A Fool And a Thief

"In every bet, there is a fool and a thief." -- Anonymous

I have no idea how that quote is anonymous, since I'm pretty sure everyone who goes to Vegas has said the same thing.  Well, if I was gambling man, I would have pegged this week as a sure thing for The Ship.  Coming off a good night last week, with nearly the whole squad on board, in a bar that provides about as much of a home field advantage as you can get without being at SOF... all things pointed to taking The Ship and laying the points.  But look out, you never know when a long shot is going to pull an upset.

Fred started things off in a game that was circled by the Book, earning a split to start the night.  In bowling, a split hurts, but in darts it's not so bad.  Andrew followed up with another split, and in the hot game of the night Mindy also had a split for a third push for The Ship. In the last round, Rich failed to cover, dropping both games and leaving The Ship down 5-3 after S501.

The Ship is typically a dog in Cricket, and the opening line reflected it.  When Rich / Dave dropped the first two games and Andrew / Mindy dropped the second two, the wrong bettors who went against The Ship were paid off in spades.  With The Ship down 9-3 after Cricket, there were gamblers ripping up their tickets all over the place.

Heading in to D501, we were more than 15 lengths back and needed a miracle comeback to just make things close.  Darian / Mindy jumped out to a huge lead in their first game, but couldn't close the door.  When they dropped game two, it looked like The Ship was down for the count.  But Rich / Andrew won the first game taking out a 69 (triple-19, double-6) and game two with a good old fashioned 32-out.  The two win parley helped  offset some of the losses, but only earned The Ship an 11-5 loss for the night.  If you took The Ship and 5.5 points... you lost!

Props:
Andrew - A thief, with three wins.
Rich - A fool, with 530 AS points.
Kris - Good luck on the move!!

And Another Woman Makes A Fool Of Him

"A mother takes twenty years to make a man of her boy, and another woman makes a fool of him in twenty minutes." -- Robert Frost 

Some players spend years honing their darts skills...and it takes Mindy twenty minutes to make fools of them.  With a brand new board and anew year of The Shippy, it was a new start for The Ship, as we put our years of experience to work and played our wild tarot card.  

The Ship started out strong, with a split from Rich followed by a sweep from Andrew.  But the match quickly tightened up at 4-4 as John split and Mindy dropped two games.  But, Mindy's Ton-33 was a sign of what was to come, and secured her the high AS score for the round.

Rich / Andrew opened Cricket with a split, and John / Mindy split their two games, as well.  But once again, Mindy threw the high As for the round with an R6.

Mindy / John came back to start D501, and Mindy made fools of the competition by putting up two wins, and throwing another 92 As points in for good measure.  Rich / Andrew closed out the night with a split, and The Ship wound up with a 9-7 win.  The first step in turning this season around, and making some fools.

Props:
Mindy - 345 AS points, 20 Shippys, three wins and a dominating performance.
Dave - Birthday props.

And A Fool If He Doesn't Afterward

"A man is a fool if he drinks before he reaches the age of 50, and a fool if he doesn't afterward." -- Frank Lloyd Wright

I'd like to amend the above quote to say that The Ship is a fool if it drinks before Cricket, and a fool if it doesn't drink when it is down 11-1 afterward. To be fair, at the age of 50, Frank Lloyd Wright had a servant burn his house down and kill seven people with an axe, got divorced, re-married a morphine addict, got divorced again, got re-married, had his house burn down again, was charged with human trafficking under the Mann Act, and eventually died.  But in comparison, I'd say this week's match for The Ship was about equal.

Despite the cozy environs of the Crowe's Nest, things started off a little tenuous as Rich dropped the first game in an old-fashioned C-league double-one desperation match.  Rich came back with a win in game two, but pretty quickly The Ship  dug itself a hole deeper than the Second Avenue subway being built right outside.  Andrew threw a heap of AS points in his games, but dropped both.  John followed by getting swept, and Darian also dropped two in her inaugural game of the season.  The Ship was quickly down 7-1 and looking for a bracer.

When Cricket came around, we needed a whole bunch of Grasshoppers, and possibly a few tequila worms.  Rich / Darian were swept in the first round, and John / Andrew were swept in the second round.  Suddenly it was a dark and stormy night, and we were looking for a few Dark and Stormies.

Even having the entire Levin household on hand couldn't clear our heads, although it helped a little.  Rich / Dave managed a win in the first game of D501 before losing the second.  Andrew / John ended the night dropping the last two, and making the final score a 14-2 Ship loss.  Ugh.  I need a drink.

Props:
Andrew - For the last 340 AS points those darts will ever see.

And Fool Reform

"Tomorrow is the day when idlers work, and fool reform, and mortal men lay hold on heaven." -- Andrew Young


BYE week. See below for next update.