The Adrenaline at Playoffs

Now that I have a moment to sit back and catch my breath I want to write about the last few rounds of playoffs for Thursday mixed league. Last I wrote we had won our first round of playoffs and we're ready, willing and couldn't wait for the next round. With one playoff win under our belts we knew we had a long way to go before getting to the finals and had to concentrate on one round at a time. So this last Thursday was the 2nd round of playoffs against the Mulligan's team. The Mulligan's team is a cool bunch of darters with Matt, Tim, Jodi, and Molly (who did her best to give us the hatchet job). They were an excellent group of darter and any particular match could have gone either way, for either team. It's not necessarily the best team who wins a night of playoffs. It's my theory that we all have moments of greatness, both as individuals and together as teams and whomever wins is the team who has thrown the better darts at that particular moment in time. Given another moment in time, another darter or another team might have won. But the Sponge Reef Got Darts Again team prevailed in a nail-biter that went all 7 matches. There were good darts by all, heart palpitations I am sure by all but at the end of the evening our team (Sponge Reef) managed to squeak it out in the 7th match and move on to the next round of playoffs scheduled for the following day, Friday.

That Thursday after winning against Mulligans, which I really didn't expect us to do, we actually closed out the bar! It was a long night of 7 matches and took all evening to finish playoffs. We had little time to spend in our home bar celebrating as it was last call for alcohol (already?) and the bartender, Music Sing Along Director and the those who had to get up the next day for work were anxious to get on our way. We all left the bar to find over 7 inches of snow on the ground and on our cars, with a thin layer of ice on our winshields BUT we won! However late the hour after closing out the bar and being thrust into the cold snowy weather outside we were elated and looking forward to the next night of playoffs, the next night or rather later that day as it was after midnight! After some 15 - 20 minutes to clean off and warm off our cars - we each drove home underneath the clear blue skies clouded with snow blowing around in the peaceful calm of the middle of the night, with smiles on our faces knowing we were going to have to be ready in less then 24 hours for the next round of playoffs. Nothing could have wiped the grins off of our faces and my husband and I drove home excitedly recapping every dart and every great play that happened during the evening, proud in the fact that our team won and excitedly looking forward to the next round. It just doesn't get any better then that - having a somewhat new team with a new Captain that "gels" together and that has that special camaraderie that isn't always easy to come by. Yes, we all knew it could have gone either way for either team - there were so many outshots available by each team BUT we pulled it out, the Sponge Reef team made it - Yes! indeed we were going to the next round of playoffs. It doesn't get much more exciting than that - I don't know how else to explain it. Some darters have been playing in league for years without ever having made it to finals let alone getting past 2 rounds of playoffs and here we were and we made it and win lose or draw we were going to be playing again that next Friday night. And after a few late night calls from our bar to the other bars hosting playoffs we realized we were not only proceeding to the next round of playoffs but we had a higher seed or percentage rate then the other winning team that we would be playing, hence, we would be playing at our home bar, truly our home bar where we feel most comfortable and where all our friends and the bar regulars would be on hand to cheer us on. So in the still of the peacefulness of the middle of the night we each drove home knowing we needed to be bright eyed and bushy-tailed that next night for the next round of playoffs. At least we didn't have to travel far to play, there's nothing like playing at home during playoffs.

When our team started meandering in on Friday night at the bar it was as if we had never left. The same Music Sing Along Director was there, the same bartender, the same regulars as if nobody had even left and believe me I felt it. I was tired, damn tired but looking forward to the playoffs. What were the chances that we were going to win a 3rd round? I didn't give much thought to it knowing that I had to concentrate on my energy levels, warming up and getting into the zone. I don't think it would have mattered we were all just tickled pink to be there at our home bar for the 3rd round. But then we started talking...and visualizing what it would be like to go all the way - to make it to finals and win. I had to turn away because I am a bit superstitious and didn't want to count my chickens before they hatched. Who were we playing that night? Gamblers - we weren't sure which Gambler's team we were playing but ALL the Gambler's teams are good so I was a bit concerned. What really helped to relax me (besides the beer and all the folks who were there to cheer us on) was the fact that once again we were at our home bar together with the knowledge that we had come farther then any of us had come together as a team before so we were already ahead of the curve. Not only that but we had a good team and every team has moments of greatness. Two new darters on the team especially, Barb and Jeff, were new to steel-tip darts and this was a first for them. They were hungry to win and excited. Their excitement was infectious and the rest of the team, Captain included couldn't help but be carried away by their enthusiasm. They knew no bound and knew no fear. They were new to the game and wanted to win and that came across in a strong way to the rest of the team members. That was balanced out by Andy, somewhat new to the game and certainly to making it several rounds on Thursday mixed league together with the veteran players, myself, Linda and Mike the Captain who knew we could do it and had the confidence from years of play to know when to step up to the plate and stand up and throw darts, your best darts when they are needed. Sure, we all had missed shots, but we all had decent and consistent shots but most importantly we all hit those clutch shots when we needed to win our matches. Yes, that Friday night against Gambler's went all 7 matches but once again we came out victorious. Our joy was off the map and I even thing Barb cried tears of happiness. For Barb and Jeff who were new to the team it was quite a victory to make it though another round of playoffs but to also shoot those winning darts that helped the team get there. Yes, there were some amazing darts by all - it truly was a team effort and we won again. Unbelievable is the only word to describe our happiness, joy, and pride. There were announcements by the present board member and congratulations to go around for all. Yes, any match could have gone either way and we started out down 2 matches so I'm not sure we expected to win but as the evening progressed so did our momentum, desire to win, and determination to hit those winning shots. Yes, we won again and not we were going to be playing on Sunday for 1st and 2nd place in the middle division for city championship... Wow!

To be continued...