Carry on with your woes

Missed about 4 or 5 180s before this one, The Dartitis is really playing up at the moment. 

Same situation every time: I hit the first two T20s and then my arm cannot release the third dart. I then jerk my arm in a semi-farcical fashion for about 30 seconds before I can eventually throw the dart. It usually lands low in either the 1 or the 5 bed. On this occasion it miraculously landed in the T20.

What with the League up and running, I can't swear off practicing but for the foreseeable future I'm just going to throw in the apartment. No playing - and losing - to the Dart App in the apartment. Just throw darts at the board to try and get some sort of rhythm back.

97/50

The Invisible Fan

Posted 31st May (3.11 am)

Trying to stay awake through the night so I can do the laundry super-early. (It's a NYC thing.) Decided to try and rush through a backlog of old(ish) 180s. Reading up on Elvis Costello and his falling out with the Attraction, Bruce Thomas. Maybe I should read Bruce Thomas's autobiography? Maybe I should just read  . . . period.

Realising I don't listen to as much Costello as I should. Maybe it's the voice. Saturation can be too much, but I always return to him 'cos he is such a brilliant songwriter. The above 'The Invisible Fan' is a play on 'The Invisible Man' from the Punch The Clock album. One of his early albums which don't get that much love. Probably seen as too poppy, too mainstream. I like it.

74/50

Addendum.

I should have mentioned that the 180 is a Brooklyn Bar 180 from a practice session before the final league match of the season. All round it was a bit of a nightmare, though it hasn't hit home yet as such. We lost 14-13 on the night. Going into the final of the cricket singles match of the night, it was 13-13 against our fellow bar mates (a proper Darts derby), and I lost to AB. No excuses at my end. I had the upper hand for most of the match and AB clawed it back brilliantly on the bullseyes (in local parlance, "the corks"). The victory would have been nice. We've been a bastard losing streak for the second half of the season, with a final league record of 3-7. 

On a personal performance note, I also lost out to the All Stars first place. It would have been the second season in a row. (Still waiting on the T-shirt lads.) Going into the final round of the season, I was still leading the stats by about 47 points but I wasn't feeling confident. The eventual winner, EB, had been clawing back the points in the recent weeks and by the end of the night I kind of guessed that I hadn't scored enough points on the night to retain the top spot.

The funny thing is that, days later, I'm still more gutted about losing that Cricket singles match. Go figure.

11 minutes later . . .

Posted late June. How late? It's that time in the month where I lie to myself that I'm going to turn over a new leaf come the 1st of the next month. That late.

This 180 occurred six weeks ago so, of course, I can't properly remember how I was feeling at the time after hitting two 180s in 11 minutes. I'm sure I was under some fog of delusion. A delusion that convinced me that . . . perhaps . . . these were my new go-to-darts. (It wasn't just two 180s in the time it takes me to make a cup of tea. It was also the earlier 170 checkout. It all adds up and fuels the delusion.)

Anyway, I took the darts along with me to a league match the following night. We happened to be playing the best team in the division. They lasted one round - I actually won the leg - before I was scrambling for my trusty Dark Thunders. We ended up losing the match 20-7. Revenge for them as we were only team to inflict a defeat on them this season. (15-12 in mid-April.)

My captain was correct, after all.

72/50

Where were you last night?

Another league defeat last night. That's three defeats in a row now. Losing one of our best players to a broken hand and the new format have not helped us. It also didn't help that I was standing in the wrong part of the oche for the first half of last night. My fault as it was my decision. 

I did end up salvaging something by hitting a Round of 9 in my cricket singles match in the final round. My first ever R9 in a league match. (I hit a 180 in a league match a few years ago.) I nearly hit a second R9 a couple of minutes later but the third dart deflected in the T3. (I was going for 3 T17s.)

Anyway, back to this morning's 132 checkout. The second time I've hit the Bull, Bull, D16 checkout, and this time my dartitis was giving me gip.

Hunting High and Low*

Another 180 whilst practicing before a league match. It's never an indication that I'm going to play well on the actual night itself (I was okay, as it goes).

Sadly, we lost the match 15-12. Even sadder is that I came home with those stickers still in my pocket. I need to sort that.

54/50

*Another song title as a post title. This time to give a clue as to where I was actually playing. Pretty straightforward, to be honest. When you get it, it will be an 'A-ha' moment for you.

False witness

False witness? False dawn? False representation? Who the hell knows.

All I do know is that once the actual league match started, I put in my worst performance of the season. Totally blown away. No excuses. Okay, the dartitis played a part a couple of times during the course of the night but I should be used to that by now. That's not the reason why I played so bad. 

A strange (long) night all round. You'll need to wait for the biopic for more details. It'll be in there somewhere . . . if only for some light relief.

Back to the drawing board.

49/50

Darts League Bling

Posted April 29th, early morning.

Same league night as 180 number 35. I played well that night. Won all my games, scored some points. I don't usually remember individual shots in games . . . and especially not from three weeks previous but I do remember one round in the 501 doubles match. I stepped up to the oche needing D18. First dart went  the wrong side of the wire, and I hit D1 and I immediately switched downstairs and hit D17 to win the leg. 

Yep, I was as surprised as everyone else.

36/50

A pun on poverty.

Posted April 29th, early morning.

Another 180 in a Brooklyn bar. Just before a league match. (We won 17-10. Thanks for asking.)

I'd love to hit a 180 in an actual league match this season, but I can't see it happening. 

35/50

Fancy-danning it

Okay, I've hit this checkout before, so it shouldn't be such a big deal but for it to happen on the same day as the 134 checkout - and when I've been moaning about missing doubles - then I just have to give myself a wee pat on the back.

I've seen players attempt this checkout in the local league, and though the title of the post is 'Fancy-danning it', there's a logic to this outshot. Muscle memory . . . don't fucking waste it. 

"Hold on, I'm in the dark . . . "

"Late to the show. Posted 3rd February, early morning. I'm knackered."

 

Practising before a league match in a Brooklyn Bar on Third Avenue. (Think Dickensian.) It wasn't the match board, so that explains why it's a bit battered and bruised. It also explains the flash for the picture. Turns out, you can't have proper lighting for the spare boards as it distracted from match play. (I'm paraphrasing.)

 

It was the first leg of a semi final and we were playing away. We lost 10-9, which wasn't a bad result overall. The disaster was to occur the following week. Dear reader, we blew it . . . blew it big time.

 

 

 

2/50

Backdoor and back-chatting . . .

Just trying to tidy up. I can't remember much about this 180, other than the fact that it occurred during a bout of dartitis. 

For some reason, I'm thinking about the league match played on the Monday night. We got battered 13-6. A bit of a bitter taste in the mouth about it as we were 5-0 down after the first round (hint, fucking, hint). I didn't cover myself in glory in later rounds. Words were exchanged.

205/50

Killing time after breakfast . . .

Monday morning . . . one teen already at school . . . one teen dreading going to school. It's a league night, and as the Dartitis is haunting me again, I'm not playing legs against the Russ Bray Darts App. Just throwing semi-randomly at the board to get my Dart muscle memory up and running again. I really fear the worst tonight. I won't know until I'm actually there whether the Dartitis has enveloped me again.

What a thing not to look forward to.

198/50

Through a (camera) glass darkly . . .

Another one of those 180s hit in a Brooklyn bar on a league night before the start of the actual main event. I didn't come close to hitting one in the actual match itself.

Yep, I know the picture looks like it was taken underwater on a secondhand Kodak Brownie. It couldn't be helped. My phone was dying  - fuck you, iPhone 6 - and the match was about to start. I didn't have time to line up my picture Cartier-Bresson style. It could have been worse; if my phone had died before I had the chance to take the picture, you'd now instead be looking at badly drawn pencil sketch of a 180.

189/50

P.S.

We won 15-4 on the night. Played 4, won 3 . . . and in the match I lost, I actually played half-decent.

The morning after the night before . . .

Missed a 180 last night during a league game. A bit gutted, naturally, 'cos I always like a free T shirt. 

We played so well last week, and then get smashed this week. Such is the darting life.

This morning's 180 can only bring so much solace.

185/50

Not so PC at PC's (groan)

Practicing before a Tuesday night league match. I think this might be my first ever 180 at this particular bar. I'm not 100% sure but a 180 is a 180. It could have spelt the kiss of death for the match itself but we ended up winning 10-9 on the night. And against a team from the same bar. Two derby wins in one week . . .and with Celtic flights. I need to pass them onto Brendan before the semi final.

178/50

The Mismatch Report

So last night's grudge match turned out to be a bit of a damp squib. Turns out they were nice guys, despite the fact that they had done the darting dirty on us last season (I'll give them the benefit of doubt for the season before that). 15-4 was a bit of massacre, but we needed the win and we especially needed the extra points.

I was just glad that the T-shirts didn't come back to bite us on the arse. That would have been embarrassing. Yes, I am being suitably cryptic.

In other news, just scored my 177th 180 of the year. They are few and far between at the moment. They always dry up in the fall. Don't know why. Probably my old bones and the weather.

177/50