Live Blogging Week 5

Let me discuss, for a moment, the concept of "home field advantage".  In most sports, home field advantage is consistently cited as a real benefit, despite the fact that it is rarely show to exist.  As Hoosiers so aptly depicted, the benefit in basketball should be minimal, since the court dimensions are exactly the same (and there are no weather effects).  Football fields are also the same dimensions, and both sides are subject to whatever the weather is.  Of course baseball fields differ in each stadium, as does grass length, but even then it is certainly not a given that the home team can overcome a disparity in talent.

And then there's darts.  It would seem unlikely that a home field could offer an advantage.  Standard board height, standard distance for the oche, usually similar noise in all bars, no weather effects, etc.  In fact, for the NYDO, it is a huge benefit to be on the road, because you don't need to do all the score-keeping.

But every once in a while, there is a night like last night.  Where the dart gods smile on the home team.  Where the board is just friendly enough with its bounces to make us happy, and where the lighting is just right.  Where the friendly confines of Ship of Fools play to our strengths and frustrate the hell out of our opponents.

I won't go in to it too deeply, except to say that if you want to hit a bull on OUR board, you better man up and stick one in the Hootie, or our board will shove it right back in your Blowfish.