Dartoid’s Column

September 1, 2004
Column 170
Save Money! Attract the Opposite Sex! Improve your Game!

At a darts tournament there are many rituals shared by both the novice and professional darter. Off the oche, throughout the ebb and flow of a weekend, we each participate in a series of routines that, just like following a 180 …

August 4, 2004
Column 169
Stop the Caterpillars!

PLEASE HELP NOW!!!

Children in Vietnam are being ATTACKED by caterpillars!!

YES, it’s amazing but true.

Billions of wiggly caterpillars have descended like a plague upon a remote village in Kon Tum province. In the small schoolhouse there dozens of very poor deaf and hearing impaired youngsters …

July 5, 2004
Column 168
Images…

Late one morning, just outside the hall, a lone man stood.

Dressed in pressed black trousers, shined black shoes and a loose-fitting, dark collared shirt accented with licks of red and orange fire across the front, he stood apart from the milling crowd, absorbed in private thoughts that were …

July 4, 2004
Column 167
It’s Showtime!

One week ago, some 350 men and women from all over the world, including England, a country somewhere in Europe, began to gather in Las Vegas for the Professional Darts Corporation’s (PDC) 3rd Annual Desert Classic darts tournament. Following four qualifying rounds and four days of intense stage …

July 3, 2004
Column 166
Go to Philly Darts!!!

A while back I posted a column called “The Top Ten Darts Websites in the WORLD.” While I may have gotten some wrong and missed a few others (for instance, Andy Fairclough’s “Superstars of Darts” web page at Superstars of Darts), one site that I …

July 2, 2004
Column 165
Good News… and Some Bad News

The good news from the Las Vegas Desert Classic is that no unwritten rule was found to ban large bald-headed dudes from taking the stage. Accordingly, the last remaining American in the field of men was allowed to toe the line today in front …

July 1, 2004
Column 164
Still Watch Out for Ricky – and Darin!

I write today with a heart that’s both happy and sad. I know that sounds corny and dramatic. I just can’t find better words to use. To be honest, I really don’t’ feel like writing at all. So this column will be …

June 30, 2004
Column 163
Watch Out for Ricky!

The extent to which I continue to marvel at the opportunity the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) has presented to American darters with its Las Vegas Desert Classic tournament is exceeded only by how completely baffled I am that so many US darters pass on the opportunity …

June 29, 2004
Column 162
An American Stallion

Well darts fans, some of you will be pleased to know that the time for carefully crafted ditties about baseball fantasy camps, genius chickens and quarter-ante games of poker is over. This should be especially good news for the Professional Darts Corporation’s (PDC) Dick Allix, Gayle Farmer …

June 28, 2004
Column 161
Missed Friends

Blasphemous as it may be, if I am to be honest, each time I head to Las Vegas — for years to the North American Open and lately to the Desert Classic — my first thoughts are not of darts. I can’t help it. Instead, my mind is …