Well, this post is about darts so move along if that subject holds no interest for you.

I titled this post “a new beginning”. But isn’t a beginning by its nature always new? Can you have an old beginning? I mean, even the beginning of the end is a start, and you can only start at the beginning right? Then again, you can have a new start, so maybe a new beginning is not redundant after all. Figuring out this kind of stuff makes my head hurt…

Anyway, last night was the opening of the new dart season. And my first night with my new team, the Blue Bulls of Bless U Pub. Bottom line up front, we won the match 22-15 against XOX, a Korean team from Friends Bar.

I could be charitable to myself and say I had a case of the opening night jitters, but the reality is I had my head up my ass, especially in singles cricket. Stupid, stupid stuff–mental mistakes and not following rudimentary cricket game management strategies. I threw at closed numbers and chased my opponent when I was down on points. Duh. I was lucky to come out of singles winning the one leg I managed. My darts were inconsistent (not unusual) but I did manage a couple of 7-marks, along with a 3BC and 3BS. So, I might have shot well enough to win except for my head being in the wrong place.

I fared a little better in doubles, going 4-2 in two games. Played smarter anyway, but wasn’t hitting the triples and bulls when I needed to. Ah well, the team won and I have the first week with the Blue Bulls under my belt, so it should only get better from here.

My new teammates are a great group of guys and I’m really going to enjoy playing with them. Craig (aka The Goat) brought some “medicine” in a flask which he asserted I had to partake in as a right of initiation to the team. Then mid-match we had a round of tequila shots and a toast of welcome. Apparently the team also has a tradition that the person who shoots the lowest score in the opening round of the team game, has to buy a round for the team. Somehow I managed to “win” that dubious honor by throwing a 26. Sorry to say that was not my lowest score during the game.

Anyway, I had a great time. We have a strong team (defending A division regular season champs) and I expect we will be in the hunt again this year. But win or lose I suspect we will keep the emphasis on having fun, which is where it belongs in my opinion. Of course, it’s a lot more fun to win and I hope to do my part to make that happen on a frequent basis.

And so ends my report.