It's that time of year again!!

[rob]

Yep, the 2006 BDO World Darts Championships are back! Barney up for his 5th Lakeside title at this prestigous event. Here's the draw for the 1st round (courtesy of BBCi)

Jelle Klaasen (Ned) v Dennis Harbour (Eng)
Mervyn King (Eng) v Brian Woods (Eng)
Mareno Michels (Ned) v Paul Hogan (Eng)
Ted Hankey (Eng) v Albertino Essers (Ned)
Shaun Greatbatch (Eng) v Niels de Ruiter (Ned)
Tony Eccles (Eng) v Per Laursen (Den)
Co Stompe (Ned) v Paul Hanvidge (Sco)
Simon Whitlock (Aus) v Andy Fordham (Eng)
Martin Atkins (Eng) v Gerald Porter (Ire)
Martin Adams (Eng) v Darryl Fitton (Eng)
Ulf Ceder (Fin) v Mike Veitch (Sco)
John Walton (Eng) v Stephen Roberts (Eng)
Ross Montgomery (Sco) v Vincent van der Voort (Ned)
Tony O'Shea (Eng) v Tony West (Eng)
Gary Robson (Eng) v Gary Anderson (Eng)
Raymond van Barneveld (Ned) v Brian Sorensen (Den)

Wall to wall coverage on the BBC once again. Enjoy...

[Jamez]

Darts?

A game featuring fat hairy old men with beer guts, watched by fat old men with beer guts?

Hardly a "sport" is it!

[Sput]

It's no ultimate frisbee!

[Nick Harvey]

I find darts marginally more boring than bowls, the local club of which I keep being encouraged to join.

[Dr Lobster*]

darts is boring to watch (as is any sport imo) i agree but after a few jars in the local a couple of games of pool with a game of 501 thrown in is a nice way to spend a cold dark week night.

the main problem i have with darts though is when 5 or 6 mates have all have 5 or 6 pints, the maths gets a bit dodgy and the game never seems to get finished.... that's the reason why we always play that last (in addition to the darks themselves being bent which doesn't help)

[Bail]

I can't remember where, I think Radio 2 not so long ago, but they were mentioning darts and it's growing popularity, possibally becoming an olympic event?

[Neil Jones]

One thing that amazes me about darts:

One piddly little board.
One venue so massive you can have those cameras on cranes flying everywhere.

How the hell does anybody more than about 20 feet away actually see where a dart has hit on the board? And why are the rooms so damn big anyway?

[noelfirl]

How the hell does anybody more than about 20 feet away actually see where a dart has hit on the board?

I don't think they ever do. Hence the loud "FORTY-FIVE!" "EIGHTY NINE!" commentator and of course:

ONEHUUUUNNNNDRREDANNNNNNDDDDDEEIGHHHHTYYYYYYYY

And why are the rooms so damn big anyway?

Probably because the supporters and players are so damn big. They need more oxygen.

[James Martin]

Good to see Tony "Bullseye" Green commentating.

[time warp]

How the hell does anybody more than about 20 feet away actually see where a dart has hit on the board? And why are the rooms so damn big anyway?

There are plasmas around the venue with a close-up of the board, including 2 (i think) relatively large ones at the front.

[Pete]

(in addition to the darks themselves being bent which doesn't help)

racist homophobe.

Darts is a game that's fun to play but dull to watch. Professional darts is simply boring. That comment was not insightful, but I wanted to disguise the fact I was only replying to make that poor joke above.