Wrap-Up

Time for a quick mop-up

Well, it was a rough season, the roughest yet. I wasn't all that impressed with the other teams - as far as their ability or friednliness goes. We could beat any of them, and I think we will next season. Some of them were jerks, most were just fine, I guess not much different from our previous Tuesday night seasons.
The new season starts on May 12, and I'm looking forward to it. The whole team will be back and much improved. And. baseball will be in full swing.

Final Team Standings:

Dan
Singles: 3-4
Doubles: 15-16

Matthew
Singles: 0-3
Doubles: 6-19

Zak
Singles: 1-2
Doubles: 4-16

Heidi
Singles: 0-2
Doubles: 3-24

Glenn
Singles: 0-3
Doubles: 8-14

Ines
Singles: 0-1
Doubles: 1-16

Amanda
Singles: 2-4
Doubles: 4-14

Joe
Singles: 5-2
Doubles: 17-10

March 10, 2008

It's over!

Our final week of the season came and went without much fanfare, but with a lot less frustration than it had at the beginning.
We won three of the nine matches on the night. Glenn and I won our doubles, Dan and I won our doubles and I won my singles.
It was a fine match, and we could've won another game pretty easily (Glenn should've won his singles match, for sure), but it's not a big deal to have lost this one either. The opposing team, save for one person, was really friendly, and the bar was nice. Unfortunately, they had a guy singing upstairs who was more than a little distrcting, but he played a Lowell George song, so I was okay with him.

March 3, 2008

I missed a game, so I can't be him - but I'm not a quitter, so maybe I'm better.

The team was mostly back together for a match at Ricky G's. We played a great match again, and are looking strong for next season.
Heidi started us out with singles and looked good, but couldn't quite cap it off at the end.
Matthew and I were next and played an amazing match. We were both on fire and won pretty easily.
Dan won his singles match next, again pretty easily, and the night was looking good.
Dan and I were next with Cricket doubles and we won in two straight.
Zak was up next, and almost won his singles. I think he'll be playing and winning a lot more singles matches next season.
Matthew and Ines were up next and played a tough match of 501, falling just short.
Dan and Heidi played 301 doubles and just couldn't seem to double in fast enough to keep up.
I had the singles Cricket match next and won, evening the night at 4 games apiece.
The final match, and for the win, was taken on by Zak and Ines, who both played great, but just couldn't double out.
We lost the night 5-4, but played just fine, and much better than we have most of the season.

February 25, 2008

I don't remember a whole week

So, I missed my first dart match in a year. I just couldn't stay awake for more than a few minutes at a time.The team played without me and did a good job. Amanda won another singles match and Dan & Heidi won a 301 doubles match. Good job, guys!

February 18, 2008

We've Been Training with Chickens - Watch Out!

1. After Zak's big singles win in the last match, he requested to play 501 tonight. He said he was feeling it or something. He played a great game, just falling short, and we were quickly down 1-0. To the best team in the division, a team that had beated us 8-1 in our very first week.
2. Matthew & ! played game two. I won the diddle and picked 501. The game was a little closer than I'd hoped it would be, but we pulled away at the end. Game 2 was a Cricket match, and another close won, but we finished them off in the end, evening out the night's games to one apiece.
3. Dan played his 301 singles match, and played great. Totally dominating the game.
4. Dan & I teamed up for doubles Cricket and staggered to a first game win. The second game was different, though, as we had control of it the entire time. We were now up 3-1.
5. Amanda came on to play her singles match. She won her diddle and called 501. It was a long grueling match, but she toughed it out in the end, hitting the winning double, and leading us to a 4-1 lead. One more win and we'd win the night.
6. Matthew & Ines went next. The first game was 501, and they kept it close, but just couldn't quite catch up in the end. The next game was 301, and it wasn't very close at all. Unfortunately, when you just can't get that double in to get started, the game can get away from you pretty fast.
7. Amanda & Dan teamed up next for 301 doubles, and the other team didn't stand a chance. Dan played great the first game, and Amanda could have beated the other team by herself in the second. The night was now ours with a 5-2 lead.
8. I played the Cricket singles match next with not much on the line. I played a decent game, but wasn't throwing as well as I had been earlier, and was playing a guy who was on fire. I lost pretty quickly.
9. Zak & Ines teamed up for the final match of the night. Zak, during the first match, got his name in the books by hitting a 136 shot. They easily won the first game. The next two were close, but our heroes couldn't quite pull either of them out.

It was a great night, and our first win of the season. We're playing much better finally and, although we're not making the playoffs, there's no reason we shouldn't win out, now that we've beaten the best team.

February 4, 2008

Shame + Humiliation + Disgrace = A Second Chance

Well, we didn't win, but we could have and probably should have.

1. Game one saw Ines make her career singles match debut. It was good that she got it out of her system. Amanda has been the most consistent opening player we've had, but wasn't available tonight, and Ines played well in her absense.
2. Zak & Heidi played next, almost winning the first game, and coming through for a vistory in the second, but they just couldn't get their Cricket game together to close it out. There was also a little teammate turmoil that might not have helped, but I guess didn't hurt any either. Hopefully, the'll be getting along all swell again for the next match.
3. Dan came out swinging on his singles match, winning easily, and becoming the first player not named Joe to get a win this season. Woohoo!
4. Glenn and I went next at Cricket doubles and really had it wrapped up, but couldn't ever fnish it. We won the first match without much of a fight from the other team, lost the second game in a squeaker, and just sort of choked away the third, after jmping out to what seemed like a commanding lead.
5. Zak came out for his singles match, guns ablazing and playing with anger. It worked, I guess. He won!At this point, we've tied our season total for wins and doubled our best night of the season.
6. Glenn and Dan teamed up for a 301 doubles and looked good for a while, but lost two of three in the end. We were now down four to two, with three left.
7. Dan and I teamed up for another match of 301 doubles and, although it was scary for a little while, ended up winning two of the three, and leaving us only down by one on the night.
8. I played the Cricket singles match again tonight, and I played the best game I've played all season. I was lucky enough to get off to a good start and never look back, leaving my opponent to play catch-up the whole time. We were now tied at four matches apiece.
9. Ines and Heidi came out of the pen to close it out in a final 501 doubles match. Unfortunately, it didn't quite work out, but we had a great time, and almost shocked the darting world, a la the New York Giants, who I hear, won some sort of contest the previous night.

We didn't win, and we missed two of our key players Amanda and Matthew, but we're back. We are the laughing stock of Windy City Darting no longer, my friends!

January 28, 2008

We'd beat the Bulls at basketball before they'd beat us at darts. I think.

So, how do we explain week 3? We play yet another team that's pretty much terrible. They rely on what they call "aiming juice" for help with their shots. And, you know what, they beat us senseless too.

How is this happening? I don't know. I do know that some of us are pressing, which makes everything even more frustrating. Glenn, Ines and Amanda all played well enough to win, but just fell short. Somehow, I beat a barely beat a guy who was well past drunk. Matthew went first and was obviously anxious. He's much better than the guy he played, but just couldn't settle down enough to do it.

I think maybe shots before shooting will be the answer. And look out playoff bound teams, because we're primed to play the spoiler!

January 21, 2008

Week Two - Even Worse, Somehow

I didn't think we could possibly play worse than we did in week one, and I have no idea why we're doing this. The team we played this week, week two, wasn't even as good as the team we played in week one. This team, a season ago, we would have beaten 6-3, but instead, we lost 9-0.

Another week or two of this, and I might not play again for a long, long time. I can find plenty of humiliation in my current, everyday dealings. I don't think I need to go out of my way to search for even more.

January 14, 2008

Week One. Ugh.

1.Things started off well enough with Amanda, our ace 501 singles dartress, who played a great game, but just came up short in the end. She played just as good a game as her opponent, but Amanda had a great start and a slow finish and he had a slow start and a great finish. The great finishes usually win.
2. From there on, we played too erratic to have much of a chance. Especially with the team from The Blarney Stone playing so consistently. Matthew and Glenn teamed up for the second match. Matthew shot three solid games, but Glenn was all over the board, never honing in on his 19s (until the 6th match, that is). They lost that match 2 games to 1.
3. Dan played our singles 301 match and just couldn't get into a groove at all last night - something completely out of the norm for him. He's usually great all night. He lost what ended up being a decent game.
4. Heidi and Dan then teamed up for Cricket doubles and never really got into it. They made both games close, but didn't win either, which would have forced a third game. We were now down 4 games to 0, something that's never happened to us before.
5. Matthew played the next singles match and he played another great game, just falling short in the end (a theme, of sorts, for the night). He played great all night though.
6. Zak and Glenn teamed up for 501 doubles and now Glenn was warmed up, but Zak, while having a lot of good shots, was a little too inconsistent overall. He's definitely on track to have a good season though. The two won one of three games.
7. Amanda and I played doubles 301. We both were playing good enough to win, and did so the first game (and with authority). The second and third games were close, both coming down to a final out shot for both teams, but The Blarney Stone guys won them both.
8. I played the Cricket singles match, winning pretty quickly, although I started slower than I prefer.
9. The final match of the night pitted Heidi and Zak in 501 doubles. Again, close games, but inconsistency throughout proved costly, as the Blarney Stone won the first two and the overall night 8-1.

We're probably about as good as The Blarney Stone when we're playing well, but we all had a pretty rough night. It's going to be a long road to the playoffs now. Hell, it's going to be a long road to a .500 finish now.

Our next match is way out on Irving Park and Harlem, on the cusp of the city limits, at a place called The Brewery. This is where we'll begin our ascent to the middle.