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Congratulations to all. May 4 , 2011 WILLY GOES TO ACE HARDWARE
IS IT JUST ME?
As I was reminded by my lovely bride the other morning, every time we hear the mention of the exploits, slumps or heroics of Indians catcher “grand slam” Carlos Santana we instantly think of who else? April 27 , 2011 GUNS AND BARFLIES I’ve always had a hard and fast personal rule about what I would include in this space. NO POLITICS!
Doesn’t this guy know what goes on in a pub? Its the place where you go to let off steam, argue and discuss the grievances of the day. Its almost mandatory. And do I have to mention DRINK? In the immortal words of ESPN’s Monday Night Countdown Keyshawn Johnson, C’MON MAN! Of course, I also don’t have to remind you that the Federal Government has already considered that darters who fly to tournaments are carrying “concealed weapons”. Go ahead play it.
April 20 , 2011 MATCH VS. STROKE I’ve had this idea in the back of my head for a long time. How about a different way of playing a singles dart tournament? My idea is based on the change in golf scoring over its history.
Sound familiar? Its the same system currently used in darts for the most part as long as the game has been played. But what if it were changed to Stoke Play? That is - every dart thrown in a game was a “Stoke”. And that the total number of darts or stokes were counted and that the fewest number of darts won. This method of scoring, I suggest, would present some interesting differences in regional amateur tournaments and keep a lot more players involved for a longer period of time. Taking the example of today’s international golf tournaments we could pull all players of matches at random, perhaps 4 to a board. If there weren’t exactly the number of players signed up for the classic 64-32-16-8-4-2 matchups, so be it. It doesn’t matter. The players aren’t playing against one another, but against the board. This would occupy twice as many shooters at any one board. A predetermined number of games would be played by each (eight 501 games?). All player would get the opportunity to play more games than in the current match systems. After this or maybe an additional round of games the stoke totals would be gathered for the only “cut” of the tournament to the low 50% and ties. The remaining players would then be assigned boards with the highest stoke totals going first. Golf uses this to a great advantage because the leaders have to then watch scores as competitors complete their rounds and note the total score that will have to be beaten. Pressure? It would also enhance the spectator’s experience as they watch the leaders “come in” to finish. Of course, the devil is in the details. I have no idea what exact number of games or number of rounds would work for a one day or weekend tournament. I admit it would take some experimenting. And few tournament directors would want to take the chance of a possible failure. But still I’d like to see it tried. It offers some great advantages for both players and organizers. April 13 , 2011 NASCAR COMES TO DARTS
HOW WILLIE GOT HIS NAME Willy’s grandfather was a lorry driver for a brewery in a small Northern English town. His co-workers gave him the nickname of “Shandy” recognizing his love for the popular pub drink Shandygaff or Shandy, a mix of beer and carbonated lemonade. When his grandfather immigrated to the U.S., unable to read or write, he answered to the name William Shandy. In the 70s I tried the drink. Unable to get a carbonated lemonade at the time I used straight lemonade. Ugh! Tasted like shit. Today Mike's Hard Lemonade is available but I don’t think it would make it taste any better.
Just a personal thing. April 6 , 2011 MISSING NUMBER 19
He was never my favorite Indian, but when the others dispersed to other pursuits after their careers, he remained. Always an Indian, always a Clevelander. DID YOU KNOW THAT DARTS HAD A POET LAUREATE? During the 1960s, when the world’s attention was yet to be turned to darts in a big way and Eric Bristow was eleven years old, Noel Egbert Williamson published the first book on the sport to be produced in the UK for nearly two decades.
Over and above his book, Noel will be remembered as ‘the Poet Laureate of Darts’, an epithet given to him by Tony Wood, Editor of Darts World magazine back in the early 1970s. Noel died in January 2004. Courtesy: Here is one of my favorites.
March 30, 2011 MORE ON:
There is a conversation on the dart blogs about an alternative to the standard games that are played by weekly dart leagues in the world. I would link to some of these sources but they tend to include extraneous cultural or historic references that are really off the subject. I think I can get to the heart of the theory quickly. The concept is called “Equal Darts”.
Now the first thing that occurred to me was “that means there is a possibility of a tie”. The dreaded tie. Sportsguys hate a tie. If you are old enough you can remember when college and professional football involved a third column in the won-lost records. Almost every major sport in the world has eliminated the tie through tiebreakers or overtimes. Endless overtimes. But the NFL still has a provision for a tie and the National Hockey League still has that third column and its not a bad thing, just an additional point to weigh against an outright win or loss. It would also require the scorekeeper to record how many turns each person or team had thrown. Some do this now but usually to record low dart write-ups. Most stop when that number is larger than that prescribed by the club. Some of the games at our level come down to a lot of double one throws in 01 games and corks in cricket games. And that’s when chalkers usually walk away to retrieve their beer. The purpose of this concept is, of course, to minimize the advantage of the cork win. But, I contend that at the local bar league level its not likely to have the effect of changing the outcome of many games or creating a lot of ties .March 23, 2011 AN ORIGINAL WILLY SHANDY CARTOON FROM 1976 AN INTERESTING ANSWER TO LIGHTING THE DARTBOARD
Their answer is a circular fluorescent light that surrounds the board. They call it the Circumluminator. (Whew, thats a mouth full of letters.) It also features space on the light’s shield to advertise your club, bar or team. Unfortunately it costs $225. But now that I’ve gotten the word out I’m sure Joe Gannon and Chief Andrecchio will come up with a design to do it cheaper. PLAY DARTS WITH CARS A few months ago I linked to a video of the hit TV show TopGear as they demonstrated playing darts with cars. Now they offer an online game of the same nonsense. March 16, 2011 DON’T BET ON IT
I’ve always had a rule. I never bet on anyone or anything but myself. I’m recently reminded of why I believe this. It always seemed to me to be like betting on someone else's hand in a poker game. It occurred to me that Cleveland sports fans have been doing that forever. It has always been hard to be a sports fan in Cleveland. And it continues to get worse. We already knew the fates of the Indians, the Browns and Cavs. We’ve suffered through Albert Belle, Maurice Clarette, C.C. Sabathia, and of course - Lebron. Now Jim Tressell. After LeBron destroyed my faith in personal integrity I still had Jim “the sweater vest” Tressell. Now his flame has gone out for me. And that reminded me of my rule. In the years when I was at the top of my dart game there were currents of informal betting flowing across the floors of national tournaments. I could never see the appeal of putting my money on someone else's commitment to the game and to things that make them able to win. Just being more talented than the other guy doesn’t mean that you will succeed. It takes a certain dedication to practice and developing an awareness of your own strength and weaknesses in your game. The only person I ever “knew” with certainty had put the time and energy to overcome a lack of natural talent was me. Darts is the very definition of a sport with a “level playing field”. A standard distance, height and equipment. Nobody gets an advantage by spending more money or knowing someone in power. I was attracted to the game because of that. You might never make a lot of money but you were basically in control of your own success. BREAKFAST AT THE HARBOR INN
Read the story here. (Source: Scene Magazine) March 9, 2011 INTRODUCING WILLY SHANDY We begin a new feature this week. Over the years I have indulged in cartooning as a way commenting on my surroundings. In 1976, or there about, I began a strip for the guys as they put the Bullsheet together. When you organize a publication it invariably has “holes” to fill. What we call “fillers” had to be created to plug those holes in the layouts. Some were ads for supporters or quickly written factoid boxes. I decided to supply some cartoons based on my life in darts. It became “Willy Shandy - About Average”. I’ll be including some of the old along with some new ones from time to time. If you’re interested in a little of Willy’s background click here. March 2, 2011 MORE ON THE 2011 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP As I noted a few weeks ago I was able through the links that were sent to me to watch the World Championship LIVE as it happened. Some things struck me about darts at the highest level.
I’m convinced that any dart championship without this money would be a regional (European) event and that we would know little about it.
The second thing I noticed was the time it took to play the matches. Take for example the Finals match, Adrian Lewis vs. Gary Anderson. The match, best 2 of 3 games per leg - first to 7 legs. Their match involved 45 total games, Lewis taking 7 legs to Anderson’s 5. This took them 2 minutes over 2 hours, or 2 minutes and 40 seconds a game. And that’s with 4 breaks for commercials. In all the matches I watched in full the players were quick to the toe-line and practically threw over their opponents shoulder as they removed the darts from their throws. Dropped darts and bounce-outs created the only hesitation in the furious pace. Of course 208 scores of 100 or better helps to move things along. Its interesting to note that our Silver League average for a game is about 16 minutes per game. At that rate, if we were to play best of three for our points starting at 8pm we would get done just after 8am the next morning. Giving new meaning to “Wake me when its over”. WE LOSE OUR FRANCHISE PLAYER
Get well soon John.
February 16 , 2011 SOUNDTRACK OF OUR DARTS
His song is something that he says he tries to place in his head to “calm me down”. On this particular night he needed something to maintain his concentration on a difficult high scoring Cricket game. He said he needed it because “X” (Krecek) was in my ear telling me what numbers I should be shooting. His song is: Bon Jovi - Wanted Dead Or Alive A song from Bon Jovi's 1986 album Slippery When Wet. The song was written by Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora and was released in 1987 as the album's third single.
Jon Bon Jovi said that the song "absolutely positively was influenced by Bob Seger's "Turn the Page". Jon remembered listening to this song in 1985 while traveling on a tour bus in the midwest and telling Richie Sambora, "We got to write a song like this." February 9 , 2011 ON WATCHING THE 2011 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
I commented a year ago about the 2010 PDC Championship Tournament. At that time I was watching static web pages full of descriptions of what had happened in the previous few days. Lots of stats and accounts written by reporters. This year, thanks to team members who sent me links, I was able to watch the semifinals and the final match on Monday January 3 in REAL TIME. I was as close as I will ever get to experiencing what the highest level of our game is like. I recommend it to anyone who has any dream of being competitive in any dart contest greater than league play. I wish that I had had the opportunity to see this level of darts when I was “foolishly” pursuing my dream. If I had, I would have moved more quickly to channel my efforts into something that could actually have been accomplished. Simply put - these guys are good. Not just good, but freaking incredibly good. Because sport today is dominated by stats, most people I have spoken to who watched the tournament are impressed with the number of 180s, average score per turn or out shot numbers. I am equally impressed. But what really is astonishing to me is both the length of the matches and yet the shortness of the games. More on the Tournament later. And one more thing. It amazes me that the reason why I was able to watch the tournament on-line is the power of the European betting culture. The video link was available because so many people had placed bets on the outcome and the bookmakers in the EU want to give people a way of watching their money run down the drain. And now just this weekend I was able to also watch the semis and final of the PDC Players Championship - LIVE. A great way to occupy the infuriating hours of sports-talk blah blah blah of the pregame Super Bore marathon. February 2 , 2011 SOUNDTRACK OF OUR DARTS
We will return to the soundtrack of the team in the near future. I had given up on ever seeing Richard again. Amazingly he reappeared last night. So, as soon as I can get his story and his song our soundtrack number 8 will be told. Welcome back Richard! Now what am I going to do with all those milk cartons? DARTS AS A METAPHOR FOR IDIOTS I ran across this ad on TV last week. It really pissed me off. Another ugly cliché by an advertising team. Well it turns out that it has been banned in Europe. Obviously they have more respect for the game than we in the States. Hooray! January 26, 2011 SOUNDTRACK OF OUR DARTS
Next time: Part 8 Richard’s soundtrack ? January 19, 2011 SOUNDTRACK OF OUR DARTS
His story goes something like this. John played on a Flag Football team sponsored by Tim Lally’s car dealership that had for years worn black uniforms. They took on the bad boy identity of the Oakland Raiders. At some point the decision was made to change to white uniforms. But when they went to the 1997 National Championship game in Orlando Florida the team made the decision to go “back to black”. They won the game and since then it has meant playing the game fully and taking no prisoners.
Next time: Part 7 Dan’s soundtrack. January 12, 2011 SOUNDTRACK OF OUR DARTS
As I remember, other people went to the "stereo" system to flip through the stack during these sessions. But when asked about his selection to add to this list he came up with:
Next time: Part 6 John’s soundtrack January 5 , 2011 SOUNDTRACK OF OUR DARTS
In his own words: "The first thing I thought of is when I was a young boy going to sleep at night I would hear the rhythm of my dad shooting darts just below my room. Thunk, thunk, thunk then a few seconds pause (walking to get his darts), then again thunk, thunk, thunk. its not a song to say but it is my true rhythm. I do not have a dart song. The closest song I have is Talking heads “Burning down the house”. It was the song I liked to listen to before I went on the ice to play hockey."
"Burning Down the House" is a 1983 song by Talking Heads, from their album Speaking in Tongues. It became their highest-charting hit single in North America, reaching #9 on the US Charts. Next time: Part 5 Chief’s soundtrack. 2010 Columns
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The first unmanly thing I did today was that I had a Miller Lite. 
The first thing I have to say is that I salute the CDC for even existing in 2011. There was a time when I thought it was not likely to happen. The details are something that I’m not completely familiar with. As I’ve often mentioned - I wasn’t paying attention. I only viewed it from my limited role as a player and team captain.
So, to satisfy this prime directive, I won’t mention which political party he belongs to. 
In the early years of that other “ancient and honorable game” most play was Match Play. A player would be paired with one opponent and the winner of that game would progress to the next opponent designated in a bracket system. 
Now over the last few weeks Leinenkugel brewery of Chippewa Falls, WI has introduced Summer Shandy. Somehow I still don’t think the tastes of beer and citrus go together.
On Opening Day last Friday I realized that for the first time in my entire life Bob Feller was not here. I was an Indians fan in the 40s. Although I lived 100 miles from Cleveland and not even in Ohio I grew up in “Indians Country”. Al Rosen, BobbyAvila,Early Wynn and Bob Lemon were my baseball role models. And though Bob would retire just a few years after I “discovered” baseball, he always represented the history of Tribe greatness.
What occurred to me this week is that he pitched in League Park. So ancient a site that it is only a distant historical fact to most Clevelanders. He saw almost the entire life span of Municipal Stadium. He was there Opening Day at the new Jacob’s/Progressive Field in 1994. 58 years after he debuted as an Indian in 1936. Three years before I was born!
The book, simply entitled Darts, (out of print) was published by Elliot Right Way in Surrey, England. The book remains a key source for anyone wanting to learn or write about the early history of our sport and its organisation – and it has some humour too – and some poems. 
The traditional way of playing the games by amateurs like us is to copy the big boys. That is, cork goes first and first to a given number wins. The problem with this, some say, is that it puts too much weight on the cork throw. Statistics have shown that the winner of the cork has an overwhelming advantage. At all levels of competition. The answer, its suggested, is that both players or teams throw the same number of darts after the cork. No game would end until the team behind in the score throws the same number of darts.
An English company is offering an interesting solution to the old “how do we light this dartboard” problem. 
The first thing is that the Professional Dart Corporation (PDC) should probably be named the Profession Betting-on-Darts Corporation. It is more an organization about betting than darts. None of the incredibly high prize money total or the worldwide free video links would exist without the revenue made on Ladbrooke’s betting profits. The originators of the TV coverage don’t allow log-on by U.S. viewers, but the gaming sites supply anyone the access to them so that wagers can see their investments go down the drain. 
Today John (X) Krecek checks into the Cleveland Clinic for shoulder surgery. The repair is necessary because an earlier operation was botched. John has gone through numerous tests and therapies, none have alleviated the pain. Recovery and rehab will take months. 
We now return to the soundtrack with “King” Richard’s story. 
Dan’s soundtrack has the shortest explanation of the entire team. The laid-back soft-spoken member, when asked several times to expand on why this was his song, he said only, “It just makes me feel good”. Then later, “...and it makes me happy with beer and darts”. Or in the words of Little Feet’s first song, Willin’ from 1970, "weed, whites and wine".
Little Feat - Sailin' Shoes
One of the most recognizable opening guitar riffs of the last 30 years. And it shows up recently in the Iron Man films. It peaked in the U.S. at No. 37 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1981 and was No. 51 on Billboard's Top Tracks chart. The song was ranked No. 4 by VH1 on their list of the 40 Greatest Metal Songs.
Chief is the first to admit that he’s not much of a music person. His soundtrack however is connected directly to darts. 
Mongo Santamaria was an integral figure in the fusion of Afro-Cuban rhythms with R&B and soul, paving the way for the boogaloo era of the late 1960s. His 1963 hit recording of Herbie Hancock's "Watermelon Man" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998.
Steel’s soundtrack wasn’t really a dart background but it is an interesting story. 
