Well, where do I start?
What a great week of darts it's been so far, the Grand Slam of Darts is in full swing, Barney's looking good again, Taylor proved he's human, Anastasia won on TV, Hankey flipped his lid and blamed everyone else (again), and Sid Waddell was nowhere to be seen...(just a joke, we all love the Geordie Lip, for some reason). It's difficult to know which to talk about first...so i'll talk about something completely different.
ITV4
Once again this year ITV4 have put on a great presentation, it's been a joy to watch. Even the less exciting games have been enjoyable thanks to the professional and knowledgable commentators and presenters. It's always good to hear what Chris Mason has to say, you can almost feel his passion for the sport through the screen, Alan Warrinor-Little has even more experience than Chris at the top level and gives an educated insight into the procedings, they really do put the BBC to shame. Then on top of that you have Stuart Pyke giving behind-the-scenes updates on Twitter, wonder if Tony Green will be doing the same come January...
That's not a dig at the BDO by the way, it's a dig at the BBC's stale output and the way they still see darts as small-time. The set-up for the Winmau Masters was bordering on embarrassing. The commentary was dull and uninspiring, the players looked awkward dodging customer's tables on the way to the stage and the lack of markers and only a plasma tv on the floor to show the scores to the players showed a complete lack of organisation. A lot of people criticise the BDO for being old fashioned (i'm not saying it isn't, it clearly is) but to be fair to them they only put on two televised tournamets a year and both are hosted by the lacklustre team at the BBC.
Still, back to more positive issues...
From Russia With Love!
It was great to see Anastasia Dobromyslova finally get that monkey off her back and beat a man on television. I felt sorry for Vincent van der Voort to be honest, he came in for some rough treatment from the fans, which - if you'd seen the previous matches involving ladies - was to be expected. The crowd always side with the lady in these matches, it's nothing against van der Voort or John Part or Phil Taylor, it's just that the crowd would like to see a woman win on the big stage. I must admit I got totally involved in this game emotionally, towards the end I was cheering Anastasia's trebles and willing van der Voort to miss! When that 100 checkout went in I cheered and punched the air as if a close friend had won the match, I know i'm not the only one!
Speaking of Vincent van der Voort, where did that game against Taylor come from?! All of a sudden Phil 'The Power' Taylor - the 14 time World Champion who regularly averages over 105 - has an average of 90 and can't hit a 180 for love nor money! Well, when that happens it takes a big man to step up and finish him off, and in darts there aren't many bigger than van der Voort!
The Count - (maybe we should remove the letter 'o')
Did anyone really expect Ted Hankey to behave? Did anyone really expect the crowd to be totally respectful? Thought not.
I have utmost respect for Hankey's achievements in darts, he's one of the top names in the sport for a reason. But, his temperament doesn't lend itself to the big arena shows that the PDC put on regularly. He's proven at the Lakeside regularly that he can't handle any noise while he's on the stage, and - as a long-time BDO player - he's never had to play in front of boisterous crowds fuelled on overpriced warm beer and no-named cider in plastic bottles. Some say the crowd were out of order (some have gone to the extent of condemning the PDC because of it) but to be honest I didn't think the crowd did that much wrong. One drunken woman shouted "miss!" as Hankey was throwing for double 6 (which he hit with the next dart) and was quickly ejected (by all accounts), I'm not excusing her behaviour, she was completely out of order and should never be allowed into a darts event again, but, one person doesn't make an entire crowd. Yes they were booing him, but this was a man who had made several disparaging comments about the PDC, their fans and their hero Phil Taylor. What did he expect?
In the end after two poor performances he finally put in a good shift against Simon Whitlock but was on the wrong end of an amazing comeback and was dumped out of the competition, he'll be back next year I fancy, and i'm sure he'll have plenty to say in the build up to next year's competition. I don't think he'd ever fit in at the PDC, which brings me to my next subtitle:
The Silverback and The Dazzler
How settled to Tony O'Shea and Darryl Fitton look in the PDC set-up? From the very first time "Hey you! Don't watch that, watch this!" came blearing out of the speakers at the Civic Hall you could tell Darryl Fitton was right at home. As the strains of Madness filled the air, Fitton did his usual walk-on in the style of Suggs (although he'd left his trademark sunglasses in the car) and the crowd lapped it up. They took to him warmly and were disappointed to see him lose to an impressive Steve Maish. Fitton's teammate and friend Tony O'Shea looked even more comfortable, again the crowd went wild for his walk on and cheered him all the way through his opening match with Brian 'Pecker' Woods. He's never once looked out of place and not only has he impressed the fans at the Civic Hall, but the Internet forums have been buzzing with discussions of O'Shea making the switch from BDO to PDC. Whether that happens or not we'll have to wait and see, I don't think Tony wants to give up his place in the England team but he may be enticed by the PDC after seeing what they have to offer this week.
Tony O'Shea will play Phil Taylor in the Grand Slam of Darts quarter finals on Saturday.
Well, i think that'll just about do me for now, i'll try to keep this updated as often as possible, there's always something going on in darts so i'll have no shortage of stories, I just hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy writing them.
One last thing, if you like reading about darts and want to discuss the sport you should pay EverythingDarts.com a visit straight away. Once you sign up you'll get a free set of flights in the post! We have several pro players signed up willing to help you with your game and loads of regular members who are knowledgable and love the game. Get yourself over there! http://www.everythingdarts.com
Thanks for reading dart fans
'Appy 'arrers
Bob
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