/180/: UNIBET CHAMPIONS LEAGUE OF DARTS DAY 1

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.

Other urls found in this thread:

pdc.tv/news/article/14hxtfq64q1sl18rxsq531mtp6/title/unibet-champions-league-preview
twitter.com/team_themachine
instagram.com/sarahcobra18/
twitter.com/celticfire7
youtube.com/watch?v=Bp3fxyZFCoo
youtube.com/watch?v=neBBqkH8cbU
youtube.com/watch?v=tbzfsmK7Te8
bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b007b7m5/short-circuit
youtube.com/watch?v=KCsg5ntbOsg
bosscast.net/channel21.php
youtu.be/q49xYlgoeCo
youtube.com/watch?v=2IxIckQYzmE
twitter.com/NSFWRedditImage

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.

>Champions League of Darts preview
pdc.tv/news/article/14hxtfq64q1sl18rxsq531mtp6/title/unibet-champions-league-preview

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.

Can't believe /180/ is finally back. Feels good, man.

>Nicho on comms
Oh boy.

>Kimmy's face
My fucking sides.

This summer has gone so fast. I have barely any recollection of the Matchplay.

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.

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.

Philth going insane during the final was good to watch.

>CL Darts
>No CR7

And we're starting now!

TSUUUUUU

lyl

>Asstit and Wobster as pundits

>explaining the entrance

jesus christ

>buying your child a Snakeshite wig

>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.

>Taylor already spouting bollocks
Ah yes, I missed this.

>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

>darts has been on bbc for years
not this darts though

well thats like explaining how football works because youre showing la liga instead of the premier league

>The Rules

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

>RIP Harambe sign
kek

shut up and eat with me.mp3

>R.I.P. Harambe sign

I haven't missed seeing Lard Lad.

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?

>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.

>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

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.

>BBC score graphics stalling

>camera work

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.

the state of blubber's hair

you'd think he was 13

On the subject of Wade obsessives: twitter.com/team_themachine
instagram.com/sarahcobra18/

Fucking women.

yes

>BBC Graphics
>BBC spotting
>BBC replay timing

The production is awful

>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.

The sudden jump from gentle jobbers to these players has stunned them.

>tfw you realise bdo is actually good bbc just makes it look shite

Dont knock it pal, /180/ is the last bastion of pure sports discussion and banter on Cred Forums

Absolutely - the pace is too high

>BDO is actually good
Hello, Wolfie.

>this production

i thought sky was bad but jesus christ

>Explaining what a 180 is but not why a nine-dart finish is important
This is bizarre.

...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.

Nothing wrong with some dedication.

Of course.

And you mean the one that draws Wade as anime?

Good 103.

>180 graphic
>shows a 140

/147/ threads are always very comfy. I assume these threads have most of the same people.

Yep, that's the one.

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

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.

Saw minor bits of it.

This was the best picture to come from it.

twitter.com/celticfire7

>one tweet just saying arse over and over again

>it's a "Michael Smith gives up on TV" episode

that bloke was a teenager when Pipe came to the oche for that throw

lel

>twitter.com/celticfire7
Fucking Germans

dat 174

>Blubber Boy bringing fuck all again

Why bother. Just throw in Mensur or VVDV or even Barney

As long as she draws more Wade as anime she can be as bonkers as she likes.

>Lard Lad

>blubby boy

>tfw the original was taken down

Krauts are weird tbqh

youtube.com/watch?v=Bp3fxyZFCoo

>muh florida

...

>"there are people who've never seen Michael Smith play"
lucky people

Fuck me speak english adrian lad

wipe your face before the interview you greasy fat fuck

S A M M I
A
M
M
I

...

...

Amazing

This is proof that BDO isn't shit and playing on the BBC is what makes you shit

DER DER DER

wew, classic.
>tfw no obsessive German gf

>SNACKPOT

Is Wade /ourguy/

based 180 from snackpot

>watching based Wade again

Is there a more comfy feeling?

DAT 120

>le 100 to 120 checkout man

>180
>54
>40
bipolar_darts.jpg

...

* * * LOOK AT THE AVERAGES KLAXON * * *

>PDC on the BBC

Will Wolfy be found dead in a B&B near Cleethorpes?

>Highest averages ever on the BBC

...

>Adrian Lewis actually trying
>it's an exhibition event
Do this in the ranking events please.

Is Wade on the Lewis diet? His gut is looking big

He's just a happy fat man now

side effects of the anti depressants

This isn't a ranking event?

youtube.com/watch?v=neBBqkH8cbU

DAT 161

>dat 161

DAT 161

BASED WADE

>snackpot

>DAT 161

Clutch Wade

keith deller will be preparing the lorry to take snackpot on a kebab tour of cardiff

>Poois

>snackpot poois

>cackpot

Wadey has clearly overdosed on valium after that match.

Different gravy eh?

>taylor alone in a room with a woman

Its ok she's clearly a rugmuncher

...

...

coco the cow sighted

will she be crying on twitter if clownman bottles the group stage again

>Hello fellow humans, let us get this party started

...

Very VERY enjoyable first couple of posts in this thread.

...

IT

IS

TIME

HE

IS

HERE

Never gets old

>even asstit mocking wright's dart switching

Will be great to see these two miss out on the Worlds this year.

Oldest paperboy in Yorkshire's on course to lose his Tour Card as well.

BDO BTFO

WHY CAN'T I HOLD ALL THESE 180s

Taylor attempting to surpass MVG's 123.40

>Tennis metaphors

The fuck is this shit?

FedGOAT

It's fucking Vassos.

He's a moron.

THAT TAYLOR 154

DAT 154

>featuring the top 8 players

>no Wolfie
>no Andy Fordham
>no Ted Hankey
>no Scotty dog
>no Scotty 2 Hotty
>no Doggy Dawson

Shouldn't you be dead yet, Olly Croft?

>no Dazzler
>no Bobby George analysis
>no women averaging 45
>no shots of John boy Walton in the crowd
Why even watch

DAT 122

>Peter Taylor

He's said that twice now.

Why they thought to keep on a guy who has no clue what he's watching is ridiculous.

>Vassos getting mocked
kek

Just too good for the Clown.

...

>taylor post-match interview
Give me strength.

>Its a Phil Taylel interview

THEYS PAID THEIR MONEY

werkin class

>Taylor winning
>Taylor interviews

I remember why I stopped watching darts.

HA HA TIME FOR
>national_anthem_of_scotland.wav

>scottishnationalanthem.mp3

WHIT A 101 BREAK FRAE WEE RAB

THORN THORN THORN

please lets the scottish guy win. i don't like windmill niggers

I'm just a casual darts fan who usually watches the BDO in January and I've got to say I hate this announcer. His ""180!!!""" sounds fucking shite

Really liking Nicho on comms.

Better than fucking Mardle or Harrington.

>21 dart leg
THE SPIRIT OF LAKESIDE IS WELL AND TRULY WITH US

DAT BULL

AUTISM
ACTIVATED

DAT 113

Mrs Thornton is going to be saved from a beating tonight!

>van gerwen is 27

what the fuck he looks 40

GET IN, THORNY.

Reminds me of that PL fixture between the two when it ended 6-6.

It's this all over again too: youtube.com/watch?v=tbzfsmK7Te8

I AM THE THORN WITHINNN

Looks like that 50 break has killed Wee Rab.

CUBE MENTIONED

EIDAMS mentioned

...

Unfortunate from Rabbie there. Those missed darts on D6 completely killed him, especially with that D16 to break from MVG.

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)

See you in a bit.

Your one hour warning.

23 bings

bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b007b7m5/short-circuit

And we're back on now.

Nicholson is doing the match commentary isnt he? I sort of wonder if he fought for that so he doesnt have to share a seat next to Taylor post match.

>Trying to big up the mong pit

BBC pls

>Nicholson-Taylor
A feud of hilarious proportions: youtube.com/watch?v=KCsg5ntbOsg

The what.

Please beat Blubby Boy, Aidey.

Got a chinky and couple cans of Fosters lads

Best stream?

I use this one
bosscast.net/channel21.php

>Scotland v England again
Fucking what Vassos?

Jesus Christ fuck off.

>So its scotland v england again

Snackpot delivering at the start of a match again.

Cue horrendous collapse.

Blubby struggling to outscore Lakeside players here.

Some shit darts here

Smith now failing to hit big 90 on the averages.

>23

THAT D2

BLUBBY ABOUT TO CRY

definitely think the scoring graphics are better than sky's.

>this finishing
we are truly at lakeside once again boys

Snackpot now trying trickshots to check out and succeeding.

Wheres tony green?

Dignitas for the Swiss Open.

>snackpot choking

>Lewis struggling to put Blubby away
This is why he should stop going on the Hull-Rotterdam ferry to play shit exhibitions.

>87.28 3 dart average
>"""world number 8"""

Please go and stay go.

>Could go out or even just sit at my mate's and play FIFA
>Don't

>FATPOT

AHAHAHA

>tai

Christ

>so distracted by the prospect of a cardiff pub crawl he goes the wrong way

...

...

WebM in case you missed it

>OH MY GOD
>PIES

>Put on BBC2
>darts is on
>no Wolfie, Hankey, O'Shea, Fordham or women
What am I watching?

The death of the BDO meat raffle

The future

>Wade giving up against Gando again
Why.

...

Disappointed McWoman didn't blitz the BDO circuit and qualify for Lakeside.

>The Iceland Clap

youtu.be/q49xYlgoeCo

How have I never watched this before?
>53 dart leg

Ah, the pissed up Aussie Anthony Fleet.

One of the most infamous legs of darts ever.

wadey confirmed for sniffing bleach before the match

The fact Nicho isnt the size of a planet helps his cause

does he credit herbalife for his physique still

COME ON BASED WADE

DAT 164

MEDS HAVE ACTIVATED

woeful

>Gary Jobberson

>you don't want to give James Wade a sniff

Fuck me Webster looks fat

>"Bush did Harambe" sign
lel

Hopefully the autism express doesnt derail in this one.

>MvG is 27

What the fuck

...

...

His hair fell out really quickly.

This is him aged 22 at the 2010 Worlds.

...

>Dean Winstanley is 35
>Adrian Lewis is 31

>the terrifying realisation that Dean Winstanley is younger than Dave Chisnall

167
TAYLOR GOAT

THE TAYLOR BULL FINISH

THE CRUELLEST OF ALL FINISHES

Eurgh

>The autist has an incredible desire to keep playing darts all the time
You don't say.

dat MVG 122 on the bull

>it's a "Taylor tries too hard in an exhibition event" episode

Horrendous Taylor interview imminent.

MVG got fondled in the caravan there lads

>MvG

>come back from the cinema and cheeky pints in the local
>TaylorWinsLOL
Ah yes, very impressive.

lel

Remarkable he failed to hold throw.

Very rare for him to do that.

Still averaged 104 despite getting spanked.

Just checked in.

Does this lose mean that MvG is out of the tournament?

Or how does the format work.

Is there any more matches tonight?

MVG is still in
There's two 4 man round robin groups. Top two go through, and I assume group winner plays the runner up from the other group.

Group stage, similar to the Grand Slam.

Top 2 from each group go through.

Clown v Thorn.

>nicholson and taylor
here comes awkwardness

>ywn have cheeky banter with Taylel and then grope a few lasses

>more taylor namedropping

> dutch hair genetics
seriously are we cursed?

Put too many stat points into height, had to cut back somewhere.

>Nicho recalling his CM Cunt phase
youtube.com/watch?v=2IxIckQYzmE

>scottish_national_anthem_(remix).mp3

national_anthem_of_scotland.wav

Just cover it up with a wig

>national_anthem_of_scotland_(feat_Eminem).exe

SNP should stop fucking around and just make it official.

>Clowman's clown trousers

>peter wright
>scottish

kekkonen

Thorn getting walloped on the finishing.

Thorny getting BTFO

>Vassos has been kicked off commentary
Thank fuck.

Guessing the PDC have realised how shite he is.

Well, goodnight.

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

See you then.

Remember to open the thread on next time.

Nah

...