They picked a very cold day in mid-December to make the Sky trailer for the World Championships at Ally Pally. I pranced around the hallowed halls – even stood liker Caesar greeting the plebs on the Doric balcony – and spouted through chattering teeth. But the result was good….
My next big memory was the fall of seeds like chaff in a summer cornfield in the first couple of days. John Part, Peter Manley, Terry Jenkins and Colin Lloyd all went the way of all flesh. And the new lads looked the real stuff. Geordie/Aussie Paul Nicholson did his Elvis Costello routine with shades and got right on the wires of the crowd. ‘I don’t mind being the Black Hat villain,’ said the Blyth Spartans fan. Look out for big things from Paul – a dude with attitude if I ever saw one. Move over Manley, we have a new Prince of Dartness.
Barney’s nine-darter was brilliant and I felt it coming. Since he sacked his Zen coach and went back to his old darts the pure class has oozed through. What a match he played against Ronnie Baxter in Round Three: the old glissando effortless style was back… plus Lady Luck!
Finally Phil Taylor, star of stage, oche, screen and even panto, broke the world record for a final with a 111 average. My commentating cup ranneth over and I chucked out all adjectives, sticking to hushed verbs and screams of pure appreciation.
SPORT, PANTO OR PASTIME?
My best line of the week was for the umpteenth Taylor 180 in the final: ‘Mama Mia, here Phil goes again…’ And John Gwynne hit the mark with ‘The little green bundle of talent’ for Mike Van Gerwen. Dave Lanning mused ‘When will we see Phil Taylor the Musical’. It is only a matter of time before a real darts mega movie hits. Title ‘Top Tungsten 1’. Star should be Mickey Rourke…if he can do a Stoke accent.
A lot of scribes have been asking about all the flashing lights, mad crowd and rock‘n roll on Sky darts. But SPORT it most surely is. On top of the glitz is certainly hand/eye co-ordination and tough competition, see Taylor’s 111 average in the final. And the list of sporting stars at the Palace: Frankie Dettori, Robin van Persie, Darren Gough, Alistair Cooke and Graeme McDowell proves that the sport has massive appeal.
A student in Gateshead is working on an academic thesis called ‘How does Sid Waddell use his commentary to raise the prestige of darts?’ Answers on a postcard? No way! Try seven appendices, two pie charts and 4331 words! I’ll report on its conclusions re. my Catchresis, Anacuthlon (played for Argentina at left back in 1972!) and Scesis Anomaton – all basically verbo-rhetorical tricks as old as Cicero and Sophocles, once I have digested the full tome.