WRITE UP FOR WEEK 2: A VALLIANT EFFORT
CAPTAIN'S LOG: DART DATE 9-16-05:
POLICE BULLETIN:
In what some would call a forseeable, if not preventable event, the lovable Dartbags dart team (The Most Drinkin'est and Friendliest Team in the NYDO) was crushed in a freak steamroller accident. The tragic hit and run incident took place between the hours of 7:30 and 11:00 at George Keeley's Tavern on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
The suspects, 9 players from the O'Hanlon's Repeat dart team, were seen absconding from the area late Tuesday night with broad smiles and newly created beer guts. They remain at large.
Details to follow.
------------------------
Autumn has come to the Upper West Side. The trees in the park have begun turning color, the latte laden locals are putting Burberry sweaters on their shih tzus, and Keeley's is featuring Oktoberfest brews.
With the seasonal backdrop in place the Dartbags would face their greatest challenge ever: Hosting A-1 powerhouse, O'Hanlon's Repeat in the home opener at GK.
Here's what happened.
Alpha Dog, Glenn Pike started us off against Big Jamie Donovan. Jamie is as good as it gets in New York. He has more city championships than we have seasons. This would be a huge test. The veteran extended to a 150 point lead, but a late charge from Glenn (90) put him on an out. And just like that we had a nail-biter. Jamie wired the first, wired the second (blocking the out)... and then sank the third dart to win the match. In the second match, Jamie went out in 5 rounds. Wow. That's something you don't often see in B division. Tip your cap to the big guy. 0-2
LINE OF THE NIGHT: Lou Henry commenting on Jamie
"It's like someone took a normal sized person and enlarged him to 135% on a copier".
El Capitan squared off against Larry Watson, Sr in set #2. The furious one came out guns blazing and on round 8 took out a 93 for the victory. And the 'Bags were on the board! El Capitan still had some ammo left for game 2, but when he missed his shot a double, that was all that the elder Watson needed. It was a stat-sheet stuffer (400 ASPs + a 93-out), but it added up to a split. 1-3.
Cuppa Joe stepped up to play Tony. Cup shot well, solid darts. But Tony was too much. He walked away with a sweep and 437 ASPs to pad his league leading total.
(Chins up, fellas. The first 3 players for O'Hanlon's were the top 3 ASP leaders in A. That's a tall task for any team to up against.)1-5
Vince followed against Pat. They were close contests. All came down to who doubled out first. In this case, it was Pat. Damn. 1-7 and counting.
The team needed a pickmeup. That's when RJ entered the picture. Fueled by salty snacks and a hatred of losing so intense that it set off car alarms on Amsterdam Avenue, RJ kicked it into gear. 20 after 20 he counted down and slowly pulled away from Andre, sticking a double to stop the bleeding. 2-7
In the second match, he started off with a nice 85 to get the ball rolling. But on his second turn, RJ went over to CentCom and called in...
A SURGICAL STRIKE!!!
A Ton-80 for the El Cirujano! And a mighty cheer from the Dartbag faithful. Great stuff. He stayed on track and completed the victory to give us a sweep. Thank you, Dr. Morrow. 3-7 O'Hanlon's.
Louis faced off against Juan. Solid play from PYA. He had his chances. But dropped a pair.
And at the break, it was 9-3 O'Hanlon's.
Next Jamie and Larry Jr. took on Pike and Lou in cricket. The good guys dropped the first before Pike nailed a C-3 winner to take tight one in the second match. Big darts. 4-10
RJ and Cup took on Damien and Larry Sr in the middle game. The games were intense affairs. The 'Bags dropped a pair. This one contained the sort of chippiness you almost never see in a Dartbag match.
After some pointing by Damien that had people on his own team shaking their heads, some words were exchangedwith Cup. In an effort to mess with Joe, Damien decided to stand immediately behind him and talk in his ear. Bush league stuff. Tony came over and apologized for him afterward. Later on that night when Glenn was doubling out, he would sidle up close enough to Pike to kiss him on the cheek. Either he has a man-crush on our players or it's just plain bad sportsmanship. Regardless, on a team full of nice guys, that kind of behavior stood out. 4-12
Vince and Frank went up against Tony and Pat in the cricket finale. The angriest Dartbag combo dropped a game they could have won in the first leg. In the second leg they trailed 3 bulls to 1 and with Tony up next, it wasn't coming round again. Frank nailed a double cork, missed the second, and squeeked in a cork on his last dart to steal a victory. Just a big dart.
Against teams like O'Hanlon's, we may have to warm up to the concept of the C-3 Winner. That was the only way we took a cricket match all night.
Frankly... '01 was a blur to me. What I remember was Marty doubling in on 83 and he and Frank having their chances to win two points... but coming up with none.
I remember Pike and RJ splitting a pair despite some "mess with your head" tactics.
I also remember Vince and Cup hanging in their with Vince sinking a double 16 to take the last point of the night and send us off on a good note.
In the end, it added up to a 17-7 loss. That's the bad news.
The good news is we managed to take 7 points off the defending champs, give ourselves chances to win a bunch more, and we know we can play better than this (last year in the playoffs come to mind).
Two years ago we were getting crushed 13-5 in the C division and picking our darts out of the woodwork. Now we're hanging in there with the best A Teams in the city and hitting Ton-80s. That's more than progress. It's a quantum leap.
Some persective? We hadn't lost on our turf since Spring of 2004. We get that unbeaten streak broken by a 17-7 smackdown. Most species evolve... we're being asked to mutate.
But, thing is, we still had fun. Playing that level of competition is stimulating. And whether it was Big Jaime or Tony being friendly and giving advice, or Pat keeping things light, or the Watson family charming our women, it was (with one notable exception) a very enjoyable night.
Next week will be an interesting one. We play ThievesFakirsRogues. A competitive team that will give us everything we can handle. We play AT GEORGE KEELEY.
We'll do it again then.
Props:
RJ for a patch-worthy Ton-80 and two big wins
Glenn and Lou for taking a game off Jamie
Frank for 500 ASPs and some clutch hits
Marty for an 83 in and solid darts
Colin for being there at the ready
Cup for solid work all night and keeping his cool
Vince for sending us home on a good note
POLICE BULLETIN:
In what some would call a forseeable, if not preventable event, the lovable Dartbags dart team (The Most Drinkin'est and Friendliest Team in the NYDO) was crushed in a freak steamroller accident. The tragic hit and run incident took place between the hours of 7:30 and 11:00 at George Keeley's Tavern on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
The suspects, 9 players from the O'Hanlon's Repeat dart team, were seen absconding from the area late Tuesday night with broad smiles and newly created beer guts. They remain at large.
Details to follow.
------------------------
Autumn has come to the Upper West Side. The trees in the park have begun turning color, the latte laden locals are putting Burberry sweaters on their shih tzus, and Keeley's is featuring Oktoberfest brews.
With the seasonal backdrop in place the Dartbags would face their greatest challenge ever: Hosting A-1 powerhouse, O'Hanlon's Repeat in the home opener at GK.
Here's what happened.
Alpha Dog, Glenn Pike started us off against Big Jamie Donovan. Jamie is as good as it gets in New York. He has more city championships than we have seasons. This would be a huge test. The veteran extended to a 150 point lead, but a late charge from Glenn (90) put him on an out. And just like that we had a nail-biter. Jamie wired the first, wired the second (blocking the out)... and then sank the third dart to win the match. In the second match, Jamie went out in 5 rounds. Wow. That's something you don't often see in B division. Tip your cap to the big guy. 0-2
LINE OF THE NIGHT: Lou Henry commenting on Jamie
"It's like someone took a normal sized person and enlarged him to 135% on a copier".
El Capitan squared off against Larry Watson, Sr in set #2. The furious one came out guns blazing and on round 8 took out a 93 for the victory. And the 'Bags were on the board! El Capitan still had some ammo left for game 2, but when he missed his shot a double, that was all that the elder Watson needed. It was a stat-sheet stuffer (400 ASPs + a 93-out), but it added up to a split. 1-3.
Cuppa Joe stepped up to play Tony. Cup shot well, solid darts. But Tony was too much. He walked away with a sweep and 437 ASPs to pad his league leading total.
(Chins up, fellas. The first 3 players for O'Hanlon's were the top 3 ASP leaders in A. That's a tall task for any team to up against.)1-5
Vince followed against Pat. They were close contests. All came down to who doubled out first. In this case, it was Pat. Damn. 1-7 and counting.
The team needed a pickmeup. That's when RJ entered the picture. Fueled by salty snacks and a hatred of losing so intense that it set off car alarms on Amsterdam Avenue, RJ kicked it into gear. 20 after 20 he counted down and slowly pulled away from Andre, sticking a double to stop the bleeding. 2-7
In the second match, he started off with a nice 85 to get the ball rolling. But on his second turn, RJ went over to CentCom and called in...
A SURGICAL STRIKE!!!
A Ton-80 for the El Cirujano! And a mighty cheer from the Dartbag faithful. Great stuff. He stayed on track and completed the victory to give us a sweep. Thank you, Dr. Morrow. 3-7 O'Hanlon's.
Louis faced off against Juan. Solid play from PYA. He had his chances. But dropped a pair.
And at the break, it was 9-3 O'Hanlon's.
Next Jamie and Larry Jr. took on Pike and Lou in cricket. The good guys dropped the first before Pike nailed a C-3 winner to take tight one in the second match. Big darts. 4-10
RJ and Cup took on Damien and Larry Sr in the middle game. The games were intense affairs. The 'Bags dropped a pair. This one contained the sort of chippiness you almost never see in a Dartbag match.
After some pointing by Damien that had people on his own team shaking their heads, some words were exchangedwith Cup. In an effort to mess with Joe, Damien decided to stand immediately behind him and talk in his ear. Bush league stuff. Tony came over and apologized for him afterward. Later on that night when Glenn was doubling out, he would sidle up close enough to Pike to kiss him on the cheek. Either he has a man-crush on our players or it's just plain bad sportsmanship. Regardless, on a team full of nice guys, that kind of behavior stood out. 4-12
Vince and Frank went up against Tony and Pat in the cricket finale. The angriest Dartbag combo dropped a game they could have won in the first leg. In the second leg they trailed 3 bulls to 1 and with Tony up next, it wasn't coming round again. Frank nailed a double cork, missed the second, and squeeked in a cork on his last dart to steal a victory. Just a big dart.
Against teams like O'Hanlon's, we may have to warm up to the concept of the C-3 Winner. That was the only way we took a cricket match all night.
Frankly... '01 was a blur to me. What I remember was Marty doubling in on 83 and he and Frank having their chances to win two points... but coming up with none.
I remember Pike and RJ splitting a pair despite some "mess with your head" tactics.
I also remember Vince and Cup hanging in their with Vince sinking a double 16 to take the last point of the night and send us off on a good note.
In the end, it added up to a 17-7 loss. That's the bad news.
The good news is we managed to take 7 points off the defending champs, give ourselves chances to win a bunch more, and we know we can play better than this (last year in the playoffs come to mind).
Two years ago we were getting crushed 13-5 in the C division and picking our darts out of the woodwork. Now we're hanging in there with the best A Teams in the city and hitting Ton-80s. That's more than progress. It's a quantum leap.
Some persective? We hadn't lost on our turf since Spring of 2004. We get that unbeaten streak broken by a 17-7 smackdown. Most species evolve... we're being asked to mutate.
But, thing is, we still had fun. Playing that level of competition is stimulating. And whether it was Big Jaime or Tony being friendly and giving advice, or Pat keeping things light, or the Watson family charming our women, it was (with one notable exception) a very enjoyable night.
Next week will be an interesting one. We play ThievesFakirsRogues. A competitive team that will give us everything we can handle. We play AT GEORGE KEELEY.
We'll do it again then.
Props:
RJ for a patch-worthy Ton-80 and two big wins
Glenn and Lou for taking a game off Jamie
Frank for 500 ASPs and some clutch hits
Marty for an 83 in and solid darts
Colin for being there at the ready
Cup for solid work all night and keeping his cool
Vince for sending us home on a good note
posted by Captain Furious at 8:56 AM
0 Comments:
<< Home