C'mon, Get With The Program: Playoff Pub Scheduling

It is imperative that the Windy City Darters' Mixed League Play-Off Rules are immediately changed in order to be fair to both darters and dart bar owners.

This last season a darter was permanently barred from their home bar. This darter's team made it into the Top 4 of play-offs. Because one of the principal players was barred from playing at their home bar (their team had the best seed which usually means playing at home) the Team Captain called the Windy City Darter's office and rescheduled the match at another bar.

"Play-Off Locations" from the official mixed league play-off rules reads as follows:

"Home teams must provide a suitable venue for play-off matches. Any activities, such as bands D.J.'s, etc. that interfere with the playing conditions may result in a forfeit being awarded to the visiting team. Home teams whose venue cannot accommodate their match due to other activities or other scheduled matches may choose a suitable alternate provided they inform the Board prior to the start of the play-off match."

This means that there are reasons for moving matches - if the air conditioning is out, the bar is flooded, If there is an all night Dance-A-Thon or Karaoke that might interfere with play-offs then there is a legitimate reason for moving play-offs to another bar - not simply because a darter has behaved poorly and been kicked out of their own home bar.

The problem is this rule was not intended to cover the instance of moving a match because a person was kicked out of their home bar. For this reason the play-off rules must be immediately changed to state (under the section titled Play-Off Qualification) that darters must be patrons in good standing in the bar they are scheduled to play at.

It is understandable that the Windy City Board cannot police all darters in the organization, however, without dart bars there will not be any darts therefore it is time to put some trust in these bar owners to determine whether a darter is eligible to play in that particular home bar. In an interview with Bob Bloom (owner of Sidekicks) he says that he was asked by someone from the Windy City office if he cared if his team shot elsewhere. Bloom told me he "did not want to be a bad ass and keep the players, i.e.the rest of the team who did nothing wrong, from play-offs" so he did indeed give the go-ahead for the team to shoot elsewhere. Bloom was NOT happy about his team shooting at another venue. He simply felt he had no choice in the matter and in the spirit of sportsmanship he did not want to penalize the entire team for one darter's mistake. It was a losing situation for Bloom. If he said no, he didn't want the team to play elsewhere then he would be the bad guy. So he said yes. Already he has lost his investment as he has paid this team's fees, given out free team drinks all season, given the team shirts and now lost revenue from play-offs that never took place in his bar. Additionally, this team probably will not shoot out of Sidekicks next season.

What is wrong with this picture? Since when do we punish the bar owner for running his business and cater to the darter who has behaved poorly and will suffer no consequences from the Board? Again, the Board is not expected to police darters but the truth of the matter is that bartenders and bar owners take the barring of a patron from the bar very seriously and most patrons are given warnings first. The Board has to trust that if a dart bar owner has permanently barred a player from entering that establishment that something seriously wrong has occurred. In this particular instance Bloom stated that the incident that took place included a glass which was purposely smashed by the darter and Bloom "will NOT endanger any of his customers because one person is behaving badly and throwing a tantrum." Though an apology was rendered by the darter - it was too little too late which is Bloom's right. Just because someone apologizes for egregious behavior does not mean the apology is automatically accepted.

Let's get back to a time and place where it was a privilege to play darts and players acted with decorum, character and good sportsmanship. This includes darters who are league members have NOT been barred from their own home bar. This player should have forfeited their ability to continue in playoffs. Even if the darter didn't forfeit their right to play, the Team Captain should have found some backbone and refused to play this darter. That is the consequence of being barred from your home bar - you do NOT get to play. Period. Even without this particular darter only 4 matches out of 7 matches were needed to advance to the next round and again, without this darter this feat could still have been accomplished.

Instead the team took the easy way out, called the Board and found another bar to play at. Tsk tsk and shame on the dart bar owner who agreed to host this match with a player barred from another bar.

Is this the type of darter the Board wants in the Top 4 or as the Winner of the Mixed-League, or even as representation of the darters of Chicago?

Based on the Board's decision in this instance and the precedent that has now been set - let us look at a hypothetical situation... The Mixed-League finals were indeed held at Di's Den based on negotiations between Lady Di and the Board much earlier in the season. Let's say this darter had been instead barred from Di's Den earlier in the season. Based on the precedent just set by the Board - the Board would have to move the finals from Di's Den to accommodate this player. Is that what the Board wants to do? While the Board does not want to police darters, instead the Board has chosen to accommodate the (barred) darter(s) and play scheduling tic-tac-toe with the Play-Off matches. Something is not right here.

Fortunately for all involved the solution is simple. The Windy City Board must amend the Play-Off Rules under "Play-Off Qualification" to include something to the effect of "Any team/individual who is ineligible to play in their home bar or the scheduled Play-Off bar will be ineligible for further play-off play." If indeed a player is barred but then the darter and bar owner resolve their differences BEFORE play-offs, then so much the better and there are not any problems. This is actually the goal - to amicably resolve differences before things get out of hand.

It is additionally suggested that Windy City darters who make it to play-offs AND are ineligible for play-offs because they have been barred from either their home bar or a play-off bar (that they have played in or are scheduled to play in) should face the consequences of their actions and be ineligible for play on any Windy City team during the next season of play.

Thank you in advance for your serious and timely consideration in this matter.

With sincere regards,

Sherilyn J. Herkey