{"id":5739,"date":"2017-10-01T21:01:11","date_gmt":"2017-10-01T21:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/2017\/10\/column-hr210-those-were-the-days\/"},"modified":"2024-02-14T22:22:59","modified_gmt":"2024-02-14T22:22:59","slug":"column-hr210-those-were-the-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/2017\/10\/column-hr210-those-were-the-days\/","title":{"rendered":"Column #HR210 Those were the days"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tuesday, October 1, 2017
\n<\/strong> Column HR210<\/strong>
\nThose were the days<\/strong><\/p>\n

Recently, one of the Old Darts Coach\u2019s pals posted, \u201cI wish I could go back to the America I grew up in\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

To be expected, some wanted to turn a simple statement into a political rant. For darters from the Golden Age, the late 1970s to 2000, there had to be a loud and resounding \u201cAmen\u201d or\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cA women\u201d or simply an \u201cA person\u201d\u2026 along with \u201cI\u2019ll have another.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thomas Wolf wrote, \u201cYou Can\u2019t Go Home Again,\u201d which is silly. You can, it just won\u2019t be the same. Things change. Maybe the Golden Age of Darts wasn\u2019t as golden as remembered. Not likely. Tournaments abounded, some even masqueraded as \u201cno host cocktail parties.\u201d A capital idea that.<\/p>\n

In the summer months the best players in the world arrived on North America\u2019s shores. They played in Washington, at the Golden Gate, the Peachtree in Georgia, and in Santa Monica (which morphed into the Los Angeles Open) – all culminating in the North American, first in Southern California and finally in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s possible (with a little imagination aided by lots of joy juice) for one to hear Archie and Edith Bunker singing, \u201cThose Were the Days.\u201d They were.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s demonstrably unintelligent for those who love the darts of yesterday to blame either soft point or the PDC for the general state of darts today. The rule is evolve or be left in the dust of history. Steel darts is feasting on dust. Benjamin Franklin said, \u201cIf you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!\u201d Financial media huckster Dave Ramsey has co-opted old Ben\u2019s wisdom.<\/p>\n

Internationally there was the Winmau World Masters, the British Open and the World Darts Federation\u2019s Pacific and World Cups. The WDF and the BDO were the adhesive that had a strangle hold on darts. The British Open and World Masters are now shadows of \u201cThe Way it Was.\u201d<\/p>\n

Can it be that it was all so simple then<\/em><\/p>\n

Or has time rewritten every line<\/em><\/p>\n

If we had the chance to do it all again<\/em><\/p>\n

Tell me, would we?<\/em><\/p>\n

Could we?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Damn straight, Skippy.<\/p>\n

In the British Open Yank \u201cChainsaw\u201d Joe Chaney made the top 128 with Tom Sawyer reaching the top 64 before losing to Martin Adams, a three times Masters Champion. The World Masters followed. Chainsaw Joe got a little revenge for Sawyer when he took out Adams in the first round.<\/p>\n

Australian lass Corrine Hammond was the star of the week winning the British Open, beating world ranked #7 Anastasia Dobromyslova and then losing in the Masters in the final to England\u2019s Lorraine Winstanley. Good on ya, Shelia.<\/p>\n

The WDF will meet October 3-7 in Kobe, Japan, for WDF World Cup XXI. Currently there are 69 member nation but only 31 are showing up to play – by far the lowest number in some time. Even if it weren\u2019t, the fact that England, Wales, Poland, Ireland and Scotland have taken a \u201cPasadena\u201d is the story.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unseemly for England and its acolytes not to attend the World Cup. It\u2019s no secret that the BDO ran the WDF with an \u201cIron Fist\u201d while giving the finger to other countries. \u201cWhat\u2019s good for the BDO is good for darts\u201d was the rule. An example of that was the dartboard sponsorship deal (WINMAU) that provided the minimum for the WDF but from which the BDO reaped a bountiful harvest. When representing Thailand the ODC questioned how the WDF Executive Board could make a competing dartboard company (NODOR) wait two years for a presentation, then give them 10 minutes, and then saying \u201cno thanks\u201d and never sharing the proposal with members.<\/p>\n

The ODC was tossed out of the WDF as the representative of Thailand for his questioning the \u201cestablishment\u201d – a fact which makes the ODC proud. The WDF, like the ADO, does absolutely nothing for their members but shovel loads of \u201calfalfa after it has gone thru a male bovine.\u201d The demise of the BDO will be followed by the demise of the WDF for the simple reason: \u201ci pesci rotti dalla testa.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2009, the late Stacy Bromberg won the World Cup Singles following in the footsteps of Kathy Maloney (1993), Eva Grigsby (1989) and Sandy Reitan (1983). The America women took the overall titles in 1987, 1993 and 1997. The men never did – although they had a shot in Brisbane in 1985. The \u201cOhio Choker\u201d missed a double more than once to win.<\/p>\n

Stacy Bromberg was prevented from defending her title in 2011 when the WDF, with the acquiescence of the ADO, declared her ineligible because \u201cshe took part in a PDC event.\u201d This year Scott MacKenzie is playing for Hong Kong after appearing in multiple PDC televised events. Rotten. Lousy. Bastards.<\/p>\n

The cost of sending four men and four women to the Far East was probably prohibitive for those countries missing. In the 20 previous Cups, England has been the overall title champion 14 times with Wales and the Netherlands 3 times each.<\/p>\n

Gone from the entries for the men are 13 of 16 and all top 4 from the British Open, including men\u2019s champ Ross Montgomery of Scotland. The British Open\u2019s lady champion Corrine Hammond and runner-up Anastasia Dobromyslova remain. Dobromyslova lives in England but will represent Russia. From the Men\u2019s World Masters, champ Krzysztof Ratajski of Poland and 6 others from the top 8 will be missing.<\/p>\n

On the American side both men and women have good draws to reach the top 16 at which time \u201cany given day\u201d will should take over. On the men\u2019s side with so many \u201cname\u201d international players missing it\u2019s impossible to pick a winner. Cali West has the best path to the top 8 as the only ranked player in her way is #25 Vickie Pruim of Sweden. Lisa Ayers has both #7 Anastasia Dobromyslova and Patricia Farrell (Canada) in her group. Nice draw. Paula Murphy has #2 Aileen de Graaf (Netherlands) to advance while Carole Herriot\u2019s got #4 – the red-hot Corrine Hammond (Australia) to reach 32.<\/p>\n

As \u201cFools Walk in Where Angels Fear to Tread,\u201d the ODC will make his selections\u2026<\/p>\n

Men\u2019s overall winner: Netherlands or Germany 5-1 as favorites with Canada and USA at 10-1.<\/p>\n

On the women\u2019s side it will be the team with 2 \u201creally\u201d good players and 2 good ones. The ODC favors Australia at 3-1 with USA a 10-1 bet. Both Canada and the USA will win at least one Gold Medal.<\/p>\n

If we could go back, there to meet us would be John Sebastian singing\u2026<\/p>\n

Welcome back<\/em><\/p>\n

Welcome back, welcome back<\/em><\/p>\n

Welcome back, welcome back<\/em><\/p>\n

Stay thirsty my friends.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recently, one of the Old Darts Coach\u2019s pals posted, \u201cI wish I could go back to the America I grew up 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one of the Old Darts Coach\u2019s pals posted, \u201cI wish I could go back to the America I grew up in\u2026\u201d","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\/5739","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=5739"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6314,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5739\/revisions\/6314"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5739"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=5739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}