{"id":5748,"date":"2017-11-15T16:36:22","date_gmt":"2017-11-15T16:36:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/2017\/11\/column-hr214-some-advice-for-the-new-ado-president\/"},"modified":"2024-02-14T22:22:57","modified_gmt":"2024-02-14T22:22:57","slug":"column-hr214-some-advice-for-the-new-ado-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/2017\/11\/column-hr214-some-advice-for-the-new-ado-president\/","title":{"rendered":"Column #HR214 Some advice for the new ADO president"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thursday, November 15
\n<\/strong> Column HR214<\/strong>
\nSome advice for the new ADO president<\/strong><\/p>\n

It can be reported with certainty that anyone who plays or has played darts has at one time or another been asked\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cYou play darts? How many bulls can you throw?\u201d<\/p>\n

After one answers, the inevitable less-than-cute follow up question usually is\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cSeriously?\u201d<\/p>\n

The above statements (certainly the response) are generally delivered with an air of incredulity and a facial expression similar to that of someone who has just taken their first big shot of J\u00e4germeister. To most people a dart player is accorded the same level of respect, no more or less, than someone that collects recipes for rutabagas.<\/p>\n

This opinion of dart players applies whether one plays once a week at the lowest level or is a champion of some type. But there is hope. Help may be on the way. Yes, as Bob Dylan sang (so the Old Dart Coach is told)\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Times They Are a-changin\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The credit for this possible change comes not, in America, from the American Darts Organization or, worldwide, from the World Dart Federation. Any change in the perception of dart players – by those that love to judge others (but not themselves) – will come from the unlikely coupling of machine darts and the PDC. Together, as an unintended consequence, they have given the public a new awareness of darts.<\/p>\n

For those from outside of the sport and many inside, darts is not about Phil Taylor or Michael van Gerwen. There\u2019s no debate that watching Michael van Gerwen throw darts is akin to watching the late Ted Williams hit a baseball or the \u201cold\u201d Tiger Woods play golf. For \u201ccasual\u201d players, the PDC professional is at the extreme end of the spectrum. Their game is different. While it\u2019s great to watch or hear of the exploits of the professionals there\u2019s more to it for the casual player.<\/p>\n

Michael van Gerwen recently pocketed \u00a350,000 when he won the World Series of Darts final for the third time. Good for him but his win means little to the casual player. The victim this time out for the Marvelous One was former two-time world champion Gary Anderson, 11-6. A global event, the World Series of Darts saw van Gerwen winning in Shanghai and Las Vegas. Anderson\u2019s two wins came in Dubai and Perth.<\/p>\n

van Gerwen was van Gerwen on his way to the win when in the quarter-finals he not only dusted Rob Cross (10-4) but averaged 108.83. In the semifinals Daryl \u201cThe Poser\u201d Gurney jumped to leads of 2-0 and 3-1 before falling 11-8.<\/p>\n

When Gary Anderson misses double he loses.<\/p>\n

DAH!<\/p>\n

Mr. Oblivious strikes again.<\/p>\n

In the opening leg of the final, Anderson missed 3 and van Gerwen erased 103 for a 1-0 lead that he would never relinquish (although Anderson leveled at 1 with a 12-darter). For anyone that\u2019s keeping track, the win was number 38 of van Gerwen\u2019s career and the 17th of the year. In the last fortnight, van Gerwen has added another \u00a3150,000. Not too Chablis.<\/p>\n

The ODCs epiphany about darts along with its meaning to the casual player came from an unusual source. A few weeks ago, the ODC was watching the Breeders Cup – which for the uninitiated is the world championship of horse racing. This year\u2019s event was held at Del Mar (California) \u201c\u2026where the surf meets the turf.\u201d One of the events was the 5 furlongs Turf Sprint.\u00a0 There are 8 furlongs to the mile. One trainer had two horses entered. Peter Miller who had grown up near Del Mar was a very successful trainer who told an interviewer before the race that \u201c\u2026winning a Breeders Cup on my home track would be unbelievable.\u201d His two horses were Stormy Liberal (30-1) and Richard\u2019s Boy (15-1)…<\/p>\n

Both were long shots. Richard\u2019s Boy was leading with less than 100 feet to go. Stormy Liberal, living up to this name, \u201cstormed\u201d to stick a nose in front as they reached the finish line.<\/p>\n

The camera caught Peter Miller\u2019s reaction as he went absolutely \u201cchimp-like\u201d bananas. He not only won a Breeders Cup race at his home track but ran one-two with the winner paying $62.40. Here was a trainer that had great success and made lots of money but was going absolutely ballistic with a win.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when the bolt of lightning struck the ODC with a shock akin to a man catching his \u201cwhatever\u2019s\u201d in his zipper. To quote whack job Charlie Sheen, it\u2019s \u201cwinning.\u201d Or as the late Jim McKay would say each Saturday on the opening of ABC\u2019s Wild World of Sports<\/em>, it\u2019s \u201cthe thrill of victory.\u201d<\/p>\n

While usually not as public with their celebration, that\u2019s what awaits darts players each time they step to the oche – the opportunity for the thrill of victory. Dart players hear, \u201cYou\u2019re playing the board.\u201d That\u2019s BS. You\u2019re playing another person with the chance to prevail. It\u2019s the individual pure pleasure that a darter enjoys.<\/p>\n

Thanks to the PDC and machine darts more and more people are becoming aware worldwide and with the aid of TV the game and its players may actually gain their place of due respect in the world of sport. Darts is about much more than those that win tournaments or world championships \u2013 it\u2019s about the \u201ccasual\u201d player, the foundation of it all, who drinks the pure joy of competing whether as an individual or member of a team.<\/p>\n

In the days and weeks to come it will be interesting to see how new ADO president, Tom Sawyer, chooses to govern.<\/p>\n

Will he \u201cdrain the swamp,\u201d open up the opportunity to run for office and vote to all the members and lead the organization in a new direction that serves all the players, not just the elites?<\/p>\n

Will he eliminate programs that don\u2019t work and employees that don\u2019t perform and put the ADO on a sound and professional financial basis while advancing the sport in America, rather than allow it to continue to wallow, barely surviving, in the cesspool it now exists and which was created by its own hand?.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s always positive to provide constructive ideas about how to improve darts at the league level. The ODC would like to suggest that as Presidents Sawyer\u2019s first order of business he encourage the ADO to pass the a Resolution that requires the following notice to be placed in every pub that hosts league darts\u2026<\/p>\n

MEN:<\/strong>\u00a0No shirt, no shoes, no service.<\/p>\n

WOMEN<\/strong>:\u00a0No shirt, no shoes, free service, doubles partner available.*<\/strong><\/p>\n

*This rule does not apply to men that possess original factory equipment even if lip syncing Shania Twain\u2019s Feel Like a Women<\/em> on the music machine. Sorry Caitlyn.<\/p>\n

Stay thirsty my friends.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It can be reported with certainty that anyone who plays or has played darts has at one time or another been 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can be reported with certainty that anyone who plays or has played darts has at one time or another been asked\u2026","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\/5748","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=5748"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5748\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6310,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5748\/revisions\/6310"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5748"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=5748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}