Great Lakes Dart Classic / NDHOF Induction Sept 28-Oct 1 2006

Its my birthday weekend, and as a special bonus the tournament is being held right in my backyard. But I guess to tell the full story I have to take you back to early April.

After qualifying for the World Series of Darts my press manager and local dart league president, Russ Schuiling, scheduled various media appearances and interviews. Our goal was to promote the sport and make darters out of a few of these media anchors and reporters. An idea of a pro/am charity event was hatched. Thursday night was the scheduled time and what a hectic process event promotion can be...

Originally I had lined up 7 pro dart players to participate the previous few weekends. Unfortunately, all but 3 players had to cancel due to a variety of reasons. Both the media and celebrity participants followed suit and my phone rang constantly from Wednsday up until hours before the event with news of last minute cancellations. But as they say the show must go on and I was determined to make the best of the situation regardless.

As I arrived to the venue I was pleasantly suprised at the magnitude of the local turnout. Darts players in Grand Rapids really came together to make the event a success. Tim Doty, the local sports anchor for Fox 17 WXMI showed up to play in the event as well. Pro players Steve Brown and Brad Wethington were also present.

As teams were being drawn Steve and Brad took turns answering questions from both the local players and the media. I couldn't have asked for two better representatives of the sport to display to the local audience. Keep in mind these were not paid appearances and these gentlemen donated their time to charity and the promotion of darts. Selfless acts like this and the professionalism they displayed are second to none. Steve even threw in a few dance moves to top the fesivities off. If you get the chance have him show you some time I guarentee your life will be changed forever...

As the news camera recorded we all took some turns shooting under "the lights". Later that evening the Fox 17 ran a beautiful feature story on the event. Marking the second time they have run a story on darts these past few months. And it doesn't seem to be stopping there either. Apparently, they are considering a full feature on Darts in West Michigan for sweeps week as well. Great news!