From Nothing to "My Chances of Survival Are What?" in 30 Days

I just checked the timeline. It was 30 days.

The last week in January I noticed a little lump in my neck. Swollen lymph node. No biggie. It got bigger. And bigger.

Scheduling a doctor was nearly a 2-week wait. That wasn't a problem. I thought I had some infection my body was handling and saw no need for Immediate Care or an Emergency Room. It was 4 weeks from when I noticed the lump until I saw the doc.

The moment the doc saw the lump and I saw the look on the doc's face, I knew I wasn't going to like what I was going to hear. Then the words, "I think you have cancer". Then the words "mass" and "biopsy". 3 vials of blood for the blood work. Chest X-ray (already looking for the source) and a CAT scan of my neck. My entire body was poked and probed for lumps from somewhere south of the waist on up. Nothing. I did the south of the waist inspection myself.

The followup visit was 1 week later. My blood got great scores on every test. Nothing there. Chest x-ray was great. Heart and lungs normal. Well, that's good news for a smoker. CAT scan was pretty much inconclusive. The lump wasn't my lymph node. They ruled out a carotid body tumor. By now they had ruled out lungs, throat, larynx, carotid body tumor, Hodgkins disease, non-Hodgkins lymphoma and several other cancers.

The most conclusive result from the CAT scan was "primary metastatic trauma is suspected". In English, that's cancer that's spread from another location. That's bad news. Real bad news. Biopsy is scheduled.

Doc took 2 samples. One for microscopic examination and one for visual examination. The syringe for the visual examination had nothing but clear, yellowish puss in it. Aha! I knew it. It's just an infection. I said, "That increase the possibility it's just an infection doesn't it". The answer wasn't what I was hoping for. "Yes, but I still think you have cancer". Damn!

Doc called the next day with the biopsy results. Squamous cell carcinoma. He gave me some internet site where I could do some research. Sit back in your seats, do not raise you hands or stand up, make sure your seat belts are tightly fastened, cause this roller coaster is about to take a wild ride - all downhill.

5-year survival for this type of cancer is 60% and it mostly hits people 5 - 10 years older than me. It peaks in the 65-74 age group and really drops off in the 75 - 84 age group. A lot of things really drop off in the 75 - 84 age group. That was the extent of the good news.

A complicating factor is aggressiveness of the secondary occurrence site. Mine is growing rapidly and qualifies as aggressive because of that. That reduces 5-year survival by 1/2, so now I'm looking at 30%. Another complicating factor is the fact that it spread before it was diagnosed. That reduces survivability by 1/2, so now I'm looking at 15%. Mine is classified as Stage 4.

A bit more research indicates that of those who don't survive 5 years, most die in the 6 month to 2-year range. That's what I'm staring straight in the face.

Next..."You didn't schedule any more tests or anything because of WHAT??"

Getting started on stuff now

Today was kind of a bummer. I learned an additional surgery has been scheduled. Tomorrow, I get a PET scan while the docs continue looking for where the cancer is coming from. Friday, I get a sort of exploratory surgery, while the docs look at what the PET shows, keep looking for where the cancer is coming from, and look for the best way to remove the egg-sized lump in my neck.

The person who called me and scheduled the surgery named all the procedures they're doing. It seemed like 4 of them, but maybe the names were really long. I know some of the terms mean neck, and some mean nose, and some mean throat. I couldn't pronounce, repeat, or remember any of the names.

Adding another step that's surgical before starting anything that's on the road to a recovery wasn't good news.

This site is taking a new direction

I have cancer.

I am going to give updates to diagnoses, what the docs expect, what I'm experiencing.

I'm going to share the site with a support group that has a similar type of cancer.

There will be some interesting stories, some utter incompetence in the medical community. I'm getting a sense of humor back and still have a sense of irony. I'm going to try to make it an interesting read about a very unfortunate subject.

The next installment will be "From Nothing to 'My Chances of Survival Are What?' in 60 days".

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.

Captain's Meetings Are On WEDNESDAYS Now

Yes, that's right. Captain's Meetings have moved from the first Tuesday of the month to the first Wednesday. That means the January meeting will be January 2, 2008 at The Detour.

That works out great since no one wanted to have a meeting January 1, but...

...this is not a one-time change. All future meetings have been changed to Wednesday instead of Tuesday.

This is an important meeting. We hope to hash out the details on some rules changes - nothing major - just some clarifications, simplifications and some changes that make the rules easier to understand. We hope to get all the details worked out and be able to approve the proposed changes without lengthy discussion at the General Membership at Post 4 in February (date to be determined at the January meeting).

It's also the last meeting before the Air Cap. Show up and let your voice be heard.

Jim Dunham Is the MAN!!

Last Thursday night, Jim Dunham became eligible for the Jerry Hat Tricks League. Yes, Jim turned 50. It was a memorable night. 50 helium-filled balloons were released to announce to the world north of Post 4 that Jim had managed to survive to reach that milestone.

Jim's performance in darts is probably a first in the history of all darting. He threw his age on his birthday. OK, lots of people have done that. Jim did it twice. Still, lots of people. Jim was 50. He shot his age by hitting a double bull - twice Well, not so many people but still a bunch.

Jim threw 2 double bulls that ended 2 different games on the day he turned 50. We're narrowing the field down quite a bit, but still nothing earth-shattering. There's got to be a kicker and here it comes.

Jim threw those darts backwards. Yes, backwards - as in flights first.

The day that Jim turned 50, he threw his age twice with a single dart that ended the game by hitting a double bull "flights-first". It is believed this is the first time this has happened in the entire history of darting.

Jim is also the darter who called a "double-loop" on the 8 (one dart in each loop of the number 8 displayed outside the scoring area) and hit it while throwing both darts at the same time.

Jim Dunham is THE MAN!!!eleventy!11

"Official" Ruling On Payouts To Youth

There has been an ongoing question about the effect of cash payouts to Youth players and their amateur status. It was reported that the ADO does not consider cash payouts in eligibility criteria for playing in ADO Youth events.

Past that, the only consideration for amateur status appears to be college scholarships for competition events. Colleges allow non-amateur status in areas other than the area where the scholarship is offered.

There are no known college dart scholarships. If darts becomes a competitive college event and scholarships are offered, then amateur status is a factor.

Recap of Air Cap Planning Meeting

Setup at the Broadview (or whatever the name is by now) starts at 6 PM. A group will meet at Post 4 at 5 PM with pickups and trailers to get the standards to the hotel.

The list of tear-down volunteers has 13 people. The WDA will be providing 15 steak dinners at the After-Air-Cap Party and Die-Hard Blind Draw at Post 4 after tear-down is completed. The free dinners will go to those who worked the stage all weekend and those who helped with tear-down. Dale and Rose are in charge of the free dinner coupons.

The Legion will have ample steaks on hand for all who want a great meal after eating "dart hall food" all weekend. The Broadview has good food, but many find a good steak to be a welcome change of pace Sunday evening. The Legion will likely order more steaks than needed. If there are any uncooked steaks left after everyone is served, the Legion will offer them at cost to anyone who wants to take them home.

After 15+ years of busting what's left of her butt, Juanita will be manning (or womanning) the bar instead of cooking steaks. She was asked if she wanted to cook steaks. I think you can guess her answer. There will be Legion volunteers freezing their butts off this year instead of Juanita. Looking for a charcoal-grilled steak in January? Come on down after the Air Cap and you got it.

WDA sponsors have priority buying Air Cap boards. The price to WDA sponsors is $25. Steve at Mary's already asked for 4 boards. Please contact your sponsors. Sponsor boards need to be known no later than Thursday at set-up so out-of-town purchases can be handled.

Organization, planning and implementation of the Air Cap was surprisingly advanced. I can overANALyze anything and I'm rumored to be picky about details. Everybody - and I mean everybody - has their areas covered and well-planned. The only area needing attention is volunteers to help Missy with the Youth Wheel. Dan Zimmerman will be contacted to encourage Youth League participants to assist.

Officers, effective March 1 - with one exception

The nominations are closed. President is the only contested office. This should allow time to address some other issues at the February meeting and still have a short and pleasant meeting.

President: Rich Pike - Mike Durham. This is the only contested office.
VP: David Garrett
Sec/Treas - Ron Diel
Publicity: Jennifer Holley
Sgt-At-Arms: Shelley Hein
Awards: Rose Casey
ADO Rep: Sany Diel

Sandy is also running for Regional ADO Rep. Early indications are that she has the support of the Associations in the Region for that position. We might be able to "eliminate the middle man" on things that need to go to the Regional Rep.

The date for the February meeting is not decided. There's a tournament in Joplin on Feb. 15, 16, and 17. Those dates are out. We will check with the Legion for available dates and have a firm date at the January Captain's meeting. That will be Wednesday, January 2 at the Detour.

More Hot Darts Saturday Night

It doesn't pay to throw at your average in the Saturday night league. I managed to average 15.38 ppd in 8 matches while playing as a 13. That was good for 3rd because Katherine threw 2 16 ppd games against me while playing as an 11.5. It's a tough league. The only thing I really accomplished was to raise my ppd's to 14 for the rest of the season, which is unfortunate since I throw Cricket like I was a 10 ppd player.

Ian continued his streak of never finishing below 2nd and now has a commanding lead. The battle for the remaining payout spots is heating up and will go down to the final Saturday night.

Speaking of Ian, he managed to get 2nd place Saturday while actually lowering his ppd's in a match he won! Dang! The game Ian lost (while winning 2 of 3) Ian threw 87 darts for 499 points. I think I'll review the scoresheets for evidence of sand-bagging.

11's Rule

It's long been thought that 11's are the hardest players to beat in Handicap leagues. There's proof in this league. Check the standings and the ppd's.

               Points   PPD
1 - Ian          35    10.99
2 - Katherine    28    11.76
3 - Jimmy        27    11.39
4 - Merlin       23    13.83
5 - David        21    11.33
6 - Kraig        17*   19.48
7 - Sherry       17     9.00**
8 - Lisa         11     9.23

* Kraig still has a makeup match against Sherry which will give him 7 or 8 points.

** We've got the bloodhounds out after Sherry, but in her absence we are grooming a new dart player who is rapidly improving. Thanks, Monica.

With 2 weeks remaining there are first round matches of Kraig against Ian and Jimmy against Katherine. The other first-round match of interest pits Katherine against Ian.

Stay tuned. It's going to be a wild and crazy finish for the last 2 payback spots in this league.

Proposed Rules Changes for the February General Membership Meeting

There are currently 2 changes to the Rules of Play proposed for the February meeting.
Both are pretty straight forward.

There are already rules that require play to start no later than 7:45 and that matches must be started within 10 minutes of when they are called. If the opposing team isn't there, the team that is there can call matches and claim forfeits 10 minutes later. This is currently in several rules scattered through the rules and will be placed in one rule to make the situation more clear. In addition, 3 forfeits when the opposing isn't present will result in the forfeit of all games for the night.

I would like to add a comment. If matches must start at 7:45, wouldn't that include the 10 minutes allowed for a team to answer the board call? In that event, the first match could be called at 7:35. That would allow the 10 minutes to respond to the board call and the first match would begin no later than 7:45.

The rules clearly state that the matches must start no later than 7:45. If the first match is called at 7:45 and there are 10 minutes to respond to the board call, then the first match could begin at 7:55, which is a clear rules violation. I would not be surprised to see a change to this proposed rules change at the January Captain's meeting.

The second proposed rules change would allow the Captains to change Rules Of Play at Captain's meetings. Currently Rules of Play can only be changed at General Membership meetings by a 50% majority vote of the General Membership.

Highlights of December Captain's Meeting

Finances are fine and growing. Not cushy, but there's plenty to put on the Air Cap with enough in reserve to give a great start for the new year.

Air Cap volunteers will be contacted and the tear-down group will be confirmed. Those of us working the stage the entire weekend WILL NOT be assisting in tear-down. I know I'm going to go home and try to sleep 10 or 12 hours before showing up Monday morning at 8 and probably working 60 hours the next week. Well, that last part wasn't part of the meeting.

Elections are coming up in Bebruary. The deadlind for declaring for an office is 12-15. David Garrett will be at the Legion that night playing in the Saturday league, so he's easily available for anyone who wants to declare at the last minute. If there are offices where no one is running, then we go probably go back to nominations from the floor at the February meeting. Please, let David know so we don't have that to deal with at the February meeting.

The people who will be on the stage at the Air Cap are having a meeting at Mary's Dec. 16 at 2:00 PM. We're going to run through all the details, make sure we have everything we need and coordinate our efforts to put on a great tournament. Anyone interested in attending is welcome. This is a meeting where the people on the stage look at every detail. If someone not involved in running the tournament is there and hears something we're overlooking or missing, let us know. Other than that the meeting will be mainly those on the stage discussing organization and coordination of the Air Cap.

Missy will be running the Youth Wheel at the Air Cap. She's doing a great job of organizing that part of the Air Cap. There can never be too many volunteers, so let Missy know if you can spend some time at the Youth Wheel.

The Air Cap WarmUp is at Post 256 Saturday, January 5. Most people know this by now. This will be a practice run for the people running the Air Cap to check out the organization and planning in a live environment.

There will probably be 15 - 17 teams in the upcoming Thursday League that starts December 13. There was significant discussion of the preferred way to set up the league. It was decided to play all teams in one league and play each team 1 time.

The Monday night league is not growing. Format changes that might attract more players were discussed. The current Monday teams will discuss their preferred format, which will be the format for future Monday night leagues. Format changes will not affect the Monday League that is just ready to start up with 4 teams.

The Deaf Guy And The Cops

There's this deaf guy taking a bath when the cops show up at his door. The cops knock on his door. Not only is the deaf guy taking a bath when the cops knock on his door - he's deaf.

When the cops don't get anybody to answer the door, they break the door down. Somehow, the deaf guy in his bathtub doesn't hear this and continues enjoying his bath.

The cops move to secure the building about the time the deaf guy finishes his bath, dries off, wraps a towel around himself and wanders out of the bathroom not knowing there's an armed group of police sweeping his house.

Upon encountering the deaf guy wearing nothing but a towel, the cops order him to freeze. I think you can imagine how well that worked. The deaf guy is trying to figure out some way to communicate with the police to ask them what's going on. This involves moving, since he can only communicate with his hands.

The police inform him several times that if he continues moving, he will be hit with a Taser. This story does not have a happy ending. I wish it was a joke, but word is, it happened just that way.

Saturday Standings

Ian is the "Steady As She Goes guy. Ian has never finished below 2nd this season.




Yep, that was me. Crashed, burned and went down in flames.


On my Browser, this looks great. My experience says that your mileage may vary.

I was going to put up a picture of an Angel and put something about Katherine winging up into the lead, but after I got 2 pictures and 2 captions working I thought I'd better not press my luck.

Here's how it stacks up now:

 Standings - Through 12-1-07   
                Points       PPD
1 -  Ian         28         11.11
2 -  Jimmy       24         11.01
3 -  Katherine   20         11.26
4 -  Merlin      17         13.23
5 -  Sherry      16          9.00*
6 -  David       16         12.28
7 -  Kraig       13**       19.48
8 -  Lisa         9          9.50

* Sherry, the next time you don't show up, we're going to have Tucker sub for you.

** Must provide a 20-page analysis of the symbolism employed by Lenin in Das Kapital and it's relevance to Timothy Leary's "Turn on, Tune In, Drop Out" - or play a makeup match against Sherry (or possibly Tucker) to get either 7 or 8 additional points.

The Legion Jukebox

The Legion jukebox has received several comments. One comment mentioned that it caters to only one demographic. Another just said something had to be done.

Let's do it! There are about 40 empty slots on that jukebox. Those slots can be filled.

It took close to a year of asking our vendor to put one in. Then over a year to get one that would actually play songs. When one finally arrived that worked, the song selection was something resembling rancid bacon. We have permission from the vendor to put anything we want on that jukebox. I got about 20 CD's put on the jukebox. Those get most of the play.

What do you want on the jukebox? More important - what would you pay to play? What do you want to listen to when you throw darts? The only way to get the vendor off his butt is if he sees revenue. I'll do ANYTHING to get a better music selection. I've run out of my stuff. What's your stuff?

We're pretty much stuck with the sound quality.

Step 1 is to get the CD's to the legion you want to hear. It can be individual songs made into CD's. Step 2 is to get the vendor to come out and put them on. I'll fight that fight and Juanita will join in. I pity the fool who ignores Juanita.

We've got to know what you want to hear and will pay to play before we can do anything else. What do you want?

Some greaat darts thrown Saturday night

I just finished up the results sheet and saw some great stuff. It was a tough night. Kraig came into the night as an 18.5. He played 9 501 games with 20.23 ppd - he lost 2 of 3 matches. Throwing above the "expected" ppd's didn't win many games Saturday. It was tough as nails - hit your outs darts the entire night.

When the handicap league was first set up those of us who set it up concluded that players at 11 ppd were the hardest to beat. An 11 ppd player can hit outs and can usually score enough to win a lot of games. That's still proving to be accurate.

Katherine Fitch and David Garrett hit Red Bull Outs. Jimmy Dinsmore chipped in a 97-out - against me - GRRR! - Oh, wait, I'm supposed to say Congratulations, Jimmy! I'm starting to be real glad I've got Jimmy lined up on my team for the next Thursday session.

Here are the latest standings and ppd's - and some proof that those danged 11's are tough to beat - especially if they can throw some Cricket.

(League points) are based on 8 for 1st, 7 for 2nd...down to 1 for 8th and accumulate each week.

1 - Ian (20) - 11.11 ppd
2 - Jimmy (19) - 11.01 ppd
3(tie) - Merlin (15) - 13.23 ppd
3(tie) - Sherry (15) - 9.00* ppd
5 - Katherine (13) - 11.26 ppd
6 - David (12) - 12.28 ppd
7 - Kraig (7**) - 19.48 ppd
8 - Lisa (6) - 9.50 ppd

Scores marked with * are awaiting the results of tests for performance-enhancing drugs. In the Seniors league on Wednesdays "roid rage" usually means someone forgot their Preparation H.

Well, not really

* Sherry has had a sub for every 501 week so far, so her 9.00 is still her "starting" point that was assigned. She's throwing WAY better than that, so this will be corrected.

** Kraig has a makeup game against - yep, Sherry. Kraig will get either 7 or 8 points in that match, so his point total will put him among the leaders as soon as the makeup match is played.

The disappearing marker tip mystery solved

You know how it works. A new marker gets broken out and before the night is done the tip of the marker is just showing past the end of the plastic.

You start looking at who chalked with it and wondering how they managed to press so hard that they shoved the tip into the marker. Rumors spread that some players ruin markers, then you try to see if you can press hard enough to shove the tip into the marker - and you can't.

I did it last week. I shoved the tip of a new marker right down to the tip of the plastic. I was putting the cap back on the marker and got a solid piece of plastic instead of the opening in the lid on the tip of the marker. I was pushing hard enough to get past the "click" you get when the cap is firmly replaced.

When I took the cap back off to chalk the next score, the tip was buried.

It's not people pressing too hard, it's just an accident of bumping the tip with the cap.

Saturday Night League

Here's the standings (8 points for 1st each night, 7 for 2nd, etc.)

Ian - 14
Sherry - 14
Jimmy - 11
Merlin - 11
Katherine - 8
David - 5
Kraig - 5*
Lisa - 4

*Kraig has one more makeup match and he's playing for 7 or 8 points in that match.

Sherry has an interesting strategy. Sherry started as a 9 (lowest ppd since we don't play 301). It seemed fair since she hasn't played in a while. It seemed reasonable after watching her in a Round Robin we held before the league started.

Sherry missed the first 501 night. Joan subbed for her and came in second, earning 7 points for Sherry.

The next week was Cricket and Sherry showed she's back with her competetive spirit intact. Sherry is not a 9 in Cricket.

Here's where if gets better. Sherry can't make it next week for 501 and Missy is going to sub for her. That's great except that's going to give Sherry 2 Cricket matches without ever throwing a 501 in the league to set her average above 9. I don't think that's going to happen. If we have to switch a Cricket and a 501 week, we'll do it.

Since it's a payback league, accomplishments and trophies aren't in the mix, but I'm still going to recognize *ahem Kraig* great shooting when a player *ahem Kraig* does well.

140 - Kraig
133 - Several
Hat Trick - Kraig
9-count - Kraig - I think I'll turn that in for a pin
7-count - Kraig

The 9-count was against me. I had a small, but not comfortable lead. A 9-count on 20 can be overcome. There are a lot of numbers left. A 9-count on 15 is different. There's usually nothing other than bulls left.

Wally Brown's last night

Some old timers may remember playing at Downtown Wally Brown's just west of Lawrence Dumont. Then Wally moved to Mt. Vernon and Hydraulic. Wally never had darts there, but that was the location that sponsored my first team and another team that eventually became the Rats.

Wally wanted darts in his current (now former) location at 31st and Oliver. Negotiations to put a team there broke down at the last minute when the manager didn't think they had the staffing to handle 10 extra people every other Thursday night.

I inadvertently attended the "Grand Closing" of Wally Brown's tonight. A very good friend of mine invited me to see the band he's playing with now. It just happened that the band's first gig and the last night ever for Wally Brown's was the same night.

If you have a chance to see AOR (Agents of Retro), go see them. The band is good. The vocalist is especially strong on British bands from the '70's and '80's. Tommy Carlyle is the keyboard player, a great friend of mine and the best rock keyboard player ever in Wichita.

When I played with Tommy I told people it was like listening to a blues band with the keyboard player from Deep Purple taking free-form licks. Tommy was the touring keyboard player for the Gregg Allman band when Gregg Allman released his last recordings.

Great band. You need to see them.

Over-50 League results

Team #1 
Mary Nicholson
Randy Scheltgen
Gerald Walker                            

Team #2
Denise Lowery
Larry Fleetwood        
Pete Wisecaver

Team #3
Kathie Wisecaver
Rick Lowery
Merlin Suderman

STANDINGS – after October 17

First Place:  Team # 3  14 wins  5 losses  73.68% 
Second Place: Team # 2  19 wins 19 losses  50%
Third Place:  Team # 1   5 wins 14 losses  26.32%


Individual Standings

Larry – 11 wins
Rick –   6 wins
Pete –   5 wins
Merlin – 5 wins
Randy –  4 wins
Denise - 3 wins
Kathie – 3 wins
Mary –   1 wins
Gerald - 0 wins

Format in the league is:

3 501 Doubles
3 501 Singles
3 301 Doubles
3 301 Singles
3 Cricket Doubles
3 Cricket Singles
1 Team-of-3 601

Wins are awarded to players who hit the winning dart in Doubles and Team-Of-3. That's what makes up the Individual Standings.

It's an interesting league and pretty laid back. If we feel like it's time to go before we've finished the schedule for the night, we quit and next week we take off from where we started the previous week.

We can't predict when the league will finish and don't really care. We can certainly handle more teams in this league. I will try to give about a 4-week notice on when the next league will get going. It will be some time in winter.

Great finish to the Saturday League

Going into the final night Merlin and Richard were tied for the lead - and were first-round opponents. The match went all 3 games and Richard won, which guaranteed him 1st.

In the other bracket, Ian beat Kenny (subbing for Doug) in 3 games. We took a look at the standings and realized that if Ian won the winners bracket and Merlin lost to Lisa and Kenny in the losers bracket, Ian would tie Merlin for 2nd.

In 2 more 3-game matches, Merlin beat Lisa and David beat Ian. We took another look at the standings and realized that if Jimmy beat David in the winner's final match and Richard beat Ian in the consolation round, then Jimmy and Ian would tie for 3rd.

It was an exciting finish, but in the last week, David won the winner's bracket. He had a hot date. I think everyone kind of let off a bit so he could impress his date. Ian took Richard out in the 3rd-4th game, but Richard had enough to hang on for the league win.

Final standings:

1st - Richard
2nd - Merlin
3rd - Ian
4th - Jimmy
5th - David
6th - Lisa

I don't want to embarrass anybody by publishing low finishes. I would like to thank Doug, Najet, Darryl, Nick, Jeff, Moe, Randy G., and Kenny for either playing in the league or subbing when scheduled players couldn't make it.

Unfortunately, October 20 is the Saturday after the end of the league and the date I established for a blind draw at the Legion for current and prospective members of the next Saturday league. That date was decided before I was aware of the WDA's Halloween Party.

We were looking for an October 27 start for the next league. There are still a few openings for the next league. I have some contacts interested in the next season. Due to the conflict with the Halloween Party, we may extend the signups to October 27.

I've discussed future WDA affiliation with league members. If we get even one player that comes from any source other than recruitment from current members, we will continue our WDA affiliation. It is disappointing that the vast majority of WDA members aren't aware this WDA league exists or that recruitment for signups is underway.

I owe Matt an apology - a big one

Could someone please pass the ketchup?

Matt Rathbun has done an outstanding job with the Team Dart Frogs (Link) web page. Please visit that page and take a look around (which I failed to do last time I visited). Click on Local Events (which I failed to do last time I visited). Click on all sorts of stuff. The web site is well-constructed and informative.

I requested Matt post information about the Legion's singles "Tournament" leagues. He did. It was my mistake that I didn't find it when I visited the site.

Matt, I did wrong. I criticized you when there was no basis. For that I sincerely apologize.

I have done what's possible to correct the erroneous statements I made. I regret they were published so long and seen by so many before my error was discovered.

COMMENTS:
---------------------------------------------
I appreciate the comments. Working on the site, although enjoyable, can be overwhelming sometimes. It is certainly possible that I may have missed something that anyone has given me. If you don't see anything you requested in a few days or I have not replied, just send me a friendly reminder.

Thank you for setting the record straight. I appreciate it.

-Matt
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Post 4 is hosting Friday and Saturday night darting events

This information is not available anywhere but here. It has been submitted to the Frogs several weeks ago. The Frogs website is still promoting a soft-tip event on Friday nights. This information was submitted to the WDA, but is not in any WDA publications or on their website. CORRECTION This is my error. I missed where Matt put it on the Kansas Dart Frogs web site.

The Legion is offering 7-week sessions of 8-player singles leagues in a 2 out of 3 format with a 100% payback. This is set up as a tournament format and is an excellent way to get used to a tournament format. This is a league darters have been asking for for years, but I don't have the phone numbers or e-mail addresses to inform the players who are looking for an event like this.

The Frogs are not promoting this to their members. The WDA is not promoting these events to their members. Correction The Frogs are promoting this.

There's a reason the address to this site includes "merlinrants" and I'm about to start one.

The Legion has had a great symbiotic relationship with the WDA. The Legion has been a huge asset for the WDA and has improved what the WDA could offer its members. The WDA has been a huge boost to the Legion and has improved what the Legion could offer its members.

Losing the Turkey Shoot is no biggie. That was a good revenue source for the Legion, but sharing the wealth has never been a problem with the Legion. Losing the WDA-sponsored Halloween Shoot falls in the same category.

Losing both in the same year is losing 2 revenue sources that generally helped the Legion recover from summertime slow business and A/C bills.

I am the Financial Officer of the Legion and it is my duty to report to the members on the state of the Legion's finances, the causes of any shortfalls, etc.

Those of us at Post 4 who understand the WDA and support darts understand that the WDA needs to move special events around between sponsors. The majority of members at Post 4 are not familiar with the WDA.

When Post 4 no longer had the space available to store the WDA's standards, Post 4 bought a semi trailer and parked it in their lot for the WDA.

I have to give a financial report to the members of Post 4 Wednesday, Oct. 10. I don't see any way to spin it that the Legion members won't raise questions about the Legion's future financial or facility involvement with the WDA.

Post 4 has become the WDA's host for qualifiers because it's the only facility with the available space.

The absolute lack of support for Post 4 events and the use of Post 4 by the WDA "when it's convenient" is not conducive to raising support of Post 4 members who vote on how Post 4 utilizes its resources.

COMMENTS

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The WDA has always enjoyed a great relationship with Post 4. Other than this column, no one has brought any concerns regarding this relationship. I hope that the WDA and Post 4 enjoy a long-standing relationship, as was evidenced by the WDA's committment to work out the Spring Fling inside of the constraints of the Post so that we could have the event there. The new leagues out of Post 4 have not yet committed that these are WDA events. One league has committed 50% but that was stated as temporary at our last Board of Director's meetings. If these new leagues are to be incorporated into WDA leagues, then the WDA will promote them and support them to the extent possible. Unequivocal support for the American Legion Post 4 is WDA Policy and we look forward to that remaining in place.

-Kraig
------------------------------------------

The Legion certainly appreciates the support the WDA has provided through the years the Legion and the WDA have been associated.

I disagree with the comment that the WDA went out of its way to accommodate the Legion regarding the Spring Fling.

The Legion offered to move the Spring Fling into the "Members" area. The Legion had the same number of boards and capabilities of more seating and table space than the Laid Back, which had successfully hosted the Spring Fling for many years.

The WDA membership voted to award the Legion both the Spring Fling and the August General Membership meeting. That would have been 2 days of significant revenue for the Legion. Combining those events gave the Legion 1 day of significant revenue instead of 2.

What I stated at the last Captain's Meeting was that if the WDA did nothing to promote or provide darters for the Saturday league and if I had to do all the promotion, publicity and recruitment of players, then I saw no reason to continue the requirement that league members pay the WDA.

The WDA has historically promoted and supported many non-WDA events that WDA sponsors have offered.

-Merlin
--------------------------------------------

One possiblitly could be that no one wants to play in the above mentioned new weekend leagues.

I for one have been a league player with the WDA for 4 years. I chose to play at side pockets on Saturday for a few reasons

1. No political posturing, before, during, or after I throw each dart. It's amazing how much fun can be without having to hear the latest backstab, or complaint about who is doing what in the WDA.

2. I love the legion, I have grown up there. I will never bad mouth it. I will continue to support it as I see fit, not how someone else tells me I should.

3. A juke box with a selection of music that fits more than one demographic.

4. Electronic boards. How can I socialize, enjoy my drink, sit with friends or even eat a meal when I am chalking any event I am not playing in. 3 bucks a night is a small price to pay to be able to enjoy the time that I have when not at the board playing.

5. Promoting darts and good will. I played at Side pockets Saturday night along with 87 other people. There were by my drunken count around 20 "soft tip" players there all enjoying steel tip darts.
I was there for 7 hours, yes 7 and during that time I did not have to hear one negative word about the game that I have grown to love, nor did I hear one negative word about anyone else there that was playing.

I bring this up because in the 3 hours a week that I spend playing in WDA sponsored events I get to hear who isnt doing thier job, who isnt appreciated, who needs to go, who needs to stay, who needs to pay for what. blah blah blah.

I suggest that you embrace what the Frogs are doing with darts instead of try and rain on the parade. They had 88 people show up to have fun, have a couple of drinks, and play the game of darts without any B.S.

It isnt the "legion" that people are not supporting. Its the amount of crap that goes with playing at the legion that keeps people away.

- Paul, Jr.
--------------------------------------------

Just like what would happen at a captains meeting, this has turned into a bickering match back and forth. Gotta love the dysfunctional dart family. Now for my two cents.

If I remember right, isnt the WDA's mission to promote steel tip darts in Wichita. Isn't the legion and the singles league held there in Wichita? Ive been playing in the singles league and have watched half of it go to the WDA, but no mention at all of it on the WDA site, or in the newsletter. By giving 50% of weekly fees, that should get some kind of promotion. But no, nothing. Merlin is right, if he has to take the time to recruit and do everything else, then the WDA shouldnt get anything.

Its understandable that the frogs wouldnt post anything about the league, they are protecting their own interest. I mean 4 or 5 people playing in a Friday or Saturday night singles league would just kill their attendance of what 30 people who go out there.

I will stand behind the Legion, after all they have done for the WDA, to not have a league out of there promoted by the WDA, or the lack of WDA members showing up there is just an insult.

I thought it was the job of the executive council to do everything they can to promote ALL steel tip darts in Wichita. I guess theres fine print, maybe they should have stated it as "promoting steel tip darts in Wichita....only if it fits our hidden agenda"

Come on people, support the legion, get involved in a sponsor that has done alot for our association. They deserve that respect from us. Otherwise someday we may be sitting at a captains meeting deciding how many bars we can split qualifiers and events between to have enough space.

- Richard Cranford
------------------------------------------

I have been in charge of the Dart Frogs's web site for going on a year now. And dang it.. what I am reading about the criticism of what we promote is senseless and to be honest... a little over the top... even for me. I know I have not been involved in the sport of darts for long at all.. In fact its really been just a little over a year. But reading this article and especially some of the comments makes me angry and to be quite honest.. sad.

The thing that compelled me to write this is that some of what I am reading is just downright untrue.

Merlin, you sent me an e-mail with all of the information for this Friday "Early Bird Air Cap Warmup" League. I posted it (where is still continues to be available) on our Local Events page. This information was posted THE SAME DAY YOU SENT THE INFO as well as a mention on the FRONT PAGE of our website for over a week! In fact.. the local events page received nearly 400 different hits since that info was posted. So to see talk that the frogs don't promote anything at the Legion is rediculous to say the least. And to be quite honest, anyone that thinks the frogs don't care what happens at the Legion is wrong.

I am sure I can speak for every one of the frogs when I say our single goal is to promote darts. Plain and simple. What we do at Sidepockets, Regional Tournaments, On the Internet, etc.. to gain new players will filter down to the WDA and the Legion multiple times over. We don't ask anything in return, we don't make a penny, we all donate our time and our love of the game so that others can enjoy it as well. To see most everyone here arguing over a "weekend" is childish. If you all can't look past a "weekend" and look at the "image" you are giving darts by bickering.. than you have already lost in your efforts to promote anything.

I am sorry for any feathers I have ruffled by saying this. It takes a lot to get me going.. but when I personally put the info on our site and give it front page billing and then learn that it is somehow our fault???? Seriously.... Are you going to blame the frogs for people not showing up??

-Matt
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Am I in the right place? This is where we saddle up the Drama Llamas right? I would like to present a pin or better yet a very large trophy ( I would be willing to pay for the trophy but I have to use those quarters to have fun playing darts, or pay for beer or cigarettes or whatever you choose to drink or smoke) for the person(s) who can conjure up the most drama in a season. It would have a nice gold plated llama standing proudly atop the trophy, no…..better yet one llama whispering into another’s ear, yeah that’s it.

I don’t come here for information, rather a good chuckle or two. It’s somewhat reminiscent of middle school banter. I visit the Frog site for information concerning darts, like the information I found under “Local Events” listing some kind of league hosted by the American Legion Post 4 on Friday and Saturday nights (it’s been there for awhile). I also frequent another site for information as well, some may be familiar with it, www.wdanews.com. Although most of the information on that site is also reiterated on the Frog site. But, one thing that caught my eye was a somewhat vague statement on their home page….see if you can figure it out. “Promoting the sport of darts in the Wichita area”. Does this mean “Steel-Tip” darts, “Soft-Tip” darts, or perhaps it means all darts? Maybe it even includes Yard Darts?, no……I think those were banned in all 51 states (or are there 50?). Maybe if the states were “electronically” counted we wouldn’t have to worry whether it’s 51 or 50. I will have to write a letter to my congressman to see if we can do that, but he might want a quarter to do a practice run and I’m not sure I like that idea.

I think it’s great that the Frogs are, “still promoting a Soft-tip event on Friday nights”. After all I think they still use darts at said event. I feel that every darting event in Wichita should be promoted on every website that [promotes the sport of darts in the Wichita area]. That way, darters would have the choice to play wherever and whenever they wanted.

$52.50 for a lifetime of Drama? I’m in. Only because I’m not sure how long Jerry Springer will run. All the drama and the people creating it will be instrumental to the destruction of the sport of darts in Wichita and eventually the WDA as a whole. Let’s band together, keep our mouths shut when the only reason for opening it is too create controversy and drama, and throw solid darts at establishments that we feel comfortable with and have fun doing it.

If I had a Drama Llama I would saddle up and ride off into the sunset at this point, but I don’t. So I will borrow one (they are plentiful, I found one downtown, they breed like mice). HIYOO DRAMA LLAMA, AWAY!!!!!

--Ben
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Saturday Night Standings Update

It was Cricket Night and Cricket is my worst game. Jimmy beat me in the Cricket finals.

Going to the last week, which is 501, here are the point standings

Richard - 37
Merlin  - 37
Ian     - 31
Jimmy   - 29
David   - 25
Lisa    - 23

October Captains Meeting Highlights

Halloween Party at SidePockets October 20. 300% payback blind draw. Both SidePockets and the WDA are matching the entry fees. Free dinner for all WDA members. Cash awards for best costumes and best costume playing in the blind draw. 6 PM for food. Signups at 7:30. Darts start at 8.

I'm thinking I could wear pleated pants, dress shoes and make a USA National Team shirt. I could go disguised as a darter and probably sweep the costume events.

Turkey Shoot November 2 at Mary's. Free food. Free blind draws. One handicapped and one scratch. Dillon's gift certificates for top 4 in both blind draws. Signups at Noon. Darts at 1. It's only $5 per person for a full Thanksgiving dinner for non-WDA members. This is a great opportunity to bring out your family and let them get to know the people we play with every week.

Captain Kenny's spaceship design will be the Air Cap Shirt this year.

Lifetime Memberships will be offered at a reduced price of $60 at the Halloween Bash and the Turkey Shoot. Annual members who have paid this year's dues can buy a Lifetime Membership for $52.50 from October 20 through November 3.

Two additional pin awards were approved. A "Red Bull" is any out ending with a double bull. A "Lizzard Out" pin will be awarded to anyone ending a game with a double 1.

Lifetime memberships were awarded to Rotten and Juanita for their contributions to darts over the last 20 years. Tommy, the bartender at the Air Cap, will get a plaque and a lifetime membership in recognition for his contributions to the Air Cap over the last 9 years.

A proposal to change the Monday format to eliminate 301, add singles Cricket and a 4-person Burma Road event was tabled. Rich Pike will put the proposal and rules in writing. This proposal is likely to go to the next General Membership meeting.

Post 4 Hosting Several Events

Friday Night - Singles League with 8 players - 100% payback for a 7-week session. Starts October 19. $35 entry fee for the entire session. Scratch league. Start time 7 PM.

Saturday Night - Singles League with 8 players - at least 50% payback for a 7-week session. Starts October 27. $35 entry fee for the entire session. Handicap league. Start time 7:30.

Both leagues are a "tournament" format using brackets. 1st through 8th are played out. Instead of randomly determining first-round opponents, a chart is used to make sure every person in the league has a first round match against every other person in the league. All matches are 2 out of 3.

501 and Cricket are played on alternating weeks. The league starts and ends on 501. There are 4 weeks where all matches are 501 and 3 weeks where all matches are Cricket.

I expect the Friday league will be able to play a doubles bracket in addition to singles. In doubles, your first-round opponent in singles becomes your doubles partner that night. The handicap format starts at higher points and the matches take too long to include doubles.

Everyone plays 2 out of 3 against 3 different opponents each night. The open league plays 2 out of 3 against 2 different doubles opponents each night.

Payouts are 50% for 1st, 30% for 2nd, and 20% for 3rd. Placings are based on points earned each night. In singles, it's 8 points for 1st, 7 for 2nd, etc. In doubles, it's 4 points (each) for 1st, 3 points (each) for 2nd, etc. The 3 people who get the most points during the league get the money at the end of the league.

This is your chance to get used to a 2 out of 3 format in plenty of time for the Air Cap. The league is set up so that every night is a mini-tournament.

For serious players, every round you win means you're against another winner in the next round. It provides a decent simulation of the pressures that can happen in a larger tournament.

For more casual players, it's a lot of darts, experience, fun and practice for the $5 nightly entry fee.

You can e-mail me by clicking on the little envelope right at the bottom of this message - or call me at 683-6316.

Note: Comments are generally made by others. I will identify the author of the Comment if the author identifies themself or if it is clear they do not object to being identified.

COMMENTS

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For those of you curious about this league, it is alot of fun. 8 people hanging out, BS'ing, and talking trash on each other. Unfortunately due to possible work schedule, I wont be able to return for another season, but hopefully we can fill both the Friday and Saturday night leagues. - Richard Cranford
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Just 2 weeks left in the Saturday League

There is a bit of separation in the standings with one week of Cricket and one week of 501 remaining, but the battle for 3rd place is really heating up.

              Points   PPD  
1 -    Richard  33    12.30
2 -    Merlin   30    12.19
3 -    Ian      25    11.07
4 -    David    25    11.46
5 -    Jimmy    21     8.42
6 -    Lisa     18     9.41
7 -    Doug      9    10.29
8 -    Najet     4     8.12

High Score - Ian - 140
High Out - Lisa - 87
Hat Trick - David, Richard, Jimmy
7-count - Ian, Merlin

David Garrett listed a Ton as an accomplishment - not 101 - not 121, but 100 points. I asked David if he actually considered that an accomplishment and he said he did. Okay.

I was going to talk a little trash on David for considering 100 points to be an accomplishment, but I realized that talking trash with David would be like talking psychology with Kraig.

Saturday Night League Update

You pretty much need a razor blade to separate the leaders. After the first Cricket Week, the Top points went like this: 12,11,10,9,9.

After the second 501 week it didn't change much.

Here are the current standings and ppd's for the league

              Points      PPD
                
1 - Merlin      18        12.25
2 - Richard     17        12.89
3 - David       16        11.72
4 - Ian         16        11.07
5 - Lisa        10        10.17
6 - Doug         9        10.29
7 - Darryl       9         8.42
8 - Najet        4         8.12

We aren't "officially" keeping accomplishments, but ...

High Score - Ian - 140
High Out - Lisa - 87
Hat Trick - David, Richard, Jimmy

We've had a couple of people join us either as replacement players or substitutes.

Nick Mastroni has a 13.75 ppd. Jimmy Dinsmore is at 9.38. Moe Inc has a 8.59 average.

The doubles part has been dropped in handicap. Handicap games are generally longer than open matches. Someone is usually starting quite a bit higher than 501. Playing the doubles matches just ran too late.

All standings have been adjusted to eliminate doubles play.