Thursday, May 17, 2007

WRITE UP FOR WEEK #9: GINS FOR VIN = WIN

CAPTAIN'S LOG: DART DATE: 05 - 15 - 07

The Dartbags (Most Drinkin'est and Friendliest Dart Team in NYC tm) were down at the new and improved O'Hanlon's. It looked really cool. they cleared out more space, added two more boards, increased the seating and added some cool velvet curtains. It was like changing the setting from a stock room to a lounge. Very nice. Also on hand were A-1's Arrowmen with old friends Tony "The Empire" Roman, Roger "The Commish" Herbert and Neil "Big Dog" McLouglin.

Neil was using the match as a tune up for bigger things on Saturday. He was facing Phil "The Power" Taylor (I kid you not) in the National Darts Challenge this week at Mohegan Sun. Will Neil kick Phil's pommie butt back to England? We'll see. But it's pretty cool either way. Few people get to play Roger Federer in tennis or golf against Tiger Woods, and this is the darts equivalent. In fact, Phil Taylor is arguably more dominant than Federer or Tiger.

We were of course facing Best Team, named after Captain Melanie Best. As per a previous post, I mentioned to Best Team member, Nikki that they could be called Charlie's Angels because the team consists of a dude name Charlie and three women. She corrected me by pointing out that Andre Chin is also on the team.

Frank: Oh. I guess it doesn't work then.

Nikki:
Well... he could be Bosley.


Lightbulb! Yes, he could. He would be an outstanding Bosley. I'm telling you, Best Team is a perfectly cool name, but the Charlie's Angel's thing is just begging to be used.

The 'Bags would be going into battle without one of their stalwarts, Vince "The Hornet's Nest". He was on the West Coast, and with no Colin or Cup, Mike "Gins" Ginsberg would be pressed into service. He would feature prominent in the events of the evening. And he knew it. How would it go down. Well, the title's a bit of a spoiler. Here's what happened:

SINGLES: 9- 3
Glenn was his usual solid self. He had 3 all star rounds, but more importantly took advantage of opportunities. He won the first game handily. The second was closer, but Glenn had a D-8 handy to pick up the 2nd point. In the third game, Charlie missed two chances to double out and that was all Glenn needed, D-2 and a sweep! And we had tied our singles total for last week. 3-0

Frank took on FOD (Friend of Dartbags) Nikki, who is also the Ladies leader in All Star Points for A League. Frank went D-18 first dart, T-14, D-20 to take out 118. Yowza! (The Cap had the high on last week and the high out this week). 1-0. He'd take out D-10 in the second game, but in the 3rd frame, Nikki heated up while Frank was hitting 40 somethings. Not enough. Score one for the ladies. 5-1 'Bags

With no Vince, the 'Bags turned to the reluctant Ginsberg. But despite his preference to watch (read: drink) than play, Gins actually came into the night leading the team in win % (4/6). The last time he played, he faced off against the same opponent, Melanie. This time Melanie had his number. Gins kept himself in the first two games, but couldn't hit his outs. But he didn't quit. He hung in there and in the last frame, he stuck around long enough to get down to a 8 and with his 3rd dart... he stuck the D-4 to take the final leg! Nice. 6-3

BFT squared off against Jackie, a notable Dartbag killer who always seems to bring big darts against us. Tim was aware of this. He was also aware that with The Hornet's Nest buzzing around on the left coast it was incumbent upon each 'Bag to raise his game if we were going to walk out with a result.

The final game was a grind. Tim was sitting on XX. With Jackie honing in on the D-8, he needed to go out. His first dart was high. His second was lower - but still high. But his third dart was true. Whew! Gotta love those 3rd dart Xs. A sweep! Great job by Big Friendly. And it was 9-3 'Bags. It appeared the Captain's Drink more; Drink early mantra was paying dividends.

Part of what makes it fun to play in places like O'Hanlon's is you have friends playing next to you. It makes for a friendly and interactive atmosphere. Especially when there is food. Tony, lured by the smell of fresh pizza spied Frank, Glenn, Gins and Nell eating slices on our side of the room. He walked over and demanded in a booming voice (which, come to think of it, is also his regular voice).

Tony: Hey, which one of you is eating my slice!!

Nell: I am. What are you gonna do about it?

Tony: Not a daaaaamn thing.



CRICKET: 3-3
On to cricket, where the 'Bags usually start to hit their stride. With 9 points banked, we were feeling pretty good about ourselves. That may have been the first mistake. In game one, FrankenTim (The Greenacres Boys) took on Nikki and Jackie. The 'Bags rolled to the first game victory. They were in good shape in the second game, shutting down most everything. But Nikki and Jackie were locked in on bulls and began their comeback on cork. The lead whittled away as 'Bag shots at the bull went awry with out a splash. Pretty soon we had a close game on our hands, and started trading 16s for bulls. We failed to stockpile enough 16s and like that, we were in an even game. Which would have been fine. Except it wasn't. We missed two shots at bulls.. They didn't. Two turns later the ladies were gone. Damn. Nice comeback by the Angels. The 'Bags stumbled out of the gate in the third leg, and never got in it. Damn again. 10-5

Glennsberg would face off against Charlie and Melanie. It was Glennjamin strong early, but it wasn't enough in the first game. We dropped it. In game two, Glenn stayed strong but got some serious support from Gins picking up who popped an R-6 (D-19, D-17) to create some separation. Glenn took care of the bulls and the set was tied at 1. The last cricket game was a grind. It took forever, one of those games that you want to win even more because you'd hate to think you wasted 45 minutes of your life for nothing. It was Gins doing the heavy lifting in this one, popping 4 18s and an 2 16s (Another R-6!) to keep us in it. And, down to a "first one to hit cork wins" situation, it was Gins who mercifully stuck it to give us the W. 12-6

DOUBLES'01: 2-4
Glenn and Tim joined forces to play Charlie and Jackie. Tim smacked a T-19. Glenn had a sweet DS-114 on in game 2... but it wasn't meant to be. We dropped all 3 games. 12-9.


I believe what we witnessed was in fact, a case of the Optimal Drinking Curve (ODC) - TM. The ODC is a parabolic function that forms a bell curve with "Accuracy" plotted on the Y axis and "Alcohol Consumption" plotted on the X axis. You have to ask the question, did our conscious effort to imbibe early lead us to peak after singles. I'd have to say we did. There's a looooong time between a singles game and a 2nd set cricket match. Further evidence; the decline of Pike from superb to mediocre and the utter ascendancy of Ginsberg who, as an Olympic level drinker, thrives on the stuff. We'll have the boys in lab work on it back at Dartbag Headquarters. Crunch the numbers and so forth. They'll have a report on my desk by Monday.

(Yeah, that's right. We have a lab, headed up by Gins himself. Here is an actual photo of Dartbags working on the Optimal Drinking Curve conundrum at Dartbag HQ. Pictured from Left to Right: Colin, Gins, Tim and Vince.)

It was Frankenberg vs. MelanNik in the final set. The 'Bags got on early in game one and took out a D-20 to take the first point. In game two, the 'Bags again were first ones in the pool and were able to swim to a 100 point lead. After a turn, Frank needed to make a quit pit stop between throws. When he came back they were wiping the board.

Frank: Did you just-

Gins: Double 10.

Nice! Wish I'd have been there to see it. It would be the final point for the 'Bags. The Best Team came out gunning in the final set. The 'Bags lost their mojo. A shot at a 75 out came up short when the Captain's dart struck just low on the D-20. And Gins didn't mop up the D-10 this time. Score it for the Angels.

FINAL SCORE: DARTBAGS - 14: BEST TEAM -10

It was a good win and a good night. Pike's singles sweep was huge. Tim's singles sweep was possibly huger. But the star of the evening was Gins. Though he would have preferred just to hang out and enjoy a few frosty ones, he was forced into action and did what he had to do. (Not unlike John McClain in Die Hard.) Not only did he win a single match, pull more than his (considerable) weight in cricket, and double out for our final point... he led the team in All Star Points. (I say with all due respect; W. T. F.? If this keeps up, pretty soon he won't be able to get away with saying he "sucks").

Thanks to Best Team for being good hostesses and to all for hanging out. And special thanks to our Dartbaguette, Nellie for all the support. (Your t-shirt is coming. I swear!). Next week we play the first place Threepenny Opera @ McSwiggan's. See you there.

AllStar Recap:

Gins: 459
Pike: 408
Frank: 318
Tim: 193

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