The Grateful Darts Tournament is known for its cool shirts (see above). The tournament was held this weekend in Kearny, New Jersey, at the Irish American Club, which is right next to the store front featured on The Sopranos. This year the field was small but the quality was high.
In attendance were several top American shooters including Johnny K, Darin Young, Bill Bell, Bill Davis, Marily Popp, Marcia Loche, Tom Sawyer, and more then a few other A level shots. A lot of my Jersey friends were there, including Corner Bar Team members Dave and Michele Hascup (with baby), John Daddio, and Tom Waterman. I also enjoyed seeing to Nikki, Heather, Courtney, Todd, Laurett, Joe, and a lot of old Jersey and Philly dart friends.
I did like last week and decided to catch the Sunday events, as I had a busy Saturday with family obligations. I was hoping to build on my improved performance in league last week, and I am happy to announce mission accomplished! I showed up just in time to ask for a mixed doubles 501 partner.
Allison obliged by shooting with me, and who do we draw out of the gate? Darin Young and Laurett Meddis! We were all slow off the mark trading the first two legs.
In the decider, Darin and I both started out hot with two tons apiece. The game was close until Darin hit a 140 in his third round, and I fell off with a 55. Laurett hit a nice shot to leave Darin thirty two, while Allison chipped in to leave me with 96 in the unlikely even that Darin failed to convert.
Darin was unlucky, wiring the 32 on the wrong side, and I took an unconventional 96 out for the win (1, T19, D19). Allison was delighted, as she had Darin as a partner last night and reached the finals of the blind draw. We advanced to the quarters, but then our luck ran out.
I was nevertheless pleased, because I was scoring much better and felt more comfortable on the oche. Brian, one of the tournament workers, volunteered to shoot doubles cricket with me. We drew up against a strong team of Jim Newman and Dick Keen.
They won the start and pretty much annhialated us the first leg! I regrouped in the next leg despite falling behind early, and strung together several rounds of nice 5 and 7 counts to take the win. The decider was a well fought leg.
Everyone shot very solidly for a close game. I kept closing and scoring, but it was never enough to get a chance to close 20's after we fell slightly behind. Jim was particularly hot on the 20's, hitting first dart triples several rounds in a row, which ended up making the difference.
While we did not win, I felt vastly improved from last week. I stayed for the singles 501, and my first opponent was Todd, who was my unfortunate doubles partner from last week. I struggled with my doubles and he nicked the first leg with a nice 80 out (D20, D20).
While we both continued with scoring difficulty, I managed to take the next two games to advance. I won the next two matches with some better scoring and finishing, around a 20 dart pace. I made it to the quarter finals where I played Brian.
There we both faced adversity, because the floor had an appreciable tilt to the left at the oche! Brian adapted better than I did and managed to win. Reflecting on the day, I am happy with the pace my game is progressing.
As usual, there was a lot of fun outside of just the tournament. Karaoke was set up in the bar, and several of the dart players took a crack at it. Johnny K has a nice voice and did some Country Western favorites.
Pete Perlongo, our Italian Stallion, belted out some Frank Sinatra tunes quite well. Heather sang several songs, and Allison even took a turn. Johnny was shooting well this weekend, but all of us got a reminder how anybody can have an off day!
There was a bullshoot raffle, where you could buy tickets and then you get 3 darts to hit a double bull. If you hit, you get the pot. If you miss, they draw another ticket, until someone hits it.
Plenty of people who drew their ticket decided to give it to Johnny and then split with him if he hit it. Well, one person did that, and Johnny missed. Then another, and another.
..and so on, until finally, after 5 times missing, Allison's ticket was drawn.
She appeared to seriously think it over, but gave her ticket to Johnny. Finally he hit it, after 18 darts! Thanks to Heather and all the Tournament organizers for a fun time!
I will be off next week, but I will still write an article on the upcoming U.S. Open at the Mohegan Sun.
Posted by Kevin Liebkemann at 8:20 PM The Grateful Darts Tournament is known for its cool shirts (see above).
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