Good Times
It has been a great couple of weeks for darts for me; let me tell you all about it! First off I shot off in our Thursday night mixed-singles' league woman's shoot for the All Star Team for Windy City Darters. Boy, that was a mouthful. In case you are not confused yet, I will continue. The Windy City Darter's held an All-Star shoot at the Purple Hotel in Lincolnwood - our Thursday night mixed-league team jointly decided to send one man (the Team MVP) and one woman (Team MVP Runner-Up) to compete in the All-Star shoot. The winner's of the Windy City All-Star shoot go on in late September or October to represent the North side of Chicago in the Northside vs. Southside tourney, to be held at Chicago's own Di's Den.
I played in our team's woman's event and one my first match. From there I went on to play the team's other woman and unfortunately lost. I gave it my best shot though I really, really, really wanted to win. After finishing (losing that is) our match, winner Linda Saloman confided that she would not be in town for the All-Star shoot-off so she was forfeiting her spot to me. So, even though I lost it turns out that I was actually going to be representing our team (The Sponge Reef Got Darts Again team out of Schaumburg, Illinois) at the All-Star shoot. At first the news seemed almost anticlimactic. I wanted to go and compete at the All-Star Shoot because I won the spot after my team's shoot-off not simply because Saloman could not be there herself. But, after thinking about it I decided that darts are darts and I wanted to compete and HECK! if Saloman could not attend then I was going to go and do my best. From there my excitement grew!
I started getting ready by stopping by "The Reef" a couple of times a week to practice before the big shoot-off at the Purple Hotel. The first night of practice I met 2 new darters - at least new to me: Walter, an experienced Windy City Darter and his protege of 4 weeks: Kevin. Together we played partners, talked a little strategy and a little about warm-up games as well as about the upcoming Windy City Open, the possibility of shooting as partners, possible future teams and so on. It is just so great to meet other "Passionate Darters" when you least expect it. For a 4 week beginner Kevin was doing great - he clearly grasped the concept of the strategy for the different games (cricket, '501 and '301 DIDO steel-tip) as well as chalking and concentrating on his stance and release. At the upcoming September Windy City Open in Chicago, both Walter and Kevin will be shooting Men's Open Doubles. (Good luck to both Kevin and Walter...) At the end of the evening we traded E-mail addresses and agreed to be in touch and to meet for future "practice" sessions. All in all it was a great night! Not only did I meet a couple of new people but I picked up a few tips along the way. Let's face it - part of the attraction of darts is not only the sport itself and the competition but also the people and making new dart friends along the way. Yes indeed that was a great night of darts at The Reef!
That upcoming Saturday was the big All-Star shoot at the Purple Hotel. The night before I laid my clothes out for the next day, got my darts and parts ready, set my alarm clock and settled in for a good night's sleep. Come Saturday morning I was ready to get to the Purple Hotel, warm-up, focus, be aggressive and win. WOOOOOHHHHHHOOOO! I was ready and itching to get over to the tournament hall. After an hour drive up there from the Chicago suburbs (there is no easy way to get to the Purple Hotel from my house and by the way - the place really is called The Purple Hotel) I finally got there. I knew the way to the tournament hall once there from attending other Windy City Darter sponsored tournaments so I quickly walked (gallivanted? skipped?) down to the hall. Darn...they must have moved the tournament hall because there was not a dart board nor another darter in sight. Where was everyone? Did I get the time wrong? Maybe I was just really, really, really early!
After hiking back up to the hotel's reception area I realized that I was (in all my excitement to compete) a day early. "Well" I told myself "at least I was a day early rather then a day late!". There was no point in getting upset and at least I did not miss the competition!
The next day was Sunday and after going through the same routine to ready myself for the big All Star Shoot-Off, I traveled to The Purple Hotel on Sunday morning ready once again to warm-up, focus, be aggressive and win. This time there were plenty of darters there as well as Windy City board members in the process of setting up all the (temporary and self-supporting/stand-up) tournament boards. Yes, it was a bright sunny day; just a great day for playing darts and I was ready to get started and warm-up. As soon as that first board was up with lights, I sauntered over with my steel-tip darts to warm-up. That is when another darter, someone named Phil, asked politely if I wanted to play a warm-up match. "Great!" I replied though there was not any scoreboards or paper for the grease pencils to keep score. I was happy to have some competition to warm-up and we agreed to play double-in double-out 101 and to keep scores out-loud or in our heads rather then using anything to write our scores down. It felt great to be setting up my stroke and release and practicing my diddles for the middle and doubles as well as solid numbers. Even though we made a few mistakes it was good to practice our subtraction (without paper) as well. That all makes for great tournament warm-ups.
Phil was clearly a better and more consistent shot then I was though I gave him a run for his money. After many games I wanted to mix things up and asked if he wanted to play "50-Out". He was not familiar with that game so after a quick explanation (it is a 3-dart game where the 1st dart is at the double-bull with the next 2 darts used to double-out of 50 if you do NOT hit the double-bull). From there we played 50-Out for about half an hour. It is amazing that the more you aim for the double-bull, the more you will hit it...while many people stop practicing and tell themselves "I better sit down and save those darts for later"...I strongly believe that we each have an infinite amount of "great darts" and the more we each throw in practice, the more we have when it comes time to shooting the "real" thing such as league or tournament play. Yes indeed, it was turning out to be a great day for darts!
Again it was time for something new so this time Phil suggested we play "Boxes" and invited his buddy Erroyl over to our board to join us. After introductions (they both seemed like very personable and talented darters) we did indeed play Boxes. That is a game where the 1st person starts (most likely throwing at 20s) and the next person has to match or "beat" their number. If they do not, then the darter gets "a line" or a minus point. After 4 lines or -4 points, the darter is out. So every time the next darter has to beat the last darter's score. That was a fun game though playing with 2 much more skillful darters then myself left me in the hole most of the time. Don't get me wrong, I gave it my all however I only won one leg of Boxes. Still, I was happy with my warm-up and ready to sit down to rest before the All-Star Shoot actually started.
From Board #1, I sauntered over to join another group of darters who had staked out seats at one of the large round tables in the center of the tournament hall. I felt like I was at a homecoming of sorts! I ran into so many darters that I had not seen for some time and each time someone stopped to say "Hello, How are you???" there were plenty of hugs and well-wishes. Yes indeed, it was turning out to be a great day - lots of good darts and nice darters - you just can't ask for more, can you? (OK, that next question will be answered later in this column...)
The men's events were beginning to be called and as I sat there I grew more and more anxious! I was warmed-up, rested-up and ready to play. Finally and it seemed like forever, I was called to a board to play. I won the first match - though my darts were not stellar they were good enough to get me to the next round and I was pleased. It was then that I realized how much fun that I was having (it is always a little more fun to win versus losing) and just how long it had been since I competed in a women's singles' event and not necessarily a doubles' event like at a blind draw. It had been too long! Gosh, I love this game and I am indeed "The Passionate Darter"...
When the day of darts was finished I had reconnected with so many old friends, made some new friends and threw some great darts as well as some mediocre darts. I had the should-have, would-have, could-have been a Ton80 (trip20, trip20 and big-fat single-5) as well as a couple of rounds of trips in Cricket. I shot some flawless outs - huge outs where I doubled out right away, lost a few diddles for middle along the way and made some major screw-ups regarding strategy a few times (do NOT shoot at a closed number in cricket for points...). But! All in all it was a great day and indeed the only thing better then a great day of darts and darters is actually placing in the tournament and making the All-Star Team! Yes indeed, I made the team. I was and am ecstatic and very much looking forward to another great day of darts for the big Northside/Southside Shoot-Off at Di's Den. Oh boy, I made it! You could not have wiped the smile off my face I was just that happy for the entire day! And in my mind, when all was said and done and I was back in the car traveling home I remembered that I love this game and have really missed tournament play. I made a mental note to look at local tournament schedules and start playing more. Yes indeed, I love this game and I really am "The Passionate Darter"!
What else made it a great couple of weeks for darts? As a webmaster for "The Passionate Darter Website" I had received a couple of E-mails - very complimentary E-mails this last week from other darters who had somehow found and perused my website. I am very proud of this website and everything that I have put into it and it tickles me to no end when I receive an E-mail that compliments me on what I have done and published here on this site. One E-mail was from a darter named Joe offering to send me a dart patch for my coffee-table project (visit his website at Team Ton80.com, another was from Jim Wall, President? of a dart league from West Virginia who shared that he was "passionately in love with my website"! What an ego boost that is for me! Don't worry, I am pretty humble but I must admit that it really is quite an ego boost to receive such great E-mails from other darters out there in cyberland both near and far!
Still, another darter requested a reciprocal link from my website to Dart Directory.com which I was happy to oblige and there was yet one more "good" E-mail this past week and that was from local Chicago-area entertainer Andy Martello. As a fellow passionate darter Andy complimented me on my site (gosh, I am actually blushing now!) and commented via E-mail on local dart store owner Jim Kroll and his Streamwood, Illinois store named "King of Darts". It turns out that King of Darts is closing on November 1, 2006 and Martello shared his thoughts about how horrible it is that the Chicago area may be losing such a great dart store - and someone has got to buy the store and continue to successfully run King of Darts and offer a local outlet with such a great supply of darts, parts and dart knowledge. After several E-mails back and forth, Martello and I met up in person at King of Darts and spoke directly with store owner Kroll. Martello and I each had the same idea: exactly how does one go about buying a dart store, can he, we or me afford it and what does it take to run a successful dart retail business???!!! After all, Kroll has been in business for 16 years so he has done so many things "right". We both wanted to know how Kroll had got himself into the business ("GUTS" he told us) and what it would take to actually run a store. Our conversations have seemed almost surreal. Wouldn't that be the ultimate??? I mean, to actually make a living doing something with darts that is. I do not think that I am good enough for the pro-circuit (HA!) and this website is just for the love of the sport, not necessarily to pay the mortgage. Could you imagine doing something with darts - something that you love and something that puts you constantly in touch with other darters while paying all your bills AND building a nest egg for retirement? How does one actually get a small business loan to buy a dart store and could this possibly be an actual reality for some passionate darter (like myself? or Andy? or YOU???)? OK, so I do not have any money. Maybe there is a way - I don't know yet and I am doing research on this and continuing to investigate this. And of course I have bought a lottery ticket for the Mega-Millions game scheduled for tonight.
Should I win the lottery (now that would be something now, wouldn't it???) I will definitely buy the dart store and continue the King of Darts successful dart retail store. If there is any way, any way to figure this out, if there is any way to feasibly buy a dart store then I am going to do my dandiest to figure it out. Problem is I still have to put a roof over my head and food in my belly in the meantime but again, if there is a will there is a way and if there is indeed a way then I will find it!
Yes indeed, it has been a great couple of weeks of darts, darters, E-mails from darters, meeting new darters, playing/winning and so on. Isn't it strange how some of the best times are not those times that you actually planned in your mind moment by moment but rather are those times that just seem to unfold before you as you go about living your life and doing your thing? Yes indeed, I really do love darts!
As always, shoot well and I will see you at the line.
P.S. Visit local entertainer Andy Martello's Website at Andy Martello.com. Tell 'em "The Passionate Darter" sent you and be sure to check out his daily blog. Again, as always, shoot well and I WILL see you at the line.