Windy City Open Sept15th - 17th 2006

Well, so far not so good but the Singles Cricket is next on tap and thats always a great event for me. Again I cruise through some heated early round action to the round of 64. My opponent in Scott Kirchner a top soft tip player from the midwest. I really only missed two shots in the match and had decent control throughout. But my mistakes were too much as Scott fired up a combination of 9mark and 5bulls respectively to wrangle back the match. So its nap time I guess...

After a quick afternoon siesta its time for the Mixed Pairs event. My partner is Sharon Riojas fresh of a top4 showing in the ladies singles. We come through a tough bracket including many top players to reach the quarter-finals. Again Johnny is there to meet me this time with Marilyn Pop in tow. And again in the third leg I face 72 for the match. A triple 12 first dart finds its way home but the D 18 eludes me on the next two arrows. Johnny wastes no time and promptly checks the 68 to advance past me once again. Great match not a great result but I had a blast shooting with Sharon again anyway.

So this brings us to the Blind Draw, which I hadn't planned on entering. But seeing as they needed one more and I had a nap I decided to throw my hat in the ring.

The first round is announced and my partner who has only played a couple tournaments before looks very nervous. We squeek through and I decide I know the cure for his nerves. So its off to the room for a few cocktails and a quick pep talk.

One cocktail turns into three as we chat it up with my roomates upstairs when the phone rings. We have been second called so its time to head down to the board. So rush to the elevator to make our match.