Here is a recap of the MOMA 2007 tournament from my perspective.

The excitement began a good week before the first event even started.  The added buzz about two teams from Wisconsin not being able to play this year, was intensified by the added speculation of an additional 4 to 5 year ban from MN state tournament.  In a nutshell, it came down to a question of the legality of the teams stats.  In the end it seemed to be an issue with the understanding of the requirements via the vendor that ran the league, and the truth was the teams were restricted from participating in the 2007 tournament only.

I personally should have known it was going to be a tough weekend when we showed up at the start of the first event, thinking it started an hour later, and it was at this time my doubles partner informed me that he left his darts back in St Cloud – oops.  We did, however, have one lucky break: we were able to get a room by 11:30 am.  I decided to skip watching the finals of 501 doubles level 1, having heard Wanta and Cleveland had won the event.  It seemed to be the start of a pattern when it came to the 501 events in level 1, with the Wisconsin teams poised to make a clean sweep of those events.  But, I’m getting ahead of myself. 

Wisconsin 1

Minnesota 0

I faired a little better in the evening, winning a couple of matches before getting bounced from the tournament by none other than the guy that runs the WisconsinDarts.com website!  Now that’s Karma!  Not only did I lose to someone from Wisconsin, but he’s also a web geek like me – kidding Chuck.  I stayed to watch the finals of level 1 cricket, and watched Scott Ferrian come through the loser bracket to beat Greg Brock and Chuck Shaner, finally getting his first state championship.  He beat Mark Weigman in the finals, and on a side note, I was Marks first victim of the day (nothing to do with the recap really, just trying to make myself feel better).

The darts shot by the final four were really good, the kind of darts you expect to see thrown at this level – lots of averages at 5.00 and up.  One of the things that I noticed when it came to the finals in all the events I watched, there seemed to be a clandestine clash between Minnesota and Wisconsin.  The crowds that gathered to watch also seemed divided along the state lines.  Everything was very civil and the crowd showed their appreciation of a great shot no matter who threw, that’s what I like to see – true appreciation for good darts.

Wisconsin 1

Minnesota 1

Friday morning, my partner and I kept to our efficient ways in the tournament, this time we were in the thick of right up until 10:45am, that’s 15 minutes longer than we lasted on Thursday – a moral victory!   Shaner and Birch took the first place honor in the doubles cricket event, and I think that they beat Weigman and Hill in the finals. Again, I was Mark’s first victim of the day, hmm, sounds like a conspiracy doesn’t it?  I didn’t see too much of this match, but I could hear the crowd and it was easy to sense who won.

Wisconsin 1

Minnesota 2

Friday evening brought us to the 501 singles.  Another good night of darts – lots of 10 dart outs being thrown.  It was hard to find games where the winning average wasn’t 41.75 or higher.  My highlight was not to have to play someone from Wisconsin in the first round, however, I still didn’t fair too well.  This time I got beat by someone I shoot league against, ah, bittersweet.  In the final three we almost had a “Charlie-ella” fairy tale – Charlie Hillukka was storming through his bracket and I heard lots of “Who is THIS guy?” throughout the crowd.  It’s been great to see Charlie’s confidence and ability improve over the last few years, and I think he has some staying power, but between Pat Cleveland and Ferrian going for the sweep of the singles event; Charlie will have to wait until next year.  The finals became a battle of two veteran state champions from this tournament – Pat Cleveland and Scott Ferrian.  The event really came down to who started off, and in the last game, Cleveland got the start and claiming the championship.

Wisconsin 2

Minnesota 2

A couple of other silly side notes to Friday had to do with Scott Kirschner and his family showing up.  Scott, one of the Wisconsin players banned from the tournament, still made the trip up with his family and stopped in to watch the festivities.  The first funny thing started with the challenge of Scott’s 15 year old son to play against a level-one shooter from St Cloud.  It was amazing to watch the 15 year old play; but alas, he lost to the mean man – Big Daddy Buck.  Still, it was really enjoyable to watch people just having fun throwing darts.  A true representation of what the sport can be!

A little later in the evening I noticed the “big kids” were playing darts from the 12’ line.  I think there were 4 teams of 2, and that was fun to watch.  It’s always great to see these “top shots” struggle a little to hit a bull’s-eye; and the smiles these guys had while throwing reminded me of why I love to go to tournaments.

Saturday morning started with buzz about the guy that fell through the window on the 17^th floor of the Hyatt.  Amazingly, he is going to be OK and suffered a broken leg and collapsed lungs.  Now kids, this is why mom and dad tell you not to play in the hallway – and as for you Mom and Dad, you now have an “I told you so” story to tell your kids.

I missed most of the final four since I was busy trying to play in a mini-tournament, but the finals was another battle royal between Minnesota and Wisconsin in the Team 501.  The team of Haft, Hillukka, Ferrian and Schrom lost in the last match to the team of Weigman, Hill, Starks and Goergnes, with the Minnesotan team coming up through the loser bracket, beating the team from Wisconsin the first time, but they just couldn’t quite pull it off a second time.

Wisconsin 3

Minnesota 2

Sunday, and the last day of the tournament brought us to the Team Cricket event. My team didn’t stick around too long since we didn’t make it through the round robin, but I did hear that once again the finals resulted in another state vs. state skirmish, once again we had Minnesota vs. Wisconsin.  Sounds like, once again really good darts were thrown and the team from Wisconsin survived the scare from the team from Minnesota.

Wisconsin 4

Minnesota 2

I didn’t include the two championships that Minnesota claimed in the mixed team events in 501 and Cricket, and that would put the official tally at 4 – 4.  Perhaps next year we will see a specific state pull ahead, but for this year we remain equally formidable challengers!

I know that I missed a lot of good darts, thrown by a lot of good players.  I did watch a lot of darts for the other levels and heard a lot of stories.  I don’t know the last time I had such a good time getting my butt kicked, and it is that happy thought I take with me from this tournament!   I wish I personally would have done better, but it was nice to see the friendships and playful rivalries that emerged from the weekend.  I laughed a lot and talked to a lot of people, and all in all, I think it was officially “a pretty good time had by all”!