12 year old, verging on teenage, stroppy proto-adolescent males I’m talking about here, rather than soothing words from drop-dead gorgeous A list celebs!
What a night of Darts at The Dorchester on January 9th – within milliseconds am greeted by Unicorn’s very own WebGeek who wishes me Happy New Year, slops champagne over me and – quite rightly - gives me a thorough dressing-down for not being a more regular uniBlogger.
The inaugural PDC Awards dinner and from this uniBlogger’s point of view, what a fabulous evening celebrating the enigmatic Sport of Darts. So many friends were there, so good to catch up with them, tricky to take more than a few paces without saying Hi! to another Partner In Darts. In particular, wonderful to see after too long a gap, Big Cliff and his lovely lady, Carol, and to reminisce about shared times.
Darts At The Dorchester. Think on it awhile. That “Darts” & “Dorchester” can be in the same sentence is testament to how far our Sport has come. Personally, I don’t think it will ever shed it’s more humble origins, and I think darts would be less engaging if it did. A test of extraordinary skill and mental strength, it was the Sport of Darts itself that got washed, polished and dressed up on Tuesday, looking utterly magnificent in Black Tie and finest gowns. It was the Sport itself that stepped out bursting with pride, apologising to no-one, self-confident and self-assured, gleaming and glamorous. Come to think of it Mr Hearn there is a bit of the Professor Higgins about you……..
The evening was an outrageous success, because darts is an outrageous success. With the best will in the World you cannot party unless you’re in the mood, and darts was in the mood because PDC darts is booming and straining at the leash for 2007 to unfold before our eyes.
Darts At The Dorchester. Laughter, friendship and optimism are catalysts for a great evening and the atmosphere was superb – you can’t bottle it, you can’t analyse it and you can’t put a high enough price on it, but you can certainly smell the success. Sincere thanks to all at the PDC for giving the Sport of Darts a night to remember. Tim, Barbie, Matt, Dave, great job!
So, gentle reader, you can imagine that it was with swelled chest that I mentioned to my 12 year old son that my picture, snapped at The Dorchester, was on Planet Darts. Without pausing for breath, said 12 year old took one look, could hardly contain his embarrassment and pronounced “But Dad, you look like a Czechoslovakian cyborgish dork” and went off to watch Wycombe hold Chelsea to a draw. I looked to my wife to give me moral support and junior a clip round the ear but unfortunately she was doubled over, convulsed in laughter.
Oh well, how the mighty fall. Apologies to all Czechs, Cyborgs and dorks who may be reading this, don’t take it personally!