Wednesday, January 19, 2011
\nColumn HR34
\nTake a Lesson from Darts History – There’s Not Much Left to Lose! <\/b><\/p>\n
The Old Dart Coaches muses, as muses takes little energy, about days past when all dart tournaments were preceded on Friday evening by a blind draw at a local bar. His favorite was held before the Golden Gate Classic at Chris\u2019 Club in Vallejo. The Golden Gate, run by the Northern California Darts Association which could claim the ODC as their own but doesn\u2019t, always had an international field because it was part of a three tournament swing that included the Santa Monica and North American Open\u2019s. Santa Monica later morphed into the LA Open and then into oblivion.<\/p>\n
The Chris\u2019 Club shoot was run by a gentleman named Joe Klingensmith along with his girlfriend\/wife Carol. The ODC worked as a bartender for one week a year there which was enough for Joe to instruct Carol to fire him until next year. It was like the late movie mogul Harry Cohen who reportedly would command, \u201cThrow that son-of-a bitch off the lot and don\u2019t allow him back till we need him.\u201d Carol playing the part of Harry with the ODC being the SOB, a part he was well suited for.<\/p>\n
The Chris\u2019 Club blind draw was unique in that locals were put in one hat and \u201ctravelers\u201d in another. That encouraged locals to attend with a real chance of playing with one of the traveling stars. His first year the ODC drew Billy Glover from Dallas who at that time was one of the top players in America. But alas even a great player like Glover couldn\u2019t overcome the piano tied to his back that was the ODC as he tried to run. Some of the big name players would bypass this event by saying \u201cI don\u2019t do blind draws.\u201d This particularly \u201ctee\u2019d off\u201d the ODC especially when it came from his pal, still a friend until this article is published, and sometime \u201con the road roomy.\u201d Through the day at the ODC\u2019s Casa de Martinez he tried to convince the then ranked #2 lady player that \u201cshe owed it to her fans to play in the blind draw.\u201d Finally worn down she acquiesced and entered. Also in the field that night were Brit Champs the late Grand Dame Lil Combs and Sonja Rolphs along with other luminaries.<\/p>\n
As fate would have it the ODC drew his SoCal Gal Pal. The dart area had 8 boards separated from the bar by a wall but with direct access. The pair drew to play against a gentleman who due to physical disabilities moved about in a wheelchair with a partner who couldn\u2019t play a lick. The wheelchair bound gentleman was able to stand and play by holding himself up on crutches. The dart room, besides 8 boards, also had a goodly supply of picnic-type tables used for beverage consumption and card games.<\/p>\n
As the ODC and loyal Pal drew early there was a good crowd to watch this battle of Titians. Needless to say the crowd was rooting for the wheelchair bound gentleman and the drunk who couldn\u2019t play. Tied at one in the race to two the crowd was having a great time. All matches stopped throughout the room to watch the spectacle of the ODC getting taken to the woodshed along with his Pal. Both teams reached a double with the gentleman on crutches to throw. With his third dart he hit the double for the win. But wait, the ODC in a loud voice yelled \u201ccrutch fault!\u201d claiming that the gentleman\u2019s crutch was over the oche, accusing the gentleman of cheating. The crowd loudly reacted to the ODC\u2019s charge with language not printable in a family publication or for that matter a non-family publication.<\/p>\n
With abuse directed at the ODC, his partner pulled herself up to her full 4\u20199\u201d, gave the ODC a look that could kill and should have, put her darts away and headed to the bar. The ODC joined her. Before he could open his \u201cyapper\u201d she said, \u201cShut up. Just shut up. What are you drinking? I\u2019m having a shot of Tequila.\u201d \u201cMe too,\u201d the cowered ODC murmured. At about the same time a goodly number of \u201cstars\u201d both local and international lost so gravitated to the bar. 1800 Tequila was the drink of the moment chased with a beer.<\/p>\n
Within a short time fueled by 1800 one local female star was crawling around the floor playing horsy being ridden by a Brit lady to cries of \u201cRide\u2019em cowboy.\u201d Another star was amazed by the wonders of Tequila. \u201cI stuck me darts into me leg but couldn\u2019t feel a F\u2019en thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ODC seeing that things were heading south faster than employee\u2019s at McDonalds when the Immigration guy showed up made a wise decision. Most of those lady\u2019s in the \u201ctequila drinking orgy\u201d were staying at the Casa de Martinez. He asked his Pal Dick McGinnis, who doesn\u2019t drink but does play cribbage, to give the girls a ride across the bridge to the Casa as he had to get up early the next morning. As Dick was in the dart room playing cribbage he had no knowledge of the carnage taking place in the bar. Having arranged rides for the girls the ODC raced home to his Casa and dove into his trundle bed. He slept like a baby, nekked, until 5AM when the door to his bedroom burst open with a not happy McGinnis yelling, \u201cI hope you\u2019re pleased with yourself. You will clean the inside of my truck before I get up. Thanks a lot you SOB.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are some givens in life. The sooner that people, especially ladies, learn that tequila is not their friend the better. Everyone complains about the weather but no one ever does anything about it? Okay, except for Al Gore. \u201cTell me Al how\u2019s that global warming thingy going you ya?\u201d I ask this with little respect as most of the country is up to their collective asses in \u201cglobal warming.\u201d \u201cYes it\u2019s getting colder but I made $500 million, got a Noble prize, an Oscar, an Emmy, a home in Malibu and got rid of a wife who had porked up like the Goodyear blimp.\u201d Well 5 out of 6 seems like a win.<\/p>\n
The point? Everyone who plays darts has the \u201cone plan\u201d that will turn the sport from \u201cYou do what?\u201d to \u201cYou\u2019re a dart player!\u201d<\/p>\n
Too often dart folks dwell on the past, sometimes to the point of re-inventing the past to favor their point of view. Waste of time? Not really. When sipping a couple of tall cool ones a good chin wag is good for the mind. Of course a couple of cool ones without the chin wag is equally as pleasing.<\/p>\n
The history of darts in North America is relevant only if one doesn\u2019t want to \u201crepeat the past.\u201d The philosopher and poet George Santayana said, \u201cThose who do not study history are doomed to repeat it.\u201d President Andrew Jackson takes credit for the statement but it was old George that done it.<\/p>\n
The Old Dart Coach is of the opinion that during the Golden Age of Darts from the late 1970s to early 1990s the sport flourished in spite of the national leadership, a leadership that once it got past the words \u201cme and I\u201d had a limited vocabulary. This Golden Age, so named by the ODC because he can, was a combination of great and good players, places to play regularly, good local leadership and what the ODC called \u201cThe worlds greatest no host floating cocktail party.\u201d<\/p>\n
He traces the beginning of end as the day that the \u201cexecutive\u201d of the ADO, at a meeting in Wisconsin, told the \u201csoft point folks\u201d to \u201ctake a hike\u201d when they wanted to join the ADO \u2013 reportedly saying \u201cWe don\u2019t need you.\u201d What was overlooked by almost everyone was that soft point provided the bar owner with income that steel point could never match. \u201cUnaccountable cash.\u201d Furthermore \u201csoft point\u201d players didn\u2019t demand new boards, fancy bowling shirts (which could be an oxymoron) or free drinks. Soft point is \u201cboogying down\u201d today while tungsten is currently doing the \u201cminuet.\u201d Minuet? \u201cA slow, stately pattern dance in \u00be time for groups of couples, originating in 17th-century France.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not everything that was tried in the past was a mistake. Some things just didn\u2019t work out as planned.<\/p>\n
The Lucky Strike dart program put money into darts which resulted in more money for the top players and some tournaments. They got their Challenge of Champions on ESPN. The unexpected consequences were that more \u201caverage\u201d players stayed away from tournaments (\u201cYou don\u2019t need us\u201d) and local tournament organizers got lazy when they no longer had to hustle for entrants among their own. \u201cHired guns would come into town, eat your food, drink your beer, steal your girl then leave town Sunday night.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Tungsten Highway is strewn with the skeletons of tournaments past. That\u2019s history.<\/p>\n
The ODC suggests that tournaments eliminate the blind draw and instead give the event to a local bar. Furthermore any player not playing in the blind draw should not be allowed in the main tournament draw. Oh yes, also lower the price of beer.<\/p>\n
Try it. There\u2019s not a lot left to lose.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Old Dart Coaches muses, as muses takes little energy, about days past when all dart tournaments were preceded on Friday evening by a blind draw at a local bar. His favorite was held before the Golden Gate Classic at Chris\u2019 Club in Vallejo. The Golden Gate, run by the Northern California Darts Association which could claim the ODC as their own but doesn\u2019t, always had an international field because it was part of a three tournament swing that included the Santa Monica and North American Open\u2019s. Santa Monica later morphed into the LA Open and then into oblivion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4138,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Column #HR34 Take a Lesson from Darts History - There's Not Much Left to Lose!","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[17],"class_list":["post-5382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-howie"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"views":2764,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/darts-image-feature-random-16.jpg?fit=520%2C347&ssl=1","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/darts-image-feature-random-16.jpg?fit=520%2C347&ssl=1",520,347,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/darts-image-feature-random-16.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/darts-image-feature-random-16.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/darts-image-feature-random-16.jpg?fit=520%2C347&ssl=1",520,347,true],"large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/darts-image-feature-random-16.jpg?fit=520%2C347&ssl=1",520,347,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/darts-image-feature-random-16.jpg?fit=520%2C347&ssl=1",520,347,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/darts-image-feature-random-16.jpg?fit=520%2C347&ssl=1",520,347,true],"rpwe-thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/darts-image-feature-random-16.jpg?resize=45%2C45&ssl=1",45,45,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Howie Reed","author_link":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/author\/howie-reed\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The Old Dart Coaches muses, as muses takes little energy, about days past when all dart tournaments were preceded on Friday evening by a blind draw at a local bar. His favorite was held before the Golden Gate Classic at Chris\u2019 Club in Vallejo. The Golden Gate, run by the Northern California Darts Association which…","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"authors":[{"term_id":17,"user_id":4,"is_guest":0,"slug":"howie-reed","display_name":"Howie Reed","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/111howie.jpg","url2x":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/111howie.jpg"},"first_name":"Howie","last_name":"Reed","user_url":"http:\/\/www.dartoidsworld.com","job_title":"","description":"Astute, often controversial, and always humorous, the Old Dart Coach, Howie Reed (a former rodeo cowboy and advertising executive), is heralded as the Dean of Darts Chroniclers - the most prolific and widely followed writer ever about our sport. He goes back decades with the legends and knows where the skeletons are buried (just ask any of the ADO and WDF old-timers!). Here are four well-known facts about the Old Dart Coach: 1) he is a Republican, 2) he loves the ladies, 3) he can drink most anybody under the table, and 4) he throws darts as bad as Dartoid."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5382\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5382"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=5382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}