Tuesday, June 30, 2009
\nColumn 364
\nDesert Classic VIII \u2013 Qualifier Two<\/b><\/p>\n
DAMN it was hot today! At lunch I started hallucinating. I ordered spaghetti and thought I saw Olly Croft\u2019s image on a meatball.<\/p>\n
I blinked.<\/p>\n
I massaged my eyes.<\/p>\n
The meatball morphed into Tommy Cox, sprouted legs, and started running around the table.<\/p>\n
So I stabbed it, sliced it in half, and gobbled it up!<\/p>\n
Now I can only hope Cox doesn\u2019t reconsider and decide to chalk my upcoming challenge match against the elusive Australian, Kevin Berlyn, who I think I caught a glimpse of today. I\u2019m pretty sure I saw him hailing a taxi in front of the Mandalay Bay, disguised as a wallaby.<\/p>\n
Presently, Cox is declining to keep score claiming that since Berlyn and I \u201cboth suck arse\u201d and he has \u201ca really big important tournament to run\u201d there is \u201cjust not enough time to \u201csubtract twenty-sixes all day for a couple of bozos\u201d.<\/p>\n
Of course, I jest \u2013 Cox didn\u2019t use these exact<\/i> words.<\/p>\n
But he thought<\/i> them.<\/p>\n
And he is<\/i> correct.<\/p>\n
So…<\/p>\n
After another day in the desert heat the Desert Classic qualifiers are complete.<\/p>\n
Rounding out the thirty-two players who will begin first round stage play on Wednesday are 2003 Desert Classic champion Peter Manley, Colin Monk, Wes Newton, Louis Blundell, Scotland\u2019s Gary Anderson, and New Zealand\u2019s Phillip Hazell.<\/p>\n
For the North Americans it was Ken MacNeil who came closest to glory. The Canadian fought his way to the fifth and final round but came up short to Colin Monk 5-3.<\/p>\n
Advancing to the fourth round were Paul Lim, Gary Mawson, and Ray Carver.<\/p>\n
Lim knocked out Andy Jenkins\u2019 en route but was stopped short 5-4 by two-time Desert Classic semi-finalist, Wes Newton, who handled Dutchman Roland Scholten 5-1 to book his spot.<\/p>\n
Mawson\u2019s run was ended by Barrie Bates who was then ousted by Phillip Hazell.<\/p>\n
Carver was unstoppable early in the day taking high profile scalps the likes of Steve Beaton and 2008 Lakeside champion Mark Webster, the later with a pressure-packed 108-finish in the tiebreaker. In the end however, it was relative unknown Louis Blundell who, in a less-than-sportsmanly manner, squeaked past Carver 5-4. Those who watched this contest (including Blundell\u2019s fans) had to be as unimpressed with the youngster\u2019s attitude as they were impressed with his darts.<\/p>\n
In addition to those mentioned, Chuck Pankow, Jim Newman, Johnny Kuczynski, and Mark Stephenson also advanced to the third round.<\/p>\n
For a handful of other North Americans \u2013 Dan Zimmerman, Larry Butler, John Denich, Gerry Convery, Steve Panuncialman, and Dieter Schutsch \u2013 the day ended with their second match.<\/p>\n
For the rest the day ended pretty much when it started.<\/p>\n
The Desert Classic reconvenes on Wednesday with first round stage matches, the draw for which will take place at the player\u2019s dinner following the Las Vegas Player\u2019s Championship on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
For the Americans it will be Darin Young, Scotty Burnett, Chris White, and Bill Davis testing their power and precision against the best in the world as all thirty-two players remaining press on in their quest for the \u00a330,000 first place check.<\/p>\n
Check into to Dartoid\u2019s World tomorrow for results of the Player\u2019s Championship and the Desert Classic draw.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, I plan to order a pizza and continue my hunt for Kevin Berlyn.<\/p>\n
I wonder if wallaby\u2019s are attracted to pepperoni?<\/p>\n
From the Field,<\/p>\n
Dartoid<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
DAMN it was hot today! At lunch I started hallucinating. I ordered spaghetti and thought I saw Olly Croft\u2019s image on a meatball.<\/p>\n
I blinked.<\/p>\n
I massaged my eyes.<\/p>\n
The meatball morphed into Tommy Cox, sprouted legs, and started running around the table.<\/p>\n
So I stabbed it, sliced it in half, and gobbled it up!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6506,"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 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Two","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[15],"class_list":["post-7286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dartoid"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"views":2605,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/darts-image-feature-random-21-1.jpg?fit=520%2C291&ssl=1","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/darts-image-feature-random-21-1.jpg?fit=520%2C291&ssl=1",520,291,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/darts-image-feature-random-21-1.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-21-1.jpg?fit=300%2C168&ssl=1",300,168,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/darts-image-feature-random-21-1.jpg?fit=520%2C291&ssl=1",520,291,true],"large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/darts-image-feature-random-21-1.jpg?fit=520%2C291&ssl=1",520,291,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/darts-image-feature-random-21-1.jpg?fit=520%2C291&ssl=1",520,291,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/darts-image-feature-random-21-1.jpg?fit=520%2C291&ssl=1",520,291,true],"rpwe-thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/darts-image-feature-random-21-1.jpg?resize=45%2C45&ssl=1",45,45,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Dartoid","author_link":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/author\/dartoid\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"DAMN it was hot today! At lunch I started hallucinating. I ordered spaghetti and thought I saw Olly Croft\u2019s image on a meatball. I blinked. I massaged my eyes. The meatball morphed into Tommy Cox, sprouted legs, and started running around the table. So I stabbed it, sliced it in half, and gobbled it up!","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"authors":[{"term_id":15,"user_id":2,"is_guest":0,"slug":"dartoid","display_name":"Dartoid","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/2024-02-13-12_01_31-Dartoids-World-_-The-most-widely-read-column-about-darts-in-the-world.png","url2x":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/2024-02-13-12_01_31-Dartoids-World-_-The-most-widely-read-column-about-darts-in-the-world.png"},"first_name":"Paul","last_name":"Seigel","user_url":"http:\/\/www.dartoidsworld.com","job_title":"","description":"\"Dartoid\" is the pseudonym of Paul Seigel, a prominent chronicler of darts for over 35 years. His columns are celebrated for their wit and insight, often detailing his quest for a game in exotic locales worldwide. His writing offers vibrant commentary on the competitive darts landscape, including players, organizations, tournaments and the sport's unique culture. Dartoid's articles are highly regarded among darts enthusiasts, solidifying his role as a pivotal figure in promoting and documenting darts as both a recreational pastime and professional sport."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7286","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=7286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7286\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7286"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=7286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}