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Big fat blokes flinging nails at a wall, 2017

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    Big fat blokes flinging nails at a wall, 2017

    No thread for this, this year? Down to the last six. There'll be an all-Scottish semi-final tomorrow, as reigning champion Gary "Gary"Anderson meets Peter "Snakebite" Wright, and there might be an all-Dutch one too, as tonight's remaining quarter-finals pit world number one Michael "Nickname? Ha, piss off" van Gerwen against rank outsider Daryl Gurney, and then Raymond "Barney" van Barnevald against Phil "Not him again" Taylor.

    #2
    Big fat blokes flinging nails at a wall, 2017

    As some of you may know, I'm currently compiling one uber blog from the many different ones that I have put up over time. This has meant going through over a hundred thousand photos, dating back to the mid eighties.

    Anyway, during the week I was looking at some from the early nineties. 1992/93 was when my friends and I hit 18, and when one of us did, rather than a party or night out, we went to all the major darts tournaments in those years.

    This was at the time of the BDO/WDC split, so it was really a bizarre time. Going through the photos, there were three things that stood out.

    1. There was absolutely no one at the early WDC tournaments. We went to the 1992 Lada Masters, which was the second ever WDC tournament. It was held in Rochester, at what I think was the Casino club. We were there for three sessions, and the photos I have shows a nearly empty room. There are about 40 tables, of which perhaps a dozen are occupied. Also, perched on the end of our one, are Kevin Spiolek and Jamie Harvey. We went to it two years later, when it had moved to Purfleet and had become the World Championship, and it was sold out. Strange to see what a slow start it had, compared to what it is like now.

    2. We went to the 1993 UK Matchplay, the precursor to the World Matchplay that is now the Blackpool tournament. However, this one was held in Chesterfield. What I vividly remember is the older brother of the mate who's birthday it was, having the shit beaten out of him on the way home and having his wedding ring taken. But there is a photo of a group of us, showing how low key the event was, up on stage around the darts board. What intrigues me about this is that I'd completely forgotten that the WDC were using a quadro board. Having had my memory jogged, I can now recall that there was a real difference in how different players played the board. Some of them carried on just using trebles, some of them tried the quadruples and couldn't hit them. I seem to recall that there were only two 240s in the whole tournament? This seemed to upset the organisers as they had kept it at 501 as they wanted to see a seven dart checkout. It was always a bit of a fad and I can't recall them using one after the late nineties. I've seen a few in Germany on my travels, though these are usually soft tip boards which are probably survivors from that era.

    3. The final thought comes from having my memory jogged as opposed to the photos. I seem to recall that all the tournaments at this time used the equal darts rule? When did that stop getting used? I've always though it was fairer and made the game more interesting.

    At some point in time, these photos will go on the blog. It's just interesting to see darts from 20 years ago compared to the monied circus it is now.

    Comment


      #3
      Big fat blokes flinging nails at a wall, 2017

      What was the "equal darts" rule, BB&F?

      Semi-finals:

      Gary Anderson (SCO) v Peter Wright (SCO)
      Raymond van Barneveld (NED) v Michael van Gerwen (NED).

      I literally don't mind who wins this. (Although Peter Wright looks a bit of a wanker.)

      Comment


        #4
        Big fat blokes flinging nails at a wall, 2017

        It means that each player gets the same number of darts to check out, rather than being the player who checks out first.

        It takes away the advantage of throwing first, and then adds a whole new element to the game, as if it is the player throwing first who checks out, they then have to see if the other player checks out in less darts.

        The only issue was that it did mean drawn legs.

        The reason I remember it was in one of the quadro board tournaments, the fact that you could score up to 240 meant it was nearly always possible to check out, so most legs went on equal darts.

        The most memorable was the match between Phil Taylor and Keith Deller (I think). it was down to a deciding leg, and Taylor, throwing first, checked out, only for Deller to check out from 196 to win the game.

        Good times.

        Comment


          #5
          Big fat blokes flinging nails at a wall, 2017

          Gerontophile wrote: What was the "equal darts" rule, BB&F?
          Took the words out of my mouth, there.* I'd also never heard of the "quadro" board until just now, genuinely no idea that such a thing was ever used. Extraordinary.

          Enjoyed Rogin's nicknames in the original post, not least because Gary "Gary" Anderson unavoidably brought to mind the name of inexplicably twice-monikered INXS bassist Garry Gary Beers. Actually, given the traditional build and predilections of darts players, there really ought to be a pro out there somewhere nicknamed "Beers", too.

          Here in the land of terrestrial-only TV viewing, meanwhile, I'm just waiting for these PDC pushovers to get out of the way again so that the discussion can return to the real titans of the sport, when the BDO behemoths get their own world championship underway imminently.

          Comment


            #6
            Big fat blokes flinging nails at a wall, 2017

            You know that is no longer on the Beeb, Various? I think it's gone to BTSpurt.

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              #7
              Big fat blokes flinging nails at a wall, 2017

              And, I kid you not, in a preliminary round of the upcoming BDO, Tom Sawyer is playing Paul Hogan.

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                #8
                Big fat blokes flinging nails at a wall, 2017

                Oh. Cheers Gero, I had indeed clean forgotten that, if indeed I'd been aware. Ah well then. They're all equally dead to me in that case. Bastards.

                Edit: Dammit, your follow-up post has piqued my enthusiasm again. Now I want to see if, say, Robinson Crusoe is taking on Barry Humphries.

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                  #9
                  Big fat blokes flinging nails at a wall, 2017

                  The BDO has gone to channel 4.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Big fat blokes flinging nails at a wall, 2017

                    Just done a quick check and yes, this is the first EVER World Championship - of either BDO or PDC persuasion - not to feature an English semi-finalist.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Big fat blokes flinging nails at a wall, 2017

                      Various Artist wrote: Oh. Cheers Gero, I had indeed clean forgotten that, if indeed I'd been aware. Ah well then. They're all equally dead to me in that case. Bastards.

                      Edit: Dammit, your follow-up post has piqued my enthusiasm again. Now I want to see if, say, Robinson Crusoe is taking on Barry Humphries.
                      The PDC debuted that new tournament in Cardiff earlier in the year (Champions League, was it? I lose track) on the BBC and still has the odd event live in some of the minor ITV channels, I think.

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                        #12
                        Big fat blokes flinging nails at a wall, 2017

                        Oh, I know Ray – but it's the slightly naff World Championship at Lakeside that my heart belongs to.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Big fat blokes flinging nails at a wall, 2017

                          3-3 in the first semi-final. Anderson looking a wee bit shaky after being 3-1 up.

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                            #14
                            Big fat blokes flinging nails at a wall, 2017

                            That second semi-final was just phenomenal.

                            Michael van Gerwen threw an average of 114.05, which is the highest score in the Worlds by 3 whole points.

                            Barney was really shit, scoring only 109.34, which is the highest ever losing score, beating the guy who van Gerwen beat in the last round, who beat the guy who van Gerwen had beat in the previous round. In other words, van Gerwen's last 3 opponents have had the 3 highest ever losing scores.

                            In the final van Gerwen will [strike]beat[/strike] meet Gary Anderson who eventually won 6-3. (103.45)

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Big fat blokes flinging nails at a wall, 2017

                              I haven't seen enough of the tournament this year and didn't get along to a session for the first time in a few years but that was astounding darts from MvG to win tonight.

                              Fitting that he does the clean sweep and lovely to see how emotional it made him, one of THE greats.

                              Comment


                                #16
                                Big fat blokes flinging nails at a wall, 2017

                                Van Gerwen was just relentless last night. There was a period around sets five to seven where he was hitting everything. Gary Anderson looked absolutely bewildered - and he was hitting his fair share of 180s and doubles as well.

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                                  #17
                                  Big fat blokes flinging nails at a wall, 2017

                                  MVG was astounding throughout. The only problem was it meant he had no real competition. Barney played sensationally well, but wasn't even close. Anderson was excellent throughout and brought his A game to the final, and it was still a rout.

                                  Highlight of the tournament for me was Barney very deliberately doing the obnoxious Phil Taylor nicking the dartboard and forcing the loser to sign it routine after beating Taylor.

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                                    #18
                                    Big fat blokes flinging nails at a wall, 2017

                                    I didn't see that, sounds fantastic.

                                    It's great that the Taylor era is now smashed to pieces by MvG's dominance (and the continued quality of Anderson, Barney er al) added to by how much it clearly rankles the sewer rat.

                                    Comment


                                      #19
                                      Big fat blokes flinging nails at a wall, 2017

                                      Say what you like about the relative quality of the BDO (available outside the UK on YouTube), but you can't deny that it throws up intriguing ties

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