Dear Ricky

I don't recall the exact details from the radio news report, but this is pretty much how it went down.

A Marine in Afghanistan got a letter from what was supposed to be his girlfriend back home.

"Dear Ricky,

This isn't working out. Please return the photo I sent you.

Sincerely,
Betty"

Ricky's reply included 57 babe pics wearing varying amounts of clothing and this reply.

"Dear Betty,

I can't remember which one is you. Please take yours out of the pile and return the rest.

Thank you,
Ricky"

A few tidbits

The Monday night league ended up with 12 players. Post 4 added a 5th board in the middle of the 4 boards they already had. There's still great spacing on that wall. Post 4 is adding a 6th board on the opposite wall.

I don't recall all the placings in Black Division last season, but the Red Division had Lizzards, the current Still Trashy and Dairy Air duking it out for the top 3 spots all season.

Feeling Froggy ended up second in Black and 1st overall. Dairy Air ended up tied for first with the Lizzards in Red Division and 3rd overall.

So, you'd think those would be the favored teams in the single Thursday division this season. You'd be wrong. After 5 weeks, here's how those teams are doing this season (out of 11 teams).

Lizzards: T - 2nd with Outlaws
Feeling Froggy: 6th
Still Trashy: 7th
Dairy Air: 8th

So far the Thursday leader, Kelly's Team, is throwing at the level I always thought they could throw. That's a very tough team and deserves to be the leader.

I don't expect last year's leaders to stay in the lower half of the pack. This is shaping up as one of the best Thursday sessions we've had in a while. Kelly's Team and Outlaws are leading and certainly have the personnel to get their pictures on a plaque.

You've got to think that last year's top teams are going to make a run some time. It could get wild and crazy. Keep watching the Thursday standings and keep reminding the teams with missing score sheets that they're messing up your ability to watch those standings.

The Vanuatu Lizzards

It seems there is something to this Lizzard story.

Vanuatu has already issued stamps commemorating the 2012 Vanuatu Lizzard Olympic dart team

Lizzards Attempting to Represent Vanuatu in 2012 Olympics

The 2012 Summer Olympics are in London. The hosting nation gets to choose a sport to include. On the assumption that the Brits will include darts, the Lizzards have appealed to the Vanuatu Olympic Committee to be their dart representatives in the 2012 games.

The requirements to represent a nation are pretty loose. It seems that if your once-removed great-grandfather was born there, that's enough qualification.

Vanuatu is an island nation off the east coast of Australia.


















It is a small nation with a very large volcano.













I think it may be difficult for the Lizzards to claim their ancestry tracks directly to Vanuatu, unless the guy on the left is Dennis's grandfather and the guy on the right is Dave's ancestor.















I did notice that Vanuatu had a lady entered in Olympic table tennis. She was defeated in the round of 256. Wait a minute. There's a round of 256 in Olympic ladies table tennis?

Should the Lizards succeed in representing Vanuatu in the olympics, here's the flag they will be carrying. Yes, Vanuatu has a flag.

The Battle of the Last Place Teams

Normally, the fight for last place wouldn't be worthy of a mention, but when it's the Rats vs. Dairy Air. That's a lot of long-time players who don't normally get into the battle for last place.

Roger Whitney is having a great season and had a great night against us. In the Cricket game I played against him, he closed every number we could point on every turn he had. It was no contest. Roger and Brett handed us our Dairy Air on a platter.

Sylvan broke out of his season-long slump and won every match he was in. Whew! We needed that. Gregg threw an 11-dart 301. 60 - 71 - 125 - out.

Bob got a needed 501 game against Ginny. He lost. It took him 75 darts to lose and he wasn't sand-bagging. Bob won't be a 12 the next time he plays.

Next week we have Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves. Bob is out of town working that week and we're hoping to have Jeff Prince as a sub. Jeff hasn't played with us for a few seasons. If he can sub for Bob it will be a total delight to have him playing with us again.

Dairy Air won 9 and is making a move for 9th place.

Highlights of the October Captain's Meeting

There were two things none of us realized. Wednesday night is 2-for-1 night at Shananigan's and it's also "Amateur Pole Dancer" night.

The pole dancing was scheduled to start at 9:30. At 9:30, there were still 8 darters in the building. 5 women and 3 men. I stuck around till 10:20 and the actual competition hadn't started. The warmups were pretty weak. Oddly enough, the best performer on the pole during practice and warmups was a guy. Maybe that explains all the women who stayed.

There was this one performer that we checked for an Adam's apple. Didn't have one. It was a female. A spectacularly less than attractive female.

Oh, wait, this is supposed to be about the dart meeting.

The big news - and the kind of news we don't like to hear is that Jimmy Fleetwood had double bypass surgery Wednesday morning. I ran into Karla Thursday night and she says Jimmy is doing well and expects to be home by Monday.

Cricket qualifier men and ladies at Post 256. Sunday, October 19. Signups at noon. Play starts at 1.

That's just one day after the Spaghetti dinner youth fundraiser at Post 256. Bring a basket of goodies for a silent auction. The spaghetti feed is from 3 - 7. $5 covers the meal. Maybe I should mention that the day before is Saturday, October 18.

You can inform David Garrett of your intention to seek office starting at the November Captain's Meeting at Shananigan's, which will feature 2-for-1 drinks and amateur pole dancers. I know, I know - already been mentioned, but we do need to increase participation at meetings. Nominations close December 15. You must inform David personally. You cannot nominate someone else.

The Turkey Shoot is set for November 22 at Post 4. Dinner at 1, with darting starting at 3. There will be a seeded blind draw followed by an open blind draw. Rich Pike is providing the turkeys. Post 4 is preparing the meal and providing stuffing and mashed potatoes and gravy. Darters are encouraged to bring side dishes and desserts. Try to communicate with Rich Pike or Ron Diel about side dishes. We'd like to avoid having 12 green bean casseroles.

There is no charge to WDA members for either the meal or the blind draws. Rich Pike's generosity, the arrangement with Post 4, and darters bringing side dishes means the WDA does not have to pay for meals. There will be a charge of $5 for guests of WDA members.

The WDA has lined up one $5 meal and one free meal for WDA members. Plus, you can bring your family to Post 4 for only $5 per person. Take advantage of these ridiculously low-priced dining opportunities.

The Air Cap shirt design was approved on a unanimous vote. It's going to be a great looking shirt. The design selected is outstanding.

The Monday Singles League is taking a restart October 13. Signup deadline is October 11. There are 7 people signed up, which means there is room for 3 more. Post 4 will put up a fifth board for 10 people on Mondays. Monday night is six singles 501 and six singles Crickets every night. They've been finishing around 9:30, so it's not a late Monday night. 12 dart games for a $5 entry is an outstanding value and provides vital support for the WDA.

I saved the Monday night League for last so you can immediately email Ron Diel at radiel@cox.net to sign up for the Monday league. With only 3 spots left, I'd recommend you do it now or the league may be filled.

Things Found While Looking For Something Else

Starting with current stuff. We found a hammerhead tip at Post 4 Thursday. It's been used, but not long. The hammerhead clip and the point are in excellent shape. If you lost a hammerhead point and recently played at Post 4, I've got your point.
____________________________________________________________________________

A 1995 WDA Newsletter

Summer leagues were starting May 22. Monday leagues were divisions. Tuesday nights were Handicap. Thursday was open. (Current note: I believe that was the first season for handicap sanctioned by the WDA.)

Kennystock - The Chicken Coop Warmup was announced. That was a one-day event in Kenny's pasture May 20 starting at 2 PM. (Current note: That event didn't happen, but it was the original thought for what became LizzardPalooza.)

The formation of a Wednesday night beginner's league was announced. The June Captain's meeting was scheduled for the Haysville VFW.

Sponsors were Mary's, Laid Back, Shamrock, Winners (Derby), Haysville VFW, and Southrock.

________________________________________________________________

Maybe 20 copies of flyers for Kennystock, printed on a dot matrix printer. Attached to them was my invoice copy for a sale. I sold a 5-1/4" diskette drive for $100.

If you want more perspective on this, Katherine was 4 years old then.

Dart boards and computers for sale

How are the boards at your sponsor looking? How about your practice boards at home? The WDA has some barely used boards for sale. They were used at the last Regional. Since the WDA is going to premo boards for the Air Cap, the Regional boards are available for sale. I think the price is $25, but check with Ron to make sure of prices.

Get your orders in quick. The Razor boards we're using at the Air Cap will not be going for $25. More like $40. They normally sell for $70. Christy found some special pricing that allowed the WDA to get the boards for the Air Cap. Even with special pricing those boards will sell for more than the boards the WDA is selling now.

Need a computer? I work with a lot of people who are serious gamers and keep their equipment updated to the latest and greatest goodies. I have contacts for used computers that are typically set up with 3 Gig processors, a gig or 2 of memory, 512 Mb memory video cards. Pretty hot setups, but they're available used for a fraction of what you'd pay for that gear if you went out to buy it. Send me an e-mail if you're interested. I suspect pricing will be in the under $500 range. How much under $500 depends on the specific internal components.

Dairy Air Exposed, Gets Whipped

It was great to play with a couple of former teammates. Steve Terronez was fixing phone lines (imagine that after a flood) and Bob (Bob! Bob! Bob!) was at the Bluegrass Festival. We brought Katherine and Robby in to sub for them.

That was the extent of great for the night. 4-10. That makes 3 times in a row Kelly's team has taken 10 against us. I don't understand how that team isn't in the hunt for a trophy every year. At least the way they play against us.

I can only say 'grats to Kelly's team. They just flat took it to us. They earned and deserved the wins they got. Usually I like to tell some stories about how the games went, but there aren't any good stories. Katherine had back-to-back tons. Kelly brought in a new player. Lance, Kelly's new player, won't be an 8 next week.

Welcome Lance to the WDA when you run into him. He can stick some darts. Trust me on that. He stuck a couple of tons against me.

Eagles has added food to what they offer. Economical prices, too. Creme Brulee at $1.75, Sushi at $3.00, Escargot at $4.75, Lobster Thermidor at $5.95. Just kidding. Burgers, dogs, fries, funnel cake (in case you missed the State Fair). Prices are very good.

Dairy Air vs. Generation X3

This match started setting up Wednesday night. Paul, Sr. and I got into a bit of trash- and smack-talking. I didn't want to go too far with it. We've gone 31-11 against Generation X3 the last 3 times we played them.

Dairy Air took the first two doubles 501's. We should have known better. That's the curse. Not even the "Bob" cheer can overcome the curse!

We introduced our new secret weapon in the 501 singles games. Robby is subbing for us this year. 501 singles was a split, but things weren't looking good The first 501s are where you set ppd's for the next week. Overall, we were raising our ppd's and splitting.

The match between Robby and Candace had Robby on double 1 and Candace on double 3. My money is on Robby in that situation. Bad choice. Candace stroked it. It gets worse. Robby raised her ppd's for next week.

Speaking of Candace. In the second Cricket match she hit a critical early 5-count. When you're spotting 125 and the 8.5 player on the other team closes your point number in one dart and gets 2 marks on your next point number, that's a problem. We lost both middle Cricket games.

Okay, it's 4-4, team drink time, and we're going into 301, where we usually do well. I won the diddle and got in on my first throw with a 76. So did Paul, Sr. I managed to hold on in the battle of the trash-talking old guys.

At the end of the other 301 games, Sylvan was on 6, Steve was on 3, and Gregg was on 48 when Candace took him out.

We did manage to get the last 2 Crickets for the 7-7 tie.

Kudos to GX3. I thought we threw well enough to win 8 or 9 matches. GX3 threw great games. Special 'grats to Candace. She took out Robby in 501, Gregg in 301, and was instrumental in taking out Gregg and Bob in Cricket. The young lady threw some awesome darts.

Highlights of the September Captain's Meeting

The next Thursday session starts Sept. 11. Ron expects to have the schedules published by Tuesday, Sept. 9. Visit the WDA's site to check where you're playing.

There's a Regional Cricket qualifier coming up. The regional is in Miami, OK Nov. 14. That's a Friday. The WDA is not providing travel money, but the WDA is sending one additional person for every 10 who play in the local qualifiers (both men and ladies). The local qualifier has not been scheduled yet.

Katherine and Zach both had a great time at the Youth Nationals. Both finished in the top 24. Congratulations to Zach and Katherine.

The Air Cap flyers are finalized and published. The 2009 Air Cap is an $8,000+ tournament. Total payouts are $8,188 according to my questionable math.

LizzardPalooza didn't have quite the attendance it's had in prior years. The Lizzards donated $100 to the youth fund based on LizzardPalooza.

The WDA is establishing a scholarship fund administered by a financial adviser. The funds can only be used for continuing education. Continuing education can include technical and vocational education or college tuition.

Dan Zimmerman reported that donations to the Youth Fund could be increased if a percentage of donations go to a restricted continuing education fund.

The next Captain's Meeting is October 1 at Shenanigan's.

Broadview Update

Not all of this is confirmed in media, but here's what appears to be happening.

The Broadview has been bought by Drury Hotels. The plan is a total gut of the building and a total rehab. That will leave the Broadview closed for about one year.

The plan is to start the rehab in about one year. That leaves the Air Cap in great shape for 2009, but without a home in 2010.

Air Cap moves to $8,000+

2 events have been added to the Air Cap.

Ladies Singles Cricket has been requested for years. It's on the schedule.

301 has been added as an early bird event. It starts at 6:30 Friday. This is an ADO points event. Entry fee is $20 with a total payout of $480. The finals of this event will be best 3 of 5. We will need chalkers, so plan on showing up early, chalking a few games, and relaxing with your friends before the blind draw starts at 8:30. There is a sponsor for this event who will cover shortages if we don't have enough entrants to cover the payouts.

Speaking of finals. We're having a stage built and donated to the WDA. The stage will have 2 boards and all top 4 matches will be played on the stage. The stage can be disassembled into small pieces that we can transport and store in our facility.

There's a change in the facility setup. All the boards are going up on the wall by the alley. 24 boards along that wall and 2 boards on the stage for finals in each event.

Speaking of boards. The WDA is selling Nodor boards for $25. These boards have been used at the regional. That's it. Some may have never had a dart stuck in them.

Christy found a special price for some Razor boards. Razor boards are the ultimate premium board. No staples. Wires are buried in the board and very narrow. These boards have the least bounceouts of any tournament-approved boards. I've thrown on them a few times and they are wonderful. Using the premium boards is not going to cost the WDA anything. Arrangements have been made to cover the cost. If you have any questions, send me an email. I'm not going to discuss much about finances here.

We will offer used Razor boards at $40. These boards are $65 - $70 new.

To recap:
1) $8,000+ tourney with the additional $500 covered by an underwriter.
2) New floor plan increases darters space and spectators view.
3) Finals on a stage.
4) 2 new events.
5) Additional ADO points available.
6) Best boards made are used for the tourney.
7) Event schedules changed to reduce waiting time between board calls.

And there's the 2 big screen TVs we're going to have to display brackets and board calls. They are being donated for the weekend in exchange for some promotional signs on them.

Red Division Ends In A Tie For 1st Place

Going into the last week of the season, Dairy Air was third and playing the team in first. Dairy Air was 11 wins behind Mz Thang's Gang and 10 wins behind the Lizzards.

Against Mz Thang, Dairy Air went 9 - 5, leaving them 7 wins behind. The Lizzards went 10-4 against the Outlaws. That put Dairy Air in second. 7 wins behind Mz Thang and 11 wins behind the Lizzards. Dairy Air had a makeup. 8 wins was a guarantee of getting into the playoffs. 12 wins was undisputed first place.

Dairy Air went 11-3 against Generation X3 in their makeup game. Those 11 wins tied the Lizzards for first place in the league.

General Membership Meeting Highlights

The next Thursday session starts September 11.

We have a couple of players going to National playoffs. Dan Zimmerman and Leanna Clifford are going to Stamford, CT for the East-West All-Stars. Accompanying them will be Zach Zimmerman and Katherine Fitch playing in the National Youth Playoffs.

Thanks to Sandy Diel's hard work, some alternate funding methods were found to send more players to Oklahoma City than the WDA was willing to spend out of their funds. Gary Boisen qualified to go to Austin, Texas for a national playoff.

Annual memberships are now $10 a year and are due before anybody plays three times in league play. Lifetime memberships had previously been set at 10 times the annual rate. Lifetime memberships remain at $75.

David Garrett will have some recommended Bylaws changes to bring to the Board based on fixing Lifetime Membership prices and some clarifications about Director's meetings held at smoking establishments that can't admit members under 18.

The Youth Fund was $400 short of what's needed to send Youths to the Nationals. The WDA will contribute whatever is necessary and the blind draw after the meeting was played with all payouts going to the Youth Fund. Bubba offered 2 rib slabs for an auction to benefit the Youth Fund. David Garrett mentioned that without Kraig there to offer $100 for 3 slabs, there might actually be an auction.

The rib auction was interesting. It started with Dan and Christy bidding against each other. Then I opened my mouth and said, "I'll buy all 3 for $100, oh sorry, there's only two". Bubba immediately said he'd throw in a third slab and I had the top bid.

There were some awkward moments. Everyone realized I had tried to make a joke and got called on it. For a minute or two everyone was wondering if I'd try to weasel out or if I'd honor my bid. There were offers to split the cost and the ribs when I whipped out 5 $20 bills, slapped them on the table, turned to the crowd and said, "Beat my bid". Dan bid $110. David bid $125.

After the meeting, we raised $300 of the $400 we needed for the Youth.

David says he's going to wait on delivery of the ribs until his housewarming. You are on notice. Bubba's ribs at David's housewarming when David announces the date. That should bring some people out to David's party.

Black Division Stats

It was surprising how close the team averages came out in the Red Division. That didn't happen in the Black division.

Dart Frogs       17.01
Cory's Team      11.92
Rats             11.66
Young Guns       10.91
Horny Toads       9.71
Pobody's Nerfect  9.47
Black Widows      9.37

Looking at those ppd's, you kinda gotta expect that the Frogs are going to dominate the top 10 - and here it is.

Dan Zimmerman    20.93
Kraig Moore      19.39
Dwane Clifford   18.02
Clint Phillips   14.90
Cory Donham      14.86
Brett Rogers     14.02
Terry Hassler    13.36
Marc Garcia      13.30
Jeremy Fleetwood 12.89
Mike Seeley      12.87

Some Points Per Darts Stats

The WDA's points per dart are based on roughly equal numbers of 501 and 301 games and should not be compared to soft-tip averages or to steel-tip leagues that do not play 301.

Team ppd averages - Red Division:

Lizzards        11.96
Dairy Air       11.84
Mz Thang's Gang 11.57
Outlaws         11.21
Generation X3   11.07*
It's All Good   10.95
Doug's Team     10.67

*That one was a little surprising since 2 players have averages above 11 and 5 have averages below 11, but the number of games played by each player is what pushed the overall average up.

If you're looking for Black division, come back in a few days.

PPD leaders (minimum of 6 games - sorry, Jennifer, with your 12.62 ppd average.)

Dale Casey            15.57
Kenny Chamberlain     15.22
Gregg Turner          14.58
Rich Pike             14.36
Paul McPhillips, Jr.  13.21
Shawna Inkelaar       13.11
Dave Rosendale        12.86
Steve Stuckey         12.82
Bill Patrick          12.60
Dennis McHugh         12.49

Smoking Ban and Effect On WDA Meetings

If we have a meeting at a smoking establishment, it is illegal for members under 18 to attend. It doesn't seem right to require someone to buy a membership if it is illegal for them to attend meetings.

The sections of the bylaws that are on topic include:

Article 3, Section 2 - Meetings. "Attendance by a Board Member ... is required at all Board of Directors meetings..."

Article 5, Section 5 - Action of Members For Voting Purposes. "Members in good standing ... shall be entitled to vote..."

Article 5, Section 6 - Association Meetings. "All Association meetings shall be open to the General Membership..."

The simplest solution is to create a non-voting membership that's free and available to anyone under 18 who plays in leagues. Make another bylaw change that requires that Team Captains are voting members. And another change that Association meetings are open to voting members. Then players under 18 are WDA members, but are not required to go to meetings.

There is a loophole in the City ordinance. This is the exact wording from the ordinance: "Business means any ... entity formed for profit-making purposes..."

Post 4 is having a lawyer contact the city about this for the city's interpretation. It seems that non-profits (Post 4, Post 256, Eagles) are exempt from the smoking ordinance. Businesses exempt from the ordinance can have people under 18 in the establishment and allow smoking.

Deepest and Heartfelt Condolences To Steve Terronez

Steve's mother passed away Thursday morning, July 10.

Steve and his mother were very close. They were important parts of each other's lives.

Keep Steve in your prayers and let's all wish him the best as he enters a part of his life missing a person who was very important in his life to this point.

The Air Cap is a $7,500+ tournament

Entry fees are being raised by $2 for all events other than blind draws and the Youth event. That puts the Air Cap in line with entry fees for other tournaments in the region.

Math stuff here - shut your eyes if you can't stand it. It takes about the same number of entries to break even on entry fees and payouts for the $7,500 payout as it did for the $6,500 payout.

There was a thorough presentation of the pros and cons of raising fees and payouts. There was discussion and consideration. I think it's worth mentioning that there was no arguing, no shouting, no interrupting. After people voiced their opinions they fielded questions to clarify their presentations.

I thought the reasons for and reasons against the change were legitimate, well-considered, and well-presented. Then the board voted overwhelmingly in favor of raising entries and payouts.

Even though I presented the reasons not to raise the payouts, I'm kinda giddy that the Board voted to raise the payouts. It's kind of a chest-thumping announcement to the region that we have a great tournament and a great organization that can afford to throw a bigger tournament.

July Captain's Meeting Highlights

Order your LizzardPalooza shirts online or by email. Save yourself and Jim the time for all the personal contacts. Jim has more obligations this year and isn't going to be able to track you down to buy a shirt. If shirt sales don't fly, the funds for the event don't fly. ORDER SHIRTS! NOW!!!

The really big news has it's own post - $7,500 Air Cap is coming to a town near you this January!

The next Thursday session will start September 4. Monday night singles league is taking signups now. Post 4 will hang another board if needed, which would allow 10 people playing singles out of one location.

General Membership meeting is August 3 at 2 PM at Post 4. Encourage your team members to attend. Drag them kicking and screaming if you have to.

The smoking law eliminates Side Pockets as a home for the Youth League. Both Post 4 and Post 256 have stepped up to the plate and offered to host the Youth League. Both posts know hosting the Youth isn't a money-maker, but want to do whatever is needed to support Youth Darts. It's great to see our sponsors offering to open at times they might not normally be open, put staff in place, and cover utilities and other costs with opening the doors without expecting anything in return.

Sandy informed the Board of her efforts to get sponsorship money for Regional entries from other sources than WDA funds. Our region is in danger of being eliminated and absorbed into another region that would likely include St. Louis. Going to regionals would require more travel time and expense if that happened. Wichita is the strongest organization in our current region, but we can't finance the region out of mostly WDA funds.

The deal for another company to buy the Broadview didn't get the city funds they wanted and it fell through. Ron has stayed in close contact with the Broadview. There are other buyers. One print article was written without contacting any employees of the Broadview or the company that owns the Broadview. The situation is not as bleak as some reports have indicated.

I've got to add a comment here. About the same time the doom and gloom articles were published there was another article about Wichita needing MORE hotel rooms within walking distance of Century II for convention business. Imagine trying to book a convention into Century II with a shut down hotel right across the street. That's a tough sell. The City has to keep the Broadview open.

In the absence of the HeadLizzard, the honor of the motion to adjourn was passed to Dale DeScale, who performed brilliantly.

WDA Nationally Ranked Players

Men:
45 - Dan Zimmerman
91 - Gary Boisen
171 - Chris Martin
269 - Danny Evans
284 - Bryan Byrnes
377 - Mike Durham
396 - Brent Johns
414 - Kraig Moore
417 - Randall Patterson

Ladies:
53 - Christy Zimmerman
104 - Teresa Garcia
136 - Leanna Clifford
180 - Sandy Diel
181 - Michelle Donham
200 - Kelly Balliet
207 - Shelley Hein
212 - Lori Kennedy
215 - Missy Leffew
274 - Jennifer Holley
425 - Diane Menard

$7,500 Air Cap - To Be Or Not To Be?

There is discussion of raising payouts at the Air Cap. I don't think it's a good idea. There's too much we can possibly lose and not that much we can gain.

I've asked why we should raise payouts and got the following answers:
1) We want to bring in more players.
2) It doesn't cost the WDA anything.
3) We want to bring in better players.

More players: With the number of players we had last year there were some long waits between board calls. We're adding 6 boards, but most delays were caused by people still playing in earlier events. Long matches and slow responses to board calls played a big part. Doesn't it make sense to see if we've corrected the delays before we try to get more players?

No cost to the WDA: If we use last year's record turnout and raise entry fees, this is true. If there is an attendance drop due to weather or travel costs, raising payouts costs the WDA $1,000.

Better players: Additional payouts are going to top 4. That could convince some money players to shell out the $$ for a plane ticket to Wichita, which would give Wichita's better darters better competition.

More/better players: What happens if we get some money player - say 8 men and 4 ladies? Chances are they end up in the money and take a solid share of the increased payouts. We're raising costs for local players and giving them less of a chance to get in the money.

Smoking: No smoking in the hall slows down every event. Players eliminated in previous events and players in slow brackets are called immediately. Bathroom and refreshment breaks are expected. Add about 7 minutes for a smoke break. No smoking adds at least 30 minutes to events. Should we wait to see how that affects timing of events - or possibly attendance - before we raise payouts?

Bubba gets another lead story in the Eagle

http://www.kansas.com/entertainment/story/440246.html

Somewhere around June 27, 2008, this story will disappear into the archives. Friday morning, June 20, Bubba's was front page content on the Eagle's website. After 24 hours there, it dropped off into the Lead Story in the Entertainment section.

I think the Eagle's food critic was a bit skeptical. "You don't need sauce" is a challenge to a food critic who really doesn't want to be told what they need or don't need when they go out to eat. Bubba pulled it off.

From the first paragraph in the featured article: "...a boastful but tasty new barbecue restaurant...". About Bubba's claim it's so good you don't need sauce: "...we didn't feel like we needed sauce, we wanted sauce. And, fortunately, Bubba's sauce is good, too".

About the turkey: "The meat was the thick, smoky, melt-in-your-mouth variety that you always wish you had at Thanksgiving (but somehow never do)".

Thursday Night Smackdown

Check out Thursday night Red Division. Here's the win numbers for the leaders:

Dairy Air       31
Mz Thangs Gang  31
Outlaws         30
Lizzards        29
It's All Good   27

There's a tie at the top of the Black division, but that's the Black division. Red Division is where real darters play. Ron swears he didn't rig the divisions to put all the good teams in Red, but sometimes I wonder. I can hang with a team named after a reptile, but a team named after an amphibian? What kind of weak stuff is that?

Here's a quick recap of Dairy Air vs. Outlaws last Thursday.

It was a dark and stormy night as the Outlaws jumped out to a huge lead. 4-2 favoring the Outlaws going into Cricket. Sylvan and I played the first Cricket game and needed lots of Bulls. Back-to-back Hat Tricks. Unfortunately we kept knocking them out and only 3 of the 6 counted. Dairy Air down 5-2.

Then we rallied. We asked ourselves - "What are we really made of?". Flatulence! You can only hold flatulence so long and then it's going to come out and make itself known. Final result: Dairy Air-8, Outlaws-6.

Next week it's Mz Thang up against the Dairy Air as the Thursday Night Smackdown continues.

Dismal turnout for Coop Warmup/Regional

For those of you old enough to remember Johnny Carson:

The turnout for the blind draws was so bad (pause)

How bad was it, Johnny?

It was so bad that Merlin got into the top 4 in the blind draw Friday night.

If you're thinking that the only way I could get into the top 4 was if only 8 people showed up - you'd be right.

There were 18 people Saturday night. 26 people over 2 nights wasn't quite what anyone was expecting. Very few of the entrants in the Regional played in the Blind Draws. Maybe it's time to think about not having events in association with the Regional or come up with something that will actually get some people to attend.

Post 4 and No Smoking Law

I am confident the Legion will opt for the $250 annual license and smoking at the Legion will continue. I'm going to recommend a $1 surcharge for smokers as a voluntary donation to pay for the license. That seems a fair way to pay for the licenses without Post 4 having to come up with the $$ out of normal business.

This will likely affect both sides, but after the city forced Post 4 to have separate addresses for the 2 sides, they may want $250 per address. Some day I will post how much Post 4 pays the city each year. It is an incredible amount.

Businesses can have both smoke-free events with under-18's attending and still have 18+ events with smoking as long as there's at least 12 hours separating the events. This has a complication at the Legion. Both sides have to be considered. Post 4's doors between the bar and the hall couldn't possibly pass the "separate environment" test for a single location having both smoking and non-smoking areas.

Here are the darters options and some non-options. General Membership meetings will either be smoke-free or no one under 18 will be allowed to attend. That rule will apply to any event in the building. On dart nights, if there are no team members under 18 in the building, smoke 'em if you got 'em. If there are teams with players under 18, it's smoke outside night.

The 12-hour rule means that if there are players under 18, no one can smoke in the Legion the day of the matches. It remains to be seen how that will fly with Post members.

Youth League is done unless some place goes smoke free where we can maintain some boards. Side Pockets might go smoke free. I have no information about Side Pockets, but generally newer and more upscale places are more likely to opt for "smoke outside".

If Side Pockets chooses to go "smoking", I am confident Post 4 would consider hosting the Youth Leagues. Cutting off smoking at midnight Saturday wouldn't be a problem. Post 4 gripes about utility bills for events in the Hall, but not when it comes to doing something for kids.

Anatomy of the Air Cap

This is going to be filled with statistics, numbers, analysis and facts. If these things upset you, this is your warning to stop reading now. I'm going to be using 30 minutes per round. That's a reasonable time unless it takes 15 minutes for people to show up for a match or matches become marathons.

One of the biggest challenges in the Air Cap is to get people disqualified from earlier events so they can be called in the next event. Let's start with Saturday morning.

Youth-Adult: The functional maximum entries is 32. More entries leaves the Youth-Adult with 8 Adults still playing when Mixed Trips starts. More boards doesn't help.

Mixed Trips: Functional maximum is 32 entries. More entries leaves 8 Mixed Trips teams playing when Open Doubles starts.

Open Doubles: If there are still 8 teams in Mixed Trips, then it's at least an hour and a half until the Mixed Trips winners are available for their first board calls in Open Doubles. There's enough time before Men's Singles (2-1/2 hours) to go through 5 rounds, but there's only enough time for the Mixed Trips finalists to go through 2 rounds in Doubles before Singles is called. To get to 8 teams still playing (which leaves 32 matches that can't be called in Open Singles) there shouldn't be more than 32 entries in Open Doubles.

This is about the first time that the number of boards becomes a factor. It's also when an "efficient" tournament has anyone not playing automatically in the prelims and those playing are kept out of prelims - which I consider a dishonest tournament.

Women's Doubles starts 1 hour after Open Doubles. Boards aren't available, plus there are still women in Mixed Trips, plus there are women in Open Doubles.

At this point it should be obvious that our format is being stretched to the maximum with the number of entries we are getting. It's possible to have a woman simultaneously entered in 3 events.

More boards won't solve the problems of late board calls in events for some entrants.

It is my opinion that if the Air Cap is to offer more money with the hope of drawing more entrants, then the format needs to be evaluated or excessive delays for some players to be called in events they've entered will damage the reputation of the Air Cap.

Air Cap Comments

Wow! WOW! What an amazing turnout. 110 for the first blind draw Friday and 66 for the second. I can't remember the numbers for the Youth-Adult shoot, but I remember 43 entries in Mixed trips. We figure 30 - 35 to be an outstanding turnout for Mixed Trips. We had 10 more teams than that. 10 Mixed Trips teams is 30 darters.

In Men's Singles there were 65 entries. That put the preliminary match in the 128 bracket. I don't think that's ever happened at an Air Cap in over 20 years. Maybe at the old $10K+ Air Caps in the early '80's when we played the Air Cap on 30+ boards.

My early guess is that we had a record turnout at least 10% bigger than any recent Air Cap and probably 20% bigger than a "typical" recent Air Cap.

The huge majority of players I talked to loved the event and had a great time. A few complained about long waits between when an event started and when they got their first board calls. This is a legitimate concern for them and needs to be a concern for us.

We got all but 3 events started on time with board calls for preliminaries made within about 5 minutes of closing the events. The first board calls for the Saturday Blind Draw (9:00) were made at 9:30. We didn't have boards available and we didn't have matches available because the participants were playing in events still running. Open Singles Cricket (7:00) initial board calls were made at 7:20 for the same reasons. The other event that didn't start on time was Youth-Adult, the first event Saturday morning. That event started 40 minutes late when entries were held open to even up the Adults and Youth. Between the late start and the number of entries, we still had 8 Adults in the Youth event at 10:30 when Mixed Trips board calls started.

Another problem was slow play and long matches. The general plan is to allow 30 minutes for a round of play and sometimes a longer round. To demonstrate this, the Saturday league is handicap and a 2 of 3 format. In handicap we have players starting in the 800's and 900's in '01 games and players starting at 400-500 in Cricket and we chalk our own games. Those matches finish in about 30 minutes per round. From early Saturday afternoon into the evening matches, we had matches going 45-60+ minutes. To make matters worse, those matches tended to group into one bracket leg, which seriously extended the length of multiple events.

By the time we got to the 4th event Saturday we were running brackets and board calls for 3 events simultaneously. It wasn't because we weren't filling boards, it was because most events had an extra round due to the turnout. The extra round meant we had more people playing in earlier events and fewer matches to call in the event that was starting.

Women's Doubles 501 began on time at 2:30. At 5:00 when we made the first board calls for Women's 501 Singles, we still had 8 women playing in Doubles. That eliminated a lot of possible early board calls in Singles. It also meant there were the semi-finals and finals still to be played in Doubles before we could call those Women in Singles. That led to some Women getting their first board call in Singles 2 hours after the first board calls were made. That has to be dealt with.

Some tournaments minimize problems by intentionally setting up players in previous events against each other and making sure they aren't in preliminary rounds. I'm strongly opposed to that. It makes the tournament run smoother, but it's at the expense of an honest draw.

In one instance we called a Ladies preliminary about the same time we called the Finals in an earlier Ladies event. The preliminary match finished, which gave us a board and a match to play, so we called the next round for the winner of the preliminary. That match ended before the Finals from the previous event finished.

On the lighter side, we had someone pick up 2 board call tickets and mix them into the winners tickets - and no one called for the matches noticed their tickets were missing. Someone saved a losing 501 entry from the round of 32 and turned it into the round of 32 winners in Cricket. One person in Mens Singles nearly got called to 2 boards in the same group of board calls because he entered the event twice.