{"id":6046,"date":"2023-06-27T10:53:40","date_gmt":"2023-06-27T10:53:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/2023\/06\/column-hr413-the-cowboy-rides-away\/"},"modified":"2024-02-14T22:17:54","modified_gmt":"2024-02-14T22:17:54","slug":"column-hr413-the-cowboy-rides-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/2023\/06\/column-hr413-the-cowboy-rides-away\/","title":{"rendered":"Column #HR413 The Cowboy Rides Away"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tuesday, June 27, 2023
\n<\/strong>Column HR413\u00a0<\/strong>
\nThe Cowboy Rides Away<\/strong><\/p>\n

George Strait sang,\u00a0\u201cNow I just found a game that I can’t play.\u00a0\u00a0And this is where the cowboy rides away.”\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

But first<\/strong>. \u00a0The PDC World Cup 2023 is in the rear-view mirror but, like “The Song is Ended (but the Melody Lingers On)\u201d, so it is for the World Cup.\u00a0\u00a0Of those players that reached the round of 8 only three achieved higher scores than their prior 200 legs: Simon Whitlock (+4.74), Jonny Clayton (+2.05) and Michael Smith (+1.54).<\/p>\n

Gerwyn Price?\u00a0 -5.08.<\/p>\n

The PDC\u00a0women competed in four events in Germany last weekend.\u00a0\u00a0The fable that Beau Greaves talent was fading was fake news or high hopes.\u00a0 Greaves captured three of the four events in spectacular fashion, losing only to Paula Jacklin 4-2 as she averaged only 75.81.\u00a0 Beau\u2019s winning averages were 95.94, 89.05 and 104.38. Fallon Sherrock would win the remaining event.<\/p>\n

Sherrock\u00a0had a disappointing weekend although she does cherish the MBE she was awarded on the King’s birthday.\u00a0 She joins Eric Bristow, Mr. John Lowe and\u00a0Trina Gulliver\u00a0as those that have received the honor.\u00a0 Phil Taylor was on the MBE list until he\u00a0allegedly misbehaved in a caravan.<\/p>\n

Not all were “over the moon” with Sherrock\u2019s MBE.\u00a0 The Sultan of Sittingbourne, Dave Whitcomb, as usual articulates the view among those that question the award…\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

“I don\u2019t get it that Fallon is going to be awarded an MBE.\u00a0\u00a0Good player… yes.\u00a0\u00a0Best woman player… no.\u00a0\u00a0Most achievements by a woman player… no.\u00a0\u00a0Most charity money raised by a woman player… no.\u00a0 That\u2019s a different award anyway.\u00a0\u00a0Have I missed anything?\u00a0\u00a0A cynical person would say she\u2019s been given golden opportunities by the PDC in this mess of a diversity culture, given unprecedented exposure in the media coupled with unwarranted hype, and now being lobbied for an MBE by the same people.\u00a0\u00a0Whatever it is though, and everything above is incorrect, I\u2019ve missed the reason why.”<\/p>\n

The ODC visited his local and tipped a few pints\u00a0to “Cowboy” Bob Anderson\u00a0as he played his final competitive match.\u00a0 He lost 4-nil.\u00a0\u00a0Anderson is unique among professional dart players as he had an athletic career before darts.\u00a0 At the age of 21 Bob was a member of the 1968 Great Britain Olympic Team heading to Mexico City as a javelin thrower.\u00a0\u00a0A broken arm cancelled that trip and his javelin career.\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Then Anderson transferred his athletic career to the pitch\u00a0(or footie or soccer) where he played for Lincoln United, Guildford City, Woking and Farnborough Town.\u00a0 Then another injury, this time a broken leg,\u00a0ended his time on the pitch.<\/p>\n

Bob had played darts since the age of 7, when at 12 he scored his first T80.\u00a0\u00a0His darts were confined to only social play with maybe a pint or two to fit in.\u00a0 During all this time he worked in local government.<\/p>\n

Taking darts seriously was a slow process from high league play, then county and England national team.\u00a0\u00a0Along the way he ran into John Markovic and Linda Batten who became his managers.\u00a0 As the 70s morphed into the 80s so Anderson morph from a good player to one of the best taking his place alongside Eris Bristow, MBE, Mr. John Lowe, MBE, Dave Whitcombe and Cliff Lazarenko.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0the mid to late 80s, \u201cCowboy\u201d Bob’s\u00a0darting career exploded\u00a0with 3 Master\u2019s titles – a feat unmatched in the Era of Golden Darters.\u00a0\u00a0Later, with the field diminished (no PDC Players) Martin Adams would collect three on the trot.<\/p>\n

Anderson\u2019s three wins came in 1986, 1987 and 1988.\u00a0\u00a0Darts fans may be\u00a0hard pressed to name the three payers Anderson beat:\u00a0Canadian Bob Sinnaeve (3-2) and Mr. John Lowe twice (3-1 and 3-2).<\/p>\n

1988 was a banner year for Anderson as he added the World Championship (called the Embassy back then).\u00a0 As the #1 seed he would defeat Bert Vlaardingerbroek (3-1),\u00a0Russell Stewart (3-0), Peter Evison (4-0), Rick Ney (5-0) and Mr. John Lowe\u00a06-4.\u00a0 This was the era of dart boards with fat wires and four stables in each tribble.\u00a0\u00a0Anderson would average 93.38, 97.20, 98.43, 97.62 and 92.07.\u00a0 In sets he went 21 and 5 with\u00a04 of those\u00a0the sets against Mr. Lowe in the final.<\/p>\n

North America\u00a0wasn\u2019t immune to Bob Anderson\u2019s winning ways.\u00a0 A frequent visitor to\u00a0Canada, Anderson would take the Canadian Open twice and finish with runner-up on three other occasions.\u00a0 His wins came against Phil Taylor and Dennis Priestly.\u00a0 He was runner up finishes came against Mr. John Lowe, Phil Taylor and Mike Gregory.\u00a0\u00a0Bob would capture the 1993 North American Open.\u00a0 In his career Anderson won 22 events in 8 countries.<\/p>\n

As\u00a0Anderson\u2019s career took off\u00a0in the 1980s\u00a0like a cat with battery acid on its backside, George Strait would\u00a0record \u201cThe Cowboy Rides Away\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0On\u00a0June 24, 2023,\u00a0that\u2019s what Anderson did.\u00a0\u00a0The odds are 100% that it wasn\u2019t on a horse as according to Anderson,\u00a0“I love horses, they\u2019re fabulous animals, but they don\u2019t particularly like me.\u00a0\u00a0They normally rear up on their hind legs and make an aggressive noise.\u00a0 Or break wind at me \u2013 which happened on my honeymoon while on a horse-drawn carriage.”\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Looking back\u00a0on\u00a0his career Anderson reflects,\u00a0<\/em>\u201cI\u2019d have liked to have won more but I ran into someone called Phil Taylor \u2013 and he put a damper on everybody\u2019s aspirations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Getting little credit Anderson proudly \u201cplayed his part\u201d in the foundation of the breakaway World Darts Council – which latterly began the PDC – in the acrimonious 1990s split from the BDO.<\/p>\n

Echoing George Strait, Anderson explained, \u201cI simply cannot compete at the level that I wish to do so.\u00a0 I cannot play like I did 30-40 years ago, and I don\u2019t think anybody can truly expect me to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bob Anderson surely will not ride off into the Sunset on a horse.\u00a0\u00a0He will stroll away on a brilliant green carpet of a\u00a0fairway\u00a0– a golf cart in his left hand while his right holds the left of his wife Sally.<\/p>\n

Mr. John Lowe,\u00a0\u201cBob Anderson, a champion of champions.\u201d<\/p>\n

He leaves competitive darts as an all-time great.\u00a0 Even more important, in the words of Sally Kelly and everyone that knew him:\u00a0\u201cHe was always a classy guy.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

George Strait sang,\u00a0\u201cNow I just found a game that I can’t play.\u00a0\u00a0And this is where the cowboy rides away.”\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4140,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[17],"class_list":["post-6046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-howie"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"views":1083,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/darts-image-feature-random-18.jpg?fit=495%2C520&ssl=1","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/darts-image-feature-random-18.jpg?fit=495%2C520&ssl=1",495,520,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/darts-image-feature-random-18.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/darts-image-feature-random-18.jpg?fit=286%2C300&ssl=1",286,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/darts-image-feature-random-18.jpg?fit=495%2C520&ssl=1",495,520,true],"large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/darts-image-feature-random-18.jpg?fit=495%2C520&ssl=1",495,520,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/darts-image-feature-random-18.jpg?fit=495%2C520&ssl=1",495,520,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/darts-image-feature-random-18.jpg?fit=495%2C520&ssl=1",495,520,true],"rpwe-thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/darts-image-feature-random-18.jpg?resize=45%2C45&ssl=1",45,45,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Howie Reed","author_link":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/author\/howie-reed\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"George Strait sang,\u00a0\u201cNow I just found a game that I can't play.\u00a0\u00a0And this is where the cowboy rides away.\"\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\/6046","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=6046"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6046\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6116,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6046\/revisions\/6116"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6046"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=6046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}