{"id":5907,"date":"2020-11-11T16:30:03","date_gmt":"2020-11-11T16:30:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/2020\/11\/column-hr292-congratulations-wales\/"},"modified":"2024-02-14T22:21:39","modified_gmt":"2024-02-14T22:21:39","slug":"column-hr292-congratulations-wales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/2020\/11\/column-hr292-congratulations-wales\/","title":{"rendered":"Column #HR292 Congratulations Wales!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wednesday, November 11, 2020
\n<\/strong> Column HR292<\/strong>
\nCongratulations Wales!<\/strong><\/p>\n

As Slim Pickens said in Blazing Saddles<\/em>,\u00a0\u201cWhat in the wide, wide world of sports is a goin\u2019 on here?\u201d\u00a0 He could have seen the future of the just concluded PDC World Cup of Darts X…<\/p>\n

The Old Dart Coach was wrong with his predictions of the outcome.\u00a0 The darting world is in stunned in silence (well, not all of it).<\/p>\n

After Wales tossed a 3-0 Snyder on England to win the Cup one fan of the Mother Country took to unsocial media to complain.\u00a0 I\u00a0know this isn\u2019t from the past… but… Rob Cross, as last year, has been atrocious in this World Cup… most games he looks like he couldn\u2019t throw a tantrum…\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em>As Mom always said, \u201cHindsight is 20\/20.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Wales 3-0 win was the first shutout in the World Cup final since 2014.\u00a0 Then it was the Netherlands (van Gerwen and Barneveld) over England with Taylor and Lewis.<\/p>\n

England lost as a team with both players contributing to the effort.\u00a0 Wales, the betting favorites with Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton went through the Brits like a chocoholic does a bag of M&M’s.\u00a0 Price stated the rout off with 4-1 win over Michael Smith.\u00a0 After trading the opening two legs Price triumphed with steady play that negated a pair of Smith T80\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Smith also squandered 6 darts at a double in the fourth leg from 128.\u00a0 Clayton was absolutely super coming from 2-1 to wave goodbye to Rob Cross averaging 105.<\/p>\n

Throwing first in the pairs Wales and England traded legs and were even after 6. The goodbye to England came when Price took out 64 with tops for the Cup and the \u00a370,000 top prize, after which Cross said,\u00a0we didn\u2019t play our best in the final and they deserved to beat us<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Could we please stop with the \u201cI didn\u2019t play my best garbage.\u201d\u00a0 Translation? \u00a0\u201cYou won but you were lucky we didn\u2019t play good.\u201d Say, \u201cThey won and congratulations.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the always resplendent John MacDonald, microphone in hand, said Ladies and Gentleman around the world welcome to the Bet Victor PDC World Series of Darts brought to you by the Professional Darts Corporation<\/em>\u201d two of the original 32 teams were absent. \u00a0Singapore was a victim of the Chinese Flu (replaced by Portugal) and China fell victim to Chinese bureaucracy, replaced by Lithuania.<\/p>\n

John MacDonald: how about “Gentleman, toe your oche.”\u00a0 A touch of class.<\/p>\n

The Old Dart Coach did accurately predict the first-round exit of the USA.\u00a0 They couldn\u2019t have drawn any worse than the Austrian team of Mensur Suljovic and Rowby-John Rodriguez.\u00a0 The Austrians had World Cup experience with Suljovic playing exceedingly well, leading to the Cup.\u00a0 Playing doubles only they dusted the USA 5-2.<\/p>\n

Austria would beat late replacement Portugal (2-0) then face England in the quarter finals. \u00a0The countries were tied at 1 in the race to 2, after Suljovic defeated Smith and Cross got Rodriguez, both by 4-3 scores.\u00a0 The doubles (with first to 4 winning) came down to a nail biter for England, but they emerged triumphant when Suljovic missed match darts.\u00a0 The Brits didn\u2019t and chalked up a 4-3 win.\u00a0 England then advanced to the semifinals with an easy 2-0 win over Belgium which ran out of gas and darts.<\/p>\n

Canada, as predicted by the ODC, did better than their American neighbor waving \u201cadios\u201d to Northern Ireland 2-0, and then New Zealand 5-2 to reach the round of 8 where their opponent was the red-hot Belgium team.\u00a0 Canada\u2019s Jeff Smith lost to Kim Huybrechts 4-1, but rookie Matt Campbell evened it at 1 with a 4-1 win over Dimitri Van den Bergh.\u00a0 But Belgium was too much in the doubles, winning 4-2.<\/p>\n

The eventual winner Wales was sailing along against Australia when Gerwyn Price hung a 4-3 \u201cL\u201d on Aussie Simon Whitlock.\u00a0 First timer Damon Heta would level for the Aussies with 4-3 win over Jonny Clayton.\u00a0 The doubles went to Wales 4-2 as Whitlock missed numerous doubles.\u00a0 Price would get the ODC MVP Award for the World Cup.\u00a0 No money, no plaque just the prestige of ODC recognition.<\/p>\n

Germany reached the semifinals against Wales when they saw off depleted Netherlands 2-1.\u00a0 Michael van Gerwen had been hospitalized with a pinched nerve in his back, a reoccurring injury, so was playing on pain killers.\u00a0 Against Germany he was able to beat Max Hopp 4-1 as teammate, Danny Noppert, fell to Gabriel Clemens 4-3.\u00a0 The deciding doubles went the distance with Germany winning 4-3.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, out in the ether the World Darts Federation Virtual Cup run by DartsConnect crowned English lass Fallon Sherrock the winner.\u00a0 She achieved the honor with a 6-1 win over Ksenia Klochek.\u00a0 To reach the final Sherrock had to defeat Canadian Diane Gobeil 5-4 in the semis.\u00a0 Gobeil was the only lady to win more than a single leg against Sherrock.\u00a0 In the KO portion minus Gobeil, Fallon went 18-3.<\/p>\n

One of the pure joys of being a member of the darting fraternity is not triples or doubles but the people.\u00a0 As with all fraternal organizations distance doesn\u2019t end the bond…<\/p>\n

There\u2019s an inviable sadness when a friend passes.\u00a0 Before the Old Dart Coach was \u201cold\u201d his first out-of-state tournament was in Portland, Oregon.\u00a0 There he met a fellow named Roger Crystal and a lady named Lori who would become Ms. Crystal.<\/p>\n

The ODC\u2019s first Portland tournament saw him enter the Friday blind draw. (Editor’s note: this was before the ODC found drinking beer more enjoyable then the draw – but quickly after he drew too many players like himself.)<\/p>\n

Roger drew the ODC and a lady named Linda. \u00a0She approached, introduced herself and then said, \u201cOh you bring your own darts?\u201d\u00a0 The result?\u00a0 Pre-ordained.<\/p>\n

The following year, the ODC drew the same lady.\u00a0 With the call he looked over at Crystal at the control desk.\u00a0 A slight giggle was noticed.\u00a0 The results were again preordained.\u00a0 Linda said, \u201cI brought my own darts!\u201d\u00a0 The only logical response was \u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n

Roger Crystal became a dear friend as did his wife.\u00a0 Roger passed away recently.\u00a0 He was<\/em> darts in the Pacific Northwest.\u00a0 More importantly he was a good man, husband and dear friend.\u00a0 He and his wife welcomed the ODC into their home even when they were under pressure to reject him as an outcast as the ADO painted him.<\/p>\n

Roger was a very special person. God bless.<\/p>\n

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

As Slim Pickens said in Blazing Saddles, \u201cWhat in the wide, wide world of sports is a goin\u2019 on here?\u201d He could have seen the future of the just concluded PDC World Cup of Darts 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Slim Pickens said in Blazing Saddles, \u201cWhat in the wide, wide world of sports is a goin\u2019 on here?\u201d He could have seen the future of the just concluded PDC World Cup of Darts X...","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\/5907","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=5907"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5907\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6233,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5907\/revisions\/6233"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5907"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=5907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}