CHAMPIONSHIP

The Super Elite Dart Masters Doublecork Championship pits the two best teams in the league against each other.

#2 Seed - The Winged Buffalo (Wendell's, Norton) 13-2 (78 points)
VS
#1 Seed - Bulls On Parade (KC's, Pawtucket) 13-2 (95 points)

These two teams have a combined 7 players in the Top 10 total wins in the league as well as the Top 7 shooters in the league for total winning %.

Six out of the past eight meetings have gone down to the 3rd tiebreaker of overtime.

It is a rematch of last year's first round when Bulls On Parade knocked out The Winged Buffalo enroute to their Championship.

Thursday, Dec. 27th is AT KC's in Pawtucket. Thursday, Jan. 3rd is AT WENDELL's in the Mecca.

As expected, a nailbiter tonight. Went into the night with the mindset of we HAD to take at least 3 in order to give ourselves any sort of chance next week, and that's exactly what we got. Bulls over Buffalo 5-3 at their place on night one in a race to 9. Somewhat disappointed in that I REALLY feel we should have taken 4 tonight, but we can't worry about that now. What's done is done and we come HOME next week needing 5 to force OT.

Night started out rough when we dropped the first two 501's to start 0-2. First 01 ESPECIALLY was tough. We had 2 rounds at the out and couldn't capitalize. In the 3rd game, Eamon wired the double 8 on his 3rd dart, and Vinny C made him pay by taking out double 2 on his final dart. Game could have gone either way, and both Kenny and Eamon had a turn at the out. A real missed opportunity. The second 501 had Nellie & Brian vs Savage and Shawn L. Nellie had one shot at double 8 and missed, leaving Brian 16. We THOUGHT we would have one more turn until Savage stepped up and took out 99 with 19, double 20, double 20. So much for that.

We stopped the bleeding with the first team cricket as me and Brian took 2 out of 3 against Savage and Banner. That put me and Brian at 4-0 against this team this season. Second cricket had Walshy and Eamon against Vinny and Romeo. Walshy played poorly but Eamon stepped up. Vinny shot OK, but Romeo completely crushed. We had leads in all 3 games only to have Romeo just dominate the bulls in the end. Romeo had 2 hat tricks and about 15 bulls total. We lost the 3rd game by 1 bull. Another heartbreaker.

In the first 301, Nellie took down Savage 2 straight to make it 3-2 Bulls.

In the second 301, I was unlucky enough to go up against a RED HOT Romeo. He started with a T20, I missed, he hit 80, I doubled on, he was out 2 rounds later. Second game I start right off with a 76, he follows up with ANOTHER T20 IN. I had one single chance at an out before he beat me. Total match time was about 5 minutes. No stopping that raging bull tonight. 4-2 Bulls.

First cricket saw Walshy vs Vinny. Really, REALLY dropped the ball here. Vinny did EVERYTHING to keep Walshy in this game. Neither guy seemed to want this match at all. Both players shot very sloppy. WE won the first, they won the second, the third came down to Walshy needing 2 18's and 3 bulls, and Vinny needing 3 bulls. I told Walshy to close the 18's so that Vinny couldn't point him anymore and make it a tie game. Walshy closed the 18's and hit a bull to make it 2 bulls to 3 bulls. Vinny stepped up and hit single bull, double bull for the win. FUCK! 5-2 Bulls.

The final match had Brian vs Banner. Banner absolutely crushed in game 1 and things looked bleak. However Brian fought back in game 2 to squeak out a win. Game 3 was all Brian as he completely rolled. Final score Bulls 5, Buffalo 3.

Off to our place next Thursday. I really sense an OVERTIME here. Should be one hell of a Championship conclusion.

Well, it was exciting... Down 3-5 heading to our place we knew we had to come out strong, and we did just that. I don't know most of the game 'details' because I worked the bar last night and only got to actually "see" very little of the actual games (except for the ones i was actually in), but the parts I did witness were pretty impressive.

Brian and Walshy led things off against Savage and Romeo. They won 2 out of 3 to make it 4-5. A good start, expecially considering that Savage and Romeo are thier BEST possible tandem that this team can put together (IMO).

Next up was Nellie and Ken VS Banner and Vinny C. Nellie and Ken win 2 straight to tie things up 5-5. Just like we drew it up!

Me and Brian drew the tough matchup against Savage and Romeo. We didn't shoot our best, and against those two, you HAVE to shoot your absolute BEST (and even then, you usually don't win). Either way it was our 1st team loss against the Bulls this season and we dropped to 5-6.

Eamon and Nemeskal were up next against Banner and Vinny C. Things started great as we won the first. We then dropped the second, and the third was real close until they hit 4 16's and a trip 15 to begin to pull away. They ended up running away with it in the end for a 7-5 lead. Real tough as I was REALLY hoping to take 3 out of the first 4. Taking 3 of 4 singles just to tie would be tough.

Nellie loses the first leg of Singles 301 to Banner, and things look really grim. He bounces back strong though and ends up taking the next 2 (with the 3rd being ANYONE'S game with both players having shots at double 16 out) 7-6.

Now pressure is somewhat off me. At least I can't LOSE it for us. I come from behind the bar to take on Vinny C. I actually played really well and took 2 straight to tie things up once again at 7-7.

That put us in great position, needing just 1 out of the last 2 Singles Cricket games to force OT, with our best player, Brian up next. Unfortunately for us, Brian went up against the RED HOT Romeo. This guy has been OUTSTANDING all series.Once again he played flawless and just absolutely dominated. 7-8 Bulls.

That left Eamon vs Savage in the final Singles Cricket matchup. A TOUGH spot. Savage is arguably their best guy (though personally I think it's Romeo). Statisically Savage is incredible. #1 in the League in total wins (37), #2 in the League in Singles wins (12), #2 in the League in Total Winning % (92.5%), #1 in the League in Cricket Wins (12), #1 in the League in Cricket % (100%), and #3 in the League in Singles % (85.7%). A complete force. That being said, Eamon WINS the first leg!!! Second leg, Savage tightens up and beats Eamon handily. Diddle for middle starts 3rd game and Savage throws a double bull to earn the honors. Third leg is tight as all hell. Savage gets two 20's, Eamon gets 3. Savage gets two 19's, Eamon gets 3. Savage gets two 18's, Eamon gets 3. We're all thinking, HOLY SHIT, we could actually STEAL this thing!!! Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there. Savage really tightened down and went on a tear. Savage skipped the lower #'s altogether and closed bulls, Eamon closed 17's. Savage hit a bull for points and then 4 16's for more points. Eamon just couldn't keep up at that point. He just couldn't keep the lead in points and Savage methodically started closing everything. In the end Eamon needed four 18's and 2 bulls and Savage just needed a 17 and 18. Eamon hit 3 18's to close the point lead to 2, but Savage sealed the deal with single 17, single 18 for the win and a 9-7 Bulls over Buffalo victory. A tough one to say the least, but a great match all in all.