Thursday, May 30, 2019
Column HR259
It’s time again for the BetVictor PDC World Cup of Darts!
Have you noticed that none of the wagering sites have female or transgender names? To be fair, shouldn’t there be a “The BetPickles” or “BetBruce/Caitlyn” or even just a “BetVictor/Victoria” World Cup? Walk-on girls were dumped in the name of political correctness. Is it not time for darts to really take the high ground?
Michael van Gerwen proved during the Premier League final that he’s the hegemony that sits atop the darting world. In the Premier League finals, he built a 5-1 lead but then Rob Cross answered back with legs of 13,12 and 14 to draw within one. That’s as close as Cross would get, losing 11-5. van Gerwen’s fifth PL Championship was worth £250,000. Ka-ching!
Ivan “Sparkling Diamond” White made it his fourth European final in a row, this time besting van Gerwen 8-7 to win the Dutch Masters. van Gerwen was attempting to win the title for the sixth time. To state the obvious, “White enjoyed his spring in Europe with 4 finals and 2 wins.” Watching the event one of the Commentators stated, “Sometimes it’s not how you throw the dart but where it lands.” Moron. It never matters how you throw the dart and always matters where it lands. In darts the end does justify the means.
Here in the Colonies old timers (geezers and geezettes) used to celebrate Memorial weekend in Dallas at a big tournament. Now, the machine guys have taken over with Bullshooter as the only event on the schedule. This year, in the national competition Canada beat the USA 4-0. Congratulations to the Canadian team of Jayson Barlow, Dave Cameron, Adam Stella, Jeremiah Millar, Jason Rokerand and Corey Tkach.
PDC WORLD CUP X is scheduled June 6-9 in Hamburg, Germany. The total prize fund is £350,000 with £70,000 to the winners. Of the 32 teams 8 have been seeded. They are England (1), Scotland (2), Wales (3), Netherlands (4), Australia (5), Northern Ireland (6), Belgium (7) and Austria (8). At least one of them will fall in round one. It’s been that way since 2016. The opening round is all doubles best of 9, a format that cries “upset!”
This year, the ODC’s predicting that Russia will defeat the #8 seed Austria as at the last World Cup the same pair, Mensur Suljovic and Zoran Lerchbacher, went out 5-4 to Japan.
Both Hong Kong guys are great machine players with Royden Lam maybe the second-best Asian combo (machine/steel) player behind Paul “The Legend” Lim.
Both the #3 (Wales – Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton) and #6 (Northern Ireland – Daryl Gurney and Brendan Dolan) could find themselves on the precipice of elimination. Both had good draws last year, not so this year. The Shamrock guys get “Dancing” Devon Petersen and Vernon Bouwers from South Africa. Wales has to beat a pair of ‘Singapore Slingers” in the “We’re not brothers” Paul and Harith Lim.
The Canadian duo of Dawson Murschell and Jim Long should get by the two rookies from Italy.
The format changes in round 2 to singles best of 7. If the score is tied, it’s double best of 7.
The next round for Canada could be an “either way deal” as they’ll probably face Australia with Simon Whitlock and Kyle Anderson. A win and Canada would get #4 Netherlands.
USA gets a good draw led by Darin Young making his 9th World Cup and rookie Chuck Puleo who has been playing lights out. They should get by China. In the round 16 they would face either Russia or Austria, both of whom are beatable. Then, in the round of 8 they’d get #1 England who should have no trouble beating the Philippines and either Iceland or Greece.
The first round is played over two days. Thursday (June 6) play has some interesting matchups…
A veteran Japanese team should win over Gibraltar.
“Dancing “Devon Peterson and South Africa is next up facing #6 Northern Ireland with Daryl Gurney and Brendan Dolan. Northern Ireland should prevail, but Peterson’s dance is worth the watch.
#7 Belgium should not have much fun against Hong Kong.
Sweden with Magnus Caris making his last professional appearance is a “pick’em” against Brazil.
The most competitive match of the day could be Singapore against #3 Wales. Doubles play is the forte of the “We’re Not Brothers Lim” from Singapore and might not bode well for Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton.
Germany returns the youthful veterans Max Hopp and Martin Schindler and with the home crowd that should see them victorious against Hungary.
The evening closes with #2 Scotland having an easy time with Denmark.
BetVictor makes Netherlands and England both 3-1 to capture the World Cup. Scotland is at 4-1 and Wales 7-1. As Michael van Gerwen is The Man, the ODC favors the Wooden Shoe Guys to see off all competitors for the win.
Toeing the Oche will provide daily coverage of World Cup X.
EARLY PREDICTIONS: Pick Netherlands to prevail over England even though the wagering has both teams at 3-1. Michael van Gerwen will be able to carry Jermaine Wattimena to the Cup. Rob Cross has shown lately that he’s in form. His partner Michael Smith has not shown much lately. The #2 seed Scotland has an off-injured Gary Anderson playing with an out-of-form Peter Wright who he does not care for. If Wales survives Singapore in round 1, they could well take out Scotland in the semis. That is assuming (always a danger) that Scotland can beat the hometown Germans.
More adventures of the ODC…
Wearing the new popular “jean’s bikini” (and having shed 25 pounds for the summer – which contributes to loose-fitting apparel) the ODC planted a garden of tomatoes, watermelon, strawberries and sweet peppers.
Weeds enjoyed the water and fertilizer and began to grow in force. When the ODC complained his neighbor provided a solution: “Don’t water the weeds.”
The ODC read that cornmeal would eliminate weeds. With the mercury in the high 80s, off to the grocery store he headed, wearing shorts. Only one item on the agenda: cornmeal. He found it quickly but then saw coffee on sale.
With a bag of cornmeal under one arm and coffee under the other the ODC made his way to the check out. His shorts started to slide…
In the crowded check out one of the store’s most perky employees asked, “How are we today?”
“Well that depends. I have cornmeal under one arm and coffee under the other. My pants are falling down. I’m not sure if I’m going commando or not. If they fall would you pull them up?”
Forget Simon and Garfunkel, this was the real “Sound of Silence.”
Stay thirsty my friends.
