The PDC World Championship - First evening
We reflect on the last leg shootout fiasco and update you on our tipster contest!
Wow, what a night! I missed most of the TV coverage to be honest but I did manage to catch the best bit at the end on a full size TV in the comfort of my lounge, more of that later. I picked up bits and bobs of the coverage from SkyGo and Twitter. I watched Keegan Brown (we do stock his darts by the way if anyone is interested) demolish John Part for two sets from the comfort of my SouthWest train carriage.Thanks to Part's excellent insight from the commentary box over the past few years I could imagine what he would be saying if he was commentating on his own match. He followed his own advice and rolled back the years in the pivotal third set. He broke Brown and then put his foot firmly on Brown's throat by levelling the game and not wasting the break in the previous set. Text book wily darts from the Canadian!
But, like a few things last night it didn't end well for the seasoned pro. Keegan rallied and took the match. A great start to the night!
Cristo Reyes won the preliminary game and was probably labelled as first round fodder for Wez. Jelle then wrecked our over 17.5 legs bet by losing the 3rd set 3:0 and winning the 4th 3:0 against fellow Dutchman Christian Kist. MVG took out Joe Cullen in a closer encounter than I imagined it would be.
Then the final match of the night, Wes was supposed to beat up the hapless qualifier and everyone could go home. Schadenfreude is a German word meaning taking delight in another's misfortune. It may have come across that I suffered from a bit of schadenfreude last night. Due to the longevity of the game I managed to get home for the thrilling last set. The match went to a last leg shoot out and then all hell was let loose.
Should they bully off for the crucial last leg shootout, yes, no, yes, maybe? Then the final leg was stopped and restarted from 501! It was carnage! The reason for me grinning smugly was not at the referee. Hey, we are all human, yes he should know the rules but mistakes happen. Assistant referees know the offside rule but that doesn't guarantee the correct ruling every time. I said the same thing when a BDO ref dropped a clanger, my argument was that mistakes are part of what makes live sport such a fantastic thing to watch and there should be no personal vendetta against Paul Hinks.
The reason for my grin was because of the brainwashed PDC fanboys who have no real clue about the history of the game or the fundamental part the BDO had in the process to get to where we are now. Their selective memory allows them to gripe at incidents during BDO tournaments, conveniently forgetting that the same thing has blighted the PDC too - power failures for example, doubles that weren't etc.
Wes was furious and laid into the PDC too via his Twitter account-what a night!
GlobalDarts.De
Talking of Germany our friend Charis is over covering the PDC World Championships for her website that blogs in German and English. Charis has a competition running to win a set of our Performance Darts and a membership to our website. You can enter here!Tipsters
Aidan has opened up a narrow 1 point advantage in our tipster comp thanks to Klassen beating Kist. Aidan has challenged BDO fanatic Oche Balboa to a head to head tipping challenge taking in all the matches in the PDC and BDO World finals.You can still win too, vote for either Aidan or Oche to come out on top and go into the hat for a £10 darts shop voucher! Vote now on Twitter - @dartscentre or email paul@dartsperformancecentre.com
Tipping Comp
Aidan 3Oche 2
Their predictions for tonight are:
Aidan: Hamilton, Taylor, Wright, Kellett
Oche: Hamilton, Taylor, Wright, Kellett
Neither can see any upsets apparently, hmmm!
Phil is scheduled to come on at 10pm, interesting! In an interview with the Daily Mirror The Power emphasised how late night games are really tough for him these days. Although he used the 11.45pm start against Michael Smith as his example so 10pm is not quite as bad. Any hope for Artut then? The German ran Anderson close a few years ago didn't he so after last night's fun and frolics never say never.