Monday, January 20, 2014
\nColumn HR105
\nMemories of the\u00a0Las Vegas Open<\/b><\/p>\n
This effort should hit the \u201cether wave\u201d prior to the Las Vegas Open.\u00a0 The brainchild of the late Bob Murdock and his wife Marki, today\u00a0 the tournament is the premier steel tip event in Las Vegas.\u00a0 Memories of the Las Vegas Open are many and varied…<\/p>\n
At the long gone Hacienda, was a Sunday morning invasion of the \u201cBountiful Buffet\u201d\u00a0 by a gaggle of Asian Bus Tour People.\u00a0 One feature of the brunch, besides bottomless glasses of cheap champagne, were the really big Alaskan crab legs. \u00a0The invaders thought they had found nirvana as they wrapped the crab legs in paper napkins to snack on later while bus touring.\u00a0 Yummy that.<\/p>\n
Another memory…<\/p>\n
The Las Vegas Plaza Hotel downtown was the site for more than one Las Vegas Open.\u00a0 The ODC acted as the caller\/MC for the staged finals.\u00a0 Once he was asked by\u00a0 Not A Fan:<\/p>\n
\u201cYou get paid for that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re overpaid.\u201d<\/p>\n
Darters loved to gamble with Las Vegas and Atlantic City providing the only opportunities. \u00a0One Young Friend\u00a0 loved to gamble. \u00a0Like all gamblers he did it well and not so well. \u00a0After building\u00a0 a sizeable bankroll thanks to the Plaza he was rockin’ and rollin’.\u00a0 Gamblers on a winning streak are only \u201cquasi\u201d normal.\u00a0 Young Friend gave the ODC a large sum of cash to hold with the instruction:<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t give me the money back until I\u2019m ready to go home. \u00a0I\u2019ll get you comped for dinner.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ODC had fallen in \u201cheat\u201d making a date for dinner with a fair young damsel. \u00a0Talk about being on a roll.\u00a0 After standing in line at the steak house for over an hour while others entered the ODC spied the lady in question.<\/p>\n
\u201cDidn’t we have a date for dinner?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI changed my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then the ODC was confronted by his Young Friend:<\/p>\n
\u201cGive me some of my money.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNO. \u00a0You said to hold it.\u201d\u00a0 Young Friend left.<\/p>\n
Shortly later two security guards, accompanied by Young Friend, and confronted\u00a0 the ODC:<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis man said you stole his money.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe told me to hold it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSure.\u00a0 Give him his money or we\u2019ll be forced to arrest you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ya win some and lose some but two on the trot?<\/p>\n
More memories…<\/p>\n
Two years ago, the ODC actually played doubles with his pal John Boyne. \u00a0The draw was against a very good player who the ODC had implied was a \u201cjerk\u201d in writing. \u00a0Said Jerk just happened to be from the same area as the good folks that ran the tournament. \u00a0What are the chances?<\/p>\n
The ODC and Pal John notified control when after 10 minutes the opposition failed to show. \u00a0No second call.\u00a0 It was 20\u00a0 minutes later when the opposition strolled up.\u00a0 No \u201cI\u2019m sorry\u201d – just a quick 2-nil victory and \u201csign the card.\u201d \u00a0What are the chances?<\/p>\n
The ODC was diligently practicing for his 2014 dart debut in preparation for his 2014 Asia Tour later in the spring. \u00a0He received a training injury thus causing his partner (name withheld to protect his reputation) to shed crocodile tears while whining:<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe next year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tournaments in Las Vegas have always depended on our good friends from the land of Hockey Pucks, Maple Leafs and nice people. \u00a0One of those is \u201cBig\u201d Tony Holyoake. \u00a0For years he was the Rolls Royce of Canadian players. \u00a0He was also one of those that supported the men that formed the PDC, as he reminded the ODC whose mind is \u201ciffy\u201d at best.<\/p>\n
\u201cI left the Canadian Dart Federation (NDFC) over the ‘break up.’ \u00a0Mr. Croft’s exclusion of me from another Embassy while being ranked Canada’s #1. \u00a0It was\u00a0 he and Bill’s way of getting at me for supporting the boys!\u201d<\/p>\n
The Embassy is now the BDO World Championship at Lakeside or at least some combination of those words.\u00a0 For\u00a0 non-PDC players it\u2019s a combination of the World Series, Super Bowl and free beer all day while standing.\u00a0\u00a0 During this year\u2019s play a \u201cbrouhaha\u201d broke out between some players and the BDO. \u00a0The ODC is siding with the BDO. \u00a0That stance should bring an angry response from some old friends – probably led by his oldest English friend Dr. WB.<\/p>\n
To understand the ODC’s stance the key is recognizing that the majority of dart players are not altruistic. \u00a0Their view of things, as the ODC\u2019s Padre use to say, \u201cdepends on whose ox is getting gored.\u201d\u00a0 Exception are as rare.\u00a0 They were the \u201cMe\u201d generation before there was a \u201cMe\u201d generation.<\/p>\n
The BDO decreed that men finishing in the top four of the 2014 Lakeside would have their checks withheld until after the deadline for a free ride into the PDC Tour.\u00a0 Good for the BDO.\u00a0 The BDO is there to defend their brand and not to be a feeder system for the PDC. \u00a0Dart players are going to have to put on their big boy pants and stop whining.<\/p>\n
During the playing of the Lakeside a \u201cposter\u201d (and probability a \u201cposer\u201d as well) brought forth the proposition that Eric Bristow had no room to talk about quality darts because \u201che (Bristow) never won a major PDC title.\u201d\u00a0 Bristow\u2019s record contradicts that statement posted by \u201cHigh Voltage.\u201d\u00a0 He might consider changing his name to \u201cLow Intellect\u201d or \u201cNFC\u201d for short.<\/p>\n
Bristow had some not kind words for Ted Hankey and Co Stompe who jumped from the PDC back to the BDO.\u00a0 \u201cCowards.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Las Vegas Open will again be a meeting place for darters from the four corners of the darting world. \u00a0The promoters have done a great job of resurrecting this early year meeting into a \u201cpremier\u201d event. \u00a0Good for them.\u00a0 Rest assured that the ODC will make an appearance on Saturday to mingle with the masses and do his part to meet the bar guarantee.<\/p>\n
He\u2019ll be carrying his custom darts but not playing. \u00a0His old pal The Kid use to wander around dart halls full of happy juice.\u00a0 He always carried darts.\u00a0 When asked why he\u2019d answer, \u201cBallast, Cowboy, Ballast.\u201d<\/p>\n
For dart players every tournament is about mood which can be adjusted sometimes with the proper amount of various fluids.\u00a0 The right mood ensures chances of cashing while a bad mood means trouble.\u00a0 Pal Paul Challis has come up with a method to judge his mood:<\/p>\n
\u201cMy wife has been complaining about me losing my temper a lot, so she bought me a mood ring to monitor my mood swings. \u00a0When I am happy it turns green, when I am not it leaves a red mark on her forehead.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stay thirsty my friends.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This effort should hit the \u201cether wave\u201d prior to the Las Vegas Open. The brainchild of the late Bob Murdock and his wife Marki, today the tournament is the premier steel tip event in Las Vegas. Memories of the Las Vegas Open are many and varied… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4149,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","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":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-howie"],"views":3682,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5519","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}