Thursday, November 27, 2008
Darts
Just to show that I am both a northerner (where darts is very popular), and a common one at that, here is a link to the website of my namesake and favourite darts player: http://www.wolfie-darts.com/.
For the whole of last week, ITV4 showed several hours of live coverage (every day) of the new Grand Slam of Darts competition. That, for those of you uninitiated in the sport, unities the two factions of the BDO and PDC for the only time in the season and pits everyone up against 13 times PDC World Champ, Phil “the power” Taylor.
Regrettably, Martin Adams (Wolfie), who in reality is the top BDO player, elected to turn down his invitation for “political” reasons. A great, great shame as his absence clearly diminished the event which, not surprisingly, was won by Taylor in its second year (he also won the inaugural event last year).
It would seem, from bits and bats in the press, that the presence, back-biting and unpleasantness of the PDC chairman, Barry Hearn, may have had something to do with Wolfie choosing not to play.
Hearn has done some good things for the sport, but he is a divisive figure motivated purely by self interest and now, at a time when the two associations could possibly compromise in some way, he seems intent on creating bad feeling. I think I even heard him refer to the BDO players "as amateurs".
I seem to recall John Lowe winning £102,000 in around 1984 for a 9 dart check out when he was a BDO "amateur"!
For the whole of last week, ITV4 showed several hours of live coverage (every day) of the new Grand Slam of Darts competition. That, for those of you uninitiated in the sport, unities the two factions of the BDO and PDC for the only time in the season and pits everyone up against 13 times PDC World Champ, Phil “the power” Taylor.
Regrettably, Martin Adams (Wolfie), who in reality is the top BDO player, elected to turn down his invitation for “political” reasons. A great, great shame as his absence clearly diminished the event which, not surprisingly, was won by Taylor in its second year (he also won the inaugural event last year).
It would seem, from bits and bats in the press, that the presence, back-biting and unpleasantness of the PDC chairman, Barry Hearn, may have had something to do with Wolfie choosing not to play.
Hearn has done some good things for the sport, but he is a divisive figure motivated purely by self interest and now, at a time when the two associations could possibly compromise in some way, he seems intent on creating bad feeling. I think I even heard him refer to the BDO players "as amateurs".
I seem to recall John Lowe winning £102,000 in around 1984 for a 9 dart check out when he was a BDO "amateur"!
London
Anyway, here is a travel and tourism related website for anyone interested enough to take a look. It is called http://www.londonweekendbreaks.net/ and it provides all kinds of tips and guidance for anyone planning to visit the “smoke”. It seems to cover the main touristy places and gives you info on London’s transport system etc.
