{"id":5787,"date":"2018-06-29T12:21:34","date_gmt":"2018-06-29T12:21:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/2018\/06\/column-hr234-larry-butler-on-the-road-to-recovery-and-continued-domination\/"},"modified":"2024-02-14T22:22:48","modified_gmt":"2024-02-14T22:22:48","slug":"column-hr234-larry-butler-on-the-road-to-recovery-and-continued-domination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/2018\/06\/column-hr234-larry-butler-on-the-road-to-recovery-and-continued-domination\/","title":{"rendered":"Column #HR234 Larry Butler – on the road to recovery and continued domination"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friday, June 29, 2018
\n<\/strong> Column HR234<\/strong>
\nLarry Butler – on the road to recovery and continued domination<\/strong><\/p>\n

North America has a history of world class dart players. The names Umberger, Kramer, Ney, Virachkul, Verrier (G), Payne, Holyoake, Part, Sinnaeve, Gopar, Lim (P), Ennis, Puccello, Daniels, McGinnis, Fischer, Heard, Kelly, Miller and Valleto are just a few on the male side of the ledger. Can\u2019t leave the ladies out with Maloney, Karpowich, Ferrell, Reitan, Verrier (L) and of course the late Stacy Bromberg.<\/p>\n

On any list of great North American players the name of Larry Butler must be included. His accomplishments on the oche and longevity mark his talent as something special. He\u2019s unquestionably the most decorated dart player in North American history.<\/p>\n

He secures a place in history for his relentless battles on the oche winning more than he lost. He never gave up. Now, a new more serious challenge awaits him. He must fight back from a devastating heart attack. On June 5th after returning from Germany where he represented the USA in the PDC World Cup XIII he went to the Soin Medical ER not feeling well. While there, luckily with a cardiologist in attendance, he suffered a massive heart attack. A stint was placed in one of two a blocked blood vessels. Moved to the Kettering Medical Center, a second stint was inserted via angioplasty into the other blocked blood vessel.<\/p>\n

The right blocked blood vessel has kind of healed itself as the blood diverted around the blockage. Larry is currently in short term physical rehab for 5 to 15 days at the Kettering Medical Center. He asked for and got a dart board to assist in his recovery. In was in rehab for an injury that John Kramer, another North American great, was introduced to darts.\u00a0\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Down the road, possibly 6 months, Larry will require another stint. The doctors have indicated that \u201chis heart is strong.\u201d Hell, anyone that played against him could attest to that. The road to recovery will be long and hard – the \u201cAmerican Bald Eagle\u2019s\u201d greatest challenge. The late Jimmy Valvano once said, \u201cDon\u2019t give up don\u2019t\u2026 never give up.\u201d Larry won\u2019t. He\u2019ll soar again to the heights over the North American world of darts.<\/p>\n

Many on any future list of North America greats will gather in Las Vegas July 3-5 for the PDC North American Dart Championship and US Darts Masters. Back to defend his North American title will be Willard \u201cThe Chief\u201d Bruguier who, to coin a phrase, was on the \u201cwarpath\u201d last year. He\u2019ll be out to capture as many scalps as possible during the four qualifiers that lead up to the July 5th finals.<\/p>\n

(Editor\u2019s note<\/u>: The preceding came from what\u2019s left of the \u201cgolden elixir\/aiming fluid\u201d effected mind of the Old Dart Coach. Dartoid\u2019s World accepts no responsibility for his words or actions.)<\/p>\n

The PDC has made some adjustments to the entry rules for this year\u2019s event. The cost remains at about $100 but players may enter each qualifier individually with no requirement to stay at the host hotel. Should a player wish to stay at the Mandalay Bay the cost for a room July 1-4 is $83 ($99 on July 5th<\/sup>). That cost does not include a $35 per day \u201cresort fee\u201d (for which you get \u201cSweet Fanny Adams\u201d), $15 per day if you have a car and city tax of 13.38% per day which is a way to get el and la turista<\/em> to pay for the stadium that will house the soon to be Las Vegas Raiders. Kind of gives you a warm feeling.<\/p>\n

The winners of the four qualifiers and the top 4 in a \u201cTable of Merit\u201d will play for the North American Championships July 5th. There\u2019s no public viewing of the North American qualifiers. Anyone that does get in to watch had better be quiet or they\u2019ll be 86ed. The ODC, innocent for once, got tossed out for fraternizing with a very lovely English (maybe a little too loudly) lass last year. \u201cYou\u2018re bothering the players,\u201d they were told. Out in the hallway they got \u201cdagger stares\u201d from the \u201cofficials.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year Toeing the Oche has enlisted the services of former USA International Russ Lopez to assist in bringing daily reports on the qualifiers. Tickets for the US Darts Masters, July 5-7, are available on an individual basis or via a season ticket. A season bleacher seat will cost $164.76 while a table seat is $199.50.<\/p>\n

The PDC is sending a stellar field with the top 5 in the Order of Merit in attendance. They\u2019re led by #1 \u201cMarvelous\u201d Michael van Gerwen, then #2 Peter Wright, current world champion #3 Rob Cross, #4 Gary \u201cGary, Gary, Gary\u201d Anderson and #5 Northern Ireland\u2019s Daryl \u201cThe Chin\u201d Gurney. Rounding out the field are Gerwyn Price, Michael Smith and James Wade. A PDC all-star field up against North America\u2019s finest.<\/p>\n

Chances of a North American player seeing day two? Slim and none and Slim\u2019s out of town.<\/p>\n

As mentioned probably waaay too often the PDC is not afraid to try new approaches to darts. They tried a couple of approaches in North America with limited success. They have instituted various tours. The latest, begun in 2018, is the Asia Tour that invaded what was previously thought to be \u201csoft point country\u201d Japan. Two hundred players showed up in two events with each event paying $10,060 in prize money or a total of $20,120.<\/p>\n

Now the PDC arrives in North America with 4 qualifiers for locals each paying $16,300 (it\u2019s the ODCs math which is sometimes sketchy at best) or $65,200 with an additional $25,000 up for the North American Champion. Every dart player knows that adds up to bull and double tops. Well kinda. The US Dart Masters has an additional $60,000.<\/p>\n

The money made available by the PDC should entice every steel point player that whines, \u201cWe need to play a better format for better money.\u201d Here \u2018tiz. They\u2019ll either step up in significant numbers or the PDC will put the \u201crelease hold\u2019 on North America for good. In all honesty, the PDC does not need the North American players. The PDC could rename the US Dart Masters, bring 8 players to Las Vegas and sell out the house. A majority of their tickets go to overseas visitors anyway. North American players: it\u2019s put up or shut up time.<\/p>\n

On the lighter side at a recent dart tournament the following conversation took place\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat you got there?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA new set of \u201cspecial\u201d John Lowe World Champion Golden Signature darts. Got \u2019em for my wife.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGreat trade.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

North America has a history of world class dart players. 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America has a history of world class dart players. The names Umberger, Kramer, Ney, Virachkul...","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\/5787","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=5787"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5787\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6290,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5787\/revisions\/6290"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5787"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=5787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}