HD and Darts

We have just had Sky HD installed at home, and as I am at home for the festive period, I've been catching up on a lot of sport. While the live football is good quality, I've been watching other sports such as the PDC World Darts Championship, which has been a good event, and although I am delighted that Christmas is almost upon us, I am devastated that the darts is taking a break until Boxing Day.

Darts was always an enigma to me until the beginning of this year. I could not see the excitement in it. I knew how good Phil Taylor was and that he was World Champion, yet I did not know of nor understand the great schism of the darting world; the existence of two world championships, the BDO and the PDC editions. I read about Taylor's loss to van Barneveld yet could not figure out why such superlatives were being applied to something that was barely a sport. How wrong i was.

I was sitting in a bar back in Switzerland, the type that has Eurosport permanently tuned on the TV to the extent where the Eurosport logo has caused serious screen burn on the TV set, where I was watching a re-run of the BDO World Championship semi-final. I did not know the result, so I was enthralled by the spectacle and in awe of the skill. I watched the final the next day live and thought it all terribly exciting. I do not consider myself a darts expert, far from it, but I'm really beginning to see what all the fuss is about, and not only that, I cannot drag myself away from the TV and the PDC World Championship.

The Grand Slam of Darts was excellent entertainment, although I really wish they would play Planet Funk's "Chase The Sun" than The Fratelli's "Chelsea Dagger" like they do at the World Championships. Even Darts make the adverts fun, watching 3,000 people singing along to a piece of music during the breaks just adds to the entertainment. Darts seems a uniquely British phenomenon. How can people get so excited about this and how can theycreate a tournament with high standards of professionalism involving a pub game? While the Dutch are now not only the pretenders to the crown, but a major darting superpower, the whole thing feels British.

Darts is a sport, and a very skillful one at that. It has a legion of loyal fans, and is certainly far more entertaining than some other events. It should not be looked down upon by snobs who would rather watch the Boat Race or Dressage, but embraced as a sporting and cultural event. Now that I've added Darts to my sporting portfolio, perhaps the time is right to try and understand another sport that has also remained boring to me: Snooker. Although it would help if they put it in HD.