Friday, September 28, 2007

Week 2: Great Start + Great Finish = Good Day

(CUP)TAIN'S LOG: DART DATE: 09 - 24(28) -07

cup-tain's-log [kup-tuh nz, log], n - blog entry, wherein the
captain, Cpt. Furious, begins the writeup, but cannot finish
in time, either due to business or health issues, and the
co-editor/writer, Cuppa, is forced to abruptly finish and post the
aforementioned blog entry.

The Dartbags returned to George Keeley for the home opener, after a lacklustre 12-12 effort to start the season. It felt good to be back in the cozy confines. We had our favorite beers on tap, our favorite people (All 7 Dartbags -hooray! As well as Nell, Jessie and Ginsberg's crew) and a new, super sweet "Blade III" board purchased by Frank for the sole use of Dartbag home games.

We would square off against a team from Stout, The Alleymen. We had never faced this crew before, but their reputation preceded them. They romped through B league to become Champions, they whipped up on the other George Keeley team on 2 occasions, and they feature a number of Irishmen. All this adds up to one inescapable conclusion: The Alleymen are dangerous. And their 18-6 thumping of Flight Risk in week 1 was further proof.

Here's what happened.



SINGLES 501:



We sent out Pike vs. old friend (and fellow Tartan) Andre Glenn. Andre wasted no time setting the pace, by putting up a Ton. But Pike hung in there. Neither man was at his best and it became a dogfight. It was Glenn finding ol' reliable XX for the winner in 30 darts. Game two went to Andre on the back of his T-33 round and strong finish. Game 3 looked more like the first, a head to head slog. Andre opened a lead, but couldn't quite find the range on the double. Pike overcame the mathematics (and his own frustration) and once again nailed a D-1 winner to take the point. Fine comeback. 2-1 'Bags



It was Frank vs. Tim Tully in the second slot. The Captain came out gunning in this one with an early T-40 and a Ton. He seemed to find a T-20 every turn and turned in a crisp 21 Darter. Game 2 also featured vintage furious who took out a 64 with T-8, D-20 to turn in a 23 Darter. The last game was a contest with both men having a shot an out. Frank eventually found a D-4 to take the last point. 440 ASPs and 3 Ws. This was probably the sharpest the Furious one has looked in his A league career. And like that we were off to a great start 5-1 'Bags.

(ahem...)

Basically, here's what happened in general (it's friday, for crying out....):

Frank was on fire....the whole night as a matter of fact. En fuego...I think he had something like 800 asp's. Solid. Carried us most of the night. He won 8/9 also, which is....speaks for itself, quite Frankly.

To summarize the night...because it's already friday (dead horse)....we won the match, 14-10, against a really solid team. Overall, we should be happy. Our 'not losing' streak is now at 12 regular-season matches. Decent.

Notable Notes:

The Hornet's Nest made its season debut. It had been dormant since last season, so it's opener here in week 2 lacked a little bit of 'sting'. However (point is), I feel sorry for whoever we're playing monday. This is the type of thing that can smack The Nest like a pinata.....and we know how deadly that can be. Prediction?

Pain...

Cuppa's performance was about a 5. Was pretty darn accurate in singles, hitting 380 asp's, and a bunch of 70-somethings, triple 3's and 7's. He....I.....let an easy one slip away, so 1/3 ain't good.

Glenn was pretty solid. Especially in cricket. Between cricket and doubles 501, IYH and Furious took 5/6 against some pretty good shots, in Mark Collins, Tim Tully, and Andre Glenn, in varied combinations.

Cuppacenz got swept in cricket.....ouch. I think thats a first. We had leads in 2 games, but couldn't close out. Team 'Learyan' was also very solid. Including a devastating R7 by Leary in game 2, that fortified their comeback. Kudos to them...but we blew our chances there.

Cuppacenz did however get revenge on Gerry and Ryan in doubles 501, winning 2/3. They were all pretty close games. Cuppa was able to hit 2 pressure packed, much needed closes, including a d16, and a d2. Vince was solid, including a big ton, and gettin' on. Good finish, taking the last 2.

Overall, the night was fun. I, Cuppa, got stupid angry at one point, and I apologize. Thats not the Way of the Cup. An aberration. Won't happen again. The Cup will be half-full, at least, next time.

And The Hornet's Nest will be raging.....bank on it.

Kudos to Frank (8/9), and IYH (7/9), for solid darts, and carrying much of the load.

I have a feeling the 'Bags and the Alleyman will be duking it out 'til the end of the season.

Dont have the sheets, but here's my ASP recap...best guess:
(actually, I just checked the NYDO site, so here are the exact totals)

Frank - 775 (turning it back up a notch....just gettin' warmed up)
Cuppa - 380 (get your head on straight, guy...ok, I will)
Glenn - 291 (way below average, but who cares: 7 wins)
Vince - 100 (BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!)

Busy week this week. Sorry about the writeup delay, and resulting abbreviatto.

Thats right: abbreviatto.

Ciao.

Cuppa Giuseppe

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

'Weak' 1 Marathon Match

'Bags Tie Nomads
Sans 'The Hornet's Nest'
In Marathon of Mediocrity

By Cuppa Joe Gasparino


This wasn't the way we drew it up.

Quite Frankly...I think we stunk.

Steve Sterns said it was a B-league match.
That's being kind. It was after 1am by the
time Frank put the final nail in the dartboard.
Appropriately, it was a stellar double-17.

Nice leave...now let's get the [heck] out of here.

It was absurdly, and embarrassingly late.

In the end, it was a tie: 12-12, against the Gaf's
'Nomads No More'.

Now, I hear Frank saying to me, "I think you're
being a little hard on us, guy...", although, I assure
you, Cpt. Furious' cheerios didn't go down so easy
this morning.

Here's the deal: our expectations are much higher
this season. Thats a big reason why I say we
stank up the joint. That, and we all shot our
low % game, but I don't want to belabor that point.

We finished last season strong.

We all had personal highs in ASP's. I, Cuppa, and the Captain,
both broke the 1000 pt/match barrier for the first time.
Vince was averaging about 600 a week.

Glenn reworked his game around his broken thumb,
and was starting to look more and more like the old IYH,
with a new grip and delivery.

BFT drank the entire beer library at George Keeley,
cementing his legendary status at 'the jeek'; a gold plate,
bearing his name, now hangs on the GK wall-of-fame.

Most of us also had our highest winning percentages
to date. Except Glenn. He set his bar just a bit higher
a couple of years ago, blowing away the field with an
83% winning percentage, en route to the A2 mvp award.

We had some great practice rounds this summer, at
the Irish Rover in Astoria (legendary darts pub),
the Gaf East with The White Hawk, Tom Lally,
'the thunderdome' in Glenn's living room, on his nasty
old practice board, where nothing sticks, and the
trebles look like dental floss.

All of this had us pretty jacked up for the season,
and couldn't wait to smack some big darts around.

But Vince had to fly to San Francisco for a last
minute business trip, so 'The Hornet's Nest' would
be exterminated for opening night.

Glenn was praying to the porcelain god all night
long, after getting food poisoning sunday evening,
we think from the chicken vindaloo, which was the
only thing we didnt both have.

Couldn't have been the Hill Country BBQ. That
stuff is nasty good.

IYH did manage to make it...though still "sick like dog".
(TM, our good friend EDNA)

BFT had some work related obstacles he couldn't get
around, so he was out as well. I actually have no idea
why he couldn't make it, but he couldn't and he wasn't.

And Colin, The Microwave, was...microwaving.

So...this is who the Dartbags would go to battle with:

'El Capitan de Furioso', Frank Murtha
'IYH', Glenn Arthur Pike
Mike 'GINS' Ginsberg, aka 'The Rocktologist'
Cuppa Joe Gasparino

Again, final score from the Gaf East:

DARTBAGS 12
NOMADS NO MORE 12

Here's what happened:

Me, Gins and Frank showed up early, and got a little
warm-up from The White Hawk. On second thought,
it wasn't much of a warm-up. And The Hawk was more
like Stephen 'Hawk'ing, sweeping down upon us
with talk of theoretical physics and existentialism,
which got us off track. Mind games from the Gaf's
loyal predator. It would prove to be effective.

Pints all around...ball-games on the tube...jukebox loaded
up with some good tunes...we were ready to roll.

Singles 501

Furious (vs) Joe Murray

It was slow-going for both guys, although Joe did manage
to smack 595 asp's. Overall, the games did go alot longer
than expected...a trend that would carry through the
entire night. Frank took 2/3, including an 8 rounder,
going out on 52 (5, 15, d-32). Score a T, T01 for Frank.
Less than normal, but enough to take 2 from a good shot
in Joe Murray, who said he hadn't touched a dart since
last season.

IYH (vs) Dave Smith

Glenn usually leads off, but since he was sick all night
and all day, Frank thought he should take a bit more
time to get settled. IYH took 2/3 from Dave, who's
an A1 shot. Mr. Smith nailed 439 asp's in the process.
Glenn nailed a tight d-2 winner in one, hitting a
T and T-20, through a haze of sickness and a little
frustration. Way to suck it up, guy. Dartbags up 4-2.

GINS (vs) Steve Sterns

This would be The Rocktologist's first full-match,
after playing only a handful of games in the NYDO
to date. We backed him up, provided some coaching
and Gins had a good go at it, against a good veteran
in Steve. He had legit chances to win in every
game, but doubling out is where inexperience can
really hurt you.

However...amidst motivational chants of
'We Will ROCK U." coming from Cuppa,
(Gins is a cancer research scientist at
Rockefeller University), he managed to do
something remarkable. In game 3, on his
third turn, he strung together back to back:

T17
T21
T12

Utter bedlam! And he left himself on 48
after just 5 rounds. WOW. Gins then hits
an 8 on his first dart, putting him on 40.

Then he missed the board, and missed the
d-20, out of bounds. In the end, he had
double-trouble again, and credit Steve for
hanging in there, and stealing the final game,
completing a sweep. Nice comeback.

Note: near the end of game 2, Gins busted
hitting a T33 while sitting on 134. That would
have made 483 points for The Rocktologist.

We were definitely proud of Gins for
sluggin' away in a tough spot. Nice job,
and way to provide the usual happy vibe
all night, win or lose.

Dartbags down, 5-4.

Cuppa Joe (vs) Rico Chiong

Despite feeling great lately, I never really
found my stroke. A bit disappointing,
way below expectations. However, Rico
never got his groove either, so all 3 games
were pretty close. Some good finishes allowed
me to ultimately snag 2/3. Rico did hit a T
and a T40, and by game 3 seemed to finally
get hot.

A win is a win, and we needed 2 to tie.
I got 'em. Dartbags tied 6-6 after singles.

Cricket

Frankinsberg (vs) Joe & Dave

Frank felt like he hadn't thrown a dart in a
week, so he needed to go first. Joe and Dave
are a tough team, and they blew the doors off
in game 1. Game 2 was a point war. Credit
El Capitan for a valiant effort, trading haymakers
with Dave. We didn't really expect that much
from Gins, understandably, so Cpt. Furious needed
to be more like the 'Bad Lieutenant'.

Impressive display, hitting a bunch of R4's, R5's,
just to hang in there. In the end, Dave's trebling
wore the 'bags down, and they came up short.
Frankinsberg played a tough game 3 also, but just
couldn't steal one. Sweep for Dave and Joe.

Furious: "We all congratulated each other for very
competitive matches. Both sides shot well and
enjoyed it."

Dartbags down, 9-6.

CuppaGlenn (vs) Steverico

We needed a sweep. We didn't get it, but we took 2/3.
We never had a strong start, but our short game was tight.
IYH smacked a C4 and an R7 along the way, and
looked solid.

Both of us were steady, made solid closes, and had
the bull by the horns. Steverico was game, especially
in the final. Rico had a huge R6 early in the game, and
they built a pretty good lead from there. We started a
good bull-run and almost came back, but ran out of time.

Dartbags down, 8-10.

Doubles 501

CuppaGlenn (vs) Joe & Dave

Glenn had to go first. It was absurdly late at this point,
and the guy was literally sick to his stomach. So CuppaGlenn
took on a great tandem in Joe and Dave.

Frank: "You guys were HUGE!"

Thanks, guy.

No flashy darts in this round. We got in quickly, and
didn't linger around. I can't remember exact details,
but the captain was pretty jacked up about it. Like
I said, nothing flashy, just blue-collar darts. All were
tense, close games. Joe and Dave were solid, as well.

Wins are wins, and we took all 3, which was massive.
We knew it would be tough for Frankinsberg to
win more than 1, and this put us in the lead.

Dartbags up, 11-10.

Frankinsberg (vs) Steverico

Frank: "It was 1 in the morning, and I was Frankly exhausted."

This Frankginstein amalgam came out limp, and had
double-trouble in all 3 games. Steve had a penchant for
hitting the d-20 in the middle of the game, and was hitting
more 80-somethings than a geriatric-gigolo.

Rico loaded up on points like a looter in a riot.
He made off with 3 tons and a 97.
In the final round of a marathon match, at 1:15am...

...pretty impressive.

The first 2 games were blow-outs by Steverico.
Game 3 would be different. Not different in the
beginning, as Frankinsberg found themselves
down 200 points to start off.

They didn't quit. They hung in there.

They were ALIIIIIIVE!!!

Frank: "We were on 335, and Ginsberg goes....."

Wait...I have to stop here. "We were on 335..."?
How the...what the...who the...why the...heck does
he remember this stuff?!

Anyway...

Frank: "We were on 335, and Ginsberg goes
83, we're on 252. Then I hit a ton. So, now we
were on 152. Those guys were well under 100,
but their short game was fumbling a bit.
Meanwhile, we were bringing it down.

Gins hit a trip-19 on his last dart to leave me
on 34. They had a chance to go out on d-2, but
missed. I hit the d-17 on my second dart and we
stole that game."

And that tied the match, 12-12. Steverico shot well.
Frank was, in his words, "bad", and Gins pitched in
with some good rounds.

Final word from the captain:

"Very, very late night, guy. We need to shoot better."

Missing Vince is a huge void to fill. He's like the
Dartbags Paul O'Neill, of the championship Yankees.
Remember them?

We'll bring it next week at full-strength. You know
'The Hornet's Nest' will be swarming with rage.

Kudos to the Gaf East, and the Nomads,
for being good hosts, as always. See you
at 'the jeek' next time.

ASP Recap:

Glenn - 485 (sick to his stomach)
Gins - 350 (nearly 483...we will Rock U!)
Frank - 301 (way to jump on the grenade)
Cuppa - 191 (blue collar, but went 7/9)

This also extends our 'not-losing' streak
to 11 regular-season matches. Decent.

Final note: retired Dartbag, Lou Henry, has started
a C-league team, comprised of employees at his
design firm. They are called "The Starving Dartists",
and are playing out of the Ace Bar in the east village.

The Dartbags wish 'em well, and good luck. We'll
follow their progress as the season goes.

Last night, however, they played a team called
"Stick It", from Amsterdam Billiards. Sorry to say,
this team, "Stick It", was an absolute disgrace.

They didn't know, or care, how to play, and had no
respect, whatsoever for the game. They had
a random friend sub in, who wasn't even a registered
NYDO player. Didn't pay attention, didn't care, and
made it difficult to play, period.

They had to be hunted down for ridiculous
periods of time, between turns and games, to the
point where they finished singles at nearly 11pm.

Near the end of round 1, Lou had to hunt down
2 of the players who were supposed to be playing,
out by the bar, hanging out. When asked what
they were doing, they replied, "we don't want to
play anymore...".

Roger: Amsterdam Billiards sponsored these
guys, who have no business in the league. I hope
the NYDO will do the right thing, and ban this
team, and the individuals from the league.

Not that they care.....but we do.

And, way to go, Amsterdam Billiards! Nice job.

Final, final notes:

LOOKALIKES, VOLUME 2

Tom Lally submits, Jonah Goldberg,
for Cpt. Furious.


Monday, September 03, 2007

DARTBAG ADIRONDACK TRAINING CAMP

While most of New York was barbequing or hitting the beach this Labor Day, The Dartbags (Most Drinkin'est and Friendliest Dart Team in NYC TM) were up in the mountains, training hard at their Adirondack retreat. On hand were Captain Furious, The Hornet's Nest, IYH Pike, Gins, The Microwave and friend of the Dartbags, Michael "Bart" Bartolone.

The training was intense. But so was the fun, and we had many adventures. Below is a little photo diary of our weekend.

DART TRAINING: Bugsy Seigel had a vision of a casino in the desert. Vince had a vision of a dartboard on a tree. If you can dodge a wrench... you can dodge a ball. And if you can play Adirondack Tree Darts in the rain (which we did) then you can withstand all manner of distractions at New York Pubs. Take your best shot, Bad Open Mic Guy! Do your worst, Annoying Waiting For the Bathroom Guy! Bring it on, Drunk Chick Who Digs Glenn! The Dartbags will be focused like Shaolin Monks. We shall not be moved.

Adirondack Tree Darts (Vince and Frank pictured)

The Captain Fires a Shot

Vince's Trademark "Hornet's Nest" Followthrough

Piker Puts One "In Yer Hole"


DRINKING: Players swing heavy bats in the on deck circle so that their regular bats seems lighter when they get to the plate. That's the reason we hold Training Camp in the mountains. Science teaches us that drinking at high altitudes gets you drunk faster. (It's true.) And what better way for each 'Bag to work on flattening his ODC (Optimal Drinking Curve) than hoisting frosty beverages at 3000 feet? After consuming many cases of LaBatt's at our alpine cabin, we should be able to hold our liquor at sea level like champs. Look for a lot of strong closes and increased effectiveness in Double '01 this season from the 'Bags.


Vince Enjoys a Cold One, While Bart Reads The Racing Form, Gins On Grill


FOOD: Proper nutrition is important. But why bring food to the mountains, when the bounty of the Adirondacks is so plentiful? The Dartbags, armed only with their 22 oz. to- 25 oz. darts formed hunting parties and took to the forest. "Time to shoot me some dinner!", Pike said as we headed out into the night. We bagged two woodchuck, and Colin speared a delicious bass. And with Ginsberg marinating the critters in Peter Luger Sauce and an Italian/Worcestershire Mix... All I can say is "You cook a pretty good woodchuck, pilgrim!"

Delicious Woodchuck Meat (or if you prefer, "Groundhog a la Gins")

Gins Grilling Woodchuck Sausage


COMPETITION: We met a group of local toughs called the Riverbottom Nightmare Band at the Rustic Inn. Their leader, Chuck, said the bar wasn't big enough for the both of us and challenged us to game of darts to see who would leave. It was a good battle, but the Dartbags prevailed. And Mrs. Otter even baked us an apple pie to say thanks of ridding them of those "Riverbottom Hooligans". Hooray!

Riverbottom Nightmare Band, (Chuck pictured in middle)


RELAXING: After a long day of "2-a-Day" Tree Darts, Gopher Hunting, and High Altitude Beer Consumption, it's time to relax on the porch. The 'Bags chill out with some (more) beers, cigars and a game of poker. (From Left to Right, Vince, Bart, Colin, Glenn, Gins).

WILDLIFE: The Adirondacks are a wild place with many exotic (and tasty!) creatures roaming the woods. Black bears, the wiley muskrat, and the famed Deaf Mute Coyotes of Lake George. If you look closely at the picture below you might be able to make one out in the distance between the two trees.

Deaf Mute Coyote

But you probably can't, because the "DMC's" are invisible save only under a full moon. (And no, we weren't stoned. The Cabin is a drug-free zone. I'm telling you, the coyotes were there, man.)

Training Camp was a big success and the Dartbags will be primed and ready for a big season. (Look for the Good Guys of George Keeley to gun their way to a Subdivision title in A-3.) You can keep track of all their exploits right here at dartbags.blogspot.com

See you soon.

-Captain Furious

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