March 3, 2006
Column 227
Separating TRUE from FALSE — and an Iceberg Warning!
With the World Series of Darts (WSOD) March to the Mohegan about to become the RACE to the Mohegan – with this weekend’s qualifiers in Philadelphia and Chicago just hours away and with four more to follow over the next fourteen days – the talk, speculation and activity around and about the world of darts (although not all of it related to the WSOD) has picked up considerably.
So before Dartoid’s World moves into a blitz of reporting on the upcoming qualifiers and profiles of the winners of those qualifiers this will bring you up-to-date on other happenings and separate fact from some of the dastardly fiction that is out there.
The rumor that 64-year-old Conrad Daniels – arguably the greatest American darter of all time, who defeated Cliff Inglis way back in 1975 to win the Yorkshire TV Indoor League championship, knocked Eric Bristow out in the first round of the 1978 Embassy World Professional Darts Championship, and won more championships on American soil than probably anybody before or since – has been pounding the board again and will start his WSOD campaign tomorrow at the Philadelphia qualifier is absolutely TRUE. Word that others of this caliber, including Tony Payne, Jerry Umberger, and Larry Butler, are seriously contemplating entering the fray, is also TRUE. The rumor that in an effort to qualify for the one million dollar prize, two-time world champion John Part attempted to change his citizenship from Canadian to American but failed the written naturalization test (thinking the first American president was George Washington Carver) is FALSE. The answer Part actually wrote on the test form was Wayne Gretsky.
Unfortunately (particularly for the darter whose name follows this parenthetical) the rumor that Ed “Bam Bam” DeBehnke will be showing up at the Chicago qualifier with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) knockout Stacy Keibler on his arm is FALSE. How do such rumors get started? I can confirm that it is TRUE that Keibler will be appearing soon as the next Dartoid’s World Double Out Girl.
The rumor that Akron-Canton darts star and WSOD hopeful Dan Carroll threw a perfect 9-darter at the Youngstown Charity Dart Open last weekend is TRUE. The rumor that Bull’s Eye News editor Jay Tomlinson recently equaled this performance (and also grew some hair) in his dreams is also TRUE.
The rumor that Philadelphia’s Mike Broderick and former Philippines darts phenomenon and now Lubbock, Texas resident Ricky Villanueva will be inducted into the National Darts Hall of Fame in July is TRUE. The rumor that Charity Darts Systems’ founder Jim Poloquin will be pissed off to read this here is unequivocally TRUE.
The rumor that some bloke from England – Paul Williams’ (ranked 40th in the world) brother Nick – has created an outstanding four-color poster for Americans to use to promote the WSOD is TRUE. The poster (there are two versions) can be downloaded free of charge at: http://www.sewa-darts.com. Click there now, print it off and hang it in your bar!
The rumor that the infamous Darterz, Mike Danford, has teamed up with Roger Goswell, the man behind the original Phil Taylor website (now the Phil Taylor fan website) to create something called a darts “podcast” is TRUE. Go to http://www.darterz.com to learn more. The initial installment of the thing, which I admit to not understanding in the least, will be broadcast on March 10. The rumor that it will feature moving images of whales with Plaster of Paris casts on their flippers throwing harpoons at the Japanese whaling fleet is FALSE.
The rumor that Unicorn is changing its company name to White Horse with a Horn in its Head is FALSE. The rumor that a Really Big Thing will be unveiled by Unicorn in March is TRUE.
The rumor that after months of tracking through the Moors and negotiating Deep Throat-like with intermediaries in dark parking garages crammed with Minis, yours truly has finally scored the interview of a lifetime is TRUE. Exactly who the interview is with however, will never be told. All that is known and all that will ever be known is that the person or persons who go by the pseudonym MR. RAT know more (and seem to know it BEFORE) about goings-on inside the highest echelons of world of darts than even those who are making the decisions. So stay tuned Barry Hearn. Watch for this interview in this space on a date to be announced.
Finally, the rumor that a giant Texas-sized iceberg has cracked off the southern coast of Greenland and is speeding its way towards England has yet to be substantiated.
I can report however, that those Americans who have already qualified for the WSOD hope that this rumor is TRUE.
From the Field,
Dartoid
