Here's a guilty pleasure of mine. In my country it is a well accepted passion, but internationally it's still a small 'sport': darts. Even though I don't play the game myself, I would have to say I'm as much into darts as into soccer. The reason I bring it up is the fact that right now the World Championships are on. If I were ever to bring it up, it might as well be now. The same way another member knows her jousting, I know the players, the rules, the tournaments, etc., of the game of darts. Everything that's important.
This is no longer special in my country, where it has become a very popular game since 1995. That year a Dutchman by the name of Raymond van Barneveld emerged onto the world scene by becoming the runner up at the Worlds. His definitive breakthru occurred in 1998 when he won the title. He won the title four times in one federation, and last year he won a fifth world title on his debut in the other.
I've been watching the game a little longer than that. My dad took up darts in 1990, so it was only natural that he should start watching the world championships on TV. The first game I saw was the 1991 final in which Dennis "the Menace" Priestley famously blanked Eric Bristow six sets to none.
The schism is a huge problem for the game in its quest to become a televised sport all over the world. The original darts federation goes by the name of World Darts Federation/British Darts Organization, and in 1994 a bunch of greedy players decided to create their own federation where they could distribute the prize money to their advantage. The name of their federation is Professional Darts Corporation.
Even though the PDC now has most of the world's top players, I still prefer the WDF/BDO. The reigning BDO world champion, Martin Adams from England put it like this: "The PDC is entertainment, the BDO is sport." Darts is as much a sport as is contract bridge, but this sums it up for me too. Well, the worst thing about the PDC is that they pause matches for commercials, which the WDF/BDO doesn't. Still when I look at the world rankings for both federations, the PDC have about 20 players who could win either tournament, while the WDF have no more than eight who I think capable of winning either world championship.
The rules of the game at the professional level are quite simple. The board is divided into 20 slices, worth 1 thru 20 points. The bull's eye is worth 50 points, and the ring around the bull's eye is worth 25 points. There's an outer ring that doubles the points for all the slices, and a ring midway thru the slices that triples the points. Players start each leg (a mini game) at 501 points, and must finish on exactly 0 points. Their finishing dart must be a double, which is the outer ring or the bull's eye. On each 'visit' to the 'oche' (the line from which they throw their darts), players throw three darts. The highest score isn't as some may think three darts in the bull's eye. That's just 150 points. For the maximum score of 180 a player has to throw three darts into the treble 20. The main significance of the bull's eye, is that it's the highest double on the board, which means it's very useful if you have to checkout a high score. The maximum checkout being 170.
The most difficult feat on a dartboard would be to finish a leg in nine darts. At some tournaments more money can be won achieving that than by winning the tournament, while at other tournaments a car can be won that way. It's like the hole in one in golf. It happened an awful lot last year, though. I saw it happen twice on live TV. In order to achieve that it would be imperative to start with two maximum scores. It isn't entirely necessary, but that's usually the way. For the remaining 141 you must also hit two trebles and a double. It can't be done without hitting eight trebles and a double, unless you're really good at hitting the bull's eye. That's why it's so difficult.
The PDC had their world championships in December with the final on January 1.Their world champion is John Part from Canada. It's his third world title, and his second in the PDC. The final of the BDO world championship is next Sunday. No Dutch players are left in the tournament, but if there's one sport I have no sense of nationalism about it's darts.
To me the main attraction of the game is that just about everybody who is willing to go for it could make it to the top. There's no athleticism involved whatsoever. Men in their fifties perform at the World Championships against teenagers. The youngest world champ was 21 and the eldest in his fifties. If you think you might have to be able to calculate really well, not so. Most players know what they need to hit from years and years of practise. Also it's always interesting to see what happens to people who completely out of the blue gain a certain wealth and fame, even in their forties and fifties.
I love darts, I have a dart board hanging on the back of my bedroom door, though I have not really taken the time lately to play in a while. I am probaly not what one might consider particuarly talented at it, but I think I have gotten better then I use to be.
I don't even have that. It really bugs me why I have never taken up the game in any way. Maybe I will in a while, but maybe I will just keep watching the televised version. Last time I did play for a bit, in a German bar, I was talented enough to hit the board with each dart.
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I love darts, I have a dart board hanging on the back of my bedroom door, though I have not really taken the time lately to play in a while. I am probaly not what one might consider particuarly talented at it, but I think I have gotten better then I use to be.
I don't even have that. It really bugs me why I have never taken up the game in any way. Maybe I will in a while, but maybe I will just keep watching the televised version. Last time I did play for a bit, in a German bar, I was talented enough to hit the board with each dart.
