Dartoid’s Column

Tuesday, December 23, 2025
Column 703
Leonard Gates and the Gap Between Talent and Touch

Every sport has its characters. Darts, being darts, may collect them faster than most.

And then, there’s Leonard Gates.

Gates is one of the most naturally gifted players the United States has produced in years. When he’s on, he throws …

Friday, December 12, 2025
Column 702
The Littler Phenomenon – Questions Asked and Answered

A couple of years ago, when Littlermania was still just the Luke Littler phenomenon, darts forums were awash with questions from wide-eyed newcomers – along with “answers” from armchair “experts” – covering every conceivable aspect of the game. Many were earnest, …

Monday, December 1, 2025
Column 701
Confessions of a Dart-addled Mind

There’s no known cure, and frankly, I wouldn’t take it if there were. Once you’ve thrown enough darts, the world starts to look… well, different.

A round dinner plate isn’t a plate – it’s a dartboard. A wall clock? Stop sign? Hubcaps?

Dartboard. Dartboard. …

Saturday, October 25, 2025
Column 699
Nothing in Hollywood is straight – especially dartboards

If you are anything like me, every time you spot a dartboard on television you shout, “Dartboard!” And if you are really like me, you immediately notice that it is almost always hung too low or too high.

Television and movie …

Friday, October 3, 2025
Column 698
Thank you for showing us how to live, Tina DiGregorio

It was with profound sadness that the darts community learned of the passing of Tina DiGregorio on August 8, 2025, in Gilbert, Arizona.

To those outside her circle, it may come as a surprise how deeply Tina influenced both …

Monday, September 8, 2025
Column 697
The Golden Triangle

“The heartland of Southeast Asia has always been on the edge of civilization.  The great empires, such as the Pagan in Burma, Sukhothai in Thailand and Angkor in Cambodia, were built in the plains, where rice grows easily and there are trade routes to the sea. …

Wednesday, August 20, 2025
Column 696
Stewie the Sloth Starts the Jungle Premier League

Once upon a time there was a sloth. His name was Stewie. He was slow, lazy, and always a little high from chewing funny jungle leaves. Stewie had never managed anything, never written more than a shopping list, and never finished …

Wednesday, August 15, 2025
Column 695
Tooth-and-claw Justice

In what may go down as the most karmically satisfying hypothetical obituary ever published – I regret to report that Duncan “The Troll” Blatherdick, serial grifter, self-proclaimed animal savior, pitiful dart player, and world-class donor-fleecer, was fatally mauled in Africa last Thursday by a lion named Temba.…

Wednesday, August 6, 2025
Column 694
Darts in Hiroshima

“I’m a travelin’ man, I’ve made a lot of stops all over the world,” cooed Ricky Nelson in 1961. The song was a massive hit, rising to the top of the charts. Teenage girls swooned. Not widely known is that the tune was written for Sam …