Today is an historic occasion in darts. For the first time ever, the BBC will not be showing substandard struggles from a shithole Surrey leisure complex where the likes of Darryl Fitton and Tony O'Shea are permanent fixtures and interviews are conducted in a bar.
Instead, they will be showing actual professional darts with the first ever PDC event on the channel: the inaugural Champions League of Darts from Cardiff featuring the top 8 players in the Order of Merit: Michael Van Gerwen, Gary Anderson, Phil Taylor, Adrian Lewis, Peter Wright, James Wade, Robert Thornton and Michael Smith. It's slightly similar to the Grand Slam with its group stage, with the winners and losers of the opening matches playing each other in the evening session later and the last round of group matches tomorrow afternoon.
This weekend is less about the tournament itself and more about how the BBC cover the PDC side of the game. Years of Tony Green having no fucking clue what he's going on about and actually airing women's darts have been banished to mere memories. One thing that hasn't left for some inexplicable reason is the useless Vassos Alexander on commentary, who demonstrated his lack of knowledge at the Lakeside back in January. He will be supported by slightly annoying West Midlander Dan Dawson and three colour commentators in former World Grand Prix champion Alan Warriner-Little, paranoid one-time major winner Paul Nicholson and a former World Champion in obligatory Welshman Mark Webster, doing his first bit of punditry that shouldn't be as wobbly as his playing's been.
If this weekend is a success, we should be seeing a lot more PDC on the BBC in the future. After all, it is a #NewEra (copyright B. Hearn and NOT the B.D.O.)
Coverage starts from 1:15pm UK time on BBC One, with it switching to BBC Two at 4:30pm; the evening session will start at 6:30pm on BBC Two.
Today's fixtures (all best of 19 legs [first to 10]):
>Afternoon session (1:15pm - 5:00pm) Gary "Big Game Counter" Anderson v Michael "Snackpot 2.0" Smith (Group B) Snackpot v James "The Meds Are Back In Town" Wade (Group B) Taylel v Snakeshite (Group A) MvGOAuTism v Robert "Bartender And The Thorn" Thornton (Group A)
>Evening session (6:30pm - 10:30pm) Winners in each group play each other, losers in each group play each other.
Of course, it has been two months since /180/ did anything, with MVG's brutal demolition of Taylel at the World Matchplay the last time we were together. So what was happened in the meantime? MVGWINSLOL is what's happened.
Since he succeded at Blackpool's Empress Ballroom in the Winter Gardens, the turbo darting autist has lost just a single match: to Philth in Sydney, who was then sensationally dumped out in the Perth Darts Masters by emerging Aussie talent Corey Cadby for his first ever World Series defeat down under, which van Gerwen then went on to claim by spanking Chizzy in the final.
MVG then followed these successes up with a near-perfect September, first taking the European Open title in Muelheim by beating Mensur Suljovic in a last leg decider and then the next week won the European Grand Prix in Sindelfingen with a 6-2 whipping of Snakeshite. Another win over Suljovic followed on Tuesday in a 6-0 whitewash in Players Championship 14, hit a nine-darter on his way to defeating ex-BDO number 1 James Wilson 6-3 in Wednesday's PC15 and his hardest test of the week (after hitting another nine-darter) came on Thursday as the less successful scumbag brother Steve West pushed MVG to the brink after coming back from 4-2 down to lead 5-4 but blew a 110 attempt in the deciding leg and the Green Machine swept up.
However, the biggest story of the month came in the one tournament van Gerwen didn't play. Forced to pull out of Riesa's International Darts Open with an ankle problem, this opened the door for everyone's favourite Serbo-Austrian to claim his first ever PDC title. Defeating Mike Holz, Jelle Klaasen, Yordi Meeuwisse and James Wilson along the way, Mensur faced Kim Huybrechts in the final and won a last leg decider after Waffleboy blew SEVEN title darts. It is more than deserved for one of the year's most improved players.
>kimmy's face Beautiful.
Thomas Bailey
Can't believe /180/ is finally back. Feels good, man.
>Nicho on comms Oh boy.
>Kimmy's face My fucking sides.
Isaac Moore
This summer has gone so fast. I have barely any recollection of the Matchplay.
Nathan Taylor
The final aside and other bits (Beaton, Lewis & Price) it wasn't a very good tournament. It was definitely the poorest Matchplay for a number of years.
Hunter Collins
They seem to have been poor for a number of years. Last one I watched in full was 2013, that was a very fun tournament.
Mason Edwards
Philth going insane during the final was good to watch.
Brandon Johnson
>CL Darts >No CR7
Samuel Ross
And we're starting now!
Logan Myers
TSUUUUUU
Cameron Peterson
lyl
Lucas Price
>Asstit and Wobster as pundits
Wyatt Stewart
>explaining the entrance
jesus christ
Robert Gonzalez
>buying your child a Snakeshite wig
Ethan Butler
>le CIA man >le wibble wobble and don't fall down man It's better than Bobby George again.
It's for the casuals, user.
Benjamin Richardson
>Taylor already spouting bollocks Ah yes, I missed this.
Landon Mitchell
>It's for the casuals, user.
darts has been on bbc for years, and anyway what kind of retard needs walking to the stage explained to them
Jayden Gray
>darts has been on bbc for years not this darts though
Nolan Baker
well thats like explaining how football works because youre showing la liga instead of the premier league
Nolan Reyes
>The Rules
Jack Myers
Wobster looks so awkward.
>Being this basic
I guess if it gets more kids/spectators involved in the sport, it would be a good thing
Brody Miller
>RIP Harambe sign kek
shut up and eat with me.mp3
Jordan Cruz
>R.I.P. Harambe sign
I haven't missed seeing Lard Lad.
Aaron Young
So I've not been to a /180/ thread in years and I've been out of the loop.
Can someone answer a couple of questions for me?
1) Why the fuck is CIA and Webster on commentary
and
2) Is James Wade still based?
Dominic Barnes
>Why the fuck is CIA and Webster on commentary Nicho has moved into commentary because his career's dead. Webby is on solely due to being Welsh.
>Is James Wade still based I guess so. Killed Taylor at Blackpool last year to end his Matchplay streak. Shamed himself at the last Worlds though by not bothering to play in the quarters against Gando.
Brandon Russell
>1) Why the fuck is CIA and Webster on commentary
They needed an innoffensive pairing who arent completely unheard of or lacking darting knowledge
>2) Is James Wade still based? Not really done much desu. Mensur is the based one now
Jason Wilson
Are you that Wade-"loving" (ex)trip? Nicho has been doing a bit punditry now. Wobster, I dunno. And yes, Wade is still based but not by playing well.
Luis Sanchez
>BBC score graphics stalling
Gavin Turner
>camera work
Ethan Robinson
I'm a casual. I don't have Sky, so I only watch darts when it's on the BBC and if I am NEET at the time (>if). Firstly, yes, they are explaining far too much here. Secondly, do these threads always start with a guy writing a literal essay in the first couple of posts? I have never seen such long posts.
>Nicho has moved into commentary because his career's dead.
Figured as much.
Thanks for the intel lads.
>Are you that Wade-"loving" (ex)trip?
Well fuck. How do you even do that after I've been MIA for this long?
Great to know Wade is still kicking ass.
Jose Sullivan
The sudden jump from gentle jobbers to these players has stunned them.
Gabriel Lewis
>tfw you realise bdo is actually good bbc just makes it look shite
Jaxon Brown
Dont knock it pal, /180/ is the last bastion of pure sports discussion and banter on Cred Forums
Sebastian Johnson
Absolutely - the pace is too high
Ayden Perez
>BDO is actually good Hello, Wolfie.
Hunter Morris
>this production
i thought sky was bad but jesus christ
Eli Scott
>Explaining what a 180 is but not why a nine-dart finish is important This is bizarre.
Nathan Brown
...jesus. Btw, anyone know whatever happened to that Twitter girl?
Yes. Based OP puts in some work. Usually the thread ends with another user summarising the night.
>How do you even do that after I've been MIA for this long? Autism.
Jason Nguyen
Nothing wrong with some dedication.
Of course.
And you mean the one that draws Wade as anime?
Anthony Hernandez
Good 103.
Jaxon Flores
>180 graphic >shows a 140
Brody Torres
/147/ threads are always very comfy. I assume these threads have most of the same people.
Zachary Perry
Yep, that's the one.
Jace Price
Did anyone watch the livestream of the Pro Tour events last week? If the coverage is half-decent & they're going to do it regularly I might get a Live.PDC subscription
Daniel Roberts
Can't for the life of me remember what her name was. Might have a dig round to see if I can find the twitter posts later.
Unfortunate from Rabbie there. Those missed darts on D6 completely killed him, especially with that D16 to break from MVG.
Anthony King
And that concludes the opening session of the Champions League of Darts. Coverage wise, it's been pretty good. A bit of a fresher take on things that isn't overloaded with Sky hype machine bullshit; in fact, it's comparable to ITV's coverage, which isn't bad by any means.
Kicking off the session was a fairly tepid affair between Gando and Blubby Boy that didn't produce the high standards that both players can achieve; unsurprisingly, the apprentice bent over for his master and repeatedly missed shit doubles to gift the Scotsman the win.
A better fixture was up next as Wadey battered an under-fire Adrian Lewis 10-3 to top the Group B standings. Despite showing promise early on in the game, Snackpot's scoring and finishing disappeared with the Machine dumping in a 103 average and 56% checkout in the process.
Group A started with the Philth dealing a cruel battering to Clownman, hitting a 154 out too as Wright just could not keep up with the Groper at all, whose post-match interview was as bad as ever.
And then a surprisingly tight match between MVG and Wee Rab. With Thorn biting back at every possible opportunity in the first session, he failed to win a single leg after the interval as the Autism Express set off at a delayed pace. It was certainly much better than Thorn's last TV performance where he jobbed out big time to Chizzy.
We're back at 6:30pm UK time with the second round of group games: >Adrian Lewis v Michael Smith (B) >Gary Anderson v James Wade (B) >Michael van Gerwen v Phil Taylor (A) >Peter Wright v Robert Thornton (A)
SNP should stop fucking around and just make it official.
Jayden Allen
>Clowman's clown trousers
Levi Evans
>peter wright >scottish
Aaron Adams
kekkonen
Isaac Jenkins
Thorn getting walloped on the finishing.
Jeremiah Bailey
Thorny getting BTFO
Lucas Stewart
>Vassos has been kicked off commentary Thank fuck.
Guessing the PDC have realised how shite he is.
Joseph Hernandez
Well, goodnight.
Nicholas Morgan
And that D8 closes the first-ever day at the Champions League of Darts.
The most important aspect, as mentioned at the start of the day, was how BBC presented the thing. I have to say it was very well done and the Beeb have definitely copied how ITV present the darts but brought their own twists, like the in-studio board. Vassos Alexander was really the only bad point of the whole day on that subject.
Tonight's matches saw the two lowest ranked players unsurprisingly dumped out of the competition. First out was Blubby Boy in a terribly scrappy display against Snackpot where he once again acted like a spoilt brat because he wasn't playing well. As I've mentioned numerous times, he is going to go nowhere but down if he cannot get this mentality fixed.
Wadey delivered a crap performance against Gando despite hitting a 164 out as his scoring went down the toilet but survived nine match darts from the Scottish game raiser before he lost. It wasn't a patch on this afternoon for the bipolar one.
Then, the biggest match of the day as MVG faced Taylor, in a match that saw the Green Machine's winning streak ended in emphatic fashion; a complete lack of holding throw from the World Number 1 resulted in a 10-4 whipping by the Philth that included a tournament-high 167 out and a 107 average: the highest in BBC history! The one positive for Michael is that this is an unranked exhibition and doesn't matter as much as it could have done, but it will still hurt him.
Our other leaver from Cardiff is Wee Rabbie, whose poor finishing ended his CL campaign as Snakeshite cruised for most of the match before getting in trouble at the end in a fixture that wasn't that good but was better than most Lakeside matches.
The last round of group matches is tomorrow from 1:00pm UK time with these fixtures: >James Wade v Michael Smith >Gary Anderson v Adrian Lewis >Phil Taylor v Robert Thornton >Michael van Gerwen v Peter Wright