Have not really had a lot to update lately. I played the Sanfrancisco Open a few weeks back and won the Cricket doubles with David Fatum, the Mixed Trios with David and Kelly Boutwell, then lost to David in the Cricket Singles finals. Young rising local talent AJ Gladwell took me out of the 01 singles event with a brilliant 13 dart leg. 140, 140, 140, 41, d20 for the win. I missed 64 for a 12 dart leg busting on d8 sliding into the d16. Great match.
On Halloween, Kimberly and I drove with our friend Anthony to Courts Lounge in San Jose for a blind draw soft tip tournament. I can not say enough about the warm welcome we always receive from the San Jose crew. Owner Allan and staff did and incredible job setting the dart room up for Halloween shenanigans. They had all of the overhead lighting turned off, and black lights in all of the dartboards. Which made it a little hard to see, but it was a BLAST! Bubble shafts and neon flights "glowed" under the black lights. With 50 players showing up on a holiday, we were VERY happy with the turn out. I drew a 1 named Stephanie who for a 1 hit every clutch dart we really needed her to hit. Including a few double outs!! Kimberly drew good friend Ron "GGR" Colvard. Anthony also drew a pretty good shot. I ended up winning beating Ron and Kimberly in the final, Anthony took 3rd. So for the 2 hour drive, it was we$$worth it :)
Thank you again VERY much to Allan and Courts lounge for making us feel like we are at our home away from home. I can't wait for Halloween next year. I might even show up in costume! Like maybe, squeeze into one of Rob's XL polos and I will go as him :) LMAO!
From the field, Dartoi... errr... Scotty
Saturday, August 8, 2009
I know it has been a while since my last update (Sorry Mom!), but I very much enjoyed my time off.
Pacmania 2 I played with Frank Hernandez and we made it to the finals of the doubles loosing to Darin and Jim. We beat several great teams to get there, but they were just too strong in the final. In the singles I took out many great players including Scott Kirchner, Paul Lim, Larry Butler to name a few. But found myself a little overly nervous pretty much the whole weekend and was never able to get farther than top 8 in singles.
Odd thing, after winning the North American you would think I would have this new found confidence. Quite the opposite for me in my first event since winning. I was not comfortable at all. In fact after every event I went back to my room to change clothes. I just could not get comfortable. Kind of the running joke was that I was doing intentional wardrobe changes and being a bit of a prima donna. If only it were that simple :)
After Pacmania 2, I was able to lick my wounds and put in a great week of practice before the Desert Classic...
What an incredible feeling it was walking around the qualifier in shorts and a t-shirt. Steve Maish, that really only knew me from several years of playing in the qualifiers there, had a laugh asking me if I was just there visiting. I had to tell him I was "that" Scotty. He had only known me as like a Vegas buddy. It was a funny moment, we both enjoyed the laugh. Chris White and I had a great time in the spotlight soaking up the whole expierence.
Jay Tomlinson suprised me with a gift. Since the Bullseye News revamp, there has only been 3 players to have a cover photo. Darin Young and Dave Fatum, and now myself. Pretty good company I think. It's funny a few months before the North American I was talking to Jay in Vegas at the NDA tournament about the new format of BEN. Asking my opinion, I told him I loved the new approach but the only thing I thought was missed was the cover photos. It was almost an extra added bonus to winning a major, or going on a great run. Like the old Dr. Hook song "On the cover of the Rolling Stone". I wasn't even really talking about myself. Just as a loyal reader and player, something I thought was missed. It was an honor for my ugly mug to make it on there! LOL
The night before the PDPA event was the dinner/draw for the stage rounds. Kimberly and I had a great time hamming it up with Chris and his wife Kelly, Darin Young, Bill Davis, Clive the Canadian PDC rep and John Part. Much to my suprise when the draw was made, I had John in the first round. The next 30 minutes was full of elbowing and pointing in my general direction. Shenanigans!
The next day started the PDPA event. I played a buddy of mine from Canada and my doubles partner from the Vegas Open a few months ago, Ken McNeil. Saying I was on fire is a great understatement. I beat Ken 6-0. Ken played fantastic, and would have beat most players handily had I not been well on form. Four 13-15 darts and two 10-12 dart games. I also won my next match 6-1.
Another friend of mine was on this board, Jeff Hubbard. When the draw was posted, Jeff told me we were on the same board and asked me if I knew who this guy "Gary Anderson" was cause it was his first round draw.... I could not stop laughing. (Sorry bud!!) I told him it's better you don't know and to just go play your heart out.
Long story short, I played Gary in the 3rd round. :) The PDC posted I lost 6-1. The scoreline was actually 6-3 Gary. His first leg was 180, 180, 85, 56. Nice little 11 darter to start the match. I answered back with a 12 dart finishing on 116. He won the next 2 legs breaking me, then I broke back to make it 3-2. He broke me back again for 4-2 and I broke back to make it 4-3. He then found a whole new gear (is that even possible?!) and won the last 2 legs in 12 or less. This match was REALLY what I wanted before going on stage the next day to play John. I played one of the best players in the world and held my own. I really could not have done anything better in that match. Like when I played Ken, Gary did to me.
So my preperation for the stage was right on. Chris came over to my room in the morning (he did not play until day 2), we went and had breakfest and we threw in the hotel room a while. Then I changed and we piled into a cab to go to the Mandalay Bay. We were staying at the Tuscany Suites.
The practice room was an expierence in itself. I was there a couple hours early to make sure I was well adjusted to the environment. Darin and Chris (who didn't play till the next day) came in every half hour or so and threw some darts with me to keep me relaxed. Then about an hour before the match John got there. It was also very relaxing throwing with John in the practice room before we started. I ALMOST wish the match had been played in there. I could not miss. Scoring, doubles, 100+ finishes. Everything was clicking... I even won the cork so I started our first leg on stage.
John was a prince giving me some advice about the heat and such about being on stage. Seriously, I was about to play him and he is giving me tips?! Who else does this!!
The first leg I opened with 100 which VERY easily could have been 180. They felt so good and I was not shaking, which is what I was worried about. Too good in fact. I was rushing everything it felt so good. Throwing a fast tempo was one thing, but I was literally toeing the line with my dart loaded before John even made it to the board to pull his darts. I left myself I think 60 and John poked out a large out somewhere around 118 or so to break me the first leg. In the second I had 3 clean darts from 40 and missed all 3 by a mile to break back. I left 10 and John again poked a solid 80 odd out to take the leg. This is where it all went downhill. I was fast, and I could feel it. And I had no power to slow my self down.
When it was all said and done (John winning 6-2, Nice prediction Dave! LOL) John put his arm on my shoulder as we walked down the back hallway back to the practice room. He said expierence got him thru that match. Again he gave me more advice on what to work on, and told me now that I have been up there and actually felt it, I know what to do different. Again, Seriously?! WHO DOES THIS!!
I have kind of known John thru Chris for a couple years, but never really had the chance to spend a whole lot of time with him. I would laugh at his jokes and stuff when I was around just to be able to talk to him. Who doesn't want the chance to hang out with a 3 time world champ? Chris has always told me how good of a guy he is, and with his previous postings on dart forums, I knew he was a real good guy. But for him to help dust me off after he just beat him, and give me advice to potentially beat him next time we play, put him in a whole new catagory. I don't believe there is another player that would have gone to these lengths to make sure I didn't slit my throat after the match. John is a truly fantastic talent, and one helluva guy.
I also need to give a HUGE thank you to Pat and Rose Carrigan. They were charged with having the trophies produced for the Desert Classic for some years. After my match with John, Rose and Pat pulled me a side and presented me with a smaller version of the championship trophy with my name on the name plate. Yes Smitty, I cried again. :) Pat and Rose, this was way above and beyond. Thank you both from the bottom of my heart.
Next for me is the US Open in Atlanta, then Medalist World Champs in Vegas back to back weekend at the end of August. Talk to you soon! Tuesday, March 24, 2009 Thanks for supporting my Sponsor Manny!!! :) So, I have made my mind up to go to Southern California for this event instead of Oregon like I had planned. It really is bad for the West Coast when we have conflicting events. Oddly enough it happens WAY too often. Oregon is a 9ish hour drive for me while Southern California is a 6 hour drive. Plus the pay outs are too good to be true so it actually was an easier decision to make than one would figure. p.s. I won my State Championships Doubles in Las Vegas this last weekend with my 15 week league partner Toby Hargraves. Nice out Toby!!! The rest of the weekend went almost as good. I won both doubles with Ron Peppers, and we teamed up with Stacy Bromberg in the Mixed Trios and won that also. Singles, Top 4 and a Top 8. The cricket singles, I was beat pretty good by Nico Depaynos in the quarter finals. I got him back in the 01 singles thou! :) I had a great run going. Checked out a 170 the first match. Put out Nico, Chris White, then my partner Ron Peppers on the way to Semi Finals. I opened the 3rd leg 180. And spent 5 darts chasing a double, and let Mike Hathaidharm come back and clip me. Mike went on to loose to a good local player, Drew Swick. Full results can be found here. Wednesday, February 11, 2009 Sunday, January 11, 2009 Wednesday, December 31, 2008 Thursday, October 22, 2008 Chris and I played the doubles, but didn't fair well. Singles 01, I lost a great match to Chris in the 2nd round. I played Joe Chaney in the quatrers of the Cricket. We had a great 3 leg slug fest. Joe hit a great shot to win the last leg. He needed 4 20s and a bull to close me out and hit it like he knew it was going in... I believe he went on to win... Still doesn't make me feel any better :) Friday, September 12, 2008
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
What another great time in France. Rob and I played in the doubles on Saturday. We made the final but lost to the Singapore team of Paul Lim and James Quek. Sunday faired better for us. It was the 4 man team event. Rob, Chris, John and I played great all day. We found ourselves in the final playing against a very confident France team. This was a very important day for the French team as I was told they have never made the finals in this event before. After having us down 0-3, we made a great come back to win 4-3. More than once I thought we were done for, but we all hung in there and played like champions!!
Day 3 (Monday) was the International Prestige Cup. After a long day of playing we again found the final. For those keeping score at home, Team USA was in 3 events and made 3 finals. :)
Sadly, Team Spain was very strong. They again claimed the cup. 2 years in a row!! argh!!! lol
We all had a great time again and made MANY new friends as well as seeing old friends.
Thanks to Lee from Medalist USA for our invitation, Yannick the Host from France Darts for being so gracious. Also thank you to Kei Hasegawa and Ken Yoshida for your kindness and driving us to the venue. It was also very nice to meet the Japanese team. All very nice and all very talented players. I look forward to meeting up with you when I come back to Japan.
Also to our friends from the staff of France Darts Marco, Stephane, Jean-Paul and the rest of the staff. Thank you all so much!
I am off this weekend. Putting in a lot of time on the board in preperation for the Las Vegas Desert Classic.
Thanks for reading, Stay tuned!!!!
Wednesday, June 02, 2009
Holy cow I did it! I won the North American Darts Championship! I can't begin to describe the feeling of living out one of your dreams. The amazing thing is, winning this event is going to help lead to the fulfilment of a few other dart dreams have had. It had skyrocketed me to the top of the North American Order of Merit. Kind of like in PGA Golf, the PDC ranks the players by how much prize money you have won. It has also pre-qualified me for the TV/Stage round of the Las Vegas Desert Classic to be played at the Mandalay Bay the end of June. (Which is more guaranteed prize money to help with the next dream)
I will now be attending the Canadian Players championship in Ontario, Canada on August 16th and the US Open the weekend after in Atlanta GA. Which leads in to my all time dream... Playing in the Grand Slam and the PDC World Championships.
So on to the recap of the event. I was really only nervous twice all day. The first 3 darts against my first opponent, and the last 3 darts I had to hit the winning double against Darin. I really hope I have found a new gear. No more nervous yankie doodles!! :)
The day went very smooth. It was also very calming to have good friends there cheering me on. I know it would have been easy for them to walk away after they got beat in their own matches, but they stuck it out for me. I guess really only the major hic-up of the day was having Tim Grossman down 3-0 only to let off the gas just a hair and have hit come right back to 3-3. We than traded legs until the 11th which I was fortunate to win. I couldn't help from thinking the entire time "you had him" "why didn't you keep the hammer down" and "$#%&" LOL
So it is off to France tomorrow. No rest for the wicked I suppose. I will update when we get back in about a week.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Wow. A LOT going on! :) First, I have been selected to Team USA again to participate in the Prestige Cup in La Rochelle France along with Team Captain Chris White, Robert Heckman and John Husman. John is a great player from the Seattle Washington area and cracked the top 4 this year! Great job John and welcome to Team USA!!!!!! With your help this year I like our chances to win the Prestige Cup!
Also, my new dart line will be available for sale at www.a-zdarts.com in about 2 weeks. See the main page for a photo. The grip is a "wave" grip. It is very aggressive but not too "grippy". Hopefully retail will be around $40ish.
More updates to come! Stay Tuned!!
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
The Pacmania Open was a great success. The hotel staff was very nice, Jan and crew did a great job keeping it running smooth and Rhen and Michelle were always willing to spend some time answering questions. And of course a very big THANK YOU to Manny Pacquiao!
Overall I am very happy with my performance this weekend. The first event started a little rough thou. Chicago format 501/Cricket/301 in that order. All of my practice that morning before the event I was throwing d20 on then score. In this format more often than not it comes down to 1 leg of 301 deciding victory. I played Nico Depaynos early in the day. I opened with a 12 dart 501 leg, Nico crushed me in Cricket. Nico won the bull and got on in the 50's I think. I had a 120 on. I guess I should havce left myself 40 because I missed 3 darts at the out. 1 at 50 and 2 at d8 the next round. Nico went on to beat good buddy Rob Heckman in the final. It was a tough final to watch as I wanted both players to do well. Wow Nico is playing well! I had to leave during the 3rd leg as Darrin Young walks by and asks if I wanted to throw before our match or just give up!!! :) It was only then I realized I hadn't thrown a dart in over an hour and our final match was to be called right after Rob and Nico were done.
Wow did I have a brutal draw in this singles. Started with Brad Wethington and ended with Gary Mawson and sprinkle Dayton Strawbridge and Nico Depaynos in the middle. Oh boy... The good news is I was able to throw for 20ish minutes before the final. The bad news is I played Darrin!! LOL It was a great match coming down to the 5th leg. 9 mark rounds by each of us. Darrin proved to be just 1 extra triple ahead of me pretty much the whole 5th leg.
This tournament they held all 3 finals the first day until the end of the day. So after a tough loss in the singles final, I had to play the Mixed Trips final. I didn't really have a lot of time between matches and I could not shake a mental mistake I made playing Darrin. So sadly for Frank and Julie, my head was not in the game. We were beat pretty easily 3-0.
Sunday started off with the Blind Draw doubles. I was very happy to hear my partner was my good buddy Chris White. Another solid team in there was Darrin Young and Nick Mandrilla. We were able to dodge each other until the Semi final. Missed doubles cost us a chance at a third leg as they got us 2-0.
In the 501 singles I played Howard Meyers in the second round. 10 years ago playing soft tip, Howard was one of the guys I looked up to and wanted to be like one day. I was seriously more nervous playing Howard than I was playing Darrin in the Final. Howard also said he was quite nervous as well. We both showed it taking 12 darts at a double in the first leg. I won the 2nd leg and Howard came back with a very solid 3rd leg to win. Howard it was a pleasure getting to talk to you and bring back old times!!!!
The last event was 501 doubles and I played with another one of my early career heros, Frank Hernandez. Frank and I found a good groove and made the final. We played Sammy Cruz and Nico Depaynos. Geez I can't get rid of Nico!!!!! Frank and I did all we could do to stay in the game but both Sammy and Nico were incredible. Again it is always good to see friends playing well. Just no good to see wshen you are playing them in the final LOL!!!
This was the first of 4 weekends in a row for me. Next weekend is the Team Dart soft tip in Las Vegas. I will report on that soon. I am playing the doubles with Good buddy Rob Heckman and I like our chances of playing well as we both had good weekend in LA.
Thanks for reading, talk to you soon!
What do Scotty B and Manny Pacquiao have in common???
We both use One80 Gladiator dart boards!! This HBO clip below clearly shows he has a Gladiator board hung in his house.
Click to be taken to HBO Website and view video
Link found by John Denich and originally posted to www.sewa-darts.com
I do feel incredibly bad for the OO crew which include Craig and Christina. Both are aware of the situation and understand all our choices to go to Manny's event. I am told the plan was for the weekend before but because of Manny's schedule it had to be the 11th and 12th of April. I still want to encourage players to attend Oregons event. I am told of format changes are in place that players requested and they are making great strides to accomodate everyones wishes. Plus this means less people I will have to beat to win Pacman's tournament! :)
I do wish the OO crew a successful event, and look forward to making the trip next year as I am told the dates for Manny's event will be a bit more flexable then.
From the field, Dartoid.... errr wait.... lol
Scotty
Sunday, February 23, 2009
Camellia Classic was a great event again. Even better, my son Tyler and I won the Adult Youth event Saturday morning. Tyler took the final game out on 32 with his 3rd dart hitting double 16 for the match. What a kid!!
A couple weekends in a row I have a few local events coming up I will attend. Next time on a plane will be Oregon Open in March. See ya there!
Had a great time as always in Vegas. Even thou I am there 4-5 times a year, it's always fun :)
Andrea Taylor and I won the mixed 01 doubles Sunday night beating Ray Carver and Tricia Wright in the final. We beat several solid teams on the way to the final as well. It really is funny how alike Andrea and I are. Same stupid sense of humor, same movie references very few other get... Always a BLAST playing with her!!
Ken and I did not fair as well in the mens doubles. I was blown out early in the cricket singles. The 01 singles I was playing very well. With a whole mess of confidence on my side after I beat Darrin Young, I was hoping for my first major. Brian Blake ended my run at the quarters thou checking out a 118 with me on 32.
The Nationals went the same for me this year as last. Walking thru the round robin only to loose the first round of the knock-out.
Camellia Classic is this weekend. Will be good to see Stewart (Nailz) that is visiting from Canada. March is the Medalist South West League finals. The Oregon Open and Team Dart in Vegas in April. The North American and Bullshooter on back to back weekends in May are on the list also. Will drop an update after the Camellia.
Thank you very much to Mark Demsky and to Fox40 for the TV Interview! Find it in the Videos section.
I guess I am caught in a bit of an embellishment. In the interview I said 15k. Actually my best year I made just over 10k. BUSTED!! :) lol That doesn't account for expenses thou, which were roughly half that.
See ya after Vegas!
Happy New Year! Things went very bad at the Bangkok airport a few weeks ago. So Rob Heckman and I were not able to go to the Medalist Asia tournament as planned. It really is a shame, as good times were in the works for that one!! :) Also equally sad about missing hanging out with Johnny from Darts Thailand and the local crowd in the Soi22 area of Bangkok before the event.
Next event for me is the Cricket National during the Las Vegas Open Jan 23rd - 25th. I won the 01 doubles with Eddie Lawrence last year. This year I'm playing with top ranked Canadian Ken "Silverdart" McNeil and mixed with Andrea Taylor (who in 08 was just a few points shy of #1 in ADO). Great job Andrea!!! I mean, Ahndrea LOL!
2009 will have me at even less ADO events than I currently hit. I will try to hit all the PDC PDPA stops on this side of the pond. Along with a few of my favorites (Colorado and USA Classic). Good things also to come on the soft tip front. I have been told I will represent the USA in France again in 09. That was such a fun event, I am really hoping things work out to get back there. Would be even better if we get to keep the same team of Robert, David, Chris and myself. that 2nd place just leaves a nasty taste in my mouth!!!
Thats all for now, talk to you after Vegas!
Three weeks, three events. Wiped out! Goint to try to avoid that in the future if possible.
Started the trifecta with the Colorado open. Rob and I won the Cricket doubles beating Bill Davis and Donny Joe, and lost the 01 final to local boys Dan Moore and Ruben Blea. Continued my streak of finals in the doubles, followed by poor showing in the singles.
Next up was the San Francisco Open. I won both the 01 and the Cricket singles beating Jason Naert and Frank Hernandez in the finals. I played doubles with a local Sacramento player Drew Swick. Saturday we lost in the semi final. Sunday we made the final but lost to an on fire team of Paolo Cleofe and Nico Depaynos. Drew and I played the mixed trips with Andrea Taylor, and lost the semi final to eventual winners Chris White, Andrew Bennet and Brenda Roush. Saturday night, I paired with a good buddy Ron Colvard in the blind draw, and we took it down fairly easily. Thou we did try our best to give away the final!! :) Full Results here.
Then comes Austin Texas and the World Cup qualifier. First let me say, that 6th street in downtown Austin is fantastic!!! It really is a mini bourbon street. Had a blast there!!!
I made it thru my initial bracket loosing only 2 legs. Which brought us to the top 10. Chris White came out on top with 18 wins. Me, Steve Brown and Ryan Barnette were all 3 tied with 16 wins. I loved my chances going in to the 3 way playoff. I had beat Brownie 2-1 and Ryan 3-0 in the top 10s. We all flipped coins, odd man out sits the first match. I think this really hurt my chances as I was the odd man out. I would really have liked to play the first match. Even if I lost, I am ready for the second match. I placed an incredible amount of pressure on myself. The World Cup being in the United States in 09 and one of my best buddies already in, I wanted this one baaaaaaad. It showed... In my first match, Steve hit a big 133 coming in to make my 93 out even harder. I missed the 93 and steve hit the 70odd out. Playing Ryan, he had nothing to loose and all the pressure was opn me to win and take us into another playoff. Ryan beat me pretty easy and sealed his spot into the World Cup... Congrats...
So, back home. Confirmed I am going to Thailand in December for the Medalist Soft Tip event. Looking forward to hanging out in Thailand with my good buddy Rob Heckman, and our friend Johnny from Darts Thailand.
See you soon!!!
What a great time at Medalist Worlds this year! They did a fantastic job giving the Grand Masters 3 of the 4 days all Grand Master events. For me, 2 semi finals in the singles, 1 final in doubles, a 1st in trios, a 5th in the Pro AM as well as a 5th in the Trios bring (handicapped event) sealed a good week for me.
First a HUGE CONGRATS to my buddy Robert Heckman for winning his 3rd World Champs singles title this year, and to Rob and Chris White for winning the 01 doubles medley Amigo-style!
Wednesday started off for me the 01 Medley singles. I played Paul Lim in the semi final, best of 7. Paul won every 01 game, I won every cricket game. Sadly, it was an 01 medley! LOL! In the 7th leg I won the bull and started strong missing 2 bulls over 5 rounds to leave 39. Paul played a step better only missing 1 bull in the first 4 rounds leaving him on a 5th round finish. Paull did what he does and took the 154 before I could look at the 39 and he advanced to the final. Had I hit the extra bull Paul did, I would have had a shot in the 5th round as well. You can't give that guy a chance to win. He WILL take it!
Wednesday evening doubles is the only event I feel I did not play well. All appoligies to my partner Robert Dixon. We finished T16 just out of the money round.
Thursday was considered an "off day" for the Grand Masters. But was still able to play in a Trios Bring with my partners Del Stanback and Cindy West with a strong 5th place finish in a tough handicapped event. Thursday I played in the Super Countup challenge. My luck ran out, and I played a 6 Tim (I'm sorry I forgot your last name!!!). Tim shot superb. And after 5 legs I lost by 15 points! OUCH!
Friday started us back with singles again. This time right in my wheelhouse. Cricket Medley. After beating tough players to reach the Semi final again in the singles, my buddy David Fatum got the better of me. If I remember correct we were level at 2-2 going into 5th leg cricket. I underplayed my advantage and decided to point instead of close his 16 with my last dart. I should have played my aggressive. The point difference was small enough at that point I could have justified a dart at it. But I missed my point dart as well. David capitalized and shut me down his next round. And he pretty much whipped me the next 01 beating me 4-2.
Friday doubles I drew Jim Tederman. Jim played VERY well, and we found ourselves in the final after beating several strong teams against Paul Lim and Elmer Acorda. They played well and took us out in a good match.
Saturday Morning was the Grand Master Trios. I was fortunate enough to be paied with my good buddy Chris White, and a new friend Warren Perry from New Zeland. We were nicknamed the "Dream Team" as Chris holds the #1 ranking, I hold the #2 ranking and Warren is NZ #1 player. After a bit of a rocky start from all 3 of us, we managed to bear down and win the final. Winning my first soft tip World Title, hopefully the first of many more to come.
Saturday night was the Pro AM. My terrific draws continued, as my girlfriend Kimberly Heath was not onl;y lucky enough to be drawn as one of the C players but drawn on my team!!!! Rounding out our team was Tom Frost and DJ.
It really was such a good time. I made new friends in Mitsumasa Hoshino from Japan and Warren Perry from New Zeland. And enjoyed good times and lots of laughs with old friends.
It is always nice to see people you only get to see once a year. Peter from Puma Darts, the Darts Live film crew with Tamiko Okawa, my good friends from I&K Darts Mitsuhiro Murata and Manabu Kyutoku, and the Medalist staff (including the Medalist Asia representative Kei Hasegawa) that ran a smooth and problem free event!
A HUGE Thank You to Max at Action Promotions. Without whom, I would dress like a dump truck! Oh he does MUCH more than dress me... :) Seriously Max and Christine, thank you for ALL your love and support.
An added suprise before I left for Vegas, I found I placed 5th in the South West MVP award. It was based on league finals finishes and league performance. And very nice plaque and a check for $100! Sweet! You can view it here Medalist 2008 MVP
A lot of events coming up in the next 2 months. Stay tuned!!!
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Back from Connecticut. Overall, the weekend went pretty well. Chris White and I won the 01 doubles beating Steve Panuncialman and Fred Krueger in the final. And 2nd in the Cricket doubles, loosing to Darin Young and Brad Wethington in the final.
I went out in the Cricket Semi's to Steve Brown. Boy he plays some wacky shots. Gets the job done thou. He just sucked me in to trying to counter his strategy, instead of just playing my game. Steve lost to Scott Wollaston in the final.
I would like to say I played well in the National. I would be lying... :) Scoring fantastic. Could not find a finish to save my life. Odd thou, that my other 01 events, I had no problem doubling... Missed the cut by 1 lousy leg. Oh yeah, that could have been the leg that should have been 11 darter, and 12 darts at out later, ended up loosing that leg.... Yup. Thats the one! :)
Had another live interview, this time with the local Fox affiliate at the State Fair. I think it went well. About as good as it could in that setting. Will post video in the next few days.
Off to Vegas for the Medalist World Champs in 2 weeks. Will check back in then!!
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
I corrected my description of the final aginst Spain. I thought we won the 2nd leg. In fact we didn't win until the 4th leg. After watching the video I just posted, it all came back. Thank you to Yannick of France Darts for access to this video.
Monday, July 7, 2008
Back from Vegas... VERY long week for me. Friday and Saturday were Medalist Soft Tip league finals at the Riviera, Sunday morning at Mandalay Bay for PDPA Steel Tip, Sunday night back to Riviera for Soft Tip, then Monday and Tuesday back to Mandalay Bay for PDC Desert Classic. Whew. Got tired all over again just typing it. :)
Saturday at the Riv I played in Super A Doubles with my partner Tracey Vitale. We made it to the final and came up against a tough team in Ozzie Ozman and Walton Kaleiwahea. In the last game, Tracey played fantastic! I fell short on the bulls and we finished 2nd.
Sunday morning at Mandalay Bay had me playing American Bobby Peters. I was well on my game and won 3-0 not dropping a leg. The second round I played Kevin Painter. I had a dissapointing loss to Kevin last year in this event... and a dissapointing loss to him again this year. I had him down 2-1 in sets, with 3 darts at 41 to close out the 4th set. Missing the D16 twice, Kevin leveled the match at 2-2 taking out 80. The 5th set had me starting, he broke me fairly easy the first leg. I had a shot at 121 to even the set but my last dart found the 25 instead of the 50 and cost me the match. Kevin poked another 80odd shot for the match. Theres always next year Kevin!!!
Sunday night, I was back at the Riviera to play Super A Trios with my girlfriend Kimberly Heath and Christine Wurzer. Again made it to the final, this time with a better outcome! Kimberly and Christine played brilliant all evening long, and continued it into the final. My soft tip game was sharp this evening and we won the event!
Monday morning back at Mandalay Bay for the Desert Classic Qualifier, I played Danny Llanes. I won this match 5-0 checking out 140 & 116 no leg over 15 darts. My second match I played Paul Lim. I felt a little tight going into this match. A few years ago I beat Paul in this event, only to draw him again the next day and he got me back and went on to qualify for the stage. Paul won the bull and held his darts the first leg. I was overly focused and mis-counted a set up leaving 38 in stead of 40. I put all 3 darts at 38 well below the double, to be broken. Now down 0-2, I could not shake the mental mistake. I scratched a leg in, but all in all Paul had a pretty easy match to get by me 5-1.
Tuesday I started the day with a tough match in Donnie Strode. Sadly for Donnie, my confidence was where it is supposed to be and beat him 5-1, again no leg over 15. My next match was Wayne Atwood. Wayne and I had a slug fest. But I couldn't have had a slug fest with a nicer fellow. He broke me and held his darts. I held my darts and broke him back for 2-2. We each held darts to level it 4-4. My darts in the 9th I opened 140, 100, 81. Wayne faltered a bit. Then I let him back in. 2 scores of 30ish left me at 102. Wayne was on 68ish?. I missed the T20, missed the DB, and hit the 17 to set up 40. I never had the look. Again to Wayne's credit, he was a super nice guy and I look forward to chatting him up again. Next time with him marking my next match. :) (Side note* Next match Wayne got by Allen Wariner-Little without a problem to win the board...) :(
I can sum the PDPA & Desert Classic weekend up in 2 words. Mental Mistakes. I played fantastic to the wire. More consistent in scoring than I have ever been, and more comfortable (Thank you Kimberly!!!) in my personal life than ever. Baby steps friends! Baby steps!!!
Next I'm off to Stamford CT in August to play in the 501 Nationals. See you there!
Friday, June 20, 2008
I had a live broadcast interview with a local news station Tues. 6/16. It went fantastic! Julissa was great! I can't wait to talk to CW31 and the Good Day Sacramento crew again in the future!!!
You can view a portion of the feed under my Video page.
Friday, June 13, 2008
What a fantastic time we had in France. Rob Heckman, Chris White, David Fatum and I all represented the USA and ourselves with class. The ONLY negative of the event is we ran into a very confident and very on form Spain team. Myself, I was surely not prepared for how abnormally humid the climate would be. Oh well. Next year, eh?
Rob and I finished T4 in the opening days doubles event. Chris and Dave to the Quarters.
Day 2 had the open 4 man teams beating each other up in the round robins. The stars had us aligned to extract some revenge on Spain in the final. Chris White started us off with a perfect OI/DO 501 leg. A few breaks later and we are accepting the 2nd place trophy. Great looking trophy thou. :) ish...
Day 3 was the 4 man International Prestige Cup. And again the humidity was set to my favorite radio station back home. (98.5) Badabing, stars align again and we get to see Spain in the Final. Rob and I played the first 501 leg. This leg really came down to who had the first shot at the out. Justi (Spain) and I were basically on the same darts. He had first shot at the out. I didn't play again until leg 4 with David. We won that cricket leg, but we were still down 3-1. Team USA fought the good fight, but Spain pretty easliy beat us again.
I want to give a HUGE thank you to Lee at Medalist for allowing us to represent his company and the USA. Another very large thank you to Yannick (the host of the event) I enjoyed myself VERY much! I look forward to coming back next year! And lastly to Paul. Thank you for driving us around!!!