Howie Reed’s Column

Tuesday, October 1, 2017
Column HR210
Those were the days

Recently, one of the Old Darts Coach’s pals posted, “I wish I could go back to the America I grew up in…”

To be expected, some wanted to turn a simple statement into a political rant. For darters from the Golden Age, the late 1970s …

Tuesday, September 19, 2017
Column HR209
The Tuscany Tryst

The last time the term “dog days of summer” was used in reference to the PDC was as they took a deep breath while gearing up for the run to the World Championships. The Champions League of Darts final signals the PDC’s long summer snooze is …

Monday, August 21, 2017
Column HR208
Don’t build any statues of Phil Taylor!

Too often the Old Dart Coach, along with others of his “ilk,” takes to public forums to ridicule people that play darts. Remember, the ODC has been there and done that. He’s also seen “6 chickens build a grain elevator in Iowa.”…

Friday, August 11, 2017
Column HR207
Rumors and Rumors

Every year or so, Toeing the Oche has to go into tutorial mode. The Old Dart Coach admits that this is tedious, boring and not very entertaining. For others it’s just business as usual for this space. Those that make hurtful comments will be ignored.…

Tuesday, August 1, 2017
Column HR206
DARN U, Phil Taylor!

Not because of your brilliant play for your 16th World Matchplay title…

Philip Douglas Taylor “wrote” a script that, if from Hollywood, would not pass the smell test. For him to win the Matchplay after not winning a major since 2014 is the stuff from …

Monday, July 24, 2017
Column HR205
Las Vegas Tales – par Deux

In the novel The Sun Also Rises Ernest Hemingway wrote  “I am always in love.” For many that attended the Festival of Darts recently at the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas no truer words were ever written. Darts is the one true mistress …

Wednesday, July 19, 2017
Column HR204
Las Vegas Tales

True! – nervous – very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses – not destroyed – not dulled them.

Those could well have been the thoughts of the North American …

Wednesday, July 5, 2017
Column HR203
The British are coming! The British are coming!

With the 4th of July in the rear view window some would take the Old Dart Coach to task for publishing this column after the fact. Let ’em.

July 4th marks the signing of the Declaration of Independence. That document freed …

Monday, June 26, 2017
Column HR202
The rest of the Rick Ney Story

With the advent and growth of the PDC and the worldwide explosion of soft point darts more people are playing darts today than ever before. This is especially so in Asia.

While steel point players in North America bemoan the loss of …

Monday, June 5, 2017
Column HR201
PDC World Cup VI – so many memories!

When the Old Dart Coach was but a toddler each Saturday morning he’d be glued to the radio for his favorite program, Grand Central Station – “…the crossroads of a million private lives, a gigantic stage on which are played a …