{"id":8883,"date":"2024-03-07T06:53:36","date_gmt":"2024-03-07T11:53:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/?p=8883"},"modified":"2024-03-07T06:53:36","modified_gmt":"2024-03-07T11:53:36","slug":"column-hr445-well-hello-there","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/2024\/03\/column-hr445-well-hello-there\/","title":{"rendered":"Column #HR445 “Well, hello there…”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thursday, February 8, 2024
\n<\/strong>Column HR445<\/strong>
\nALERT! “Well, hello there…”<\/strong><\/p>\n

My, it’s been a long, long time<\/em><\/p>\n

How am I doing?<\/em><\/p>\n

Oh, I guess that I’m doing fine<\/em><\/p>\n

It’s been so long now<\/em><\/p>\n

And it seems now that it was only yesterday<\/em><\/p>\n

Gee, ain’t it funny how time slips away<\/em><\/p>\n

That’s the open stanza from the Willie Nelson tune written in 1961 for the late Patsy Cline. \u00a0Nashville recording studios rejected the song.\u00a0 That same week, Nelson wrote \u201cCrazy\u201d which became a classic for Patsy Cline.\u00a0 Both songs are considered classics today.<\/p>\n

So, why the music lesson?<\/p>\n

Toeing the Oche caught pneumonia (pronounced PEE-MOAN-YA) forcing the Old Dart Coach to play Florence Nightingale (no nurse Ratchet at Casa ODC).\u00a0 Missed during the ODC’s recouperation was the opportunity to say\u00a0Kung Hei Fat Choi<\/em>\u00a0and welcome in the Year of the Wood Dragon.\u00a0 The last Year of the Wood Dragon was 2012.\u00a0 One might wish to look back to see what 2024 has to offer.<\/p>\n

According to a Syndey Research Study the snake is the descendent of the Dragon.\u00a0 For the PDC\u2019s Nathan \u201cThe Asp\u201d Aspinall and Peter \u201cSnake Bite\u201d Wright that should propend a banner 2024.\u00a0 But so far both have had a slow start…<\/p>\n

Peter Wright showed a possible return to his old form in last week\u2019s UK Open, losing a decider to \u201cFamily Guy\u201d Steve Bunting 10-9.\u00a0 Wright broke Bunting’s serve to force the decider only to have Bunting break back with a 13-darter.<\/p>\n

The current Premier League standings show that Aspinall is doing okay as he sits 4th<\/sup> which, if he holds his place, would see him in the May playoffs.\u00a0 \u00a0A\u00a0PDC flack calls him \u201cresurgent\u201d- he\u2019s slightly ahead in legs won: 45-44.\u00a0 On the other hand, Peter Wright so far looks like a replay of last year.\u00a0 He inhabits the bottom of the standings, winning 18 legs against 33 lost.<\/p>\n

Aspinall faces Luke Littler this week in Premier League play.<\/p>\n

The surprise of the Premier League, to some, has been the play of Luke Littler.\u00a0 Littler sits second in the standings to seven-time Premier League champion Michael van Gerwen.\u00a0 Littler\u2019s losses have all been 6-5 except for a 6-3 loss to Rod Cross.\u00a0 Littler lost a pair to Michael van Gerwen. This week, he opens against Nathan Aspinall.\u00a0 A win there would propel Littler against Michael Smith who will probably dispose of Peter Wright.<\/p>\n

Like Wright, Nathan Aspinall forced a decider against Damon Heta by holding in 13 darts.\u00a0 Heta held in 14 for the 10-9 win. Heta would end the UK hopes of Luke Littler.\u00a0 Littler came from 9-6 down, narrowing to 9-8.\u00a0 In the 18th<\/sup>\u00a0leg Littler had 4 darts to force a 19th<\/sup> leg but fell 10-8.<\/p>\n

There is a particularly unorthodox part to Littler’s game – he plays to leave a bull out.\u00a0 If he\u2019s then left with 25. rather than toss a 9 he\u2019ll go for the 5 to leave d10. \u00a0Works for him… sometimes.<\/p>\n

Heta\u00a0would go on to lose a semifinals match against eventual winner Dimitri Van den Bergh 11-6.\u00a0 Van den Burgh would deny Luke Humphries a second major TV win on the trot winning 11-10. Humphries came back from 7-2 to level things at\u00a010-9.\u00a0 The plot thickened as Humphries used 14 darts to level.\u00a0 In the 21st leg Van de Burgh, as is his want, slowed the match to a crawl as he took time between each dart, bringing a cascade of boos from the liquored crowd.\u00a0 Still, Humpries had 3 darts for 52 to silence the crowd and capture the UK Open crown.<\/p>\n

The ODC\u2019s late mom, Irene Reed, would often vocalize under a similar circumstance: \u201cMy God, The Bridge.\u201d\u00a0 Being English that could well mean anything…<\/p>\n

In this case it was a howling mob calling Van de Bergh’s actions \u201ccheating\u201d and \u201cgamesmanship.\u201d What a load of \u201cBravo Sierra.\u201d<\/p>\n

There’s an old rodeo saying: \u201cIf you ain\u2019t cheating you\u2019re not trying hard enough.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cGamesmanship?\u201d A part of any game. You\u2019re playing a person.\u00a0 In auto racing gamesmanship is defined as \u201crubbing is racing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wayne Mardle defended Van den Bergh, saying his actions \u201cunderscore the complexity of competitive darts, where psychological tactics play as crucial a role as physical skill.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stop press!<\/p>\n

If you play darts and you\u2019re not aware of that fact, then take up another sport. Old timers would flick darts and whistle.\u00a0 Gary Anderson turned to “pumping”, “trumping”, “blowing off”, “pooting”, “passing gas”, “breaking wind”, “backfiring”, or simply “wind”.\u00a0 The ODC knew one player that, if the board lights came from behind, would stand in the light to cast a shadow on the board.<\/p>\n

The ADO Follies continued to the surprise of no one, least of all the ODC.\u00a0 The Camellia Classic in Sacramento has always been the opening event of the Northern California darting year. This year, someone on their board forgot to add the ADO logo to their flyer.\u00a0 ADO President Jim \u201cCaptain America\u201d Widmayer took to social media to point that out.\u00a0 His words were answered by someone with less awareness than a rock.\u00a0 \u201cYes, and they took our $1 like Tom Fleetwood used to do.<\/p>\n

Dear Moron: Once you pay your entry fee the money is no longer yours. Tom Fleetwood did not take your $1 – the ADO did to run the organization.<\/p>\n

Wishing a Happy Birthday, belatedly, to \u201cDapper\u201d Dave Justice who turned 74 in the Mother Country.\u00a0 Justice, in addition to being a great player, also had the distinction of playing in a coat and tie.<\/p>\n

The definition of “Paradise” has changed from Costa Rica to Cancun Mexico.\u00a0 Not only has the definition of “Paradise” changed, but the venue has also changed, the date of the event has changed and prize money has changed with an increased total payout of $65,000.\u00a0 It\u2019ll still be a great darting experience. Like the old Royal Hawaiian: \u201cbe there or be square.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another conclusion of the Syndey Research Study was that men are descendants of apes and not far removed.\u00a0 The study was somewhat confused however when it came to ladies.\u00a0 One theory has them coming from Eve which seems a stretch at best. Today\u2019s females would never accept an apple from a naked man.<\/p>\n

Money, jewels or a Rolls, yes.<\/p>\n

An apple?\u00a0 Fuggeddaboudit!<\/p>\n

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

Thursday, February 8, 2024 Column HR445 ALERT! “Well, hello there…” My, it’s been a long, long time How am I doing? Oh, I guess that I’m doing fine It’s been so long now And it seems now that it was only yesterday Gee, ain’t it funny how time slips away That’s the open stanza from<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6493,"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":"default","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":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","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-8883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-howie"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"views":54,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/darts-image-feature-random-8-1.jpg?fit=520%2C347&ssl=1","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/darts-image-feature-random-8-1.jpg?fit=520%2C347&ssl=1",520,347,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/darts-image-feature-random-8-1.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-8-1.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/darts-image-feature-random-8-1.jpg?fit=520%2C347&ssl=1",520,347,true],"large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/darts-image-feature-random-8-1.jpg?fit=520%2C347&ssl=1",520,347,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/darts-image-feature-random-8-1.jpg?fit=520%2C347&ssl=1",520,347,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/darts-image-feature-random-8-1.jpg?fit=520%2C347&ssl=1",520,347,true],"rpwe-thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/darts-image-feature-random-8-1.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":"Thursday, February 8, 2024 Column HR445 ALERT! “Well, hello there…” My, it’s been a long, long time How am I doing? Oh, I guess that I’m doing fine It’s been so long now And it seems now that it was only yesterday Gee, ain’t it funny how time slips away That’s the open stanza from","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\/8883","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=8883"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8885,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8883\/revisions\/8885"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8883"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dartoidsworld.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=8883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}