With the start of league beginning just around the corner, I knew I had to spend some quality time in front of the board practicing, warming up, going through my pre-league paces throwing at my doubles and bullseyes and playing some competitive darts against some willing opponents. About every other day my husband and I have ventured out to my favorite local pub, Sponge Reef in Schumburg, Illinois. It is a small little joint with cheap beer, good pub grub, and two brand new boards just calling my name "Come Play Me, Come Play Me!" So I was excited the other night when my husband rushed home early from work and sang out "Put your shoes on honey, let's go out and play some darts!" You didn't have to twist my arm too much, I was ready and longing to play!"

When we got to the pub, there were two Master's players warming up the board. They were throwing some awesome darts with tons galore, T21 outs and so on. Yes, these were skillful players but that has never stopped me from challenging a darter or two along the way. Whether more skillful or not, my mantra is everyone has moments of greatness and anyone is beatable at any given moment in time, the trick is to know the strategy of the game and then of course, to have the accuracy and precision to nail your targets. No, Master's players don't intimidate me and that's one way to get better - to play against more skillful opponents who hopefully might teach me something along the way.

So I took out my darts and waited for my time at the board. I wasn't in any hurry - the Wheel of Fortune was on the wide screen television and that is one of my favorite games to watch and guess the puzzles. I was very engrossed in the Wheel and patting myself on the back for having guessed the seemingly impossible puzzles. Darts would have to wait, I wanted to watch the final puzzle!

At that point, my husband introduced himself to the other darters who were taking a break. They were getting ready to leave and after watching the final puzzle my intent was to either challenge the Master's players or play my husband Andy. But at the moment, my eyes were glued to the television and the final puzzle. Then, my normally shy husband introduced himself to the other darters, John and Mike...The puzzle was over and I was victorious at guessing the puzzle so I turned my attention to my Andy's conversation with the other darters. They had been at the bar for some time and were getting ready to leave when Andy introduced me to them "Sherilyn, this is Mike and John." At that point their eyes lit up and they both exclaimed, we know you - we read "The Passionate Darter" website and they pumped my hands as if to say "So glad to meet you..." They were getting ready to leave but the one fellow said I want to stay and talk darts with the Passionate Darter so he picked up his cell phone and called his wife to tell her he would be late. We then spent the next half-hour talking about darts and it was a delightful conversation. By golly, if I'm not throwing darts at the line, or writing about darts online, the next best thing is talking darts to other passionate darters...And I would be remiss not to mention that secretly it gave me quite an ego boost to meet people who know my name, know my website and seemed to be fans. In fact, one of the guys shared that he has read EVERY article on my dart website. That warmed the cockles of my heart and the wheels were turning about the next stories that I would write on my dart website.

Oh, we talked about good darts, those oh-so-right-there darts, team captains and the teams they were on for which they had stories to tell. They were not only good darters, and not only complimented me on my dart website but they shared some of their team experiences, both good and bad and echoed their passion for the game. Again, it was just a delightful concentration. As things wound down, it was time for them to go but they promised to be in touch with me through my website, offered some of their stories to tell so I would publish them on my site, and as they were getting to leave I had to say "And next time, let's actually play some darts together!" It was a good time and we had only been at the bar for less than an hour. Yes, indeed, it is the people that make this game interesting and we all have stories to tell. And being more skillful Master's players, I knew that I had things to learn from them. Hopefully that will happen on another day when our schedules are more in-sync and we are both there with plenty of time to actually throw some darts. There is nothing like some good competition to help you throw better and learn new strategies. I hope they aren't all talk and actually do send me an E-mail so that we can stay in touch. It's always nice getting to meet and know other passionate darters, especially those who know my dart website. So, Mike and John, if you're out there and reading this, drop me a line so we can stay in touch and schedule some marathon dart sessions....

Aren't darters just nice people?

This brings be back to a week earlier when my husband rushed home from work after quitting time and again, he excitedly said "Honey, put your shoes on, we're going out to play darts!" Music to my ears...No one ever has to twist my arm at all when it comes to playing darts, I am always game!

We were there early enough to practice and warm up on the actual game board. Lately my practice sessions (anything outside league) have been a bit frustrating. One moment I can get in on '301 but I cannot get out with that winning double, even though I know my numbers and outs better than I am able to hit them.. And the next moment, I am a cricket warrior, taking no prisoners, playing smart darts and burying my opponent. It's hit or miss lately but I don't get frustrated as I have realized I just need to play more. I love all the games and have no fear of hitting a double but cricket, AHHHHH cricket, it is the thinking man's game (or in this case the thinking gal's game) and I love the fast-paced challenge and knowledge that one good turn with the right smart darts can turn the game around in a heartbeat. That's the fascination, the challenge, making the best decisions and following it up with the right darts. Gosh darn it, I love the game of cricket!

We warmed up a bit - let me set the stage! We were playing at our home bar, we were there first and through the unspoken rules of darts, we owned the board and were ready for challengers. At that point, in walked the infamous "Boys from Easy Street." Disenchanted with their own dart bar they were searching for a new place to call home and were there at Sponge Reef for some team practice. I first met Scott - wearing black pants and a loose fitting black button down collared shirt he looked as though he were right at home and wore the uniform of a professional darter. Watching him play, he had a beautiful stroke, with little or no movement below the arm, and skillfully hit his targets. And if he missed he was right there. Another Master's player he was beyond my league but again, I believe everyone has moments of greatness, myself included and everyone is beatable at any given point of time. Joining Scott were his teammates from Easy Street, Peter, who looked like a hippy with long hair, an odd corded necklace hanging from his neck and darts that were oh-so-right there. These two would be tough to beat but I was ready to play and as far as I was concerned it was "Game On!" so I challenged them to a doubles match with my husband Andy as my partner. I could see it in my husband's eyes - the others were better than us, we didn't seem to have a chance and I knew Andy was thinking "How in the heck are we going to beat these guys?" Never say never Andy - every match is a new beginning and this was no different. How painful could a match of darts be against a couple of darters who were seemingly more skillful than we were? Before Andy could utter a word, I had challenged the two to a match and made the introductions: "Andy, this is Scott and Peter, the boys from Easy Street!" Reading my husband is like reading a book, which is probably why he is no good at poker and I could see the pleading in his eyes "Damien, what have you gotten us into now?" but that was only the beginning.

We started off the first match with a diddle, Andy deferred to me. Who could blame him, I was the one who set up the challenge! Besides, I was closer to the line and in our lingo that meant I was to diddle. Fine with me. Hoping not to have our clocks cleaned I diddled the best I could but it was no contest. Scott, with his easy smooth and effortless stroke nailed the double-bull. UT-OH! Was that the sign of things to come? No siree Bob, we started out that first game and we won, we won, we won! Granted my partner came through and nailed that final game shot but in only two games we beat the excellent Boys from Easy Street. After shaking hands, I turned to my husband and said "I knew we could do it, I knew we could do it." And before my husband had a moment to catch his breath I was already challenging the guys to another match. That's when Andy found his voice and told me "What are you crazy? They are much better than we are and we only got lucky that we won that match. Let's go out as winners and decline the next match...C'mon H, think agout it. Our chances of winning another match are about nil. SO, let's go out winners, let them have the board and be on our way."

Well, there was just one problem with that. In all my exuberance, after beating the Easy Street Boys in 2 games straight, I had darts in my blood. My heart was pounding, I mean who doesn't like winning? I told Andy, "Besides, it's our home bar, we won so we own the board, we just WON dammit, we have a full pitcher of beer to go and we CANNOT back down from a challenge!" This might as well as fell on deaf ears. Andy pleaded with me. "PUH-LEASE. These are Master's players - we won our match so pat yourself on the back and let's sit back, drink our beer and watch them play darts!" My reply? "Hell NO. We won. We challenged them (Okay, with due respect to my husband I challenged them on OUR behalf) and I'm not backing down from a challenge, especially with a full pitcher of beer." Andy simply rolled his eyes in the back of his head and resigned himself to the fact that there is no talking to me while playing darts so we were there and along for the ride. He appealed to me one last time, almost begging me and pleading with me to let things be, go out as winners and give them the board. No way. You see, my goal was the same as Andy's, to go out as winners but that would be AFTER the second challenge. You see, I wanted to win 2, count 'em 2 matches against the Easy Street Boys. I swear if there was a back door my husband would have ran out of it and left me there to honor my challenge all by my lonesome. But the back door led to no where so Andy was stuck. We would play the next match.

Again, Andy made me diddle as if he wanted no part of things. We lost the diddle but won the first game. The Boys from Easy Street really wanted to win now! Sure, they have their pride and though they had good shots, they left us a chance at game shot and we took it. AND, they were also playing against a girl - sometimes the kiss of death because men competing against women somehow find it deep within themselves to find their testosterone and kick butt, anything but to lose to a girl.

Andy started drinking heavily. He did not want to be there. His plan was to win a match if we were lucky, sit back, drink beer and go home. But, being married, he could not silence my voice and before he knew what happened I had gotten him into another challenging match against from very skillful players, The Easy Street Boys. Now the score was one to zip and we were up. We needed a bit of humility though and those darters gave us a grand dose of it. They wanted to win as much, if not more, than I did so for that 2nd game they poured it on. And they won. Now the score was one to one, my husband was still drinking heavily and praying his darts would find their target. I mean this other team was good, damn good. Oh, they missed once in awhile but when they did they were close enough to their intended target to make us both worry. Still, I don't believe in ever giving up so I didn't. This time my husband diddled the third leg and it all came down to this. One game left for match and every dart had to count. There was no room to think, no room for mistakes, and no room to throw at the wrong out or to hit poor numbers. EVERY dart had to count cause these boys wanted to win.

The match came down to the last dart where my husband found it within himself to hit some awesome darts and took out something unreal like a Ton21. ALL RIGHT! We won 2 matches, WoooooHooooo. This time I agreed with my husband, it was time to give them the board and to sit back and take it easy, and to wait for our hearts to stop pounding out of our chests. That last game was all Andy and he pulled it out when he needed to. Good for Andy! He filled up our beer glasses shaking his head in disbelief and I told him "See, I told you we could win!"

All in all they were a great group of guys - Scott, Peter, Mark and Les...there were a couple of others but we didn't really play or interact with them. We all shook hands, talked about the matches almost dart for dart and made plans to meet up again for some marathon darts.

All in all it was a great night - good people, good beer, great darts, and new friends. Who could ask for anything more? My goodness, I just love this game. Thanks Scott, Mark, Peter and Les and good luck to you with the upcoming season out of Sponge Reef, for Windy City Darters. Let me know when you're up for a night of friendly competition with yours truly.

As always, shoot well and I'll see you at the line.


Sponge Reef, Schaumburg, IL USA - 2005
Our Favorite Home Bar and the Best Host Ever
Spongee's Husband and Owner Rick Ford