Darts Season Comes to a Close

Darts season wrapped up on Monday as we failed to make the playoffs this season. I have to admit though, that after being in the basement of the "C" division last season, we did well to scramble into second last in "B" division. The team is in jeopardy right now as there appears to be some uncertainty about returnees. The next season doesn't start until mid January, so plenty of time to sort it out.

Monday night we faced off against the #1 team in the league, which features the top three players in the league as well, so we knew it was going to be a long shot. As the "Bearded One" and I made it to 3 Alley, we discussed our impending doom and hoped to throw well and not get blown out. As luck of the draw would have it, I got paired up against a cat named "Duke" believe it or not in the first singles match. He is the top player in the league and had only lost one match this season (I am ranked about #25). I was pretty relaxed to play him, as I had no expectations and he is quite a friendly guy, so I knew it would be fun either way. I won the bull and chose 501 as the first game and was throwing well and keeping pace with him as we counted down...I started tensing up a bit as I began to realize that I had a chance to beat him if I kept on throwing well. I had a dart to win it, but missed a double 9 by a fraction and then ended up losing game 1. Just to have a dart to beat him though was exciting, and I was pumped up going into the cricket leg. I was right on the mark and closed out the first cricket game with a 3 bull combo. One leg each...wooohooo. We went at the bull again and Duke chose cricket for the rubber match. It was close getting down to the end of the cricket leg and I had 16 open and was 21 points down. I pulled a trick out of the Bearded One's book and took a look at 16 from an angle and sure enough, I threw the triple. I closed the bulls with the next dart and then had only to hit one bull to win. God...what a good feeling. Surprisingly Duke was pretty cool about it. There are lots of guys in the league that get really pissed off when they lose, but we went and had a Jager and a laugh after.

Beardy went up against the #2 player in the league and played well, but #2 played a spectacular match and never gave him any openings. He was able to win a leg from Duke and company in a doubles cricket match though with a hot 5 mark start on the 20's that Dukey couldn't recover from. Nice Nice.

Darts...there is not a more frustrating and satisfying game. Looking forward to next season.