Last night we got back in the winning mode in dart league defeating our neighbor bar, Bless U Pub.

I accepted a challenge from Craig, the Blessed Bulls top ranked player, and we went mano a mano in the first match. His version of events is already posted on his blog, but this is how it REALLY went down:

I won the opening diddle and chose cricket. We played it tight until the 17s, then I failed to close. We had talked about darts strategy before, so I was not surprised that he took full advantage and chalked up 34 points. I answered with a 5-mark on 16s, good to close plus 32 points. He hit a bunch of 15s to close and point but was a little off on his bulls. I threw two bulls then went to take care of my open 15s. Hit two and had a 3rd bounce out. That was the opening that killed me. Craig then pounded in 4 more 15s, and had me down by 72 points. I hit two more bulls, but by then had my opponent found his bulls and took the first leg.

I don’t recall either of us playing poorly in the ’01 game, lots of 60+ throws but there were no marks. We both came down to a shot at the out, but I got the double 12 to win.

Craig took the diddle for the third leg and chose cricket. He left 20s open after his first throw and I was fortunate enough to get the five mark and take an early lead on points. Craig had a slow start with a couple of rounds of one marks, but he came back strong at the end and made a game of it, but I held on for the victory. Great match, very intense.

We finished the night with a 13-6 victory, but it was closer than the score. You know, some teams are just fun to play win or lose. The Blessed Bulls (mostly Canadians) is one of those teams. Most of us hang out in both bars so we have played each other in a lot of friendly games. Last night was a good example of hard fought competition that does not trump good sportsmanship. Hats of to those guys and I know they will be looking for their revenge when we play on their turf, er, cork in a few weeks.