Week 27: Juke Box Heroes

Corner Bar played away Tuesday Night at Mulligan's, which is a fun bar on Chester Street in Roselle Park, NJ. Mulligan's has a pool table and a dart board that usually has some action. The kitchen serves burgers and appetizers with a 25 cent buffalo wing special on Tuesday nights. They have Sierra Nevada Pale Ale on tap, which is one of my favorites. The most interesting thing, however, is the juke box.

The juke box caters to a diverse crowd of young and old. They have rap, indie music, alternative, country, oldies, R&B, classic rock, 60's, 70's, 80's, etc. Corner Bar's team is a musically diverse crowd. Dr. Bob plays base guitar in an oldies band. I play recreationally and like many types of music. Tom likes some oldies and 70's. Dave, John and Michele like a wide variety of music, as does Chris, our youngest member. The only exception is that we generally don't like rap, especially the in yo' face type that gets the "explicit lyrics" tag.

We got the word that the Mulligan's team loved exactly that type of rap music. Apparently, if you do not beat them to the juke box, you have to suffer through several excruciating hours of Tupac Shakur, Ludicrus, or NWA. Tom was ready and fed the juke box, followed by Dr. Bob, Chris, and myself. By the time the Mulligan's team arrived, we had about 40 songs selected. I could see the eyes glaze over on the Mulligan's team, as the Eagles, Grateful Dead, Waylon Jennings, and Frank Sinatra played on!

It apparently worked, because they were having great problems with their doubles. I led us off in singles 301 and won both games. My scoring wasn't great but I was hitting my doubles well again. Dave and John were gone, but Michele gamely came and played for us to make five players (one short again). We all won our singles except Michele, who lost 2-1.

Dr. Bob and I won two straight in 501 doubles. We weren't hitting anything spectacular but again we took out the doubles promptly. Chris and Tom hit well in cricket, taking two straight. We threw Michele to the wolves again, in a one vs. two 501 match. No heroics this week! She did not get a shot at a double.

With the two triples games left, our songs finally ran out on the juke box. As Ludicrus' profanity ripped the air, I could see the Mulligan's team waking up. Tom and Chris confidently decided to play two vs. three in triples cricket. They were quickly in a deep hole after a Mulligan's player hit trip 17, trip 16 and single 19 (I think he was shooting at the 19 all 3 darts). They chipped away at Mulligan's lead and finally nosed ahead at the end, with Tom hitting a nice 7 count and leaving Chris the winning shot.

Dr. Bob, Michele and I followed up with a lazy triples 601 game that saw no big shots. We were saved at the end. One of my last songs snuck through the rap playlist as a Mulligan's player took a shot at the double. I am convinced that helped him miss! I planted a double 16 for the win.

Corner Bar finished with a 24-9 win for the night, and our overall match record stands at 27-0. Three more weeks for a perfect season! Man of the match goes to Tom, who hit some nice shots in Cricket, and turned the tide when they were 3 numbers down in the two vs. three triples cricket match. Next week we are home against the Knights of Colombus. Until then, good darts and may you beat the rap (apologies to all you Ludicris fans out there)!