Anybody interested in traveling to interesting places to play darts should participate in the ADO U.S. Team Regionals this weekend. This region's ADO qualifier for the national event is on Saturday, July 28, starting at 11 a.m. at Big Shots Bar in Keansburg, NJ. Click here for the flyer in pdf format. Unfortunately, I can't make it due to some unavoidable commitments, but hey that will just make it more easy for you to qualify! Best of luck to everyone competing.
Did I mention interesting places? Qualifiers making it through to Nationals get a trip to Denver to compete in the National event, and a chance to make the U.S. Team. Make the U.S. Team and you are off to Trinidad and Tobago in 2008!
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Monday, July 23, 2007
World Matchplay & What I'm Doing Over The Summer
I have followed the World Matchplay on the Planet Darts website. They have had some good close matches. Two of the three matches played yesterday went to a tiebreaker system where you have to win by two clear games. Roland Scholten, Wayne Mardle, and Kevin Painter advanced. More games follow this week.
Lately I have been too busy with things going on to attend any tournaments. My five-year old is starting school in about a month, and summer vacation is coming up. The family is going to San Antonio to celebrate my grandmother's 90th birthday. Now that's a milestone I hope to match! I will bring my darts on the trip, as I have heard there are some good dart bars in the area. Some old friends live there too.
I was walking around in New York Penn Station last Friday night and I came across an interesting store called "Tiecoon". As an attorney, I end up wearing ties most days. In fact, I often go straight from work to play in league matches, and I leave the tie on. Anyway, stay with me. When I find a tie store, I always look for dart-related ties. I had success in Tiecoon. They had a very nice Nicole Miller dart tie, and two sets of dart cufflinks. I was also amused by another pair of cuff links that were circular with a glass top, and a roulette wheel underneath. They had a little ball that actually spun around inside! I had to get the tie.
That reminds me...it has been awhile since I did a darts accessory survey. I am resolved that my next week's post will be a follow-up on my previous dart accessory survey, which I did around Valentine's day earlier this year. If you have found some interesting dart accessories (not counting flights), send me an e-mail and I will include them. Until then, good darts!
Lately I have been too busy with things going on to attend any tournaments. My five-year old is starting school in about a month, and summer vacation is coming up. The family is going to San Antonio to celebrate my grandmother's 90th birthday. Now that's a milestone I hope to match! I will bring my darts on the trip, as I have heard there are some good dart bars in the area. Some old friends live there too.
I was walking around in New York Penn Station last Friday night and I came across an interesting store called "Tiecoon". As an attorney, I end up wearing ties most days. In fact, I often go straight from work to play in league matches, and I leave the tie on. Anyway, stay with me. When I find a tie store, I always look for dart-related ties. I had success in Tiecoon. They had a very nice Nicole Miller dart tie, and two sets of dart cufflinks. I was also amused by another pair of cuff links that were circular with a glass top, and a roulette wheel underneath. They had a little ball that actually spun around inside! I had to get the tie.
That reminds me...it has been awhile since I did a darts accessory survey. I am resolved that my next week's post will be a follow-up on my previous dart accessory survey, which I did around Valentine's day earlier this year. If you have found some interesting dart accessories (not counting flights), send me an e-mail and I will include them. Until then, good darts!
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Updated Links
It's been awhile since I cleaned house on my links section. I noticed that several of the blogs and websites I linked had not added any new content in the past two months, so I took them out. I also added some links. Since New York City is so close for us New Jersey players, I added the New York Dart Organization. I also added some darts news and popular dart message boards, including SEWA darts. The Dr. Darts link has some excellent dart history articles. Feel free to e-mail me or comment if you have some other good links.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Las Vegas Desert Classic Final Results & The Law Of Averages
Congratulations to Raymond Van Barneveld, who won the Desert Classic with a 13-6 win over Terry Jenkins. Van Barneveld averaged over 100 per turn in a fine victory. He defeated John Part in the semi-final 11-7 with both players averaging over 100 per turn (15 dart games).
The furthest American was Gary Mawson, who made it to the top 8 where he went out to Terry Jenkins by a score of 10-7. Gary averaged over 92 points per round.
American Darin Young lost a heartbreaker in the top-16 against Dennis Smith. With the score tied 7-7 during the final leg, Dennis had a shot to win and missed. Darin missed double 12 for the win, and Dennis finally hit his double. Darin averaged over 92 points per round in his top 16 effort, and had a similar average in his top 32 game.
Americans Johnny K and Ray Carver lost their top 32 matches, but posted averages of about 88 points per turn.
Why all this attention to scoring averages? I am quick to acknowledge that scoring averages do not tell the whole story. It's possible to have one or two bad games, shoot great the rest of the match, and win despite having a lower average. However, I believe the averages do tell somewhat of a story this time.
I noticed that the top American dart players shooting in longer format, big international tournaments have improved their scoring averages. Last year, and in the several previous years, it seemed that the best our top players could muster in such tournaments were averages in the mid-80's per turn. At the Desert Classic, we had two players averaging in the low 90's per turn, and two in the high 80's. Why is that important?
I note that top players like Van Barneveld and Taylor average over 100 per turn when they are hitting well. However, when they have an off day, that average dips to the low 90's or high 80's per turn. For example, in Taylor's top-32 loss he averaged about 91. The point is, with averages in the low-90's, our top players might reasonably have a chance to win against that top-tier competition when they have an off day. I don't think I could have comfortably said that when the top Americans were averaging in the mid to low 80's. Also, the top American players should start faring better against the rest of the international field, which also tends to average between the mid-80's to mid-90's.
Congratulations to Darin, Gary, John and Ray. The standard is definitely improving, and we can now reasonably expect Americans to be more competitive against international competition.
The furthest American was Gary Mawson, who made it to the top 8 where he went out to Terry Jenkins by a score of 10-7. Gary averaged over 92 points per round.
American Darin Young lost a heartbreaker in the top-16 against Dennis Smith. With the score tied 7-7 during the final leg, Dennis had a shot to win and missed. Darin missed double 12 for the win, and Dennis finally hit his double. Darin averaged over 92 points per round in his top 16 effort, and had a similar average in his top 32 game.
Americans Johnny K and Ray Carver lost their top 32 matches, but posted averages of about 88 points per turn.
Why all this attention to scoring averages? I am quick to acknowledge that scoring averages do not tell the whole story. It's possible to have one or two bad games, shoot great the rest of the match, and win despite having a lower average. However, I believe the averages do tell somewhat of a story this time.
I noticed that the top American dart players shooting in longer format, big international tournaments have improved their scoring averages. Last year, and in the several previous years, it seemed that the best our top players could muster in such tournaments were averages in the mid-80's per turn. At the Desert Classic, we had two players averaging in the low 90's per turn, and two in the high 80's. Why is that important?
I note that top players like Van Barneveld and Taylor average over 100 per turn when they are hitting well. However, when they have an off day, that average dips to the low 90's or high 80's per turn. For example, in Taylor's top-32 loss he averaged about 91. The point is, with averages in the low-90's, our top players might reasonably have a chance to win against that top-tier competition when they have an off day. I don't think I could have comfortably said that when the top Americans were averaging in the mid to low 80's. Also, the top American players should start faring better against the rest of the international field, which also tends to average between the mid-80's to mid-90's.
Congratulations to Darin, Gary, John and Ray. The standard is definitely improving, and we can now reasonably expect Americans to be more competitive against international competition.
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Desert Classic Updates
Two Canadians and an American made it through to the top 16 in action at the Desert Classic. Canadian-born Gary Mawson advanced with a 6-3 performance over Stuart Holden, while fellow Canadian John Part made it past Steve Maish by a score of 6-4. Also advancing was Darin Young, who defeated Tony Eccles and averaged 92.36 points per turn. Good job!
Ray Carver went down to Terry Jenkins by a score of 6-3, and Johnny K lost a nail-biter 6-5 against Alan Tabern. In a surprise, Mark Dudbridge eliminated 13 time World Champ Phil Taylor at the top 32 stage, opening up the field. Dutch star Raymond Van Barneveld is now the man to beat in the tournament. They will draw the match-ups for the top 16 shortly. Good luck to Darin, John and Gary!
Ray Carver went down to Terry Jenkins by a score of 6-3, and Johnny K lost a nail-biter 6-5 against Alan Tabern. In a surprise, Mark Dudbridge eliminated 13 time World Champ Phil Taylor at the top 32 stage, opening up the field. Dutch star Raymond Van Barneveld is now the man to beat in the tournament. They will draw the match-ups for the top 16 shortly. Good luck to Darin, John and Gary!
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
Desert Classic Report
The Las Vegas Desert Classic is going on now, and you can follow the results on the Planet Darts website. All of the best PDC dart players from overseas show up for The Classic. The top world ranked players and several of the best from Canada and the U.S. are seeded into a bracket. Then there are two qualifiers that produce 16 more players to fill out the bracket.
American Ray Carver made it through a tough field in one of the qualifiers, defeating former World Champ Bob Anderson 4-0 in the last round. Johnny K, Gary Mawson and Darin Young qualified on the basis of their rank. American Joe Swick came one round short of making it through the qualifiers.
The field is now narrowed to 32 players. Today Ray will play World #5 Terry Jenkins and Gary will play Stuart Holden in a best of 11 legs contest. Tomorrow Darin plays Tony Eccles and Johnny faces Alan Tabern. I will let you know the results when I get them.
American Ray Carver made it through a tough field in one of the qualifiers, defeating former World Champ Bob Anderson 4-0 in the last round. Johnny K, Gary Mawson and Darin Young qualified on the basis of their rank. American Joe Swick came one round short of making it through the qualifiers.
The field is now narrowed to 32 players. Today Ray will play World #5 Terry Jenkins and Gary will play Stuart Holden in a best of 11 legs contest. Tomorrow Darin plays Tony Eccles and Johnny faces Alan Tabern. I will let you know the results when I get them.
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