Did something new last night. A group of us rode out to Nowan (about 40 minutes by taxi north) for a night of soft tip darts at the Dragon Bar. It was something new because I normally play steel tips in Itaewon at Dolce Vita Pub. Hey, variety is the spice of life and all that.
Anyway, it was my first time in that area and it is always interesting to see a new part of town. The Dragon Bar is a Western-style bar for Koreans. By that I mean it is frequented primarily by Korean patrons. Our group (me, Duke, Doug, Bill and Nolan) were the only foreigners in a crowd of maybe 75 people. Bill and Nolan had their Korean girlfriends with them as well.
We were there to play in a soft tip tournament. As I said, it was my first experience playing soft tips. The biggest difference is you have to throw lighter darts (I was throwing 16 grams versus my normal 24). It took me awhile to make the adjustment, but after a couple of hours I was doing ok. Unfortunately my successful practice games were not replicated in the tourney games. But it was all good anyway. In steel tips we don’t play much other than cricket and ’01. Last night we were playing roulette (the computer randomly generates 3 numbers you have to hit or have your cumulative score halved) and a couple other different games which made it both a challenging and entertaining evening.
Nolan has been practicing at home and he really played well. Took second in the doubles tourney and made semi-finals in singles. I was very impressed. Despite my poor play the Itaewon players had an excellent showing. Duke wound up winning the singles in a real dogfight with a Korean player.
Speaking of which, the Korean folks in the bar were all very gracious and friendly. The fact that it seemed strange to be in a bar full of natives says a lot about my sheltered existence here in Korea. I mean we have Korean patrons at Dolce but the expats far outnumber them. The role reversal last night was quite striking. All the announcements were in Korean, but Yun Joon (Bill’s GF) kept us up to speed on what was happening. They started the tourney with the Korean national athem. We all stood to pay our respects of course, but we were a little surprised that many Koreans remained seated and talking while the anthem played.
Anyway, the only thing that was a little weird occurred during the singles final. It was Bill, Duke, and the Korean guy (sorry, either I didn’t catch his name or forgot it). Bill used to live in Nowan and played darts at Dragon frequently so he knew many of the people in the bar. When the Korean was shooting the crowd would cheer and applaud loudly. When Bill shot he got some polite applause. When Duke was on the line, silence. It got to him a little I think because he commented on the home field advantage. So, the game is “half-it”. Basically, you have to hit at least one of a series of pre-determined numbers through each of 8 rounds. If you miss, your overall score is halved. The Korean guy did not miss through the first 7 rounds. Bill missed doubles and Duke missed triples. Going into the final round (bullseye) the Korean guy had over 500 points. Bill had 200 points and Duke 180. The weird part was when the crowd started doing this cheer for the Korean which translated was something like “Korea is number 1, go Korea!” I was watching a good match between 3 quality darts players, the Koreans saw it as a matter of national pride to beat the Americans. That NEVER happens in Itaewon. In fact, in Itaewon I’ve had Koreans cheering me on against a Korean because I was the underdog and they wanted to see a top player knocked out (they did get to see that happen, but that’s another story).
Well, I have to think carrying the weight of Korean national pride on his shoulders was a bigger burden on the Korean than was the silence Duke faced when he was shooting. So the Korean steps up in round 8 and misses three darts at the bull. Score halved to 250, but he’s still in the lead. Bill at 200+ just needs one Bull to win but he misses as well. Duke at 180 needs to throw 2 bulls. He steps up and hits a bull with his first dart. Then he throws his second. BULLSEYE.
After a moment of stunned silence the crowd did politely applaud. It was a great match and a beautiful finish. USA! USA! USA! I shouted gleefully. No, I’m kidding. That would have been incredibly rude. Duke won 100,000 Won for his efforts and bought his opponent a congratulatory drink. As well as his compadres from Itaewon. Once the match was over, everyone went back to having a good time and friendliness and warmth abounded. We didn’t make it out of there until 0230.
So there you have the fascinating tale of my evening out of Itaewon. Tonight I have challenge league games at Bless U and Dolce. I’ll be home early tonight though. I’m beginning to feel my age.
Oh yeah, can you believe this–Nolan has been here one week and he has already met a sweet Korean girl and they are spending lots of time together. Needless to say, he is LOVING his time in Korea! I’m very impressed.