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Welcome to the Passionate Darter column where all you need is a great attitude and a passion
for darts! What makes a passionate darter?
This is the person who loves darts and does what they can to promote darts in a positive manner. The passionate darter practices good sportsmanship, whether winning or losing, but loves winning! Maybe you passionate darters out there play at home or your local pub, play league, hit the blind draws, and maybe even a tournament or two. With over 19 million darters in the US alone, there are lots of passionate darters out there, and this column is for you. This is where I will share my excitement for the sport of darts. Mark my words, this next year is the year for darts in America, and we will all be here to help the sport grow and be part of dart history in the US. Yes indeed, this is the time for passionate darters everywhere!
Who am I to write this column?
I’m probably like most of you. I love the game of darts and play every week. It’s not only playing darts and having those moments of greatness that we all have at times, but it’s the challenge, the mental focus, the improvement, being on a winning team, throwing that winning dart at a blind draw or tournament, and the people! I can’t tell you all the lifelong friends that I’ve made through the sport of darts. There is nothing like darts! Most days, I’m an average player, but I believe we all have moments of greatness. And, I think I’ve got a few more in me yet. I’ve watched the pros, dreamed of going pro someday (haven’t we all?), but it all comes down to loving darts and the people involved in the sport.
It’s with this attitude that I packed up my darts and headed west this past July, to Las
Vegas, that is;
Sin City, Lost Wages, City in the Desert, The Strip! Specifically, I was at the beautiful MGM Grand Hotel and Casino, home of the Las Vegas Desert Classic dart tournament. This is where I went to compete in a world class $120,000 dart tournament and to watch the finals, televised LIVE for the first time in states. Yes! There were 24 hours of live television coverage for the finalists, both men and women, with the best of the best darters in the world competing for their share of the money. Okay, I didn’t exactly sit back and watch. I was on the edge of my chair at times, jumping in the air and screaming with the rest of them. I was holding my breath, watching Ton-80 after Ton-80 by the world’s top ranked darters and champions. I watched some incredible and seemingly effortless outs by the best, each determined to win and take their share of the prize money home. I was cheering for my favorites and watching some awesome darts, up close and personal, and I had a front row seat. The experience exceeded my expectations by about a million percent! If you somehow missed being there or the live TV coverage, then you really missed out. Either way, this is one tournament that you don’t want to miss next year. Let me tell you all about it...
This was the second Las Vegas Desert Classic, hosted and sponsored by the PDC (Professional
Darts Corporation). This internationally ranked tournament was attended by a host of US players and the best of the best, including current World
Champion John Darth Maple Part, 10 time World Champion Phil The Power Taylor, Peter One Dart Manley, Colin Jaws Lloyd, Alan The Ice Man Warrier, Bob The Limestone Cowboy Anderson and more. There were also some of the best women players in the world playing along side us passionate darters including America’s Stacy Bromberg and Carolyn Mars, England’s Deda Hedman and Chrissie Howat, and more. Last year, I wanted to go to the inaugural Las Vegas Desert Classic, but I didn’t make it. This year I traveled to the Las Vegas Desert Classic II and believe me, I will NOT miss this tournament next year.
When I tell other darters that I traveled to the Las Vegas Desert Classic, the most common
question I get is “Did YOU compete as well?”
Emphatically and excitedly, I tell them, “Yes, Yes, Yes and YES! There’s no way I would have missed out on the competition!” With separate men’s and women’s brackets, where else could I have come up against Stacy Bromberg, Deda Hedman, Chrissie Howat, Jane Staubb, Caolyn Mars and other great women darters? Where else could I shake John Part’s hand, meet Phil Taylor, actually sit down and talk darts with legend John Lowe and more? Compete? You bet! I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.
Registration was simple. Bull’s-Eye News facilitated registration for all North American darters. The fee for men was $150.00 and $50.00 for women. The tournament was all 501 steel-tip singles with a quadruple elimination, separate brackets for the men and women. After the completion of the televised finals on Sunday, there were additional cricket singles events for men and women darters.
The best thing I can compare the quadruple elimination qualifiers format to is 4 separate
singles events.
The first qualifier was held on Tuesday morning, followed by qualifiers on Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday morning and Wednesday afternoon. This gave darters plenty of time to warm-up and rest in between qualifiers. For each qualifier there was one woman and four men who advanced to the staged finals scheduled to run that Thursday through Sunday. Together, with the cricket event, I liken this to one entry fee for 5 singles events. Not bad for three days of playing darts with some of world’s best darters, and more playing if you qualified!
Some of the American darters who qualified and proceeded to the staged finals included Stacy
Bromberg, Roger Carter and Tony Payne. Talk about exciting!
As for the tournament itself, this was hosted, sponsored and run by the PDC.
In one word they run their tournaments professionally. These people know what they’re doing and they do it well. To find your initial board for each of the qualifiers, darters checked the brackets posted at the entrance. From there, each darter proceeded to their board and checked in with their official, one for every 15 boards. The officials were friendly, knowledgeable, professional, available and did an excellent job of keeping things running smoothly. This process also eliminated the need to call darters to their boards over the loud speaker. There were no calls made. You either got to your board in a timely fashion or you forfeited your match. What a great concept and one that should become the norm for professional dart tournaments everywhere!
Personally, I went through all 4 qualifiers without proceeding to the finals, but I was
pleased with the way I played and the people that I met along the way. And chalkers! There were no problems finding a chalker.
In fact, it was a darter’s dream world! Darters were eager to chalk and be part of the action. Winners of a match were expected to chalk the next match on that board, but there were always multiple chalkers getting up and discussing who is actually going to get to chalk the next match! It was just incredible!
After the qualifiers, the finals started on Thursday and it was time to be a spectator along
with the millions of viewers who were watching the finals on television from the comfort of their living rooms.
I’ve been to a live taping of Oprah, but her show is nothing compared to the lights, cameras, and action of live televised darts! The commentators were whipped into a frenzy reporting live on each darter’s throw, and in the arena, you could hear them screaming with excitement from within their booth. At one point when Part was in the process of winning against Taylor with Ton-80 after Ton-80 and incredible outs, you couldn’t help but hear one of the commentators scream out, “And who’s your daddy now Phil Taylor?!!!!”
Part came the closest to the perfect 9 dart game. He started out one particular leg
against Taylor with a Ton-80.
He followed with another Ton-80. At that point he was 3 darts away from the perfect 501 game and you could have heard a pin drop in the arena. With 141 left and the magic of close-up and overhead camera angles projected on two large screens as the television cameras rolled, you could see and feel the determination on Part’s face as he targeted the Trip-20 and nailed it. He was 2 darts away from that perfect game. The room was silent as he moved downstairs to the Trip-19, but singled it. He threw 7 perfect darts, and the crowd was on the edge of their seats just waiting to witness that perfect game. When he missed the Trip-19, the entire crowd collectively breathed a sigh of disappointment, and amazement at the same time for having almost seen dart history made for the first time, LIVE on television in the states. It gives me goose bumps just writing about the thrill of it all!
Throughout the match between Part and Taylor, Taylor’s young daughter (in her English
accent) belted out, “C’mon Dad, HIT IT!”
Though Taylor started to come back, it was too little, too late, and the crowd jumped to their feet with excitement, screams and cheers for Part who moved on to the finals against England’s Peter One Dart Manley. For the first time, Taylor left Vegas without winning, but one couldn’t help but wonder if there would someday be a young female Taylor World Champion emerging during the next decade.
The finals for first and second place were no less exciting!
Both Part and Manley were hungry for that first place prize and purse. At one point, Part threw a Ton-80, retrieved his darts and turned around to work the crowd. With a proud smile and his arms outreached, the crowd went wild. Manley had to have been feeling the pressure, but not to be outdone, he followed Part’s Ton-80 with one of his own. Like Part, he turned to the crowd and the television cameras with his arms stretched out even higher than Part’s (And that’s saying something as he’s a head shorter than Part already!), and the crowd grew more frenzied! What a match! What a tournament! Manley walked away with first place, followed by America’s Stacy Bromberg in the women’s bracket. Jamie Harvey and Stacy Bromberg won the cricket singles events.
When I left Vegas, I was exhausted, excited, invigorated, motivated to play myself and
overwhelmed by my experience.
I’m lucky enough to have a friend who taped all 4 days of televised finals so after arriving home I watched the videos and relived the excitement of being at the tournament myself.
In retrospect, this is one tournament that I will definitely be at next year and if you can
be there as well. Go!
Compete! Watch the finals with a front-row seat. If you’re a passionate darter like myself, I promise you won’t be disappointed! Trust me on this...
Though the Las Vegas Desert Classic has been held in the states for the past two years over
the 4th of July weekend, don’t let this deter you from attending.
Believe me, we can all be just as patriotic in Vegas at the Las Vegas Desert Classic dart tournament as we can at home with family and friends at a backyard barbecue. If you want to see fireworks, you’ll get them that weekend in Vegas, whether they’re the outdoor Vegas fireworks displays or the explosive and frenzied dart fireworks inside the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino’s Ballroom. In fact, we might all be even more patriotic by booking our flights to Vegas with our family and dart friends in tow to attend next year’s Las Vegas Desert Classic.
In the meantime, call your local cable provider and ask how you can get Fox Sports World and
dart-programming so you don’t miss a minute of televised darts.
I’d love to hear that the nation’s largest cable provider’s telephone networks have been bombarded with phone calls from avid, passionate darters nationwide. E-mails aren’t as effective as phone calls, but they help as well. But, do something! When you make that call, be sure to get a live person on the phone so the programming directors at your cable provider get the message, loud and clear, that there is a market for televised darts in the US and there are millions of us who desire to watch televised darts. Let’s get the ESPN network executives scratching their heads as well, wondering if they’re being left in the dust by not carrying a full dart-programming schedule. In fact, call ESPN as well. Mark my words, the next 12 to 18 months are the time for darts in the states to reach new levels!
Until next time, shoot well and ’ll see you at the line.
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