Dartbags VS Tom, Larry & Charlie:
'Bag-Boys Take 18
From 'The Brotherhood' + 1
By Cuppa Joe Gasparino
Tommy Healy said it best right before the match started:
Tommy: "We won the B division last season with basically 3 guys. That doesn't work in this (A) league."
No, it doesn't. But they gave it a good go. More on that later.
The Dartbags headed over to face 'The Brotherhood' at Molly Pitchers on 85th and 2nd avenue. The upper east-side. They should rename it 'Healytown'. With generations upon generations of Healys making their mark on what used to be called 'Yorkville'...they basically own the place. Charlie Healy, of 'The Brotherhood', was makin' his bones when Cpt. Furious was bangin' cheerleaders, Moe Greene.
(complete fabrication...at least the cheerleaders bit)
I, Cuppa, lived on 89th between 3rd and Lex for about 6 years. I did some damage up there myself...including at an old, cult favorite, JL Sullivans...aka, 'Sullys', on 89th and 1st ave. When I first met Charlie through the NYDO, something in my subconscious was telling me I had met this guy before. It all came together on Monday night.
He, and brother Tommy, were bouncers at Sullys, back in the salad days. At the same time, one of my best mates, and childhood friend, Southside Johnny, was a bartender there. In turn, I was a regular patron, along with his brother, and my roommate at the time, Chris The Cop.
Bingo! That was it.
Well...long story short, the joint went belly-up shortly after. Too many rounds on the house....and too much Healy made for a crash-course headed towards utter destruction. Nothing could have withstood that maelstrom of mischief. Sullys was no more.
So after a few laughs about glory days gone by, I realized that I had indeed met The Brotherhood before. It was time to meet again.
Glenn, Frank, Vince and Cuppa got set to face off against the brothers Healy plus 1...Larry Liberstein. Glenn showed up first around 6:30. I showed up shortly after, about 7. Frank was dart-geekin' over at The Gaf, and Vince's eta was about 7:45. Of course, he walked in at exactly seven...forty...five.
Nantucket Boat Basin t-shirt and all.
And thats also why Vince goes Nantucket-geekin' on a regular basis. He is, in short, The Man, The Myth...The Punctual Professional: The Hornets Nest.
Allright....enough geekin' on Vince. At least for now.
Molly Pitchers is a GREAT spot to throw, by the way. The whole back room (the 'snug' room) is a virtual darts stadium. Doesn't get much better than that. Great lighting (no shadows on the board)....great jukebox. One thing though: FIX THE SCOREBOARD!
We learned that The Brotherhood would be shorthanded for the night, and would have to play canadian in doubles, which stinks.
And it stinks especially for the guy who wouldn't have a chance to play singles. It would be I, Cuppa, who would get the short end of that stick. 3 freebie victories to pad the winning percentage, but no chance to let the big guns fly after a long week off. What are ya gonna do.
Take it out on cricket.....more on that later.
Well, right about game time, the' hood was still a solo gig. Charlie was the lone brother, working the phones...sending out smoke signals...but nothing was working. He finally got in touch with brother Tommy.....the captain of the 'hood.
He was sleeping.
Then Larry finally showed up about 8pm with a tendinitis wrap around his forearm. Not lookin' good for the 'hood, at this point. Tommy, apparently sleep-walking, stumbled his way up from 60-somethin' street, and finally they had their three-some.
Game on.
The hilites...
Singles 501
Glenn went first against Larry, who's a solid shot, and a good guy as well. That crazy tendinitis wrap framus didn't make it past a few rounds of game one....as IYH was as hot as a 'flaming caesar' haircut (TM). He smoked through game 1 in about 23 darts. Glenn let game 2 slip away after cutting down at a good clip. Couldn't get the X, and Larry nailed his. Game 3 was another worm-burner for IYH.
2/3 aint bad, Glenn. He racked up about 500 asp's in singles. IYH's best singles round of the caes - I mean, season so far. Just Glenn bein' Glenn at this point.
Frank played Charlie Healy next. The furious one has been hot as a pistol lately, and Charlie is a great shot, as most of you know. Both were not on their A-games, though. More like their C-games. Neither guy seemed to want it. Frank won game 1 but lost the last 2. The 3rd game was a frustrating loss. It dragged on.
Neither could double out. The jukebox went silent. Frank was furious. He got even moreso when Charlie stole it. Frank furiously bolted into the main barroom and stewed for the duration of round 3.
(Did I mention that Frank was furious?)
He missed one of the guttiest rounds of the season.
Vince VS Tommy Healy in round 3 offered some great lessons:
1) Don't shake The Hornet's Nest. Tommy did that by doing what he does pretty well: he hit big rounds. It's a double edged sword. Vince answers haymakers with haymakers.
2) The name of this game is OUTS. And its never too early to think about your leaves. Some bad leaves in the 'red zone' made it tough for Tommy to close, while at the same time, he was tight on his mark, hitting alot of asp's, cutting down a step ahead of Vincenzo.
3) (click here)
Side note: watch that whole video when you have a chance, if not now. Its been a while since I've seen it. A while too long.
Well, Vince never did give up. He was chasing in all 3 games, especially the last one. Tommy opened up a huge lead, of about 250 points. Cenzo, sputtering after a few early rounds of 7, 11, and I think a 17 or something, started closing in on Tommy, who was again, having some double-trouble entering the red-zone. With some solid darts, Vince slowly and steadily caught up, and took out a sweet 74 for the V.
Put it in the books! A sweep for The Hornet's Nest against a great shot like Tom had the 'bags jacked up.
I, Cuppa, was chomping at the bit....but no dice. No fourth guy for The Brotherhood meant an easy forfeit sweep for us. At the end of singles, the Dartbags were up 9-3.
Cricket
Cuppaglenn went first. They took on Larry and Charlie. For the second week in a row, IYH and Joey Pep swept a formidable opponent. Glenn opened game 1 with 4, Cuppa followed with 5, and down the ladder they went. Another R5 by Cup, set up IYH, who closed it out with a fat D-bull first dart, S-bull second dart C3, taking game 1.
Game 2 started much the same, however things tightened up near the end with a big 'bull-run' by the 'hood. A point war broke out, with bulls by the brothers, and 18s by the 'bags. Glenn hit a huge trip 18, and had a chance to end it with a bull-close, but just missed. The 'hood came back with an R5 and was back up in points by 14.
Cup needed a single 18 to go up, a single 15 to close, and a bull to end the game. Pep stepped up, and bing-bing-bing.....game over.
Glenn: "I called that, guy."
Charlie and Larry opened up a big lead in game 3, but just like last week, Cuppaglenn hung in, and feasted on the 17's and 18's. Things leveled out by the time bulls came around. Glenn hit a point to take the lead, and a double bull. Cuppa stepped up and closed it next turn on his first dart.
A YOOOGE sweep for the second week in a row.
Frankenvince took on Tommy in cricket. Canadian style. Kudos to Tommy for hangin' in there, including an R6 and an R7. He opened every game with at least a trip-20. He did his best Irish Mickey Ward, but the 'bags landed a knockout sweep. Not much to take away from that round, unfortunately. It was 2 on 1 for cryin' out....
Dartbags up, 15-4.
Doubles 501
We decided to keep the same pairings, and flip-flop the order. Unfortunately, Frankenvince would again play the shorthanded brother, this time Larry. No...not that Larry. The Captain and The Hornet's Nest took on Larry in...
Allright, I'll stop.
The Brotherhood's Larry Liberstein put up the hilite of the evening. He managed to beat The Furious One and The Hornet's Nest, canadian'ing them in game 2, as Frankenvince took turns missing X, maybe a dozen times. Give 'Double-L' credit for getting 'on' with his first turn every game, and for gutting out the shorthanded goal.
I think you get a patch for that, Larry.
(Not that Larry!)
Frankenvince should get this, for getting canadian'd.
There was, however, one hilite for the 'bags that round. It was told to me by Frank:
Frank: "At one point, we were on 183 and I said to Vince, 'I'm going to leave you on 100. But not on purpose.' Sure enough, I hit 20, T-1, T-20. Sometimes I think I have EDP."
That would be Extra Darts Perception.
Wow.
Okeeeeeee...
The night ended with a competitive round between the brothers-Healy and Cuppaglenn. The ODC seemed to creep up on Glenn who had a long day...mostly due to his sunday birthday blowout at the beer-garden in Astoria, as well as the after party at 'chez-pike'. We were off our game a bit, and the brothers were on theirs. More good stuff from Tommy, and Charlie finally seemed to get hot. They took 2/3 from us, and bolted shortly after.
Charlie had a boiler to fix.
Final score:
Dartbags 18
The Brotherhood 6
This was a good night. Some big darts. Some big fun. Molly Pitchers rocks.
It was Frank's turn to be off his game, but the rest of us were on ours. Glenn is lookin' like Glenn again, Vince had an inspiring round, and I, Cuppa, had my second straight week of gorilla cricket.
(I don't know...Glenn said, "Great shooting, you gorilla!" at the end of the match.)
We've yet to have a week when all of us have been 'on'. Hopefully we all catch fire at the same time soon, and ride that wave. We know what the goal is. Eyes on the prize.
Credit Colin, The Captain's friend Megan, Nell, Jessie, and Pew Lou for making appearances.
Notable stat: week 1, we scored 12. since then, we've gone 14, 16, 18. I call that progress.
Allstar recap (estimations...Furious has the sheets, and he's in Boston):
Glenn - 500 (26 dart avg in singles)
Vince - 100 (gutty singles sweep, and 8/9)
Frank - 100 (well deserved week 'off')
Cuppa - 0 (no chance to throw in singles...forfeit wins, and 7/9)
Next monday, people.
Cuppa...out.
PS: Vince reminded me that the 'snug room' darts stadium used to be a pizza joint...and the main bar was 'Fitzpatricks', which was his, and Gins' brother Dave's second home, back in The Day.
From 'The Brotherhood' + 1
By Cuppa Joe Gasparino
Tommy Healy said it best right before the match started:
Tommy: "We won the B division last season with basically 3 guys. That doesn't work in this (A) league."
No, it doesn't. But they gave it a good go. More on that later.
The Dartbags headed over to face 'The Brotherhood' at Molly Pitchers on 85th and 2nd avenue. The upper east-side. They should rename it 'Healytown'. With generations upon generations of Healys making their mark on what used to be called 'Yorkville'...they basically own the place. Charlie Healy, of 'The Brotherhood', was makin' his bones when Cpt. Furious was bangin' cheerleaders, Moe Greene.
(complete fabrication...at least the cheerleaders bit)
I, Cuppa, lived on 89th between 3rd and Lex for about 6 years. I did some damage up there myself...including at an old, cult favorite, JL Sullivans...aka, 'Sullys', on 89th and 1st ave. When I first met Charlie through the NYDO, something in my subconscious was telling me I had met this guy before. It all came together on Monday night.
He, and brother Tommy, were bouncers at Sullys, back in the salad days. At the same time, one of my best mates, and childhood friend, Southside Johnny, was a bartender there. In turn, I was a regular patron, along with his brother, and my roommate at the time, Chris The Cop.
Bingo! That was it.
Well...long story short, the joint went belly-up shortly after. Too many rounds on the house....and too much Healy made for a crash-course headed towards utter destruction. Nothing could have withstood that maelstrom of mischief. Sullys was no more.
So after a few laughs about glory days gone by, I realized that I had indeed met The Brotherhood before. It was time to meet again.
Glenn, Frank, Vince and Cuppa got set to face off against the brothers Healy plus 1...Larry Liberstein. Glenn showed up first around 6:30. I showed up shortly after, about 7. Frank was dart-geekin' over at The Gaf, and Vince's eta was about 7:45. Of course, he walked in at exactly seven...forty...five.
Nantucket Boat Basin t-shirt and all.
And thats also why Vince goes Nantucket-geekin' on a regular basis. He is, in short, The Man, The Myth...The Punctual Professional: The Hornets Nest.
Allright....enough geekin' on Vince. At least for now.
Molly Pitchers is a GREAT spot to throw, by the way. The whole back room (the 'snug' room) is a virtual darts stadium. Doesn't get much better than that. Great lighting (no shadows on the board)....great jukebox. One thing though: FIX THE SCOREBOARD!
We learned that The Brotherhood would be shorthanded for the night, and would have to play canadian in doubles, which stinks.
And it stinks especially for the guy who wouldn't have a chance to play singles. It would be I, Cuppa, who would get the short end of that stick. 3 freebie victories to pad the winning percentage, but no chance to let the big guns fly after a long week off. What are ya gonna do.
Take it out on cricket.....more on that later.
Well, right about game time, the' hood was still a solo gig. Charlie was the lone brother, working the phones...sending out smoke signals...but nothing was working. He finally got in touch with brother Tommy.....the captain of the 'hood.
He was sleeping.
Then Larry finally showed up about 8pm with a tendinitis wrap around his forearm. Not lookin' good for the 'hood, at this point. Tommy, apparently sleep-walking, stumbled his way up from 60-somethin' street, and finally they had their three-some.
Game on.
The hilites...
Singles 501
Glenn went first against Larry, who's a solid shot, and a good guy as well. That crazy tendinitis wrap framus didn't make it past a few rounds of game one....as IYH was as hot as a 'flaming caesar' haircut (TM). He smoked through game 1 in about 23 darts. Glenn let game 2 slip away after cutting down at a good clip. Couldn't get the X, and Larry nailed his. Game 3 was another worm-burner for IYH.
2/3 aint bad, Glenn. He racked up about 500 asp's in singles. IYH's best singles round of the caes - I mean, season so far. Just Glenn bein' Glenn at this point.
Frank played Charlie Healy next. The furious one has been hot as a pistol lately, and Charlie is a great shot, as most of you know. Both were not on their A-games, though. More like their C-games. Neither guy seemed to want it. Frank won game 1 but lost the last 2. The 3rd game was a frustrating loss. It dragged on.
Neither could double out. The jukebox went silent. Frank was furious. He got even moreso when Charlie stole it. Frank furiously bolted into the main barroom and stewed for the duration of round 3.
(Did I mention that Frank was furious?)
He missed one of the guttiest rounds of the season.
Vince VS Tommy Healy in round 3 offered some great lessons:
1) Don't shake The Hornet's Nest. Tommy did that by doing what he does pretty well: he hit big rounds. It's a double edged sword. Vince answers haymakers with haymakers.
2) The name of this game is OUTS. And its never too early to think about your leaves. Some bad leaves in the 'red zone' made it tough for Tommy to close, while at the same time, he was tight on his mark, hitting alot of asp's, cutting down a step ahead of Vincenzo.
3) (click here)
Side note: watch that whole video when you have a chance, if not now. Its been a while since I've seen it. A while too long.
Well, Vince never did give up. He was chasing in all 3 games, especially the last one. Tommy opened up a huge lead, of about 250 points. Cenzo, sputtering after a few early rounds of 7, 11, and I think a 17 or something, started closing in on Tommy, who was again, having some double-trouble entering the red-zone. With some solid darts, Vince slowly and steadily caught up, and took out a sweet 74 for the V.
Put it in the books! A sweep for The Hornet's Nest against a great shot like Tom had the 'bags jacked up.
I, Cuppa, was chomping at the bit....but no dice. No fourth guy for The Brotherhood meant an easy forfeit sweep for us. At the end of singles, the Dartbags were up 9-3.
Cricket
Cuppaglenn went first. They took on Larry and Charlie. For the second week in a row, IYH and Joey Pep swept a formidable opponent. Glenn opened game 1 with 4, Cuppa followed with 5, and down the ladder they went. Another R5 by Cup, set up IYH, who closed it out with a fat D-bull first dart, S-bull second dart C3, taking game 1.
Game 2 started much the same, however things tightened up near the end with a big 'bull-run' by the 'hood. A point war broke out, with bulls by the brothers, and 18s by the 'bags. Glenn hit a huge trip 18, and had a chance to end it with a bull-close, but just missed. The 'hood came back with an R5 and was back up in points by 14.
Cup needed a single 18 to go up, a single 15 to close, and a bull to end the game. Pep stepped up, and bing-bing-bing.....game over.
Glenn: "I called that, guy."
Charlie and Larry opened up a big lead in game 3, but just like last week, Cuppaglenn hung in, and feasted on the 17's and 18's. Things leveled out by the time bulls came around. Glenn hit a point to take the lead, and a double bull. Cuppa stepped up and closed it next turn on his first dart.
A YOOOGE sweep for the second week in a row.
Frankenvince took on Tommy in cricket. Canadian style. Kudos to Tommy for hangin' in there, including an R6 and an R7. He opened every game with at least a trip-20. He did his best Irish Mickey Ward, but the 'bags landed a knockout sweep. Not much to take away from that round, unfortunately. It was 2 on 1 for cryin' out....
Dartbags up, 15-4.
Doubles 501
We decided to keep the same pairings, and flip-flop the order. Unfortunately, Frankenvince would again play the shorthanded brother, this time Larry. No...not that Larry. The Captain and The Hornet's Nest took on Larry in...
Allright, I'll stop.
The Brotherhood's Larry Liberstein put up the hilite of the evening. He managed to beat The Furious One and The Hornet's Nest, canadian'ing them in game 2, as Frankenvince took turns missing X, maybe a dozen times. Give 'Double-L' credit for getting 'on' with his first turn every game, and for gutting out the shorthanded goal.
I think you get a patch for that, Larry.
(Not that Larry!)
Frankenvince should get this, for getting canadian'd.
There was, however, one hilite for the 'bags that round. It was told to me by Frank:
Frank: "At one point, we were on 183 and I said to Vince, 'I'm going to leave you on 100. But not on purpose.' Sure enough, I hit 20, T-1, T-20. Sometimes I think I have EDP."
That would be Extra Darts Perception.
Wow.
Okeeeeeee...
The night ended with a competitive round between the brothers-Healy and Cuppaglenn. The ODC seemed to creep up on Glenn who had a long day...mostly due to his sunday birthday blowout at the beer-garden in Astoria, as well as the after party at 'chez-pike'. We were off our game a bit, and the brothers were on theirs. More good stuff from Tommy, and Charlie finally seemed to get hot. They took 2/3 from us, and bolted shortly after.
Charlie had a boiler to fix.
Final score:
Dartbags 18
The Brotherhood 6
This was a good night. Some big darts. Some big fun. Molly Pitchers rocks.
It was Frank's turn to be off his game, but the rest of us were on ours. Glenn is lookin' like Glenn again, Vince had an inspiring round, and I, Cuppa, had my second straight week of gorilla cricket.
(I don't know...Glenn said, "Great shooting, you gorilla!" at the end of the match.)
We've yet to have a week when all of us have been 'on'. Hopefully we all catch fire at the same time soon, and ride that wave. We know what the goal is. Eyes on the prize.
Credit Colin, The Captain's friend Megan, Nell, Jessie, and Pew Lou for making appearances.
Notable stat: week 1, we scored 12. since then, we've gone 14, 16, 18. I call that progress.
Allstar recap (estimations...Furious has the sheets, and he's in Boston):
Glenn - 500 (26 dart avg in singles)
Vince - 100 (gutty singles sweep, and 8/9)
Frank - 100 (well deserved week 'off')
Cuppa - 0 (no chance to throw in singles...forfeit wins, and 7/9)
Next monday, people.
Cuppa...out.
PS: Vince reminded me that the 'snug room' darts stadium used to be a pizza joint...and the main bar was 'Fitzpatricks', which was his, and Gins' brother Dave's second home, back in The Day.
posted by cuppa at 5:22 PM
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