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Oceans 15
Dartoid’s World Editorial... By Paul Seigel
May 19, 2006
Here I am among the Indians along the Thames River in the scenic foothills of southeastern Connecticut for the first ever million dollar World Series of Darts (WSOD). It’s been a bit harrowing so far, hanging out as I have been with all these folks and the Professional Darts Corporation’s (PDC) Dick Allix. So please note: despite the last line of this column I will be back again tomorrow with the results of Friday Night Madness.
It’s Friday afternoon, about six hours until the Madness begins. Soon, 256 Americans, including me, will take one last shot at earning one of the remaining four spots among those who will battle it out for the million dollars with the top sixteen darters in the world, beginning Saturday morning.
I’ve only just arrived at the Mohegan. It can’t be missed, jutting into the sky, almost out of nowhere, as it does. From a distance it looks like some sort of alien spacecraft, all silver and jagged, stuck into the countryside on its nose.
After a night of darts (at the Brown Derby, 158 Norwich New London Turnpike in Uncasville) and a mix of a few too many beers and a giant burrito (with Jeff Steinberg, Bob Coggeshall, Chris Smith, Ben Ambrose and somebody I only know as “Tree Man”) I hugged the porcelain until noon. It was bad. I had a nightmare that Jay Tomlinson was leering at me from the end of my bed.
Blurry-eyed, I’m sitting in the comfort of the Cabaret Room where the finishing touches are being put on the stage for the Main Event. Just to my right is the PDC’s Allix.
Hmmm. Allix has just passed me a note...
To our right on stage, a small horde of uniformed police are surrounded by dozens of ESPN officials with cameras.
Some of them are drooling and so am I. This is because the police have now opened the cabinet and removed a MILLION DOLLARS, all in crisp bills.
Now the money is stacked high on top of the cabinet.
Cameras are flashing. The television cameras are rolling…
I open Allix’s note. It reads: Ocean’s 15.
Allix flips the light switch.
The hall gone dark.
This will be my last report from the World Series of Darts. ;)
From the Field—
Dartoid
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