure I have played a number of barroom variations but it is uncommon enough that I do not remember what they are.  Here is this book's version:  Any number of players can play, three darts per turn.  9 holes uses numbers 1 through 9 in order, and 18 holes uses the numbers 1 through 18, in order.  Lowest score wins, and you earn strokes in this manner:  Triple = 1, Double  = 2, Narrow Single = 3, Wide Single = 4, total miss = 5.  Only the most recently thrown dart counts.  So if you throw a triple with your first dart, stop there!

Double Down
Very similar to Halve It from the Little Red Darts Book.  The differences are that in this game you start with a gratuitous 40 points, and that the order of the targets is set and non negotiable: 20, 19, any double, 18, 17, any triple, 16, 15, Bull.  As with Halve It, a miss halves your score, rounding down, and you do not get eliminated by hitting 0.  Highest score wins.

Shang-Hai
Very similar to the game of the same name in the Little Red Book, with the differences being:

1. You only use beds 1 - 7 instead of all 20.
2. If you miss the 3 bed you lose, if you miss the 7 bed you halve your score.

Other than that the game is identical.

Killer
The book offers two varieties of Killer.  one which is exactly like the one offered up in The Little Red Book, and another which is quite interesting.  Any number of players, three darts per turn.  The first person to throw established the first standard, which is whatever he threw.  Whoever follows that person must better the standard or they have busted.  Bust three times and you are out of the game.  Last man standing wins, there is no high score in this game.  Once there is a bust, the person to follow sets a new standard, and the game proceeds as such until all but one player has busted three times.

English Cricket
This is what the Little Red Book called 'Cricket' and what I know as 'Wickets and Bats'.  The only different between this book's description of the game and that in the Little Red Book is that this books calls for 9 wickets before the players switch up, and not 10.  This book also calls for scoring to be whatever remains after 40 is subtracted, whereas the other book did not.

Small Sixes
Like basketball's 'Horse', but for darts! The game doesn't really start until one player hits the narrow single six wedge with either his first or second dart.  Once that happens, with the remaining dart(s) the player will shoot for something which will become the target. Throwing the third dart is not mandatory if the player hits something good with the first dart (like an inner bull!). Once the target is established, it remains the target until it is hit again.  Any player who doesn't hit it loses one of their three lives.  The player who does hit it must establish a new target with any remaining darts.  The game proceeds as such until last man standing.  Sounds like a fun game.

That's it!  One last thing the author says is that he is baffled that darts is not more popular.  I agree.  Seems like we would have an American televised league by now.

How to Master the Sport of Darts

I recently reread one of my favorite dart books.  It is called How to Master the Sport of Darts, by George Silberzahn.  It is not my favorite because it offers sage advice on how to play darts (though it does) but rather because of the hidden gem inside that you would never even guess at from the title or the cover: the entire second half of the book is called WYBMADIITY, and it is dedicated to American darts legends reflecting on their careers. Good stuff.




The first half of the book is aimed at those new to the sport, I think, as it offers solid advice on how to practice and how to think about darts.  I will not dwell on this part since I personally did not get that much out of it, but that is not to say that it is not worth your time to read.  After all, Mr. Silberzahn is a darts legend himself, well laden with his own accolades, and what's more, he has dedicated himself tirelessly to helping dart players all over the world become better darters through schools and online forums.

I want to spend a few moments jotting down my take-aways from the section called WYBMADIITY.  This section really spoke to me and I am so glad Mr. Silberzahn took the time to include it.  Listening to legends speak about their careers and what darts was like back in the day is immensely enjoyable and quite engrossing. I need to spend some time interviewing dart players myself!


First, throughout all of the legends I noticed a few commonalities that are worth noting:

1. Many of them take the time to state they don't aim the dart, they just shoot it at the target. I find this funny (funny peculiar, not funny haha). I have never seen anyone, no matter how novice they were, try to aim a dart.  The very, very natural human tendency when throwing anything is to look at the target and let 'er rip.  Funny that so many of the legends felt this was important to mention.
2. Natural vs lots of practice. Most of the legends talk about how there are two kinds of dart players:  those to whom the act of throwing a dart accurately comes naturally, and those who require tons and tons of practice to be one of the best.  Oddly, I think they break down to about half and half. This is encouraging to me.  It means that practice can get me there.
3. Most of them mention how important it is to have good shoes!  I could not agree more.
4. They all HATE to lose!  You will find that virtually every single legend talks in some way about their utter distaste for losing a dart game.  Many will discuss how they are still polite to their opponents but they still really, really hated to lose.  This is interesting to me and perhaps my most salient take-away.  I need to develop this, if indeed it can be developed.
5. They virtually all, and I mean ALL, played money games.  I have personally always rejected the idea of playing for money outright, but perhaps I am wrong in this attitude. I think I can afford to lose a two-spot to a friend.

Now on to the Legends.  The numbers after each point is the page number and paragraph where I pulled the info.  I don't know why I started doing this, but I forgot to do it with some of the later legends.  I guess so if I ever wanted to go back and get more context I could.  Sounds like something I would do.

JOE BALTADONIS

• Hated to lose. (54.2)
• He believes that playing for money sharpens your game. (54.5)
• Like me, he found that eating before a match or a tournament dulled you.  I don't know if it is food coma, or what, but he and I agree on this point. (56.4)
• He owned a bar called the Mt. Royal Inn, in NJ which became the Mecca of darts in that era (on the east coast anyway).  I would like to visit there sometime! (57.4)
• Signature Dart: 21 and 24 gram "Diamond Back" from sponsor Fansteel,  Brass (it was a mistake not to go straight to tungsten). Later, the signature dart was the "Snake" tungsten. (59.3)

CONRAD DANIELS

• Again, loved to play for money. (62.1)
• I found it fascinating that players from Philly dominated the NAODT in 1973 using wooden darts! I might have to take some Widdies to league with me hahaha. (64.1)
• When at the top of his game used a pencil thin brass dart with solid plastic flights that weighed 16 grams. Used these for four years. "Had them made" which I don't know what that means. He also played around a lot with different darts and determined that the dart itself makes no difference. He rarely stuck with the same dart. Personally, I find this extremely validating.  I am always switching between darts. (64.3)
• (Of course) he hated losing. (65.4)
• This is cool: he covered his dartboard with newspaper to analyze his misses. Then, studying the scattershot miss pattern, figured out what he was going to do to correct it. (65.5)
• When he practiced at home, his dog jumping around didn't bother him. He used this as a way to prepare for tournaments so that he could ignore distractions better. (66.1) I also had a dog that would love to hang around me while I practiced at home.  However, I always new where she was.  I was paranoid that a bounce out would hit her so I kept her behind the oche at all times.
• "If you're not stretched to a higher level, you don't play to a higher level. Good play breeds good play. Good players make everyone around them better." (67.1) Love this quote.
• "Darts is a repetition game, but after that it becomes a mind game. It is like throwing a 180. If you've never done it in practice you won't do it in competition. But once you do it in practice it'll come in competition." (67.2) . I also love this quote.  It is very encouraging in a way.
• He was a slow methodical player and didn't let anyone rush him. Before each match he was going to throw 15 to 21 darts and impatience on the part of the opposing player be damned. (68.1)
• Engaged in gamesmanship. Tried to get other players thinking about their mechanics, was deliberately slow, pulled darts one by one, excused himself to the bathroom, etc. (68.4) . This makes me a little sad to read.  I find this behavior very unsportsmanlike. Perhaps it was just that era and I shouldn't judge tho.
• In 1975 he became sponsored by Kwiz darts (Bob McLeod was the Kwiz agent in America) and got a signature dart with his name on it but doesn't say what kind of dart it was. (70.5)

FRANK ENNIS

• His first real dart was a 19 gram brass dart with feather flights and he stayed with it for a long time but he eventually switched to a plastic flight (which I am assuming means the plastic molded all in one). Then switched to a 22 gram dart with three ridges, which was eventually produced by Fansteel as his signature dart, but it is unclear if this is a brass or a tungsten dart. This dart was dressed in a small aluminum Accudart stem and a standard plastic flight. Never changed darts after that and throws the same dart even now! (74.1)
• Liked to play for money. Felt it was a great confidence builder. (76/77)
• Hated to lose but kept his cool. Tried to be a gentleman about losing. (77.4)

RAY FISCHER

• If he lost he had to get even. (84.1)
• Signature Darts: 24 gram with aluminum stems and tear drop flights from Accudart.  Does not specify brass or tungsten, but it was 1988 so prolly tungsten.  Won NAODT with widdies! This was mentioned by another legend, how the Philly players dominated tournaments with wooden darts.  (84.4)
• Hated to lose. Could not tolerate losing. (86.2)  I love this phraseology. It conjures the image of the body physically rejecting failure.
• Played money matches, sometimes for big money.
• He believes that partners requires compatibility. They can't blame each other for bad shooting. A pat on the back is good too. (89.4)
• One of my favorite stories from all the legends reflections in this book is one Ray tells about how Circus Circus came to town and all the dart players lined up at the balloon popping booth winning all the prizes.  Eventually they were asked to leave! (90.5) I have had two instances in my life in which I have won prizes at such booths, and think on them fondly.  I was never asked to leave, but that is because I never played more than one or two games.  But still, love this story.

JULIE NICOLL-JENNINGS

• Personal note: of all the legends that have reflections in this book, I enjoyed Julie's the most.  I don't know why, but her stories really appeal to me.
• Unlike many of the others who got their start because they were somehow associated with a bar, or a restaurant, Julie got hers because she was in the darts business from a young age. Her father owned a shop called Eagle Darts, which she eventually worked for. She has also worked for DMI and Fansteel. (92/93)
• I love this story: When she was young, her father one day brought home a bunch of darts stuff and dumped it on the kitchen counter and announce that "Were all going to play darts". A dartboard got hung in the family room (after all, darts was now a family activity) as opposed to being relegated to the basement or the garage like most folks. What a wonderful gift her father gave her and her siblings.  What's more, as we all know, "a family that plays together, stays together". This story is so Normal Rockwell, I just love it. (93.5)
• She says that she liked the heavier darts, and that from the beginning she threw a smooth tapered 32 gram dart. (94.1) . I would dearly love to see that dart she threw.
• She was sponsored by Spalding in the 80s. Shot with brass until copper tungsten was available but she didn't like it due to the oxidation. (94.2) . I find this odd.  I personally absolutely love copper tungsten darts, and you would think that a player like Julie, who appreciated a smooth darts, would also appreciate the oxidation that comes with copper tungsten.
• Didn't like to lose. Better now than before but still does not like it. (96.4)
• I love this story: In 1975 at the tender age of 17 she won the NAODT. After she won it, she was not only interviewed but then had to go back and sit in a high school classroom and think about how she was the best dart player in all of North America. (97.4) What a feat. I won a few trophies in high school myself but never for darts (they were for debate).  I know the feeling that comes with sitting in a classroom full of people that have absolutely no idea that you accomplished something awesome. It is isolating, and exhilarating at the same time.
• She says that we have a problem in America with how sloppily dart players dress. We need people to dress up more. (98.3) . I couldn't agree more!
• I absolutely love this notion: She loved playing money matches, especially to prepare for a tournament. Her philosophy is that 20 dollars will allow you to decide how much pressure you want. 20 one dollar games? 2 ten dollar games? How about 10 two dollar games? (99.4)
• Favorite story of them all:  While on a business trip to Cincinnati Ohio, Julie, seven months pregnant at the time, was cooling her heels in a bar, throwing darts casually.  She didn't have anything else on her agenda other than to kill time.  In walks a big "Texan looking" guy wearing a big Texan looking hat.  He says to the bartender: "I'm looking for a money game. I'm pretty good, and I'm looking for a money game."  Bar tender points over to the diminutive lady by boards, barefoot and pregnant, and says "she'll play you."  With dollar signs in his eyes, and an under-appreciation of his opponent, he challenges Julie to $10 a game.  She accepts.  She takes $50 off him in five straight games before he slinks off with his tail between his legs.  I may have gotten a few details wrong, but I like my telling of the story :)

HELEN SCHEERBAUM

• At the tender she of 12 she got her start in darts. I looked her up on Wikipedia to learn when that might have been and was surprised to learn she was born in or about 1923, placing the start of her fascination at about 1935.
• I found her story poignant. While still a teenager she almost won a guy's bakery right off him, ruining him and his family but in the last few darts decided to throw the game. First Lady of Darts is right: she had skill and heart. After that she lived a very full life before she ever threw a dart again, including raising three kids and burying a husband.
• Her first sponsorship was with Kwiz who made her a brass version of her Widdie darts. How I would love to see those! Later she was sponsored by Sportcraft, who gave her her choice of Darts. She chose John Lowe tungsten darts with a 1.25" stem and standard flights.
• As an erstwhile numismatist I appreciated this story:  In 1974 she won the Cutty Sark Open, which included a cup-style trophy.  After the win she was standing outside the building where the tourney took place with her trophy.  Along walks a guy, oblivious as passersby seem to be, and drops a dime into the trophy thinking it was a beggar's cup!  She kept the dime in the trophy as a fine memory of the event.  In 1974, the silver coin era was already 10 years in the past, but still, that dime could have been anything from a brand new shiny 1974 FDR dime to a Mercury Head dime.  I wish I could see it.  I wonder if she has a picture of it anywhere.
• She would console the people she best because she knew how much it hurt to lose. First Lady of Darts, right there.

ROBERT THIEDE

• Practiced bull a lot because "if you control the bull you control the game".
• Sometimes practiced at 8'6" so that the 8' line seemed closer.  This is a brilliant idea.  I am going to try it during my next practice session.
• Used Silver Trim metal darts with Silver Trim flights. Unclear on the type of metal. When sponsored by Kwiz they copied the silver Trim dart and made it 15 grams and brass.  once again, I wish I could see pictures of all their favored, and signature darts.

JERRY UMBURGER

• Recommends moving point darts to everyone. Loves them.
• Started the coal cracker trend (invented them?) Because he was always cutting his flights down.
• I notice that I am starting to take fewer notes on the players!

DANNY VALLETTO

• Started after he got out of the service in 1959 which prolly makes him the same age as my dad. Payed American darts for most of his early career. 
• Even though he showed early brilliance, quickly becoming the anchor of his first team, he was dissatisfied. He set a goal to raise his average two points per year and he followed through, succeeding. 
• The way he described his throw is very interesting and I must say, the exact opposite of the typical advice: he dipped his body down on bended knee during draw back, and then sprang forward bodily during the throw. Highly unusual!
• I love it that he practiced every day and then went out and "hustled" darts on the weekend. This implies that not only did he love money games but that he had a strategy for tricking his opponent into thinking he might win!!
• Interesting that they won a tournament where you had to use a "Deco" dart as of to the wooden darts they were used to. I wonder what a Deco dart is!!
• A few of the legends talked about getting the "Yips". Danny got them and they were difficult to overcome. I don't know anything at all about Eric Bristow, but Danny implies that the Yips did him in! I have never had the Yips myself. I can't even imagine what they are like. 
• One story I found interesting was that he was tricked into playing a high dollar first-to-26 match against Rick Ney, who was one of the best in the country at the time and ended up destroying him. Not just during that match, but his overall confidence and subsequently his career as well. That's already a sad story in my eyes, but Danny always felt really bad about killing the career of a good guy and a great player.
• "The crowd never bothered me anywhere I played, even in England where the guys from Scotland were dropping their pants." Seriously? Who fucking does that?
• I love it that he always played with the underdog to help them and if a friend of his got hustled he would always win the money back for him. What a great guy. 
• He mentions a player named Rick Nye several times but I am unsure if this is a misspelling of Ney or if it really is a different player. 

Anyway.  Those are the American Darts Legends covered in this book.  I highly recommend this book.  Fascinating read!

Dart Books

I have discovered, on Beni Petris' webpage, a fine listing of books about darts and I have taken it and converted it into a google sheets document that anyone can view, here:

Needless to say I have barely made a dent.

I recall discussing the idea of books about darts with a good friend and (at the time, anyway) teammate of mine who quipped that, for most dart players, the idea of reading a book about darts is about as foreign as the idea of reading a book about drinking a beer.  To some degree I agree with him.  I recognize that I am different in that 1) I developed a love of reading at a very early age and I have always been a voracious reader, and that 2) I am not just a typical league darter.  I am a darts aficionado, and I have the collector gene, which prompts me to collect not just dart stuff, but books as well.

What really turned me on to reading about darts is not a desire to get better (although I have that desire) but rather the WYBMADIITY section of Silberzahn's book.

Happy reading!

DataGenics

This statistical analysis of the game is one of the most fascinating sites I have encountered in a long while:

A leaguemate turned me on to it.  Thanks!

A Poor Outing

The second match of my 2019 Spring season was a bust, personally.  The highlights were both related to the people and the place.  The dart alley as you can see in the pic below was, if a bit narrow, beautifully done.  The next time I go though, I am going to take a toe line checker with me as I am certain the board were a tad bit close to the oche.

The second highlight was that we played against a team of friendly, fun to shoot with darters.  The food is supposed to be good too, but I didn't get there in sufficient time to get a bite to eat. That's okay though because I have gotten out of the habit of eating before a match.  Food coma!

My darts sucked.  That's all there is to say about it.  I won two games: a singles cricket, and a doubles cricket, and lost the rest.  The team game was also a win, and I scored a 100, but those points are lost forever due to a technical limitation of the software we use to score games.  But don't get me wrong; I am not sad over a measly ton, even if it was fully half of my glory points for the evening :/

My only 401 (against Steve) was a well deserved loss as I had 4 darts at the double before my opponent took it out.  It was a nice dramatic turn-around win for him though.  in our second last round I was sitting on 55 and he was sitting on 148. I whittled my 55 to 16 with 2 darts and missed the out with my third, and he scored a ton.  Then in my next round all three darts at the 16 were outside misses and he took out 48 as pretty as you please.  With 2 darts no less.  So good on him for a nice (and probably quite satisfying) win, but shame on me for so many misses at the out.

My first singles Cricket was a win against their captain, Jeff, was my only singles win.  There was nothing remarkable about the game, other than that I threw a solid 1.8 MPT and I feel that I won because I was just slightly more solid than he was that game.  I like him immensely.  Good guy.  My last singles cricket was a loss against Nick, also quite a like-able fellow and a good sportsman to boot.  The story here is simple.  He threw a good game, I did not.

My doubles matches were unremarkable.  The one win I had was with Henry and I opened with a 5 mark round on 20's and 19's.  We eked out the win but not by much.  In one of the doubles 501 losses I hit a ton and in one of the doubles cricket losses I threw quite well, but we still lost.  During that game I put up 18 marks, which I have no idea what it does to my average.

I alternated pretty evenly between the two sets of darts above throughout the match.  On top, same as last week, are the 19 gram MP Nobu's with medium twin-grip stems and smooth poly slim flights.  The bottom set are the Dagnabits, of course, with short non-spinning FitFlight stems and standard FitFlights on back.  I threw equally unwell with both sets.  Next week I am bringing a single set: the Nobus.

I am not even really sure what my problem is.  Perhaps I am expecting too much from myself at this point in my return.  Perhaps my former success in darts was the result of consistent practice over the course of years.  I have been out of league for 4 to 5 years so maybe I just need to get back to basics and practice every day.  Here is my assignment for practice over the next week:  everyday I must hit 5 bulls, 5 60's, and 5 random doubles.  Then thats it.  My shots will not be rapid fire, but rather focused and paced.  My throws will not be weak, but rather forceful.

Next week we are at our home pub.  Looking forwards to it!

Take your time, bro.

I love this video.  Check out the 2x4 nailed to the floor for the oche.  Check out the hair doos.  I love the grainy oldness of this video, and whats more the result.  Jocky Wilson, who was ranked #4 in the world at the time, was bested by an un-accoladed "abattoir worker" who took his sweet time.  Why was Jocky throwing so fast?  It was seriously rapid fire.  It's not a race, brah!

You don't get points for how quickly you get off the oche.  Take your time.  Zone in on your target.  Empty your mind.  I appreciate Terry Downs' style.

The Little Red Book of Darts

I have had this book in my "will probably never read but it is about darts" pile for I don't know how many years, and so I finally broke it out and started reading it. On the whole, I do not recommend it unless you get it for free or for next to nothing.  The book is a scant 100 pages, mostly cartoons, and the rest is divided into: 80% dry (and very family-safe) humor, and 20% a listing of games.  For me, the humor didn't work, but then, to be fair, my sense of humor is quite different from the average dart player, prolly.  Some may find the book downright hysterical.  I found tremendous value in the section that lists out games, however.

Also, in the section pertaining to the rules of the game I found two tidbits that struck me:

1. The book asserts that once you have busted in an 01 game, you are NOT allowed to throw your remaining darts, and in fact, it is considered rude to do so.  This is a reversal from what I have always believed, which is that the player who approached the oche with three darts is entitled to throw those three darts no matter what.  I shall have to look this up in the ADO rules and see what they say about it.
2.  It validates the notion that is the chalker makes a mistake, it is the player's responsibility to catch it before they surrender the dart lane to their opponent, else the chalker's mistake stands.  This is quite hard for many players to swallow, and I have seen some soreness over it. But it is absolutely true.  I would take this a step further and that is: if you pull your darts out of the dart board, that means you are accepting the chalkers recording of your score no matter what it is.  Your opportunity to correct the chalker ends when you pull your darts.

Click to Embiggen

Now onto the good stuff, the new games I learned about in this book:

Soccer
Two Players.  Take turns throwing at the inner bull (the "50") until one player hits it.  once it is hit the player now has control of the ball and can score goals.  A double (any double) is a goal.  It is now the other players sole concern to wrest control of the ball away from the opponent, else he cannot score goals.  you can only score goals if you have control of the ball.  First player to ten goals wins.

Hm.  My first thought is that at my level of play (B League) the first person to hit that coveted 50 is going to score ten doubles long before the other player can hit the 50.  This might have to be lightened up a bit so that any bull gains control of the ball.

Cricket (Wickets & Bats)
This tired old book, written a good 40 years ago, calls the game I have always known as Wickets & Bats by the name of Cricket, which as we all know is a staple of league play through out America. Here is how the book says to play Wickets & Bats: 

One player chooses to start with wickets (the bull), and the other starts with bats (scoring).  The player scoring builds the highest possible score they can before the other player hits ten bulls.  Once this is done they trade places and now the player who was throwing bulls must build a higher score than his opponent before they hit ten bulls.  The game is played until either: the person currently throwing bulls hits ten of them, or, the player shooting for score surpasses the score of the bull-shooter.

I have played this game many times to great delight.  However, the one deviation from this description is how points can be scored.  In one version I have played, you can only score points on doubles.  In another version, you can score points anywhere, but you discard your first 40.  So if you hit a 41 you score 1 point.  If you hit a 59 you score 19, etc.

Shove Ha'Penny
I have no idea how to pronounce that, although I am guessing it is a contraction of 'half penny' which probably is (or was) a coin in Britain. And I further speculate that it is called this because if you score more than you need to in this game then you give that excess to your opponent for his benefit.

Fives
I have played Fives, with a rather non-trivial difference to the rules, many times with teammates, workmates, and other leaguemates. I'll explain the variation we always use in a different post. Wait, this whole game deserves its own post. 

Scram
Two players. One is trying to close "sectors", the other is trying to score.  Once all the sectors are closed they trade places and go through this process again.  The person with the highest score wins. 

The details in the book are not rich, and I have several wonderings.  For starters, are there 21 sectors in the game, or 62?  I suppose this would depend on the appetite of the players, but my guess is that each entire number wedge is one sector, and the bull is one as well, making 21.  The book also implies that only one dart is needed to close a sector, but I think this also depends on the appetite of the players.  On the whole this seems like a fun game and I will introduce it to my teammates.

Closed Shop
Closed shop sounds interesting but in practice I don't think it will be very compelling. In this two player game, both players are trying to generate the highest score possible. Once a player scores 3 times in any bed, however, it is closed to everybody. So if I go first, hit a triple 20, a single 19 and a double 19, I have scored 117 points, and my opponent cannot use those beds to score. The best they can score on is 18's and down (or bull, which can only be scored twice).  It seems like there would come a point where, there is no way the player behind in score could catch up with low beds.

Round the Clock
This one seems a little too basic.  Any number of players can play.  You must hit a double to start scoring, and then you have to get one dart in each bed 1 through 20. First to hit the 20 wins.  Doubles and triples do not count as anything more than a single as you only need one dart in each bed to progress.  You do not play bulls in this game.

Shanghai
Any number of players, and highest score wins.  You go through all the beds, 1 - 20, except bull, scoring as many points as you can in that bed.  Any interesting caveat of this game though, is that if you manage to score a shanghai (a single, a double, and a treble) you automatically win, and the game is over.  Also interesting are a couple of variations that make it more challenging: 

1. Harder variation #1: you must shanghai in order: single, double, triple.
2. Harder variation #2: If you score zero on an odd numbered wedge (after the 1) you are eliminated from the game.

Halve It
Very similar to the pub game we all know and love called 41.  Some differences though.  Any number of players can play. Instead of playing around the entire board on doubles, you only use 11 targets that are negotiated by the players.  Could be, for example: "20's, 19's, any treble, 17's, 16's, any double, 15's, 14's, inner bull, 12's, 11's". Or anything. You go through the targets in order, one round per target scoring as much as you can in each one.  If you miss entirely, you halve your score.  You cannot go below zero, and the game is started with zero points per player.  Most points wins.

Killer
Killer reminds me of a game we used to play with billiards. Basically you have your home sector which will hopefully stay alive. There is nothing you can do to protect it, necessarily, but it is yours. Any number of players can play (up to 20), and your home wedge is determined by a throw of your opposite hand. Right handlers have to deliver a dart to the board with the left hand until it sticks in a numbered sector, in other words. Then, using your normal hand your job is to kill all your opponents' sectors before they can kill yours, last player standing wins. You earn the right to destroy by hitting your own double, then a double in an enemy sector is one kill, a triple in an enemy sector is two kills. The book doesn't say how many "lives" a player has, I would imagine that is determined by the appetite of the players. 10 would be a fair place to start!  It is not clear whether you have to hit your own double fresh each round, or if once per game is enough. Again, might be a variable determined through negotiation with the other players.

Yay! We Lost!

I am not yaying because we lost, but rather because I was in a position to either win or lose at all.  Last night was the first league match that I have played in about five years and it was a blast. I loved being on the oche again, "chalking" (they've gone chalk-less in my absence), and the general camaraderie of the night.  

We played against the Vagiants at Kate's. Both teams play out of there as our sponsoring bar, but we were the official "visiting" team and got to choose cork all night. They walloped us 8-13 but fun and merriment was had by all, so who cares?

My performance, personally, was more good than bad, I think, but I have loads of room for improvement. I hit too many low scores for my taste and ended up with an 01 five dart average just over 55.  I played three singles matches and five doubles matches, and of course participated in the team game of SIDO 801.  I dropped one of the singles matches (I should not have) and one of the doubles matches (again) but won the rest.  I did not hit any 180's but I did hit one high-ton, and two low-tons for 376 glory points on the night.  I also hit a nice 7 mark round in cricket.

My first 401 was against Joe. In that game I shot a 120, and took out 40 with my first dart at it for the win.  My second singles game was cricket against Lyle, their captain and best player.  I also won this one.  He was behind for most of the match especially after I hit a 7 count on the 17's and 15's, so he opened bulls early.  But next round after he opened them I closed them right up with two double bulls.  My last singles match was against Lyle in cricket again and he won.  All of a sudden I could not hit bulls when I needed to and dropped that one.

I played three doubles SIDO 501 games, and two doubles cricket games.  In the first 501 I took out 4 for the win, but in the second I missed an 83 out.  I hit my triple 17, slopped quite sloppily into the single 16, and then missed the double 8.  They took it out the next round.  That 83 was my one opportunity to win the game and I choked.  In the last doubles 501 I hit a 156 mid-game, and then later took out 40 for the win, again with my first look at it.

The first doubles cricket I played with Henry.  It was an unremarkable game but we won.  The second doubles cricket game was also a win but I hit only rubbish.  My partner tho had a hell of a game.  She hit a 9 count, as well as a first dart double bull for the win.  Team game was a loss.  Other than a single ton I didn't put up any numbers.  I think the team was spent by then.

These are the darts I used last night: 

I went into the night thinking the the Nobu's (top set (medium twin-grip stems with slim poly flights)) would be the primary set and I would switch to the UFO's (bottom set (short aluminum stem with standard mylar (folded) flights)) late in the match, maybe for the team game.  However, after my first cricket loss I ended up switching between the sets pretty regularly throughout the night.

Next week we travel to Redmond for a match against the Three Lions Fight Club B team. Looking forward to it!

Dr. Darts' Newsletter

How did I not know this existed?  To save you all from the same fate I am sharing you it now:

That of course, is just a screen shot.  The newsletter itself is something that you subscribe to and is distributed via email.  It is written by Dr. Darts himself, aka Dr. Patrick Chaplin, who is the world's foremost (and perhaps only) Darts Historian.

If you would like to subscribe to this wonderful newsletter, email him directly at: Patrick Chaplin.

You can also peruse his website which is chuck full of great darts related information at: www.patrickchaplin.com

Happy Reading!

Twin-Gripping the Nobu's

The Twin-Grip stem is absolutely fucking brilliant.  It is the best, "simple" nylon stem and I think it is very very a crying shame that it is no longer made.  I have a selection of mediums still, but I no longer have any short or in-between lengths, so if you would like to to unload yours please let me know!  See here:

What do I like about them?  Basically two things:

1. there is nothing for an incoming point to snag on so there are no robin hoods to worry about.  With normal nylon stems an unlucky shot will hit the cross in the back and either the stem is straight up ruined or a tine or two breaks off.  With these though, because there are only two tines holding the flight on, an incoming point will slip right past.

2. Flights stay on securely during flight, but pop off quite easily when they encounter another dart.  I like this.  Many do not, but I certainly do.  In fact for years I have been thinking about a dart design that would eject its flight automatically upon impact with the board.  I think I ned to get good at 3-d printing first so I can experiment with flight designs :)

Bottelsen UFO's

I picked up the term "UFO" to describe unknown sets of darts from dartsnutz.net.  I love the term.  First, it is cheeky.  Second it borrows from the mystique created by The X-Files, which I am recently watching (and loving) for the first time ever.  I cannot believe I never watched that show before.

These darts, despite being much more massive than other darts in the same weight range, are a meager 20 grams.  This, and the fact that they have a "silvery" hue to them, and somewhat slickery feel, makes me think that they are not tungsten at all, but rather a nickel-silver dart.  Funny how few nickel-silver darts there are out there.  There are literally a gazillion brass darts available, and just as many tungsten darts, but darts of this composition are significantly fewer, in my humble opinion.

As currently dressed:
Points: Bottelsen Hammerhead Points
Barrel: 20 gram Nickel-Silver
Stems: Short Aluminum
Flights: Standard Mylar (folded)

Anyway, the above darts are likely Bottelsen darts because when I got them they came with a Bottelsen leather flap wallet, and the mylar folded flights you see in the pic. Not long ago I reached out to Bottelsen to see if there was anyone there with copies of old catalogs that I could look through and got quite a cold shoulder from them.  This makes me sad a bit.  They are a great dart maker and have contributed to the substance of the dart universe significantly.  I wish there were someone there who was more of a dart geek, cared about preserving (and sharing) their own history, etc.

If I am ever a dart maker I will never, never, ignore a fan who cares about the history of darts equipment!

Aim Small Miss Small

George Silberzhan's book, "How to Master the Sport of Darts", espouses the philosophy of "Aim Small, Miss Small".  Glib but nice.  I like the concept. It goes something like this:

The definition of a "miss" in the context of darts is that your dart lands outside the zone in which you intended to place it.  Simple definition that make sense to me.  If what you are aiming for is the entire dartboard, your misses are going to naturally, and by definition, land off the board somewhere.  Likewise, if you aim for an entire frame, a miss by definition will land in another frame.  Aim for the 20 wedge, and you will hit in the 1 or the 5 wedge.  Makes sense.  Extending this idea further, if you aim for the Triple-20, a miss by definition falls into something that is not the Triple-20, like the Triple-1 or the Triple-5 (or somewhere else).

Assuming that with practice you can narrow the range of your misses to just a small percentage of the diameter of your targeted range then you can further assume that the dart you aim at the Triple-20 bed will not be that far away from the Triple-20 (when they miss).  Daisy chaining assumptions is dangerous, but hey, practice needs to have some results, right? 

So the "Aim Small, Miss Small" philosophy would have you aim for a tiny dot within the Triple-20 so that your misses, are not far from that tiny dot, and therefore probably still within the Triple-20 bed itself.  I love this idea.  See here:

To help me practice this concept, I have taken small thumb tacks with tiny colored (red and green) balls on the end and placed them within the bed I want to hit.  In practice, when I hit the bed that contains the tack I am targeting, I pull it and place it to the outside of the scoring area of the board.  I do this because I usually randomize the doubles and triples that I am aiming for with a handful of 20-sided dice.  In the practice session above, you can see that I was aiming for the tack in the Triple-20, and over the course of several rounds hit the bed three times.

That's a Foam Axe, by the way :(

This also reminds me of something that I have seen many times over the many years I have been in league and thought I understood, but probably did not.  While chalking I would see a player, having missed the 60, after pulling his darts, poke the point of one of them right into the middle of the 60 bed one or more times.  I always assumed this to be a form of prayer.  The dart player was pleading with the 60 bed to attract his darts more better.  Now that I think on it more though, this was probably the player creating a hole in the Triple-20 that they can see, and aim at, allowing them to "Aim Small, Miss Small".

Damn.  I am going to start doing that myself.  Probably in practice before the match starts.

CCC Darts

In 1933 the United States was in dire straits, financially. The Great Depression was in full bloom and millions were out of work. Our newly elected president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, loved by many and for good reason, hit the ground running. He implemented what he termed “a new deal” for the American people, aimed at providing work for the unemployed, and with that work, dignity and self respect. One aspect of this new deal was the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).  The CCC was put to use rebuilding, improving, and creating pubic spaces in America and our national and state parks benefitted tremendously for the effort. I am not a historian, nor am I especially knowledgeable in this or any other area of history but I love the CCC nonetheless.

I was lucky enough to be able to visit the official CCC museum in Florida recently and was happily surprised to see that my favorite hobby (I won’t insult you) ostensibly overlaps with this finest (if erstwhile) of institutions. Enjoy if you will, the following pic:



Note the darts on the shelf in the very bottom of the pic. They look period enough, don’t they? I love the idea of these young men playing darts at the end of the day in a camp deep in the woods after a hard day of improving a park. As an Eagle Scout I can tell you that there is nothing more satisfying than knowing you have improved a public space that will be enjoyed by many to come, but the idea of playing darts afterwards is even better. The finer, unstated, aspect of this is that these camps were undoubtedly dry camps. It is unlikely they would allow alcohol to be consumed by hundreds of womenless, exhausted young men, after all, and so these games of darts would have been shot with (mostly) clear heads and with a heightened desire of winning. If indeed darts were played in these camps, then I am certain they would have produced a number of superlative players.

But something doesn't seem right to me here.  I am not a dart historian by any stretch, but from what I know of darts in America, before the 70's (and the CCC lasted from 1933 to 1942) the English dart game was pretty much unknown so any darts that would have been played in these camps would have been the American Dart game.  If that is the case, and I understand my darts equipment history well enough, that would mean throwing light weight wooden darts at wooden American dart boards.  The darts above look like a dart designed to be heavy enough to land in a sisal board and was therefore probably made in the 60's or 70's. 

But I don't really know.

The cynic in me says that what we are probably looking at here is a stylized window display that was cobbled together not with actual CCC artifacts, but rather with the sorts of things the window display creator thought would represent camp activities well enough.  I am going to do a little research if I get the time and see what I can discover.  I could try to discover who created that display, for instance and ask them.  I could discover what company made those darts, and also try to determine when that company might have existed.  I could read a book about CCC camp life.

I'll start with the book :)

Euro Board

This information comes from Beni Petris

"January 2002: 12 countries of the European Union (EU) changed their currencies to the new EURO: (Belgium, Germany, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland (but not Northern Ireland), Italy, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Spain). Denmark, Great Britain and Sweden stayed by their own currencies.

"For this point the Switzerland based UBS Bank (we have our own Swiss Francs here and only deal with any kind of money :-)) brought out this marvelous 12-wedged blue Bristle board with the Euro-Stars.

"I didn’t know of this board and have never seen one; but this month – two of them, both in Switzerland ! I’m proud to have it in my collection."

Well Beni I too am proud to have one in my collection, and it would seem that one found its way into Christian's collections as well! [looking for good new link] This is certainly the most interesting clock face board I own (but I say that about all my clock face boards :/) for a few different reasons. This first and foremost of which is the 12 bed configuration and the numbering of the wedges one through twelve. I have only ever seen a few clock face boards with 12 beds before and those are the Ipswitch and London 5's boards numbered in multiples of five. Also, take note that this is a high quality bristle board instead of the cheaper paper-wound cousin. When you see celebratory or product based boards made for advertising and give aways they are frequently the paper wound (also known as Paper-coil, or just "coiled") variety because they are cheaper to make and because they can be printed on both sides.

The Euro Board is also very esthetically pleasing, being bright blue with the twelve yellow stars.

I love it!  Thank you Beni!

Beni has a pretty amazing Dartboard collection himself.  Check it out here.

12g Unicorn Aluminum Darts

I believe very strongly that these are unicorn darts and are quite old (40 or 50 years) but I am not 100% certain because I cannot find them in their online heritage catalogs.  There are a few reasons why I believe them to be Unicorn. Four reasons, in fact.

First, I know for a fact that Unicorn has made other aluminum darts.  I used to have a set called the Unicorn Bantam which had a brass nose and the rest of the body was aluminum (those were only 10 grams).  Secondly, while I did not see this particular dart in any of the online catalogs, I did see plenty of brass torpedo darts that have the same body.  And I mean exactly the same body. But as we all know, the torpedo shaped dart was not unique to Unicorn.  This brings me to the third reason I suspect it as a Unicorn offering, and that is the ring pattern starts early.  The first ring is just millimeters back of the point, which as far as I know, was a ring pattern common to Unicorn darts, but not necessarily others.

The below pic provides a better view of the overall dart in which you can see the torpedo shape more saliently.  

In the below picture you can see the 12 gram aluminum dart (bottom) contrasted against a 20 gram tungsten dart (top).  The tungsten dart is another unknown, btw, though I would dearly love to know anything about them.  The aluminum dart has nearly twice the mass of the tungsten dart!

The last reason I believe them to be Unicorn darts is because when I acquired them they came in the below case, which says Unicorn on the top.  This is no silver bullet however (second favorite dart pun :), because darts get rehoused in different cases all the time.  I have done it myself more times than I can shake a stick at, and these darts have had a long life thus far to have been rehoused.  That said, the darts do fit pretty perfectly in the case.

So there you have it.  Anyone ho has any informations on this dart please feel free to contribute!

For Posterity

Since I need to update my side bar to reflect the new highest outs and lowest dart games, I'd like to preserve what I had in there before for posterity's sake:

My highest Out: 156. This occurred on 6-5-2008 against my captain at work. I went T20, T20, D18. This was an 18 dart game.

My Lowest Game: 17 darts. This game occurred at work on January 8th, 2010. I was playing a three way 501 with Jake and Nathan. My scores were: 65, 56, 40, 140, 140, 60 (out).

My Best Game Ever

My best game ever occurred one night in my favorite dart bar, Coopers (in Seattle) but it was not a league night.  Rather I was there playing darts with two of my neighbors.  It was very casual, zero pressure, and it was more about three neighbors socializing than about darts.  Darts were the backdrop.  The side-by-side activity that allows men to socialize in the first place. (What do I mean by that? Men socialize differently than women.  Women tend to have "face to face" relationships where they are happy to sit and talk while doing absolutely nothing, which is a very strong form of bonding for women (in general).  Men on the other hand, bond equally strongly in the opposite manner: "side by side". We perform some activity together, frequently saying absolutely nothing in the process. (These are generalizations, not absolutes, obviously, and not original with me. I learned this stuff in a psych class in college :))

And kudos to you if you were able to follow the nested parentheticals.

Where was I?  Oh yes.  My best game of darts ever. It was a fifteen darter that started with an impressive three tons in a row, followed by a 41, and then I took out the 160. With witnesses, against two neighbors in friendly competition:

The icing on this deliciousness would be the highest out I have ever made: 160.  Again, witnesses and everything:

Of course, it came at some cost, as all good things do.  one of my neighbors was royally pissed off at me and to this day refuses to play darts with me.  But thats okay.  We are friendly to each other, stop to chat in a very friendly manner when we see each other in the street or the yards, etc.  He borrows my power washer every year and I very happily borrow it to him!

This game occurred in July 2015 but I was not blogging then and I never thought to throw it up here, or update the side bar.  Now that I am sliding back into my former dartphilia I want to blog it so when I am old and grey I can remember it fondly.

According to the photo, I appeared to by using my 20 gram Monster Hades wearing medium standard Condor flights (which I love near to death).

Something Happens

For those of us that wind up with dart collections, either by way of being in the hobby and slowly, unintentionally amassing them, or though serious collecting, there is the phenomenon of “the random soft tip barrels pile”. Many of my darts, especially my soft tip barrels, come by way of my father who actively seeks out interesting things at auctions. I am always grateful to receive what he sends, of course, but much of it is not something that I would spend a lot of time throwing in league or in practice. So they go into a container that is rarely opened or looked at. It happens. 

Of all the types of darts that I have, the type I enjoy throwing the least, in general, would be the brass soft tip dart. Usually they are large for their weight and frequently esthetically unappealing. But I have slowly come to the realization over the years that even though the barrel is the heart of any dart it lives or dies by virtue of its configuration. You can take any expensive barrel and misconfigure it to the point that it is a non-throwable hot mess of a dart, and conversely, you can take what you though was a cheap, poorly designed, unattractive, too-big-for-it’s-weight barrel and configure it into something really nice. Take this one for example:

Something happens when a dart is nicely configured.  These barrels are unknown to me.  Could be Halex, could be Harrows, who knows?  I'll probably look them up some day but in the meantime, the barrels themselves did not strike my fancy in the least.  But then I took the time to experiment with them a little.  I found some spare L-Style conversion points that look nice on them, found a short marginally curvaceous stem and then when poking through my flights barrels, I came across the perfect flight.  Once I added those it all came together.  Something happened.  The darts became appealing to me and I started throwing them and started hitting good numbers.  No Ton-80's, but good numbers nonetheless.

Then I decided to dig into my random soft tip barrels pile and with patience found configurations for each of the sets that felt good and appropriate for each barrel.  I even discovered an 18 gram Bottelsen "Gap" in there that when fitted with a normal Hammerhead point, medium nylon stems and coal cracker flights flew straight and true.  Lot's of trip-20's with that config!

Moral of the story: don't dismiss random barrels too easily.  Be patient and find a configuration that works with them. You could have a hidden gem!

A Nice Robin Hood

I have been away from darts for a few years but I have been slowly getting back into it again. Tonight in practice I hit this nice shot:

It looks like it could barely hang on but it did. These darts are some Bottelsen Gap soft tippers that came to me by way of my dad I believe. I don't know their weight but they are certainly light. Probably 15 grams tops. 

The Sweetest Girl Who Ever Lived

"At any given time, there are only seven great dogs in the world."

- Horacio Fisk (Dean Spanley)

If you happened to be following this blog 13 years and eight months ago, you will remember reading how I was likely to be playing fewer darts because we had just gotten a new puppy.  I projected that I'd more commonly be seen holding a leash than my darts.

This was true.  It was true for more than 13 years.

Today my sweet baby girl died and I cannot tell you how deeply I feel her loss.  She was one of the Seven Great Dogs, without a doubt, and she was the sweetest girl who ever lived.  She taught my wife and I all about Unconditional Love, and we will never be the same.

Golf Case

I am not a golfer, by any stretch, unless you include golf-related dart games, or mini-golf.  As such, I never really liked the above case very much, although this is the only one of its kind I have ever seen.  I threw this picture up here so I could show it to someone, I don't remember who, now, but I am fairly certain I sent it along to them.  I hope they are enjoying it!

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!