WRITE UP FOR WEEK #12: THE (PEN)ULTIMATE VICTORY

CAPTAIN'S LOG: DART DATE: 06 - 11 - 07

Week 12 in the NYDO. Crunch time. The home stretch. Where the rubber meets the road. This is the time that tries men's souls. This is the time when the games mean everything or nothing at all.

Or they mean a little bit. (Kinda depends really.)

Thanks to a second half forfeit by Bull Busters, week 12 meant the penultimate match for the Dartbags (Most Drinkin'est and Friendliest Dart Team in NYC - TM ). There will be no lucky 13th (we get a forfeit win for zero points), just a week 14 match against Nomads No More at our place.

The 'Bags were taking on one of the top teams in the division, Bullistics, the crew from Fitzgerald's. The last time we played this team, we staged a big comeback and managed to pull out a tie. We knew if we wanted a good result this time around, we'd have to bring our A game. Or more to the point, our A-2 game.

It was a great crowd at GK. Original Dartbaguette Hope was there along with her sister, Heather, making 2 out of 3 Klopchins. (Which isn't bad). Nellie was there. Of course. And, impressively, Jess made it out even after completing her drive up from Florida with Cup.

In fact, the only absent member of the team was Colin who, as a hostage negotiator, was called up to Ardsley, NY to talk a jealous husband out of shooting his unfaithful wife in a domestic standoff. I imagine it went something like this.

Colin: Unhand her, you fiend!

But enough about life on the job. Here's what happened in darts.

SINGLES: 8 - 4

Uberbag, Pike was still trekking over the river, so it was up to Frank to lead off against Joe Taras. The Captain got out of the gate well winning a close affair in 24 darts, the highlight being a timely 79 out. (19, 20, D-20). In the second contest, Joe nearly took out an out for the ages. Sitting on 164, he went T-20, T-20, but couldn't connect on the D-12. With both players settling on 12, it was Frank who hit the D-6 first. In the final game, Frank turned an 8 out into a D-1 winner on the third dart to squeak out a point. Joe had swept Frank last time around, so I guess it's only fair. 3-0

Vince took on Tom Curley. Tom won the first in . Vince hit his stride in game two with strong darts and went out in 9 rounds. But he saved his best darts for the final leg. 81 first throw. Then a Ton. Then an 85. Then another Ton. A minor hiccup of 45... and Vince was sitting on 90. When he went 18, T-20, he was just a a D-6 away from an 18 darter, but it missed wide. With a 250 point lead, sitting on 12 it looked like Vince had this one. But Tom whittled the lead down. Then he just missed a 116 out. He would take it in the next round. Vince probably throws the best darts of the day and just a point to show for it. Dang. 2-4

Glenn faced off against old friend, Liam Keane. Glenn also appeared to be battling not only Liam but the Thumb Demon, Thumonculus. He would drop the first - literally and figuratively. But he would also begin to find his stride. Pike threw solid darts, smacking a 95 and a 97 and took the second point. In the third leg, it was vintage Glenn needing just a 2 darts to nail a big 96-out. Good stuff. 6-3

Cuppa Joe faced off against James Eugenia in the final set. Despite being in a car for 7 hours, Cup hit the ground running with a 121 on his first turn. James on the other hand was having a hell of a time. It was as if his darts had been coated in teflon - they just couldn't seem to stick in the board. After his third bounce out, Cup offered a sharperner. It worked. James hit a Ton-20 next round. His teammate joked, as Cup went up to the line,"That's why I'd never do that!"

Cup: It's good karma, guy.

Sure enough, Joe' hit a T-19, 19, T-7 for a 97. Cup would take out a D-5 next round.

James would take the second game in a close match. In the final game Cup hit a 159 -- which at first I thought was impossible, but actually can be done with two T-17s and a T-19 which is what he did -- as well as a T-30. James stormed back with a Ton and T-19, but Cup buried a D-2 for the final point. 507 ASPs for Cup. 8-4

CRICKET: 4 - 2

The Greenacres Gang, Frank and Tim, would take on the Eugenia brothers, Anthony and James in the first round of cricket. Frank came out gunning with an R-5. Then he ordered a beer. Vince offered him an observation.

Vince: You're good when you're a little drunk. But not too drunk. There's a balance... You gotta be like the Fed managing interest rates.

The old ODC (Optimum Drinking Curve). Sage advice. Keeping his drinking rate at a steady 5.25% Frank would hit an R-7 an R-4 an another R-5. Tim would seal it with two bulls to take the point. In the second game, Frank and Tim kept up the hot darts, this time it was Frank with a Double Cork winner. In the third game, the Eugenias began to hit their stride, including an R-6 of 20s and 19s by Anthony. But Tim answered that with a two T-18s and a single 18 for an R-7 - and all of a sudden we had a dart match. The Bullistic brothers would pepper the 20s and 19s and the 'Bags dug in firmly and returned fired from the18s. It was a good battle. Sort of like a Dart version of the Alamo - The Dartamo. Unfortunately, they were Santa Ana and we were Sam Houston. The hold out failed. And despite a big bull run... the 'Bags fell just short and Bullistics took the final point. 10 -5

Vince and Cuppa took on Tom and Liam in the second set of cricket. The 'Bags shot well. Vince chipped in with an R-6 and closed out the match soon after with a pair of bulls. The Bullistics would win the second match. In the final match, Cup hit an R-7 and the 'Bags opened up a huge lead. But Tom led a big comeback by hitting back to back C-4s (Liam hit a pair in between them). Ten bulls in a hurry. Suddenly we had a close match. Cup responded by going for points. He hit a triple 17 first dart and followed that with D-Bull to finish the match. 12-6

DOUBLES '01: 3 - 3

Frank'nPike took on Anthony and Cliff in the final set. The ODC was on the decline at this point, but the 'Bags kept it together. Frank got them in in game 1 and Pike got them out on 88 with a sweet 16, T-14, D-20 finish. Bullistics got on first in the second leg, and created separation with a T-40 from Anthony. They would take the point. In the final game, Pike hit a T-35, Frank hit a 98. After messing up a 32 out, Frank would clean up that mess in his next turn going out on 7 (3, D-2) to end the set.
CuppaVince would take on Tom and Liam in the final set. In the first game, it was Cup (once again) providing the highlight of the set. After Vince got the 'Bags on the dance floor, Cuppa would go first dart T-19, Second dart, T-19, Third dart... T-19. A 171 patch for Joey Pep! He would go on to pop a 95 and T-33 later on in the set to post a Top Line ASP performance with 1046 (also a Dartbag record, breaking the 1008 set by Frank earlier in the year). Cup would finish the match with a D-1. It was Liam responding by firing off a fired off a 101-on to start the second match (he did that last time we played them too) and Bullistics never looked back. Not that game, not the next. Bullistics would take the final point and the next one to end the evening.

But even if the night ended on a down note, we were so high it didn't matter. This was a big night. We accomplished a lot. We had some good laughs. We put up one hell of a bar tab. We secured a good result against a top caliber team. And Big Friendly Tim solved the issue of overcrowded prisons by coming up with a plan; sentencing white collar criminals to be rodeo clowns; "The White Collar Rodeo".

The wheels are in motion.

Kudos to Bullistics. We know we didn't see their best darts tonight (which we know as well as anyone is frustrating as hell), but that didn't stop them from competing hard and being enjoyable company all night. We wish them well in the playoffs.

Friends of Dartbags; it's too late for us to win this subdivision. We simply got out of the gate too slowly with a 9-15 opener and that 6-18 catastrophe two weeks later. So no hardware this year. But the good news is the team is playing well now. We haven't dropped a contest since week 3, we have Cuppa Joe back who's adding a lot firepower to the attack, and the whole team is shooting a lot better. We're going to make the playoffs and get a shot an A-1/A-2 team. (Dare to dream, people.) And we have one last home game. Let's enjoy it. See you in two weeks at George Keeley.

FINAL SCORE: DARTBAGS - 15 : BULLISTICS - 9

All Star Recap:

Cuppa Joe: 1046 (A new D'Bag record! Congrats, guy.)
Frank: 578
Glenn & Vince: 520 each
BFT: 140