World Championship Day 13
We have a once in a lifetime opportunity and a "shirty bull" for you today.
PDC Darts World Championship and BDO Lakeside World ChampionshipModern Technology
Thank goodness for modern technology. I was strapped to the darts analyst chair yesterday with the first PDC semi-finals on Sky and the start of the lakeside finals on the laptop, a darts fans dream...Poor Finishing
Even towards the end of the Taylor V Webster game we were being urged to invest our money in a "once in a lifetime opportunity", a no risk investment with a good return`, Taylor at 2 to 1 to prevail despite being second best for most of the contest. I fear John Gwynne may be strapped in to the commentators chair for a few more years yet if he follows his own betting advice!However, hindsight is of course a wonderful thing and "Gwynee" was what on the face of it were unprecedented odds about "The Power"! Although the stats did indicate that it would of been insane to take a gamble on Taylor so late on in the match. Taylor`s 9 dart average was superb once again (as we pointed out in a previous blog), this then gave the illusion that all was well as Taylor had a 3 dart average of over 100! The problem was with his finishing. His checkout percentage was a most un-Taylor like 35% or so. The key, however, was when Taylor was give an opportunity to checkout he didn`t. On every occasion he was in what we call the "checkout zone" at the darts performance centre (170 or fewer left) he only completed the checkout once in every three attempts.
It is for this reason that the odds of 2 to 1 were way too low. Not even "The Power" could improve so dramatically in such a short space of time to pull off a victory.
The Bull was Getting Shirty
It was interesting to hear Terry Jenkins reflect on his missed opportunity to switch shirts during the match as his shirt was becoming `sticky` due to the heat from the TV lights on the stage. We believe it demonstrates the way darts is slowly but surely considering the benefits of analysing every aspect of your performance to give a player the edge over their opponent. Wayne Baker, who is busy scribing at Lakeside this week wrote a piece in his column in Darts World about our involvement in darts and the benefit of considering your kit was discussed, here is the link.Finally, the "Bull" and "The Warrior" appeared to be a contest between the two players with the most inappropriate nicknames such are the mild mannered traits and thorough `niceness` of these two popular players. Did I detect a hint of the traits usually associated with a bull though in Terry last night? There seemed to be a slightly more aggressive (in a good way) look in his eye and what appeared to be a fierce determination to continue his run all the way to the final. If I was advising Anderson I would recommend he did not wear a red shirt tonight!