It's that time of year where bundles of fat sweaty guys drink ale and lob arrows at a round plate on the wall.... :yahoo: :yahoo:

The PDC Darts World Championship....

Which chubby porker is going to win this time? ;)

The odds at Betfair have Phil Taylor as the favourite with Van Barneveld breathing down his neck and James Wade not too far back as third favourite.

Last years final between Barney and the darts GOAT Taylor saw a thriller match with Barney coming back from 3 sets down to beat Taylor 7-6...

Are we going to get the same this year?

I reckon Phil is on a mission for revenge. He's had a good year, going undefeated in the Darts Premier League against some stiff opposition and I have a feeling if he had a 3 set lead in this years World Champ final he won't let it slip.....

On another note.....anyone have a clue if they banned smoking at the World Champiionships prior to this year?... As I can't seem to remember....if it's the first year with no smoking I can imagine the place will have a very different atmosphere for the fans...

Is this gonna be on TV?

I like darts, it requires huge skill and consitency and people who unerrate that clearly are stupid and cannot play themselves. I wish I coudl play like Taylor and Barneveld :bow:

Taylor is indeed remarkable and the GOAT. He gets no recognition though at sports awards. And I am a mega Van Barneveld fan :ok: The Dutch are a great dart playing nation. So are we so why we don't make the best fo it I don't know. :shrug: I aslo liek the fact that it's a normal person's sport and you don't have to be priviledged and in an exclusive club to play it. :ok: We used to have a dartboard in the house at all times so you can practice any time. It's a great family game, my hwole family used to play together. And people unersestimate the phsyical ability. It's obviously nowhere near athletics but amazing how balanced and co-ordinated you need to be. M my throw has gone since my knee problem cos standing and balance are offf and it doesn't half give you elbow gip! :wacko: Eye-hand co-ordination, aim and technique are all crucial and can be hard to master. It's a good social game in the pub too, at least I think so and it's great when your doubles go in but crap when they don't and you lose after beign 200 up! :D

Well it's on Sky Sports and started yesterday with the BDO Darts World Championship in the new year on the BBC I think.

I have Sky so can watch it, but checked the official site to look for live scores and would you believe you have to pay for the part of it that has live scores! What is the world coming to!?! :tsk: :tsk:

Taylor is up later tonight against young Dutchman Van Gerwen and Barney plays on Thursday I think against the winner of a yet to be played preliminary round match..... God knows how that works...

I don't have SKY so look sliek I am waiting for the BBC televised one in Jan then.

Charging you as you are already a SKY customer is outrageous! :o

And Van Gerwen - I remember him, I think he di dwell last year in Jan on the BBC televised WC which I can never recall the name of. Young blond lad, very confident and up tempo style. In fact there are so many good players coming form Holland. What happened to Yelle Klassen? He won that BBC one in 2006 nad was trashed last year. His outshots were amazing that year, and it was good to have young trendy kids playing.

Van Gerwen had a double 12 shot to take out Taylor and missed....and lost 3-2....very close that one.

Klassen is still about and part of this PDC World Championship I believe.

And it wasn't Sky charging me....it is the PDC Site charging people just for a small part of their site with the live scores and other things.

can't watch Darts without thinking of this sketch..

Not the 9 o'clock News

:lmaao: Ahhh classic stuff! :ok:

Haven't been able to get on CC much over the last few days....but oh my word! Barney went out in the third round and Taylor got knocked out in the quarters! :o

The final will be former champ John Part and qualifier Kirk Shepherd!!!

That's Phil Taylor not appearing in the final for the first time since....since....well I can't remember but it I think the last time was 1989!!! :o

I've not been watching it unfortunately so can't really comment about whether Phil has just not been playing well or others have caught up but from the reports it suggest he was struggling in each round...he certainly was when I saw him in the first round.... interesting stuff! :o

Wow! Well this is why I always praise the skill of darts players as keepign up such a high level is bloody hard - even Taylor can't do it!

Wow John Part is still up there. I like him, he's a nice man and a good commentator. :ok: I have never heard fo the qualifier. I shan't see the final but I shall be watching the BBC televised thing in Jan, it starts in about a week. :ok:

Btw are you familair with the shame of scorign 20, 5 and 1 - 26? Variosu places shout various things if you score one. My Welsh friend I used to play darts with called it "graveyard!" We used to call our darts lot the graveyard men! :D But I've a friend who calls it a "w*nkers!" He shouts it out in th epub, not a good idea with some more serious players. Anyway when we watch the darts we shout out graveyard and w*nkers when we get a chance. I recall a match that was so bad there were several of them. :o And in Nottingham when you score well they shout "arrows" rather than good darts! Not a godo idea takign em out when drunk to play cos I shout out non stop! :lol:

For anyone who's interested, John Part won this tournament, beating qualifier Kirk Shepherd in the final.

And now the "other one" has got underway - I don't know its name and I don't know the difference, except that this one gets shown on the BBC, but Mickey Adams saw off Phil Nixon in a repeat of last year's epic final, and the 2nd seed Gary Anderson lost again in the first round to an unknown 19 year old Dutch Shaun Murphy lookalike. It seems Anderson is quite the choker - apparently he likes his first round upsets. Also Mike Veitch, one of the guys who wears a kilt, also lost.

Yep I saw all of that! Anderson doesn't play to his full potential and he's had lots of 1st round exits at the Lakeside. The field thsi year is rubbish - no Barneveld :angry: And whatever happened to Merve the swerve King? He was an asshole but a good player. Adams is Ok but never should have won this IMO, lacks the x-factor. Speaking of which there is a guy called X- Factor in the comp - he won yesterday - I wonder if Simon Cowell will sue him? :lol:

Yesterday's star and best match was the women's - which pisses me offr that they onyl get best of 2 sets, just 8 contestants and crap prize money but don't get me started on that - Trina Gulliver :bow: Was hitting better than some of the men and her match with Gore was very good. I enjoyed watchign the Golden Girl and the Icecube anyway :D Some fo the blokes coudl learn form her, she means every dart she throws! I'm also liking the Russian girl Anastasia Dobromyslova, she is fun! And the qualifier who knocked out the Dutch No1 Frances Hoenselaar - I think her name was Smee. What a bizarre throwing action, but what great finishing esp the bull! Be interested to see her against Anastasia.
:) Trina has never lost the title - I think she has won 6 years in a row! :ok:

This BDO championship is a bit lacklustre. The match with Hankey aka the Count and Tony West was good though, very nailbiting, terrific atmpsphere and some idiots in the crowd caused a stir! Good drama :ok:

Btw I found some good old proper darts - Al might like these. Not much on youtube so best I coudl find.

Check out Crafty Cockney Bristow and the great John Lowe, Embassy Final 1985. Love how they could actually drink and smoke like you do in the pub before soem politically correct ass changed the rules. Check out Bristow smoking whilst throwing and piling in ton-80s! And John Lowe does a 170 maximum finish :clap:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=q6BKYb4z5dI

Here's the first ever televised 9 dart finish with the one and only John Lowe :bow:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=yPosulbTEKs

Haven't caught much of the BDO champs yet.... I did see Bobby George on Grandstand last week chatting about it all.

At least BBC have it and it's free.... even the live scoring is free (take heed you dodgy PDC lot who charge for internet live scores on your website!!!)...... :ok:

And SB I remember all about scoring 26 from my pub darts days..... I managed to score it more than I'd like to be honest.... :doh:

Me too :lol: What did you call it?

Yeah at least the BBC provided extensive free coverage. In fact you can watch every match live on digital. :ok: Can't beleive they charge you to see scores! :yikes:

There were many insults thrown at people for throwing a 26....... the scaredy cats would throw for 19 or 18 if after two throws they were heading for the 26.....only the brave, like me of course, went for the 20 still.... :D :D

Yeah, when we play if one of us goes for the 19 instead my partner and my friend shout "oooh w*anker's avoidance" and start clucking! :lol: Same friend also insults folks who throw for 3 20s and get an 18 and a 12 and a 20. He calls that w*nkers' 50! If I score it I am quite happy though, albeit a bit flukey. :D I often go for 19, if I get 19, 7 and 3 he has named that ****s 29 :o :lol:Basically whatever I throw gets abuse!

I assume you knwo 'good grouping" where someoen throws darts in practically the same place on the board. If someone throws for the 20 but all 3 land in the 1 I have a habit of sarcistically shouting 'good grouping" :lol: Also if someone throws a double and misses by miles we shout "oooh, bent the wire!" when it clearly didn't. In fact we have a right laugh playing cos we see the funny side. Most proper players are sooo serious, I think I piss them off. May as well enjoy ti as much as you can though, it's nto liek there is money and titles on ti when we play, it's just social. :D