{"id":5988,"date":"2022-07-22T09:18:23","date_gmt":"2022-07-22T09:18:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/2022\/07\/column-hr-358-happy-birthday-to-two-legends\/"},"modified":"2024-02-14T22:18:16","modified_gmt":"2024-02-14T22:18:16","slug":"column-hr-358-happy-birthday-to-two-legends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/2022\/07\/column-hr-358-happy-birthday-to-two-legends\/","title":{"rendered":"Column #HR 358 HAPPY BIRTHDAY to TWO LEGENDS!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friday, July 22, 2022
\n<\/strong>Column HR358<\/strong>
\nHAPPY BIRTHDAY to TWO LEGENDS!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yesterday, July 21, marked the birthday of two true legends of darts…<\/p>\n

The initial winner of the World Matchplay, Larry \u201cThe American Eagle\u201d Butler, is still soaring at the top of the sport.\u00a0 Mr. John Lowe MBE is one that helped the sport grow, played at a superb level and was always a true gentleman. \u00a0All darters are fortunate to have them in our midst.<\/p>\n

The World Matchplay reaches the Elite Eight.\u00a0 The pretenders have been sent packing as those remaining are dreaming – dreaming of playing even better yet, already\u00a0assured \u00a330,000 but with visions of the Phil Taylor Trophy and a lot more quid dancing in their heads.<\/p>\n

Last year, when Peter Wright and Dimitri Van den Bergh met it was for the title.\u00a0 Wright was impossibly impressive, averaging 105.90 in an 18-9 victory.\u00a0 Now, or the third time, Van den Bergh finds himself on the precipice of lifting the Phil Taylor Trophy.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

#8 Dimitri Van den Bergh 16-14<\/strong> over #1 Peter Wright.<\/p>\n

Break out the superlatives, then try to pick just one<\/em>!\u00a0 Amazing, incredible, unbelievable and November Foxtrot Whiskey.<\/p>\n

This started as a slugging match in the realm of Hearns-Hagler with Wright being Hearns – getting off the canvas to return to the fight.\u00a0 But like Hearns he would get KO\u2019d.<\/p>\n

Van den Bergh was able to take advantage of Wright’s tendency to snooze during a match. \u00a0He did in this match and paid the price.<\/p>\n

Wright lost the first leg in 13 darts and won the next 4.\u00a0 At 1-4 down Van den Bergh gave Wright a little taste of \u201cSingapore Justice\u201d as in a \u201cRight Caning\u201d with a run of 9-1 to an 11-5 lead.<\/p>\n

Wright changed darts from gold to silver, back to gold.\u00a0 They worked – he took the 3rd<\/sup>\u00a0set 3-2 and was down 4 at 12-8.\u00a0 Wright, back to purple darts with orange stems and flights, brought the match even at 12-12.<\/p>\n

Wright then led 13-12 – in 14.<\/p>\n

The lead then disappeared as Van den Bergh used 11 to level at 13 with a 96 finish in 2, then 12 for 14-13.<\/p>\n

Wright got even again when Van der Bergh missed the bull from 164.\u00a0 But Van den Bergh ended it in 13 and 14 darts.\u00a0 In the winning leg he tossed 177 to leave 44 which went bye-bye.<\/p>\n

#4 Michael van Gerwen 16-15<\/strong>\u00a0over Nathan Aspinall.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s an old Show Biz (which the World Matchplay is) saying that you never want the stage after an act of kids or animals. \u00a0\u00a0Van den Bergh and Wright are neither – but \u201csame-same\u201d deal.<\/p>\n

What Van den Bergh and Wright did\u00a0was suck the energy out of the crowd which was asking for a time out –\u00a0time to catch their breath, take a long trip to the loo and stock up on Golden Elixir.\u00a0\u00a0When van Gerwen and Aspinall met last year here MvG prevailed\u00a016-9.<\/p>\n

Van Gerwen was playing well, holding his own throw while breaking Aspinall\u2019s throw twice for a 7-3 lead after the second set of 5.<\/p>\n

Then it became 11-4 MvG.\u00a0 To that point, he was averaging 102, finishing 50% with legs of 17 and 15, 3 at 14, 2 at 13 and 3 at 12.\u00a0 WOW.<\/p>\n

The crowd almost stopped singing as Aspinall then put together 4 legs of 15, 15, 14 and 13 to narrow MvG\u2019s lead to 12-8.<\/p>\n

The crowd may have been hoping for an instant replay of the Van den Bergh – Wright contest.<\/p>\n

They got it!<\/p>\n

When MvG got to 14 and needed 20, Aspinall took 164 on the bull!<\/p>\n

MvG got to 15, one from victory, when Aspinall only used 15 and a T06 check to narrow to 15-11.\u00a0 That begat another Bull finish from 90 with MvG on 24, making it 15-12.<\/p>\n

Aspinall would add his 4th<\/sup>\u00a0on the run for 15-14.\u00a0 But…<\/p>\n

…MvG who had played well then shone brightly as he wrapped it up with T15, T80, 60 – then a T46 (T20, T20, d13) finish.<\/p>\n

Today – best of 31<\/u><\/p>\n

Danny Noppert vs.\u00a0#14 Dirk van Duijvenbode.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

#2 Gerwyn Price<\/strong>\u00a0vs. #7 Jose de Sousa.<\/p>\n

A word of caution on the Danny Noppert vs. #14 Dirk van Duijvenbode match….<\/p>\n

Dirk van Duijvenbode downplayed his 11-7 win over Michael Smith that got him into the final 8.\u00a0 Saying of his 98 average,\u00a0\u201cI played rubbish\u201d.\u00a0 This brought a response from Wayne Mardle:\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s too bad when a player relies on averages not being able to celebrate the win.\u00a0 There\u2019re no averages on trophy\u2019s.”<\/p>\n

The Chalk-eating Weasel went 1 and 1\u00a0today.\u00a0 Not good for a Chalk-eating Weasel’s digestion.<\/p>\n

More words of wisdom from Wayne Mardle: \u201cHow you noticed, John (talking to mic partner, John Part) that all those wearing green Michael van Gerwen shirts look like him.\u00a0 Makes no difference, age or sex.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

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Reed","author_link":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/author\/howie-reed\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"July 21 marked the birthday of two true legends of darts...\u00a0\u00a0","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\/5988","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\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5988"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5988\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6167,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5988\/revisions\/6167"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5988"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=5988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}