{"id":6005,"date":"2022-10-07T10:01:59","date_gmt":"2022-10-07T10:01:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/2022\/10\/column-hr-372-hu\/"},"modified":"2024-02-14T22:18:11","modified_gmt":"2024-02-14T22:18:11","slug":"column-hr-372-hu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/2022\/10\/column-hr-372-hu\/","title":{"rendered":"Column #HR 372 HU?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wednesday, October 7, 2022
\n<\/strong>Column HR372<\/strong>
\nHU?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The response by Colonies\u2019 dart players, including the Old Dart Coach,\u00a0when the North American Open Dart Tournament\u00a0bit the dust after 2001, was \u201cHu?\u201d.\u00a0 \u201cHu\u201d combined with the \u201cBrook Trout Look\u201d\u00a0indicated that they had no idea what was going\u00a0to transpire.<\/p>\n

The North American was a combination of darts and gathering.\u00a0\u00a0The yearly visit for darters\u00a0was akin to\u00a0\u201cMuslim\u2019s going to Mecca\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0Not to attend?\u00a0 \u00a0A tungsten sin.\u00a0 A few years earlier,\u00a0dart players broke from the BDO.\u00a0 Those two events and Covid\u00a0changed the landscape of darts forever.<\/p>\n

The Colonies\u2019 players became more isolated except when\u00a0North American darters vied for a place on either the Pacific or World Cup Teams.\u00a0 That changed when Japan\u2019s major domo and WDF VP\u00a0(the late Bud Brick) torpedoed\u00a0the Pacific Cup and replaced it with the\u00a0Asia Cup\u00a0so \u201cMy Nips can win\u201d (according to Brick).\u00a0 What a class act.<\/p>\n

With the ascendency of the PDC, with\u00a0TV dominance,\u00a0WDF events became less impactful on the world scene.\u00a0 The English dominance in\u00a0WDF events was considerably less.\u00a0 The recent WDF Euro Cup was a trip back to the glory days for England.\u00a0\u00a0Euro Cup 2022\u00a0drew 42 men\u2019s teams and 36 women\u2019s teams to the Gandia Palace Hotel on the Costa del Azahar in Eastern Spain.<\/p>\n

There were eight gold medals at stake with England pulling the\u00a0heist on 7.\u00a0 They failed to medal\u00a0in the men\u2019s singles after Luke Littler lost to semi finest\u00a0Andy\u00a0Baetens from Belgium.\u00a0\u00a0Litter had three darts at 16 to win.<\/p>\n

The English ladies\u00a0starred\u00a0– led by the spectacular teenager\u00a0Beau Greaves.\u00a0 She\u00a0won the singles over Spain\u2019s\u00a0Almudena Fajardo, leading\u00a03-2 and 5-2 and wining 7-4.\u00a0\u00a0In the pairs Beau joined regular partner \u201cQueen\u201d Deta Headman to defeat Sweden\u2019s\u00a0Vicky Pruim and Susianne H\u00e4gvall 6-3.\u00a0 Greaves and Headman overcame double trouble,\u00a0trailing 2-nil.\u00a0 Then came a 5-leg run that buried\u00a0Pruim and\u00a0H\u00e4gvall for the 6-3 win.\u00a0 England would best the Netherlands in both the men\u2019s (9-8)\u00a0and women\u2019s team (9-1).<\/p>\n

France\u2019s Jacques Labre had himself a time to remember in\u00a0Spain.\u00a0\u00a0He took\u00a0the Euro Cup singles.\u00a0 The semi was a tester between\u00a0Labre and\u00a0Andy\u00a0Baetens.\u00a0\u00a0Each held serve until Labre broke in 16 darts for the 6-5 win. \u00a0In the final it was a stroll in the park.\u00a0\u00a0Labre won 7-2 over Finland\u2019s Teemu Harju averaging 96.55.<\/p>\n

The Spanish Open for Labre was\u00a0a struggle against\u00a0Czech\u00a0Vitezslav Sedlak.\u00a0\u00a0Tied at 5\u2026 going to 6 – one needs a little luck. \u00a0Labre got it as\u00a0Sedlak failed to check with 3 from 48.\u00a0 Labre\u00a0made\u00a075 disappear for the 6-5 win.<\/p>\n

The Spanish Open wasn\u2019t\u00a0kind to Beau Greaves. \u00a0She withdrew as tonsillitis got the win.<\/p>\n

The first round of the BoyleSports World Grand Prix is completed with no real surprises.\u00a0 The\u00a0pesky double start tournament\u00a0has the pros \u201ccrying for Momma\u201d.\u00a0 \u00a0Is this a real or imagined concern? \u00a0The ODC chose some randomly selected matches to compare staring darts against finishing. \u00a0Common sense\u00a0suggests\u00a0the starting double is easier to hit\u00a0as the player can choose a favorite. \u00a0The finishing double would seem more difficult as it\u2019s dictated by the game.\u00a0\u00a0There are times a stray dart (or Soldier-like counting) puts a player where they never want to be.\u00a0 In five matches the starting figures were\u00a064 of 183 or 34.97% while those same darters finished 12 of 31 or\u00a038.70%. \u00a0Almost same-same.<\/p>\n

The TV announcer aggravated\u00a0the ODC on the opening day with his allegation: \u201cIt\u2019s a sprint format.\u201d\u00a0 Sprint? \u00a0First to 2 sets with best of 5 legs composing a set. \u00a0Bushwa.<\/p>\n

One of the most entertaining matches on Day One was between defending champion Jonny Clayton\u00a0and Dirk van Duijvenbode.\u00a0 It was the only one to end 2-1 (1-3, 3-1, 3-1) and\u00a0van Duijvenbode got the \u2018RA\u201d\u00a0before the not very vicarious crowd\u201d (the crowd description, courtesy of John Par). \u00a0For\u00a0van Duijvenbode it was a taste of the meal served up for non-Dutch players\u00a0in Netherlands. \u00a0Even the always mild mannered ODC once got involved in a dust up at the Dutch Open and was\u00a0saved by Eric Bristow and \u201cThe Legend\u201d Russ Lopez.<\/p>\n

Former two-time world champion Adrian \u201cBig Baby\u201d\u00a0Lewis may be back. \u00a0If so, it\u2019s been a long and difficult road. \u00a0After playing well in Belgium he took his first round match\u00a02-0 over\u00a0Jose de Sousa (3-2, 3-2). \u00a0Vintage Lewis had him taking deciders with big clean finishes. \u00a0Lewis used 15 darts twice finishing 101 and 70 for sets.<\/p>\n

Day Two of the first round had pros\u00a0\u201cmind freeze\u201d (called by scientists \u201cThe Gates Effect\u201d).\u00a0 Madars Razma led Ryan Searle 1 set to nil and 1-nil in the second.\u00a0\u00a0After 12 darts\u00a0Razma wanted 85 as Searle sat on 340.\u00a0\u00a0After 15 and t18, Razma needed 16. \u00a0Now considering you\u2019ve got\u00a0Searle\u2019s at 340 what do you do? \u00a0You throw the third dart on the outside edge of the d8 or off the board. \u00a0Not Razma he hits a fat 8.\u00a0\u00a0Searle reaches 200 as Razma\u2019s first dart at d4 scores\u00a04, at d2 off the board.\u00a0\u00a0Now the \u201cmind freeze\u201d hits big time. \u00a0He can bust, but he doesn\u2019t – his fat 2 leaves 2.\u00a0\u00a0In 11 darts Razma fails from 8 as Searle takes the leg in 23 darts. \u00a0The Tungsten God was looking out for Razma though and he recovered to win the match 2-1.<\/p>\n

The ultimate double start tournament was the North American.\u00a0\u00a0 It was also a reunion of sorts where once a year the darting clan gathered.\u00a0\u00a0As darters get older, they remember the\u00a0North American as a chance to renew old friendships and swap tales of battles fought on dartboards everywhere. \u00a0That point driven home when we said goodbye to Dusie last Saturday.<\/p>\n

Then just hours later came the news that Maggie Martel had passed on.\u00a0 In all of God\u2019s kingdom Maggie was one of the sweetest people. \u00a0She was nice thru and thru – genuinely nice.\u00a0 And, oh yeah, one hell of a dart player too. \u00a0As a partner she played and won with many of the greats of the game. \u00a0She\u2019s now joins her husband Bob in heaven.\u00a0\u00a0God can take some lessons from her.\u00a0 God Bless Maggie.<\/p>\n

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

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

The response by Colonies\u2019 dart players, including the Old Dart Coach,\u00a0when the North American Open Dart Tournament\u00a0bit the dust after 2001, was 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Reed","author_link":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/author\/howie-reed\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The response by Colonies\u2019 dart players, including the Old Dart Coach,\u00a0when the North American Open Dart Tournament\u00a0bit the dust after 2001, was \u201cHu?\u201d...\u00a0","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\/6005","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=6005"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6154,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6005\/revisions\/6154"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6005"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=6005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}