20/2/2017: Match Report vs Bird in Hand 'A'. I pick up first win since back and team win 6-3

Hi guys

I'm pleased to report the team won 6-3.

Onto my performance.

I was up against Ron Nobes, a very older player who is a nightmare to play against. Ron is a very slow player with a very erratic style.Ron will throw seemingly random at the board yet hit trebles so to you'll go up and aim for the t20 and get maybe a 60/or 45. He'll throw everywhere  and hit t19, t16 and t10, it does your brain in.

Anywhere I was on second to last at gone 23:00 having been there since 19:30 so 3/1/2 hours.

I won the bull comfortably but then put in a stinker of a leg. I was flat as a pancake, and Ron's style put me off. I hit 22 with my first 3 darts and was just dreadful. Seriously I've played far better in losing than i did here. I won a staggeringly poot leg hitting d1 in what was probably the epitomy of a poor pub darts leg. Still 1-0 up!

The second leg I was warmed up and Ron was never in it. I hit 80 to start and 3 more scores of 80+ and a couple of 60s to leave myself on d18 with Ron still on over 200. I wired d18, hit the single and then took out d9 to win the leg and the match 2-0.

No 100+ scores but at this point I'd rather be consistent and win rather than hit 2x 100 and lose.

I do think I left my best darts on the practice board as I was their for so long.  I put in a good hour before the match and hit several 100+ and a few 140s but then had a long break of doing nothing son in effect cooled down and went flat.

I watched one of our players do the same thing. Eric hit absolutely everything in practice, 100+ scores a plenty and 70+ finishes and yet come his match he couldn't buy a double and lost 1-2 in a match he dominated.

Overall a wins a win and i was thrilled to win my first league singles on my return and not drop a leg, however I will need to seriously up my games in the coming weeks.

Take care

Luke

19/2/2017: In action tomorrow against The Bird in Hand 'A'

Hi guys

I'm in action tomorrow (20/2/17) against the Bird in Hand 'A' team.

I didn't play last week as was suffering from a bad cold, hence my lack of posting.

Unfortunately the team lost a close one 4-5 away to 3rd place 'The Delme Arms'.

I've been called up to singles and with 4 games left of the season we are in 4th place and technically can still get promoted if we win all our last games and other results go our way.

The Bird in Hand 'A' are currently bottom of the league with only 1 win in 12 so the odds are with us!

Can't wait!!

Luke

The BIG one: My Interview with 3x World Champion, The Legend that is John Lowe!

Hi Guys

It is my absolute 100% honor, and pleasure to present to you the online interview i have done with the one and only, the legend that is 3x world champion and winner of over 1000 tournaments in his incredible career Mr John Lowe.

Mr Lowe kindly answered these questions whilst on holiday and it is the most in-depth interview that i know has been done with Mr Lowe recently and covers a few areas that i dont think have been covered before:

The interview:

LS: Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions Mr Lowe.

Q1: I think that past Major winners should receive invites or wildcards to certain tournaments as there is still a massive audience for darting legends, do you agree?

JL: I think World Champions should be invited into the World Championships until they reach the age of 60, unless they retire, maybe the same for the World Matchplay, not sure about all events, just the 2 Majors

Q2: Having met you at an event in Dorset in 2014 you came across as a terrific bloke and full of energy and still playing incredible darts. Free of the rigours of the tour’ do you feel that you could still compete today in certain events if given the opportunity?

JL: In all honesty, I feel I could compete, but not on a weekly basis, that is why I stopped playing on the tour, it is so demanding, I play exhibition now, and they are mainly for charity, at present I am doing a McMillan Nurses tour, and really enjoy raising much needed funds for them

Q3: I have publicised your book ‘the art of darts’ (http://mydartinglife.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/john-lowe-art-of-darts-buy-it-now.html) on my blog repeatedly. In it you mention your workout programme at that time (2005) what routine (if any) do you follow today (I know Bob Anderson plays a lot of golf)?

JL: The Art of Darts was written to show the players they do not have to do anything out of the ordinary, keep things simple, get a good stance, throwing elbow in and a clean release, it will keep anyone's game reliable for years, still round the board on doubles for me, and round the fairways whenever possible.

Q4: An obvious one, but how often do you practice these days and has age affected your physicality to practice for a long duration or is it purely other interests? -  I would hope you are a long way off retirement.

JL: I will play darts for as long as I do not embarrass myself, by that I mean put up a good account, these days it is not possible to win all matches, especially at exhibitions, after all your opponent goes first ! I think people turn out to see someone from the early days, a pioneer, but also a multi title winner, a lot of the top professionals playing now, to be honest, have won very little, I amassed over 1000 titles world wide, something I am very proud of.

Q5: One of the most amazing accomplishments you achieved but is seldom mentioned is that you won the British Pentathlon an amazing 10x (still a record) in 11 years, what do you attribute this incredible run in this event to (it was a floor event wasn’t it?).

JL: I set out to win the Pentathlon 10 times, then I didn't play in it again, I put my wins down to having the ability to play all the many different games involved, also having a stance that would allow me to play for 6 hours in competition.

Q6: You have an iconic set of darts which have also been used to great success by others. What darts did you use before your signature barrel, and were they similar to what they would become?

JL: Tungsten darts was introduced in the Uk in 1969 by Unicorn Products, the first set was made for Barry Twomlow, then News of the World Champion, it was another 3 years before I obtained a set very similar to my darts of today made of Copper Tungsten, a lot of people come up to me and ask if I am still using the fat darts, well, I never owned a set of fat darts, in fact they are quite slim, it is the shorter Barrel that appears to make them look fat. with the help on Unicorn I changed the dart slightly adding another 2 rings, as you say they have made a lot of players successful, including Phil Taylor who took a few sets from Unicorn one day and made them his own signature model, I wasn't upset that Phil found them to be better than his own model, just a little disappointed he has never recognised who they belonged to and who designed them.

Q7: Darts for some reason doesn’t tend to honour its past greats in the manner as other sports and I’m surprised that the PDC hasn’t picked up the ‘League of legends’ tv concept, since there is still a very clear demand to see the legends of darts. Is this something you’d still be interested in if the opportunity arose?

JL: The PDC became a little upset when we formed our own League of Legends with Setanta TV, sadly Setanta went out of business, I do think the opportunity will present itself once again when Taylor stops competing on tour, which by all accounts will be at the end of 2017, it is a natural progression  of his career, and I am sure he will still be big box office, it will be left to see who fills the other places, but there will be no shortage of players queuing up to join what could be another successful addition to the PDC arm.

Q8: I think your 2002 performance in the World Matchplay vs Taylor was something to behold against a player considered the greatest of all time and arguably at his peak. You looked revitalised and on any other day against any other player would have won and the whole tournament. Memories of that match?

JL: That was one of the finest matches I played in, and I still watch it, I feel sure I should have won but for a missed D20.

Q9: You had a consistent 90+ average in the 80’s where looking back the staples on the board obscured about a quarter of the treble segment, this is why I have no doubt that the likes of yourself, Bristow, Jocky, Deller and Anderson etc could compete today.  Obviously it was what you were used to then, however I think it took more skill then to hit the treble, what do you think? and do you think players from the 80’s don’t get the credit vs current players (I myself use an old board with staples to practice as find it forces me to be more accurate, which is a benefit come match day and a ‘nice’ board)?

JL: A point I very often make, the Trebles, Doubles and the Centre Bull are 14% bigger today, and the bounce outs come seldom, anyone watching my 9 dart game will know it was more difficult, that was the reason it took so many years to achieve, I take nothing away from the skill of today's top players, they are amazing to watch on our TV screens, and I do not ask for comparison to players of the past, records speak for themselves, Eric Bristow and myself  averaged 90 per throw for all the years we played in the Embassy, one of us reached the final for 11 consecutive years, and to date I hold the record for the most World championships in a row at 28, those statistics speak for volumes.

Q10: With an average in the 90’s, the first 9 darter, 3 world championships and 8 finals and countless other tournament wins it’s hardly indicative of  anything other than a  high scorer. Do you think that your overall steadiness, calm demeanour and consistency belied your scoring power as a lot of players were considered BIG scorers in your era (Bob Anderson, Jocky Wilson, Eric Bristow etc.) but would visually raw your attention to it and yet in a direct comparator you outscored the majority of them?

JL: There was a lot of hype in my glory days, Eric would try to win matches Verbally, not that he really needed to, it never washed with myself,  I just played my game, shook hands before and afterwards, win or lose, after all we do call it a sport, If I lost I would look at why I lost, sometimes it was to a better player, but often it was my own fault, it's important you recognise your own faults and try to correct them. 

Q11: Despite its popularity darts seems to be the only sport out there with minimal DVD releases, whereas football, boxing, even snooker has end of season reviews, player’s greatest hits, legends of the game etc. There’s been reports that both organisations are trying to remove darts footage off of Youtube which could in effect erase your whole era. They haven’t signalled their intent to release the footage under their own banner (and therefore not losing revenue on repeat viewings) and this could stop a lot of fans home and abroad watching past footage. Your thoughts?

JL: I was not aware the BDO and PDC are trying to stop Youtube showing homemade videos, the power of Youtube is massive, Unicorn have their own channel that's is well received World Wide, I did note the PDC released a DVD The House of Arrows at Christmas time, for some reason I wasn't asked to be part of it, I do not know what sales would achieve, but feel sure the manufactures will have done market research, hence the reason not many available at this time, for the time being let's all enjoy what we have on Youtube.

LS: I would just like to thank you for this tremendous opportunity and privilege to ask you these questions . Luke

There you have it guys

Luke

06/02/2017: Match Report Vs Duke of Connaught 'B' in League Cup

Hi Guys

Unfortunately we lost in the second round of the cup last night against the Duke of Connaught ‘B’

It was a tight affair with the match constantly going back and forth:

0-1
1-1
1-2
2-2
3-2
3-3
4-3
4-4
4-5

There’s no dishonor in defeat as long as it’s for the right reasons and we played well with some cracking and tightly fought games, and it coming down to the final game

Even though no one likes to lose its hard to be disconsolate when the DOC ‘B’ are such a great bunch.

Now, onto my performance.

Pre-match practice went really well, I was hitting a lot of 100’s and in the ‘inter pub’ (ie before league) matches I won 4 of the 5 doubles matches and 1 of the 2 singles.

In the first singles match I hit 2 100’s and a 95 before missing 6 darts at D4 and the Captain checked out d20.

In the second singles I hit some consistent scores, again 2 100’s before taking out d6 (after missing d12).

In my league cup doubles though we unfortunately lost 2-0. I consistently hit 60+ and a few 80's and a 95 however my partner didn’t quite have their scoring boots on and we lost a close one.

Overall again there were a lot of positives, I practiced well, and had a consistent performance which was great. 

The standard this season of the team is a lot higher than it was a few seasons ago. Before there really was only 2-3 players who you could call ‘good’ players of which at one point I was arguably the best. This season though there’s a number of players who can score big and hit decent ‘outs’ as well which is great.

Since I have joined end of season I’m really going to have to up my game to get in the League singles next season, which is great, competition only makes you better and I’ll be all the better for it.

Take care

Luke

We need to all start enjoying life again!

Hi Guys

I was watching ‘call the midwife’ yesterday, and though I wasn’t born to that era (though my wife would probably disagree) it did make me think and realise that we seem to have spent the last 50 years complicating our lives and become increasingly discontented to the point whereby nothings is ever enough.

We seem to spend so much of our time unhappy with something

• The size of our house
• The standard of car
• The size of the Television
• The holiday destination
• The fact we haven’t got the latest Iphone

Go back 50 years and warmth, a happy family and enough money to be ok was enough to breed contentment.

Simple pleasures were enough.

Now what does this have to do with darts?

Well, quite a lot. Go back 50 years and men played in the pub on an afternoon, they drank a few ales and unwound after work. They had a set of brass darts and stuck with that set, and if they wanted would enter the ‘pub competition’ or the News of the World trophy if they felt good enough.

If they hit a 180 they were thrilled and I imagine the majority of the games didn’t rival MVG vs Barney at the 2017 World Championship standard, but it didn’t matter, they had fun and they enjoyed it.

Now like with anything that involves a large impetus of money, it eventually becomes abit too serious it becomes professional and moves far and away from its origins.

Now this isn’t a bad thing per se and I’m all for progress, however not at the cost of our humanity.  I love a lot of what the PDC does and the standard is incredible, however I also love the BDO and everything that it stands for at grass roots level.

What I am trying to say is that we need to all stop worrying about things. If you are not a 100 average player so what? be a pub legend!

As I’ve said before you don’t have to be Phil Taylor to play and enjoy darts.  Go as far as you can at the pub and if that’s your level, embrace it. Don’t become disillusioned and stop.

Not everyone can be world champion (look how few there’s been). If you lose, okay it’s not fun, but accept it and move on! It’s a privilege to be able to play as many would like to but cant. Don’t go home furious and angry, reliving every shot and scouring darts shops online at 3am looking for that next set that will turn you from a 45ave to MVG for your next match!

Darts is one of the great institutions and should be enjoyed at all levels.

We also need to get away as a society from all the negativity and discontentment that technology and sometimes its increased awareness brings.  We can certainly embrace it but at the same time not let it rule our life.

we as a society need to get back to enjoying what we have and enjoying life and not spending what little time we have/had wishing we had more.

At the end of the day this isn’t a dress rehearsal, this is it!  Stop worrying about what the guy/girl next door has and about stuff you can’t change.

Love your friends, family and whatever you have, as if you have warmth, food and a roof over your head, (and a hobby - darts), you’ve got a lot more than most in this world (past and present)!

Take Care

Luke

06/02/2017: In League Cup Action Tonight against the Duke of Connaught 'B' team

Hi Guys

I'm in cup action tonight at home against the Duke of Connaught 'B' team.

The DOC 'B' team are currently 3rd from bottom in the league and have won 3 of 11, and Al's Bar 'B' have already beaten them twice this season.

The DOC were a great bunch of people when i used to play against them so it will be good to see them again and despite the form book its a cup match and i'm not expecting an easy night.

Take care

Luke

3/2/17: 180 with my old 12g brass classics

Hi guys

I just can't seem to get away from these old faithfulls

PDC Betway Premier League Darts 2017: My Prediction

Hi Guys

Well its that time of year again, the Betway Premier League of darts 2017 edition.

It should be a cracker as we have 10 big scorers here.

The Premier league, like the PDC in general used to be owned by Phil Taylor who won it the first 4 years in a row and 6 of the first 8 and considering this could be Taylor's last year in the Premier League (and PDC)   he will want to go out with a bang in all competitions.

With that said i just cant see past the obvious!

Michael 'im winning everything' Van Gerwen

He's won it n 2 of the last 4 years (the other 2 in the final), is the holder, the new world champion and whats mores is playing darts the like of hasn't been seen.

Of course others are in with a shout, Barney is always dangerous and a winner 2 years ago, Gary Anderson has won it twice and Peter Wright has some sick form however barring a major drop in form MVG would be the smart bet!

So, my prediction:

MVG beating Taylor in the final!