Why is the final on a Wednesday?
When do they open the book on sports personality?
Another former world champion averaging over 100 against him and getting battered
They must be fuming
Go ‘head lad
I'm a twit
Missed the last few sets as had to nip out. Fair fucks to the lad. He's gotta be the first darts player since Fordham who has a BMI double his age though
Disgusting standard from Humphries here. Final going to be a belter.
Williams busting there was fucking hilarious, poor bloke.
Let’s all pray for the fat Luke to win tomorrow
Are the Lib Dems completely insane?
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Darts fever.
He looked 16 when he was 11. Passport check needed.
I just wish we could have had the spectacle of a turbo Taylor sulk after getting pumped by a 16 year old.
Eddie Hearn saying viewership peaked at 2.32m last night.
That's insane for subscription TV.
What time's it on tonight? I suspect I'll curse him, but I've never been more interested in darts.
He'll end up getting done 7-1 tonight.
Semis and final on random weeknights is classic Barry Hearn shrewdness. Not up against top flight soccer or people's social lives.
I do really like Barry Hearn and he's an outstanding operator who seriously understands his audience. Would have been interesting to see what he'd have done with team sports had he been given the chance.
Matchroom Sport had discussions with rugby league but wanted to run the full lot, which the waxworks who oversee its continued failure refused to consider, so they walked and went round saying the sport was fucked.
It is amazing to see the continued moans from some of the top pros in snooker about the changes he's brought in. I get that they don't want to do these things (play from a flat 132 draw, play in leisure centres etc.) but you can't argue that it's kept a moribund sport afloat and is a proper tour now rather than the six or so tournaments a year joke they had before he took over.
There's loads of vids of him on Youtube that I had a trawl through a while back and I particularly enjoyed his performance at the committee that decided what to do with the Olympic Stadium. Genuinely entertaining stuff - he has charisma and knowledge of his field in spades.
What the snooker players moan about is the same thing that the golf top 10 have moaned about since time immemorial and has led to the nightmare scenario that that sport is now in - i.e. they believe that their talent creates all the value and that they should be rewarded commensurately. Hearn is one of the very few sports administrators / promoters who understands that the value doesn't only come from their talent but in what it is they are playing for and what that means to people watching.
Hendry v O'Sullivan over 35 frames in a Matchroom exhibition = pays out money to players, for the viewer mildly interesting at best. Hendry v O'Sullivan over 35 frames in a Crucible final = appointment viewing, and without it the money for that exhibition just wouldn't be put up. Hearn knows this but top players don't.
This could have done with even being an hour earlier when midweek.
Having a mare so far.
Blame the Lib Dems, as soon as they're on your side you know you're a loser.
Think I jinxed him by tuning in to see what the fuss is about. Soz lads.
Only 7-1 may have been generous.
Also, he's about as 16 as the Uganda Under 18's team.
Apart from anything else, Humphries can be a complete machine and hard for anyone to hang with.
This is liquid darting.
Jesus. He’s just out of nowhere pinged 3 legs in a row. What a specimen
I usually find darts boring as sin, but it really is much more enjoyable on 3x speed.
It was getting back into his T19s after that opening on the wire 5 he hit with his first dart.
Two excellent posts from yev and Jim there. Agreed with everything. Fat face Murphy arguing that some random qualifier beating him in the UK champs the other year was almost illegitimate because he was too shit to be allowed to play him was bad enough, but then loads of fellow top pros coming out and agreeing with him was truly bizarre. It's one thing to basically argue this implicity, like the European super league thingy, but it was essentially the same as a prem team getting dumped out in the third round of the fa cup then the manager saying it wasn't fair cus Aldershot shouldn't have been allowed to be in the game in the first place.
Anyway, darts, good ennit.
Not a fan of darts but I appreciate that they're blitzing through this.
There's less scope for Mark Selby like behaviour in darts.
The kids pulling his darts a little. To be expected at the start of the match.
I think Darts would be 5 times more enjoyable if they didn't insist on keeping the "WUUUUNUNDREN AND FEEERTY SEVUUUN" Cunt with the microphone.
I enjoyed Wayne Mardle calling Littler a legend the other day for going bull double 1 as a finish. Maximum [dis]respect.
His Mrs being 21 and being let slide is a bit strange in the current climate too.
This Humphries lad strikes me as immensely talented but could go to pieces if the crowd get on his back.