The 2011 State Tournament Champions, Dawn Blake and Jeff Paulsen

Spring 2011 www.twincitydarts.com Volume XXXV No. 1

See inside for more on State Tournament and much more. Visit www.twincitydarts.com for more information on darts.

Membership/Captains meeting On January 11th we held our seasonal Membership/Captains meeting, this meeting was held at the American Legion in North St. Paul. It was well attended and it was nice seeing everyone again. Just the thought of knowing that the “Spring” dart season is right around the corner makes it a little easier to slosh through knee high snow banks. As much enjoyment that I get for seeing everyone at these meetings, I am still a little uncomfortable standing in front of a big contingent of people and saying what needs to be said. For those who were there, “Thank you” for taking the time out of your busy schedule and joining us. For those of you who were unable to attend, let me share with you a few of the remarks that were spoken.

1. I congratulated everyone involved in getting the scores of the matches reported in a very timely matter, from all of the captains to the divisional advisors to Paul Cushing who incorporates them on to our web page. I would like to see this continue. I believe having all of the current standings on our web page by Sunday evening is an asset to all of our members.

2. Last season we had an incident

that I need to address with you, starting the matches on time. As we all know, the starting time for Tuesday night darts is 7:15pm, with an absolute deadline time of 7:30pm. No matches are to begin

after 7:30pm unless it is agreed upon by the opposing captain.

3. Smoke breaks, beer run,

bathroom run, no matter what the situation is, please remember that there is a 5 minute grace period in between matches. Please be ready to play after the current match is concluded. I have heard some complaints about this, but am glad it did not escalate in to any action being taken. So be considerate and be ready to play when called upon.

4. And of course lets all remember

that be it Tuesday night, Wednesday night, or Thursday night, good Sportsmanship goes a long way. Be it a high five, a fist bump or a good old fashion handshake at the end of a match, good sportsmanship is what your Twin City Darts Association is all about. To be honest, it’s not if you won or lost but your attitude that will be remembered. Take this from me, nobody gets whooped as much as I, but hold your head high and congratulate your opponent on a job well done.

5. Forfeits. Last season there was a

circumstance where one team forfeited their match. The only problem is, they never called the opposing team to tell them they were forfeiting. Captains, if you know you’re going to forfeit a match, show courtesy and inform the other team of your intentions. Remember, you are only allowed 1 forfeit in a season, forfeiting 2 times is not accepted and your team will be eliminated for the remainder of the season.

Let me finish with this. On January 10th, our beloved ambassador of the T.C.D.A., Charles Stutz celebrated his 94 birthday.

This remarkable, kind gentleman has got to be the most outgoing person I know. He always enlightens us with his smile, his stories and of course not to mention song and dance.

Charles, it is my honor to call you a friend and I know I am not alone, we all love you. I hope you enjoyed your Birthday cake, because we all enjoyed sharing it with you.

Charles Stutz, a former President of the T.C.D.A., had an opportunity to plat darts against KARE11 sports reporter, Eric Perkins, for an episode of Perk@Pay in May of 2006. Follow this link, http://bit.ly/hkmcGW to read the story and view the video. There was Luck of the Draw tournament after the meeting, here are the results: 1st Place Gerry Deegan and Tylor Pinks 2nd Place Jim Michels and Reggie 3rd Place Steve Millman and Jordan Strand 4th Place Luke Shields and Mike Moughan Thanks to everyone who participated in the tournament and especially I would like to thank “The Imperial, exalted, Supreme Tournament Director” Jerry Deegan for running the tournament.... Everyone, have a great spring season; I look forward to seeing all of you soon. Alan Finnegan President Twin City Darts Association

Thank You!

I’d like to extend a heartfelt “thank you” to the membership of the Twin City Darts Association. Those of you who attended the Captains & General Membership meeting at the North St. Paul American Legion on January 11 (the day after my birthday!) made my night!

Singing Happy Birthday to me not just once, but twice was awesome! And what a beautiful and tasty cake too!

How very thoughtful of you all. I can’t wait till I turn 95 next year to see what you’ll have in store for me then. I’ve truly enjoyed my many years with the TCDA and will never forget my son spotting the article about the TCDA in the Star Tribune so many years ago that led me to this wonderful group. Thanks for the great big birthday card too. Your kind thoughts mean a lot to me. Sincerely, Charles Stutz

Part II

Hello Darters, Once again it is time to sit down and write my article for the Bull & Ton, there are many items I want to address with you so

please be patient and understanding and we’ll all be just fine. Congratulations to our new State Champions, on the ladies side we have our defending Champion, Dawn Blake and on the men’s side we have Jeff Paulsen (Iowa). Both of our Champions threw wonderful darts and both earned the title of Champion. Also I want to congratulate Karen Ekstrom and her tournament committee on a fantastic job. This was Karen’s first test as tournament director and she passed with flying colors. Everyone who helped out should be proud of yourselves. For those of you who are not aware, you can now find your Board of Directors minutes on the Website. That brings me to my first item. As you may or may not be aware, we are no longer members of the American Darts Organization (ADO). The reason for this is because we felt as your Board of Directors, the monetary results were not leaning in our direction. It would cost the T.C.D.A. $300.00 or more to advertise our tournaments in the ADO. In return we were not getting the benefits of enough out of town darters to our tournaments. We would get a few darters from out of town, however we felt that we could save our membership dues and put them to better use elsewhere. Keep this in mind, we can always join the ADO in the future if we feel it would benefit us. Your Board of Directors is putting together a survey to try and find out what “YOU” the membership would like to see. Please take the time and fill out the survey, we want to make the T.C.D.A. more member friendly, and we want to get more members involved in our activities. Keep an eye open for this, it is important. So again please take the time and fill it out. We are getting closer to finalizing our T.C.D.A. promotional poster. We are working closely with Anita Groen, and this

summer we will be putting them up in bars around the cities. I am pleased to announce that Chris Grieman has stepped forward and offered to be our so called Ambassador between the T.C.D.A. and soft tip darters. In this position, Chris will work closely trying to incorporate more soft tip darters in to our tournaments and maybe even league play. Also he will coordinate dates so there will be no confliction as to when we hold our tournaments. Once again it is that time of year for our annual elections. This year the positions that are up for election are as follows ; President, Treasure, and 2 Board Members at large. The Board also decided to include the current unfilled position of another Member-At-Large position. If you have ever thought about holding a position on the Board of Directors, now is the time. Now before I close my article I want to remind you that our Dartmania tournament is vastly approaching. The dates for Dartmania are April 8th, 9th and 10th, at the Ramada Inn Resort and waterpark. Get your partners all lined up. The Canadians will be back and their looking forward to going home with some American currency. One last thing, and I cannot say this enough, good sportsmanship goes a long way. Be courteous to all people, treat them the way you would like to be treated. Alan Finnegan President Twin City Darts Association

2010 TCDA SportsPerson of the Year Award Goes to

Steve Millman!

Every year the TCDA Sportsperson of the Year Award is presented to the person the officers of the TCDA and the reigning Sportsperson of the Year determine have distinguished themselves in the past year in the areas of Sportsmanship, Volunteerism, Participation, and Promotion of the sport of darts and of the TCDA. The 2010 Sportsperson of the Year Award went to Steve Millman. Steve works tirelessly to promote darts and the TCDA. He is a member of the TCDA Board of Directors and is a veritable fountain of ideas to promote darts and to improve the TCDA experience for the members of the organization. Steve is a New York City boy who came to Minnesota after serving in the US Army. He was seeking fortune and fame and found the TCDA and his lovely wife Kerry, both at the same time and place. Kerry and Steve raised their family here and spent quality time with the kids when they were little participating in Kids’ Darts at Castle Pub along with other TCDA moms and dads.

Steve works as a longtime Computer Programmer and Financial Analyst. He works part-time for a Financial Services company doing Financial Planning for

people and small businesses. He works full-time as a Computer Compliance Systems Analyst for a Financial Systems company. He owned his own consulting company for 20 years and let it go dormant a few years ago when he tried, unsuccessfully, to simplify his life and slow down the pace.

We had the opportunity to interview Steve for this issue of the Bull & Ton. We had to slightly edit the interview because, as many of you may know, Steve’s idea of a “few words” is more expansive than the norm. Mr. Sportsperson, when did you start throwing darts?

I took up 'darts' in the early 1970s just before I got drafted into the US Army. I threw on American Boards with the Widdy 'turkey feather' darts strictly for recreation in a small bar in a small NY town, near the tri-state (NY, NJ, PA) border. Throwing on American Boards was a wonderful experience, as the Bar owned the Widdy Darts and we all threw with the same darts on the same boards and shared the darts. The game we played was Baseball, which was similar to Cricket with consecutive number play of frames 1 thru 9. Baseball allowed no slop, however, so your points were earned by hitting the mark.

When did you join the TCDA?

I joined TCDA during my first week as an entry level computer programmer with National Car Rental, back in 1978. On my first day there, I was assigned a senior team member, to job shadow. Randy Boogren showed me all the important ropes.. including where the dart boards were located.

At lunch on my first day Randy took me to the Financial Analysis office, which had a working dart board hung in the outer office. He introduced me to my wife and lifelong partner Kerry, who worked there, and asked me if I ever played darts

before. I replied, “Yes, but not on boards like these”.

We played every day on those boards and when Thursday rolled around I was invited to join the company’s dart team, GNP (which stood for Gross National Product) which played in the TCDA’s Red Division (now Gold Division) on Thursday nights. We won last place that 1st season and 1st place the following year. What great fun and great memories!

What does it mean to you to be the 2010 TCDA Sportsperson of the Year?

Being named 2010 TCDA Sportsperson of the Year was a great and unexpected honor. To me the award has always been reserved for someone noticed as having a decent attitude towards Darts, League Play, the TCDA and who helped out wherever needed. I was and am grateful for the award and would encourage fellow TCDA members to volunteer, speak up, and help out where they can, as I did, and still do. They could very well be recognized as next year’s Sportsperson of the year.

What are some of your favorite memories from the TDCA?

I have been a member of TCDA, on and off, for over 30 years. When I think of what I really enjoy most in the TCDA it is always the people. I have met the best people in this sport and in this organization. They are my second family. I've attended weddings, funerals, had great teammates and luck of the drawer partners, won a few games here and there and gotten my butt kicked too many times to remember. I have thrown my T80's and my 3's and everything in between. It was a thrill when teams I was on moved up the ladder in Classic League and those years in AA; but I am proudest now of my present team, the Wannabees, and their excellent hearts and form. We’re a team that appreciates and respects the teams we play.

I remember the first bar I played out of, Godfathers on 66th and Lyndale, where I practiced hour on hour with Mr. Stan Wartman, and the Scoreboard, on 94th and Cedar, which was a great dart bar with a whole basement filled with boards. I remember throwing out of Legends, which like Scoreboard, was a great dart bar, and being introduced to the Castle Pub, which when it was all decked out had boards upstairs and down it really was the best.

I remember the Overcoat Open and the Minneapolis downtown Radisson - great fun, great competition, and apparently highly flammable (it burned down)! I remember coming back to darts two years ago after shoulder surgeries and a long absence from TCDA and realizing right away that there are no people like Dart people and being so happy to be back.

You are a member of the Board of Directors. Why did you decide to become involved in running the TCDA?

I ran for a seat on the Board of Directors to help carry the voice of the TCDA members to that group and to help effect positive change. During the past 30 years I have seen TCDA grow and shrink and would like to be a part of whatever we can do to make it fun for everyone in the organization and to attract many, many more players. Keeping TCDA going takes effort and leadership, and I wanted to contribute to that effort, having enjoyed the TCDA for so long as a dart player and sometime Captain; but never as a member of the Board. To achieve the most I need to have input from TCDA members. Tell me what you want from the league, how you think we might improve or attract other players? Tell me what is on your mind!

Just for example - in future tournaments would members want to see an over 50 or under 30 singles or doubles category? A change in Classic night format to include more Cricket? Or what?? What are your suggestions?

What are some TCDA achievements or projects that you are particularly pleased with or proud of?

I was very proud to have formed my great team, the Wannabees, from great people I met at McMahon's two years ago while participating in Summer Darts. I was proud to be a part of the fundraiser the TCDA put together for the victims of the McMahons fire that tragically killed several people in the apartments above the bar. I was proud to assist Shea Troyer in organizing the Cricket League, which now begins its 3rd Season. I was glad to help track down sponsors for last year’s Dartmania Tournament. The fact is that TCDA affords everyone the opportunity to help out, contribute, and make a difference. Just speak up and volunteer!

Give us some general thoughts and/or impressions about the TCDA.

TCDA is like extended family. You share so many happy times with the people in this group. You learn from them, you learn to count on them, and they on you. You share good times and sometimes bad. I am proud of everyone in TCDA that wins, tries hard or even shows up. They all contribute to the collective joy of TCDA.

Do you have any suggestions or comments about the future of the TCDA?

As I look at our numbers I am hoping that every one of us in the TCDA can reach out to friends, family, coworkers, or anyone and tell them what great fun Darts is. If we can draw people to our sport we will see our league grow and prosper. Don’t leave the task of recruiting and attracting players to TCDA to others. This is a fun sport - all the more fun when we have more players to interact with. If we can keep old members and attract new members the TCDA will be around for many years to come - for all of us, for our kids, for our grandkids!

The TCDA congratulates Steve Millman and thanks him for everything he is doing for darts in general and the TCDA in particular.

2010 T.C.D.A.

CHARLES F. STUTZ PRESIDENTIAL AWARD GOES TO Al FINNEGAN!

To commemorate his many years of involvement with the T.C.D.A. and as a legacy that will survive him, T.C.D.A. President Charles Stutz annually presents the Charles F. Stutz Presidential Award. This award is an annual discretionary award intended to bring recognition to the type individual who supports the T.C.D.A., who volunteers and serves when needed, who supports organization events, who brings harmony to league play, who sets a sportsmanship example for others to follow, who regards others with respect, and who is a thoughtful member of the T.C.D.A.. The 2010 Stutz Award recipient is a long time member of the T.C.D.A.. He has selflessly volunteered countless hours over the years. He has been active in Leagues, in Tournaments, at T.C.D.A. Board Meetings and has served the T.C.D.A. in many capacities. He is presently President of the T.C.D.A.. Suffice it to say that Alan Finnegan is a

true sportsperson who embodies the qualities recognized by the Charles F. Stutz Presidential Award. Al Finnegan is a native St. Paulite (pretty obvious) born in September of 1957. He attended St. Paul Harding High School. Al has two children - Tiffany Marie and Thomas John. Many of you know Tiffany as she is a member of the T.C.D.A. (and some would say she is also the REAL darter in the family). Al started throwing darts in John & Pat Reeves living room back in 1978. He joined the T.C.D.A. in the Fall season of 1978 or spring of 1979. He shot out of the Castle Pub with Kelly Bliss, Rich Conway, and Steve ?? on the team Guess Who? Al has a lot of great memories of his 33 years in the T.C.D.A. starting with all of the friends he has made over all of those years. One particular highlight from the older days was a time when Kelly Bliss, Al and Rich Conway were coming back to the Castle from a match. It was the middle of winter and Kelly got a flat tire. Kelly and Al went out to change the tire while Rich decided to stay in the car and wait. When they were finally done Rich commented that it sure took them a heck of a long time to change the tire. What Rich didn’t know was that when Kelly and Al went around to the trunk of the car they found the spare tire and the jack, BUT they also found a bottle of Blackberry Brandy. Kelly and Al decided to have a few sips to brace against the cold and somehow proceeded to drink the entire bottle! No wonder it took a while to change the tire! Al Finnegan is the President of the T.C.D.A.. This is not a position he ever expected to hold. He was elected to the T.C.D.A. Board of Directors as a Member at Large and had no intention of even thinking about becoming an officer. When Charles Stutz and Peter Jirik announced that they would be leaving the positions of President and Vice President, Al thought

about it and threw his name in the hat to run for Vice President. He was elected to that position and Jeff Hafner was elected President. Jeff had to move aside due to a job conflict and Al became T.C.D.A. President. Al states that he takes the position very seriously and is very proud to carry the title of President of the Twin City Darts Association. Al believes that the membership of the T.C.D.A. is full of really great people. He notes that the membership numbers are declining somewhat as people are get older, retire, or just move on. He believes that the Board of Directors needs to find ways to promote and re-energize the T.C.D.A. to increase the membership numbers. While the status quo is still a lot of fun, Al looks to the dwindling numbers and recognizes that we need to be thinking about the future of the T.C.D.A.. Under his leadership the T.C.D.A. Board of Directors is working on getting promotional posters to help spread the word of the T.C.D.A.. There are a lot of colleges in the Twin Cities and we need to get our message out to bring in new members. Al would also like to attract some of the machine darters to add steel darts to their enjoyment of the sport of darts. He would also like to attract more of the actual T.C.D.A. membership to the T.C.D.A. tournaments. Al is extremely proud to have been named as the 2010 recipient of the T.C.D.A. Charles F. Stutz Presidential Award. The award is truly meaningful due to his high regard and respect for Charles Stutz. Al states that when you speak of the T.C.D.A., Charles Stutz is right up there with the T.C.D.A. founders Ed & Sally Otjen. Having the award presented by Charles personally was a great thrill for Al. Charles Stutz and the T.C.D.A. congratulate Al Finnegan and thank him for his outstanding service.

Gold League End of Season Tournament

By Sam Gamgee

The Gold League, being the social group that it is, decided to get together after the holidays and hold an end of season tournament last December. The festivities took place at the Hat Trick Lounge. Nine people came ready to do battle and several more came just for the camaraderie. There was food provided by the Hat and many brought treats to add to the buffet table. We held a singles tournament, 501 double elimination, with a $5.00 entry fee which the Hat was gracious enough to match. The competition was keen; evident by the fact that most everyone posted at least a few high scores on the back of the bracket sheet. Dave Pickett and Jon Fish led the way with 12 and 11 respectively. When the dust had settled it was Dave Pickett taking 1st place as well as high out with a 95 out. Jeff Hafner finished 2nd followed by Jon Fish and Deb Thompson. $5.00 was set aside from the purse for the first person to be eliminated; an honor won by Crystal Ray. Good food, good drink, and great friendship were shared by all.

New Dart Bar Sponsor Station 280

After spending the past three years playing out of the Eagles Club in Minneapolis, The Incredible Ton Shooters switched bars this season to Station 280. It is a newly renovated sports bar located just off the University of Minnesota campus. The bar is located at 2554 Como Avenue in Saint Paul and has great weekly specials for every night of the week. Tuesday night’s special is all you can drink high life and unlimited pizza for $9 from 7pm – 9pm.

It’s a great atmosphere with pool tables, soft tip darts, and two steel tip dart board setups with plenty of flat screen televisions. Currently there is one team playing out of Station 280, meaning there would be room for another team to join in the future and they could alternate home nights with The Incredible Ton Shooters. Other Station 280 specials include 1/2 off all burger basket Monday’s, $1 Taco Wednesday’s, and ladies drink free from 9pm-11pm Thursday’s. If you get a chance you should come and see the Twin City Darts Association’s newest dart location!

The Thrill of Darts By Steve Millman

Most everyone knows that the game of darts originated in England long ago and that the English are known for their darting. Sadly, in recent years, dart throwing has declined in Merry Old England; but more recently there has been renewed interest, thanks to the internet and live events from groups like the PDC (Professional Darts Corporation). Throughout the year darters in the PDC compete for honors, and throw in many tournaments. At year end they have a massive Worlds Championship and viewers can watch the top players in PDC compete for top honors. For many years Phil Taylor (15 time world champion) reigned supreme; but in Jan 2011, Phil was dethroned by his young protégée, Adrian Lewis. Darts is a thrilling game to play, and to watch. Seeing these players throw T80 after T80, sometimes choke and never find the triple, take all sorts of doubles out and sometimes flounder at simple outs (due to nerves), makes one realize how glorious and human this sport really is.

You can watch these matches live on Justin.TV. You can put PDC or Premier League into its browser window and watch recorded events, or press the live button after you are on a PDC site, and if there is a live event you can watch it in real-time. I have watched extraordinary darts. And seen players who you expected to win, get beaten and then come back another day and dominate. Very exciting stuff. I would encourage all dart fans to check it out. For those with a little money to burn, the PDC also has a pay for view channel where you can subscribe for $10 or $15 bucks a month and watch events on their page in HD live or recorded. Have fun playing and watching darts.

Cricket League Update By Steve Millman

When Shea Troyer and I started the Cricket League two seasons back with Shea’s brother Peter, his good friend Kent Tsui and my friend and co-captain Dan Thomas, we were fulfilling a dream of Shea’s to bring Cricket to T.C.D.A. to satisfy many people he knew who played Soft Tip and were willing to throw Steel-tip in familiar surroundings. When we started we could not always depend on having eight or more players each week, so we ran a luck of the draw style play each week, choosing players at random by having them select cards from a card deck. Shea had always said that he wanted the league to have actual teams with dedicated players. Now, at last that dream has been realized.

Now in its 3rd Season Cricket League is beginning to grow roots. We have four teams of two or more, and have had nights where each team is maxed out at four players each. We are still able to absorb walk-ins and place them on any team that has less than their full four, for that night. If interest continues we will expand our league to more teams and give some teams a night off on occasion. Or possibly we could expand our teams to hold more than four players (just a thought I have not run by Shea). Cricket League is going strong and it’s a tribute to Shea Troyer (its founder and leader) and to the T.C.D.A., who encouraged Shea to build the league and help it grow. Check us out sometime. We throw Wednesday evenings out of Sporty’s Pub at 2124 Como Ave South East, Minneapolis. Tell your soft tip friends, who are looking for a way to ease into Steel-tip darts on a Wednesday.

Some Interesting Photos submitted by Steve Millman

Army Veteran Dan Thomas was under Friendly Fire Weds Feb 2nd when a dart slipped from the hand of a darter at Cricket League and landed just outside of the Double Eight and into the margin of the Chalk Board. Dan shrugged off the near miss and resumed chalking, from behind the hockey line (several feet BEHIND the thrower).

2nd Place Luck of the Draw winner at T.C.D.A. State Tournament, Niki Humble,

demonstrates how to throw a dart that lands flight first on the board. Sadly the

scores (triple one) did not count, as the tip of a dart must touch the bristle in order to register a score.

2011 T.C.D.A. State Tournament

Another State Tournament is in the record books. Congratulations to the 2011 Minnesota State Champions; Jeff Paulsen and Dawn Blake! For the first time I remember (which isn’t that long), the men’s State Championship now belongs to our friends from Waterloo, IA. I don’t know if that’s happened before. Perhaps Stan can let us know. We’ll have to get that trophy back next year!! I wanted to take a moment to thank all of those who helped make the State Tournament a success this year. It really takes a large amount of work to put on even a single day tournament. This event wouldn’t have happened without the dedication of Margo Ulrich (registration), Greg Oldenkamp (overseeing the brackets and writing the checks), Bruce Fink (set up/tear down and eternal optism), Jim Hunt (storing and transporting the boards, standards and other supplies), Johnny Hubbard (set up and all around good guy), Jeff Haffner (transporting the equipment) and Paul Cook (music, my transportation and tolerating me on a daily basis). Finally, I’d like to thank everyone who played or visited and made the tournament a great day!

This was my first year as Tournament Director, and there’s a lot to learn! I hope Dartmania will run as smoothly. Paul Cushing is joining the team and will run computerized brackets given the number

of events. The Canadians have been trash talking on Facebook site for some time and are looking for responses! I’m looking forward to seeing you all there. Remember the dates: April 8, 9 and 10 at the Ramada in Brooklyn Park. As always, if you have any questions, suggestions or comments, please feel free to contact me. Karen Ekstrum 612.382.8640 kyleandcraigsaunt@msn.com

2011 T.C.D.A. State Tournament Results

Luck of the Draw (Choice of diddle, 501-301-Cricket)

1st

Mike Moughan/Jeff Paulsen 2nd

Dave Lawrence/Dave Pickett

3rd Jake Schreiber/Dede Hunstad 4th John Jenkinson/Kevin Kirkpatrick 5th Paul Cook/Bruce Fink 6th Justin Wilson/Rick Anderson

Women's Doubles 501

1st

Dawn Blake/Dede Hunstad 2nd

Margo Ulrich/Anita Groen 3rd Cathy Decker/Arlene Johnson

Open Doubles 501 1st

Charlie Heineman/Fred Seeman 2nd

Jake Schreiber/Dean Blake 3rd Rick Anderson/Jeff Paulsen 4th Dave Pickett/Dave Lawrence 5th Jim Anderson/Dan Heffernan 6th Paul Cook/Mike Singleton

Women's Singles 501 1st

Dawn Blake 2nd

Deb Thompson 3rd Margo Ulrich 4th Dede Hunstad

Open Singles 501 1st

Jeff Paulsen 2nd

Dean Blake

3rd Jim Luebke 4th Jake Schreiber 5th Dave Pickett 6th Rick Anderson

Men's "B" Division 501

1st

Allen Suckow 2nd

Ed Thompson 3rd

Mike Karels

Luck of the Draw 501 1st

Dave Pickett/Chris Grieman 2nd

Niki Humble/Steve Millman 3rd Mark (Mac) McDonough/Nick Harris 4th Paul Cook/Charlie Swenson

Some Pictures from the State Tournament

And Now, A word From Your Banker

By Greg Oldenkamp, T.C.D.A. Treasurer

It has been many years since I’ve written an article as your Treasurer. Most of you only hear from me when I’m hounding you for dues or to collect your pub fees. I have done several articles in the past as Tournament Director but it goes beyond my ever failing memory as to the last time I did an actual finance article for the membership. Well, like it or not, your wait is over. I think I have been T.C.D.A. treasurer now for going on 20+ years. To put it in perspective, for those that remember him, Dennis Blake was my predecessor. That said, I’m still not the longest tenured Board Member (can anyone say Sharon). The T.C.D.A. has had its financial ups and downs over the years. Fortunately even now, as our membership has shown signs of declining, our financial position remains very strong. As of this writing we currently have just over $13,000 in the T.C.D.A.’s bank account, of which approximately $4,000 is earmarked for Dartmania and the remaining $9,000 would be classified as general operating funds.

Dartmania first. About 11 years ago we received a bequest from a member that was to be used to fund a signature tournament for the T.C.D.A.. That tournament became known as Dartmania and is currently entering its 11th year as a T.C.D.A. event. Funding for Dartmania has come solely from the initial bequest, Dartmania entry fees, sponsorships and inventory sales. We have never used the leagues general membership revenues to fund Dartmania, and the intent at this time is for that to remain true going forward. The $4,100 that we have in Dartmania funds is there in the event that the tournament loses money. For the past several years the event has broken even and we’ve been able to maintain about $4,000 in designated Dartmania funds. General operating funds. These funds come from your annual $30 membership dues and from the $25 per season pub sponsorships. I don’t know the exact date (mid 90’s maybe) but I would say that it has been at least 15 years or more since we’ve raised the membership dues and I have no recollection during my time as treasurer of increasing the pub sponsorship. You will be happy to know that the Board has not entertained any thoughts for a general membership dues increase. For the foreseeable future we should be well set at $30 for annual dues. Some of you may wonder why we have such a high balance. A couple reasons. One, this is the time of year that our balances are highest, as we collect membership dues and pub sponsorships. Also, our balances have grown in the past several years primarily due to our taking advantage of web based savings. Our transition to using the T.C.D.A. webpage and infograms hasn’t been uniformly popular, but no one can dispute that it has saved the T.C.D.A. several thousands of dollars over the years and have allowed us to keep dues at the same rate for so long. A good example of this is the Bull and Ton. Many of you remember the older printed versions. Back in the day

they were high quality publications. Over the years as prices increased and interests waned, we went to an online publication. I believe the last year that we physically published four Bull and Ton issues it cost us over $2,000 to design, print and mail the four issues to the membership. Now we put it online at no cost to the T.C.D.A.! Score sheets are another example. Instead of Sharon having to make several copies and drive around the metro on Tuesday nights, these are now readily accessible on our webpage. So while we may lose the nostalgia of having a nicely bound and printed Bull & Ton, or we miss seeing Sharon’s hurried look as she dropped off nightly score sheets, we have recognized such large savings that it has allowed us to stay in a strong financial position even though our membership numbers have declined. Here are a few financial related facts:

Membership dues make up about 70% of our total revenues

Pub sponsorships make up about 30% of our total revenues

Because we have the funds, here are some of the things we have and continue to accomplish:

Subsidize the annual banquet so members only pay $5 for their meals

Provide trophies for two seasons Annual banquet tournament Fund two seasonal mid-league

tournaments for Classic Tuesdays, Pub-Fun Wednesdays and Thursday Gold Division, and now most recently for the Cricket League.

Subsidize $600 of additional payouts for the State Tournament plus provide trophies

Fund a tournament of champions Maintain a presence on the world

wide web

I don’t say this because I’m up for election again, but your Board of Directors has been excellent stewards of the T.C.D.A.’s money. Right now, in addition to normal ongoing operating expenses, I would say our biggest financial priority is to find ways to promote darts and bring in more members. I’ll end my little financial report with what we refer to quite a bit as one of the best deals in town. For $30 you get 30 weeks of darts (over two seasons), that is $1 per night. Each night you show up you get a free beer, so in a sense, your T.C.D.A. membership makes you money. Where else can you spend $1 and get a free beer? Thanks to all those individuals, teams and pubs that continue to support the T.C.D.A. by getting your dues in on time. Those that don’t, you’ll be hearing from me

AND A GOOD TIME WAS HAD BY ALL!

By Sharon Lohmar The Mid-League tourney for all the Classic Divisions had a great turn-out. It was not hampered by weather, believe it or not. Yes, the predicted snow storm did not happen – what’s up with that! It all happened on Tuesday, March 8th, at the Hat Trick Lounge in St Paul. The Hat Trick has always been a wonderful supporter of the T.C.D.A. and its darters over the year and we thank them for hosting us. They also put money into the payout for every darter present and furnished a great veggie tray as well. The Tourney itself was seeded according to which division a darter played in. I have to say, I don’t think I’ve ever seen such evenly matched teams. Almost every single match went 3 legs and we still finished at a decent time. Throughout the course of the night, the final prize was

definitely attainable by any of the great teams. There were terrific darts thrown all night long. The top 6 teams to find that final mark were: 1st

David Lawrence & Jon Tangen

2nd Chuck Ley & Brian Kraft

3rd Steve Little & Jim Turpin 4th Chris Grieman & Dick Sorensen

5th Tim Wennermark & Jerry Deegan

6th Bruce Fink & Al Finnegan (yes,

that’s right, our illustrious President) It was fun to see a brand new T.C.D.A. member, Jon Tangen (Primal Rage team), and a seasoned veteran, David Lawrence (Dart Attack team) take First Place honors. And, of course, we can’t forget High Out. Midway through the tournament, Perry Daniels threw a whopping 110 out. The score was carrying its position throughout the whole night until .. in the final match .. David Lawrence ascended with a 115. And to top it all off, he got it in the very last 3 darts of the very last match! So sorry, Perry! Once again, our thanks to the T.C.D.A. for contributing $100 to the pot. Let’s do this all again next season!

GOING FOR THE GOLD AT MID-LEAGUE

By Sharon Lohmar

It was a fun night of Mid-League Tourney darts – Thanks to the Hat Trick Lounge, the T.C.D.A. and a great bunch of our gregarious Thursday night darters. It was our normal venue at the Hat Trick, where the Gold Division plays every Thursday night. This season we decided to change up our Tourney and play Singles, all 501 games. Jon Fish took an early lead and continued on to become Winner of Winners. Jeff Hafner darted mightily through the Losers Bracket (at one point against his normal Thursday night teammate Myles Kyler) and came back to meet Jon in the final match. But it wasn’t over in one match. The familiar phrase “Do it again” rang out and another 3 possible legs were about to be played between Jon and Jeff. Not to be

daunted, Jon came out victorious and it was a great match to watch. High Out, thought, was not to be had by either Jon or Jeff. Crystal Ray took the honors with a 102 earlier in the night. Those making it to the final top 4 were: 1st Jon Fish 2nd Jeff Hafner 3rd Myles Kyler 4th Crystal Ray Congrats to the top 4 and to all the participants! All the entrants shot well and the end result could have been “anyone’s game”. Special Thank You’s to the T.C.D.A. contributing $50 to the tourney payout and the Hat Trick Lounge which matched the entry fees and the High Out money. Gold Division once again was “Golden”!