Carlos DeSantiago & Andrew Rocha

Andrew Rocha and Carlos DeSantiago bounced back from a hot-seat loss to get their revenge and win the Groggy’s 12 & Under Scotch Doubles event on October 13th.

Rocha and DeSantiago made their way through the field of thirteen other teams and fought the team of John Wing and Chet Lahti for the hot-seat. That match would go to Wing and Lahti by the score of 6-4.

On the one loss side, tournament director Cathy Kelly and Claudia Morado were forging a long path of matches after a first round loss. Cathy and Claudia won four matches on the left side of the board, but could not get past Andrew and Carlos in the battle for 2nd and 3rd place. Andrew and Carlos won the match with a lopsided 6-1 scoreline.

The finals was a rematch between Rocha & DeSantiago vs Wing & Lahti. Rocha & DeSantiago kept up their great play from the previous match and ran over Wing and Lahti in the first set of the finals. Andrew & Carlos led 4-0 before John and Chet won a game and the final score was 6-1.

With that win, the second set of the double elimination finals got underway; and the second set looked an awful lot like the first set with Andrew & Carlos winning the match 6-2 for the tournament win.

Guy Martinez, Marcie Thomas, Mike Sandoval,
Bernie Pappa, Amado Martinez and Curtis Neal

Seventeen teams came out to Groggys on October 6th for the October 15 and under Scotch Tournament.   With over $900, in prize money every team was ready for action.

The hot seat match found Bernie Pappa and Mike Sandoval matched with Curtis Neal and Amado Martinez.  This exciting match went hill-hill with Mike and Bernie sending Curtis and Amado to the one loss side.

Marcie Thomas and Guy Martinez were pitted against Pete Barrio and John Wayne in the 3rd-4th match.  Pete and John claimed 4th after and exciting hill-hill match.  Guy and Marcie moved on to meet Curtis and Amado for 2nd- 3rd.

Once again Guy and Marcie won an exciting hill-hill match.  For their efforts, Curtis and Amado took 3rd place and went home with $95.00.

This set up a rematch for 1st and 2nd between Guy and Marcie against Bernie and Mike.  Due to the lateness of the hour, each team decided to split the pot.  Each team went home with $410.00.

As always, Groggy’s staff provided a great venue, wonderful food and excellent service.

All photos courtesy of Rick Schmitz

Top Gun- Cricket and 501 – Micki and Joel

1st Place- Dave’s Place- We’re all N” – Mike Pennycook and Micki Moore
2nd Place- Tony’s “Kobe Shaq” – Dan Shea and Steve Boe
3rd Place- Dave’s on Northern “Getter Done” – Edmund Rivera and George Servin

Sunday Open Cricket/501- Blue Team

Top Gun – Cricket and 501- Donna and Joe

1st Place- Tony’s Almost Got it” – Donna Butcher and Mike Butcher
2nd Place- Amber Inn “The Gimps” – Diane Shea and Joe Lawerence
3rd Place- Marino’s “P & J” – Pat Conkel and Jonni Lingle

Monday Women’s Cricket/501

Top Gun – Cricket and 501- Heather

1st Place- Other Room “The Dartaholics” – Heather Ray and Beverly Konicke
2nd Place- Dave’s on Northern – “Super Suckers” – Cami Johnston and Tammie Hermanek
3rd Place- Dave’s on Northern- “The Weekenders”- Charlotte Campbell and Kelli Hamaker

Tuesday Mixed Couples Cricket

Top Gun – Connie and Jerry

1st Place – Dave’s on Northern “3 Beers and a Crown”
Jerry Hamaker, Kelli Hamaker, Angie Harmen, Jason Geister

2nd Place- Neighbor’s “Neighbor “Neighbor Returns 2.0 Com
Kae Openshaw, Charlotte Campbell, Tj Schumaker, Steve Boe

3rd Place- Stingers” Sweet Nutz”
Rick Young, Beverly Konicke, Pat Conkel, Chris Bettis

Thursday Open Cricket/501

Top Gun – Cricket and 501 – Diane and Cory

1st Place- Other Room “Day and Knight” – Cory Timmerman and Check Zaborsky
2nd Place- Marino’s “Doo’s Brothers” – Anthony Quinn and Randy Dube
3rd Place- Tony’s “Who’s Next” – Edmund Rivera and Tj Schumaker

On Oct. 14, 2010, PDI got together at Marino’s for the season ending banquet and tournament. Diane would like to thanks Dave from for letting us have the banquet and tournament at Marino’s. Diane and the PDI players would like to thank the bartenders at Marino’s for all their hard work. Thank you to all the players that helped to pitch in with the food for the tournament. The players would like to thank Diane and Dennis for all of their hard work and commitment to the league. Thank you to all the players that turned out for the banquet and tournament.

Tournament Results

1st Place – Diane and Jerry
2nd Place- Tammie and Rick
3rd Place- Charlotte and Randy

I am writing about how you handle such things. People ask me questions on the fustrations of darts all the time like “I practice well, but then compete at a lower level” “Why do I have a great game followed by a horrible game” or the one that applied to me this weekend “ Been playing so well, how could I perform like that?”

See there are so many things that go in to a great performance. You need to prepare right, you need to have your confidence, you need to be FOCUSED and sometimes you need a little luck.

All of the questions as to why your game suffers at times comes down to the FOCUS, what thoughts are in your head when you step to the line.

For myself, Stage 8 was no luck as I had a top rated shooter in the first round that surprised me but really I had no focus or control of my thoughts.

Sometimes LIFE gets in the way of you getting to perform at your highest level and that was my downfall in Hong Kong.

So how do you handle any of these disappointing things? Get back up there and work to gain the missing part.

When you have a bad day on the line, you have to first accept it for what it was; a BAD day. It is not the edge of the cliff and now your game will be less then it was. It is just a step in the path towards your goal and bumps will happen.

I am hitting the board even more this next week to take advantage of getting to play with some of the best players in the world here in the Philippines which in turns helps be regain my focus.

Like any thing in life that goes bad, there are two things for sure. One is that the world will not end on your bad day and the world will always get better then today.

Champions accept the lesson a defeat gives them to use it to be a better player, chumps give you a excuse why they lost. Keep working towards your goals and stick to your plan if you want to become the player any of can be.

www.davidfatum.com

One of our great dart players, Suzie Lawson, is doing a walk for Autism and needed to raise at least $1,000 to make it happen.

What better way to do that than through a great dart tournament with lots of raffles and prizes to be won.

Troy Vending added a little kicker to the event by donating a full size Galaxy dart board to be raffled.  The players paid $10 entry with $5 going to the tournament and $5 to the Autism Speaks cause.

Thirty eight players participated in the tournament, but the real story was the 30 to 40 people who came out to support and donate cash.

Drinks specials, 50/50’s and more went on as the event kept the darters busy.  To make sure the event was great, Bull Shooters donated $300 to the tournament and another $100 to the raffles.

Julie Bates also made brownies and Beef Jerky to help raise up the donations.

When all was said and done, over $1,100.00 was raised to support Suzie’s walk.

It takes special people like Suzie to bring these things to the forefront and help to make things better.  I thank all the darters and friends who showed up to support.  Great job to all.

–Mike Bates

I understand old school players love the chalkers and many take pride in knowing how to be a good Chalker.  But why would you ever have a problem with the board keeping score and making the game go smoother and quicker?

I love the game and like the fact that it makes me think, and the game of freeze even takes that one step further in the thought process. But I won’t bore you with how to play freeze, you can learn for yourself, I will say it is the ultimate team game in that both players have to play well to win.

So I disagree with the steel players not liking the board doing the scoring, but there are disturbing things coming our way.  The medalist board was the first board to tell you what to shoot to take the game out and I hated it.

Now we have a board that lights up segments that you need to hit to close and a different color if they are already closed.  Give me a break! The steel players have to hate this worse, but I see many of them playing and backing this board.

So many of the players that were old school in their beliefs have changed their minds. I wonder why?  Maybe it is the thousands of dollars being thrown their way to play and promote this board.  Most are great shooters who definitely don’t need the help in what to shoot at.  Seems more like a carnival game then a competitive thing.

So I guess the message isn’t “if you build it they will come”, it’s “if you throw lots of money their way, they will change.”  Whats next? The board tells you what to shoot at on each shot?  I can hear the robot from Lost in space saying “Mike throw the trip 15, you have hit a very high percentage of this number.”

Sounds crazy? Watch….

–Mike Bates

Wow, there are so many great things that have happened. This could be very long.  Here goes, first I would say the great friendships that I have built over the thirty years.  I still have great friends I grew up with, but my dart player friends are like family.

You figure a couple of leagues a week and a couple of tournaments and you are with some of them four or more times a week.  Then you throw in outside stuff you do with them and they are a huge part of your life.  And the road trips are memories you can’t replace and I will never forget.  Vegas, Laughlin, Reno and others have provided many of us with great, crazy times that we will always remember.

And it just doesn’t stop there, I will see on facebook lots of friends getting together for Happy Hour, Birthdays, Pool, Basketball, Barbeques or just to hang out.  Many of these people would have never met had it not been for the sport we all love.  It is great to see all the relationships and friendships that have developed over the years with many friends.  The fact that I had something to do with many of them is a great feeling.

I have had the pleasure of meeting such great people in darts that have had a direct impact on my life.  I have watched many of my dart friend’s kids grow up and accomplish great things.

My family has grown up around darts and the people who play darts.  It is a big part of our lives.  You can even extend it more as many of us AZ dart players have become friends with players all of the USA and the world.  We have played against and with some of the best players in the world.

With things like Facebook, you can keep tabs on who is doing what.  With the new Galaxy 3 dart boards we can play friends in different states online.

I just don’t see the family like closeness in any other activity.  Many of my great dart player friends don’t play as much or at all anymore.  They are into other things, raising families, new jobs and more.  But most still keep in touch and get out from time to time and it is always great to see them.

So besides any personal accomplishments I treasure the great people I have met playing darts.   This is just my opinion and I may be wrong, but I doubt it.

Kix Alcala & Jamece Warner

Randy at Jimbo’s in Phoenix held another $1000 guaranteed dart shoot on October 12th with a field of 22 teams.

The final four on the winners side saw Lori Spellman Kannegiesser & Jason Stilts  team up to defeat the team of Michelle Vandenberg & Pete Linares.

The other final four match was Jamece Warner & Kix Alcala defeating Dhana Gaber & Jeff Medora.

The match for the hot-seat saw Jamece & Kix take the hot-seat over ori & Jason.

On the one loss side, Stacey Merrill & Dario Meza eliminated Mike Dively and his partner Gina. The other one loss side match was Tracey Hines & Scott Bobelik over Tim & Tasha.

With all players in the money, Michelle & Pete ended Stacey & Dario’s tournament in 5th place.

Tracey & Scott also sent Dhana & Jeff home in 5th place.

Tracey & Scott were the next team to be sent home, courtesy of Michelle & Pete.

Michelle & Pete’s celebration would end there though, as Lori and Jason quickly sent them home in third place.

This left the showdown in the finals and the finals was a lot like the hot-seat match with Jamece and Kix getting the win and the $500 first prize.

Players are urged to get out to Jimbo’s on Saturday, Nevember 3rd for the Bullseyes for Boobies fundraiser. This will be the final fundraiser before the sixty mile walk the following weekend.