Well, maybe not heaven, but I do believe last night’s playoff match against Sliders was the overall best I have ever had the pleasure of playing.

Sliders, the other Dolce Vita “B” team took first place in the East Division (we finished second in West) and had handed us our most lopsided loss earlier in the season when they took us down 15-4. So, we knew going in we had our work cut out for us. I was undecided how best to set our lineup and after discussing with the team we decided to do it the way we had done it all season, by random draw. In playoff competition, the first team that wins 10 legs takes the match and we felt we had to take at least 6 legs in singles to have a chance.

I was up first against Ray, a dangerous player who can kill you with triples when he is on. Fortunately for me, he was off his game a little and I had my darts working good enough to take a 3-0 win.

Lonnie was up next and he had the misfortune of drawing Alistair, the top ranked player in “B” league (who had lost 2 legs total all season). Lonnie struggled early in the season, but he has really stepped up his game in the second half, including throwing a 9-mark. He has been beating me regularly in practice ’01 games and playing with more confidence overall, but Alistair appeared to be a real mismatch. Lonnie was not intimidated and played a great ’01 game and just missed the double 17 out before Alistair outed on 4. The cricket game was not as close, but Lonnie hung tough and made Alistair work for the win. So, after two games we are tied 3-3.

Mario had to rush down from Uijongbu where he’s working this week to make the match, and he drew Jin for the third game. I think those two are pretty evenly matched, but last night Jin threw just well enough to take Mario 3-0, making it 3-6 going into the last singles game.

To reach our goal of winning six legs in singles we needed a sweep from Cuatro. He was playing Grant who has really been throwing great darts this season. Cuatro took a hard fought win in the first cricket leg, but Grant came back with a blistering ’01 game for the win. Cuatro won the diddle for the third leg, called cricket, and won handily. So, we stood at 5-7 going into doubles.

It was Mario and Jim versus Grant and Alistair in doubles ’01. We had to have one leg to get to the cricket doubles and to be honest I was not confident it was going to happen. Grant and Alistar have been pretty much unbeatable as ’01 partners this season and the way they played in the first leg it appeared the season was about to be over for Take it Easy. To their credit, Mario and Jim maintained confidence and focus and threw great darts to win that key second leg. Grant and Alistair recovered and took the third leg, leaving us at 6-9 heading into doubles cricket.

Cautro and I knew there was no margin for error, we had to take all three cricket legs to force a team game to decide the match. We came out smokin’ in the first leg and dominated Fred and Ray for the win. They jumped out to an early lead in the second leg, and we may not have caught them but for their inexplicable inability to close 15s. This allowed us to catch up and pass them in points and close 17s, our last open number. So, we had the advantage of 3 bulls to 5 and we took care of business for the sweep, leaving the scored tied 9-9 going into the team game.

During the season the team game (’01) is generally meaningless and consequently not taken too seriously. Not so last night, as players from both teams were quite intense and focused on getting the win. We built a hundred point lead which kept the pressure on them. We worked it down to a double 16 out and Jim (aka Mr. Closer) hit it with his first dart giving Take it Easy a sweet and hard earned victory. We now advance to the championship game next Monday against the 3 Alley Pub Alley Ratz.

Both of the Dolce Vita teams had great seasons, and it was nice that we played it so tight in our playoff match up. Hats off to the Sliders guys who have nothing to be ashamed of, our team had to throw some of our best darts of the year to eek out the win.

Thanks to YJ (Dolce Vita owner) for all the support she provided this season. She fed us all pizza last night and remained nuetral (even though her husband Jim plays for TIE), saying whoever wins Dolce will be playing for the championship. Thanks also to Colin and Scott from Blessed Bulls who came out and cheered us on. Your encouragement and support were really appreciated.

Had a tough negotiation with the Alley Ratz captain on picking the nuetral bar for Monday’s match. We wanted Bless U, they wanted Wolfhound. I nixed Wolfhound because there is only one board available there, so after much discussion we agreed to play at Friends Bar (halfway up hooker hill). Alley Ratz finished first in our division (finishing ahead of us by four legs) and we went 1-1 in head-to-head play during the regular season. They are an outstanding team and we should have a great match next week.

Win or lose, I must say this has been an amazing season in many ways. We lost our top player (Duke) early in the year but held it together to have a very successful and competitive team. And a team is what we became. We have a good mix of guys and we played through the good and bad nights without dissension or controversy. What mattered most was how we picked each other up, it seemed like when our top rated players were off, the other guys were always there to fill the gap. And that is what being a team is all about. I’m just proud to have been part of it.