Week 1:

The Ship jumped out to a quick 4 -2 lead in S501.  New Shipmate Michael posted an early win, as did veterans Rich and Andrew.  But by far the most exciting match was Heidi's riveting victory in her first-ever game of competitive darts.  We tested with some parings in Cricket, and got some good feedback for what not to do the rest of the season, as we dropped five of six games.  But, as always, we bounced back with two wins in D501 (including a forfeit).

So, for those keeping score at home, in a week in which we were guaranteed 9 points if we DIDN'T play, we played to a 9-9 tie.  But, it was well worth the effort and a great start to the season.

Props:
Heidi - For sandbagging the team into thinking she was a rookie.
Michael - For bringing some much needed class, skill and beers to The Ship.
Jeremy - On the nuptials.

Week 2:

Rich started things of on a weird note, jumping out to a huge lead but not being able to close the deal.  John reached into the toolkit and fixed the situation with a win, but we then split the next four game, leaving us tied 3-3 after S501.

But things started clicking in Cricket, where we were able to take five out of six games.  The team of Fred / Rebecca clicked into place, following up their S501 wins with a Cricket sweep.  Michael / John split and Rich / Andrew swept, giving us some quality tools to work with in the future.

Fred / Rebecca played a great game to start D501 before they were surprisingly beaten.  The foundation of the season was completed, however, with two wins in the last two games, to give us a 12-6 victory for the night.  Overall, a great foundation was set, which should set the stage for a big season.

Props:
John - Three wins and a phone number.

Week 3:

Rich and Michael posted two wins early in S501, yet The Ship was feeling uncomfortable against the stiff competition.  But when Rebecca arrived and posted a win, the match was tied and we seemed to have a handle on things.

Michael / Fred split the first round of Cricket, but Mindy / Rebecca dropped both ends of their series, and it appeared that the screws were tightening.  But the Dart Gods were smiling on Andrew / Rich, handing them Game 1 by shaking the opposition's darts out of the bull.  Andrew / Rich won Game 2 in a more traditional fashion, tying the match up and suddenly The Ship was pounding on the door.

Fred / Heidi fell way behind to start D501, but they kept their composure and Heidi nailed a Double-2 to win it.  Rebecca / Michael followed that thrilling game with one of their own, and Michael's rare double-double out was the final nail in the coffin.  Andrew / Rich dropped the last game, but The Ship still walked away with a 10-8 win, and we showed that we can play with any team in the league.

Props:
Michael - For hammering home three wins.
Rich / Andrew - For nailing clutch bulls in Cricket.

Week 4:

Back on our own turf for the first time this season, The Ship jumped out to a 3-2 lead in S501.  When it turned out that the match was 6-on5, we notched another win, and the stage was set for a good night.

Michael / Rebecca opened up Cricket with a sweep, to remain undefeated together this season.  Rich / Andrew split their match, losing a game in which they managed to come back from 7 bulls down, but couldn't close the deal.  Fred / John then played 2-on-1 and swept their games, to give The Ship a 9-3 lead.

Fred / Heidi continued their dominance in D501 with another stunning comeback which Heidi again capped with a thrilling double-out, and Michael / Rebecca rolled in their 2-on-1 game.  Although Rich / Andrew dropped the final game, The Ship walked away with a 13-5 Ship win, and remained undefeated on the season.

Props:
Rebecca - The only thing you lost all night was your salad.
Michael - Finding the groove.
Darian - For the pictures.

Week 5:

The Ship started out the night nailing wins in five out of six games of S501. Rebecca had the only loss, which was a tough one in a game in which she led and scored 212 AS points.  In Cricket, we secured a split.  Rich / Andrew won both ends of their match, including a huge C3 by Andrew to close out the first game.

Fred / Nacho scored a win to begin D501, with Nacho nailing a double-5 to secure a big comeback.  John / Andrew dropped a tough game, but Rich / Rebecca won their game when Rebecca nailed a double-9 on the first shot at double out.  The final score was 12-6, and another solid outing for the squad.

Props:
Rich - Undefeated all night, including softball.
Nacho - A solid night in his first game back.
Fred - For leading the squad to victory.

Week 6:

The rug was pulled out from under The Ship early with four losses in the first four games.  Luckily, Rebecca and Heidi showed up and notched two wins in S501.

Cricket started out badly when Rich / Andrew dropped the first game after jumping out to a big lead, and were only able to split their games.  Rebecca / Heidi dominated in their first game, and also earned a split.  But only two wins in Cricket left The Ship down 8-2 and needing a sweep heading into D501.  Unfortunately, the sweep went the wrong way, as The Ship dropped all three D501 games, ending the night with a 14-4 loss.

Props:
Rebecca & Heidi - Combined for three of our four wins.

Week 7:

This week The Ship closed out the first half of the season, having laid a solid foundation for a run to the post-season.

Playing against the current league leaders, it looked like it might be a tough match when we dropped five of the S501 games.  But every game was close, and had a few darts fallen our way on double-out, things could have been very different.

But we kept the pressure on in Cricket, as Fred / Andrew jumped out with a quick win.  Michael / Rebecca had two tough losses, and Rich / Mindy dropped a close game before coming back and capturing a win of their won.  With two wins in Cricket, we started to pull ourselves back into the match, but we still needed a sweep in D501 to tie.

Fred / Andrew looked like they had it made in game one, but they were edged out at the end.  But Michael / Rebecca stormed back to take game two, and then Rich / Mindy took the final game of the night.  The 7-11 loss gives us 67 points for the first half of the season, and a solid lock on a fourth place.

Props:
Mindy - For getting off the schneid in wins and AS points.
Andrew - For allowing us to avoid the sweep in S501.

Week 8:

Week 9:

The team got off to a strong start in S501, turning in five victories against the competition. The rookies on the opposing team were no match for our experienced players. Plus, Ignacio marked his first game back by nailing his first All Star points on the squad.

Going into Cricket, the team kept the momentum and had some quick victories. Michael and Andrew won the first set, with Michael racking up some strong All Star points along the way. Fred and Rebecca added two more victories to our growing list of wins. But at the end, John and Ignacio came up against two seasoned opposition players, and lost their games in an ultimate contest of Bulls.

As the hours wore on, we finally began our D501 matches against our increasingly rowdy opponents. John and Ignacio demanded to avenge their earlier losses, and posted a solid victory in the first game. Michael and Andrew continued their strong performance and delivered yet another victory in the second game. Finally, a weary Fred and Rebecca jumped to a strong lead in the final game of the night, but could not get the double out in time. Nonetheless, when we closed out the match around midnight, we took a very strong 13 to 5 victory with us.

Props:
Andrew – for his sweep of four victories
Rebecca – for her three victories and restraint in not breaking out the voodoo doll

Week 10:

Une série d'allumettes étroites a dès l'abord rapporté peu pour Le Bateau, avec seulement Rebecca et victoires de signalisation Riches. John a semblé en particulier distrait dans son allumette, due à le grand nombre de téléphones de cellules se reposant sur la table. Derrière 4-2, Le Bateau ressemblé à lui pourrait devenir pain grillé français.

Dans Croquet, Le Bateau a commencé vers la droite elle-même. Le Bateau a gagné des fentes dans chacune des trois allumettes, et l'autre équipe a commencé à ressembler au fromage mangeant des singes de reddition.

Dans les doubles 501, John/Heidi a commencé avec une perte dure, partiellement étant donné que John faisait toute l'allumette en français. Mais Le Bateau est revenu fort et gagné les deux prochains jeux, et fini la nuit avec une cravate 9-9.

Félicitations:
Riche - pour farting dans leur direction générale.
Rebecca - pour taunting les une deuxième fois.

Click to translate

Week 11:

The night was hot, but we were hotter, as Fred, Rich, Andrew and Mindy all opened up the night with wins in S501.  While the heat was making us do some crazy things, it looked like we were gonna burst into flames.

Rich / Mindy started off Cricket with one of the toughest losses of the season.  After being ahead by over 5 bulls, they weren't able to close out and dropped both of their games.  Andrew / Michael came back and restored order, winning both of their games.  But, when Fred / Rebecca dropped their two games, the match was all tied 6-6, and things were heating up even more.

Deciding to fight fire with fire, Fred / Mindy pulled no punches in winning the opener of D501.  But Andrew / Michael couldn't keep the fire burning, and they lost their game.  But, in the last match Rich / Rebecca pulled out a victory to give  The Ship a 10-8 victory.

Props:
Mindy - For delivering much more than a forfeit.

Week 12:

In S501, we made a prima facie case for our studliness, by posting five wins.  Rich opened up with a win, followed by Michael, who won one of the best-played singles games all season (from both sides).  Then Fred and John won, and finally Heidi wrapped things up with a win in the last game, exhibiting probable cause that we rock.

However, in Cricket The Ship began to crumble under cross examination.  Fred / John won their opener, but were over-ruled in game two.  Michael / Nacho requested a sidebar after their game one loss, and bounced back with a win in game two.  In the last match-up, Rich / Mindy were in contempt of court when they committed a felony by dropping both games, resulting in a revocation of their bail and their wages being garnisheed.

But The Ship asserted its right of eminent domain and bailed itself out in D501, by sweeping all three games.  Michael / John opened up, followed by Fred / Nacho in game two, with Nacho closing the door.  Rich / Rebecca capped the night with a win in the last game, and causing the defense to call for an appeal.

The 13-5 win puts us solidly in 3rd place, only 6 points out of second (behind the team we face next week).

Props:
Jen Cen - For returning to the scene of the crime.
Autumn and friends - For cheering us on, and paying our bail.
Fred, John & Michael - For laying down the law and rendering three guilty verdicts each.

Week13 :

Coming off a tough loss in softball, Rich dropped the opening game of the night.  But the three-headed monster that is Fred, Andrew and John continued their dominant ways and played like men with a mission, by posting big wins including clutch outs from both Fred and John (see below).  The three wins allowed us to finish S501 in a 3-3 tie.

After satisfying his hunger with a month of sundaes, Fred came back to sweep both opening Cricket games, along with John.  Rich / Andrew were in a dogfight in both games, and managed a split in round two.  Michael / Rebecca split their games as well, and The Ship was on the prowl, up 7-5.

When D501 started, it suddenly seemed like we were drivin' with our eyes closed, as the usually reliable Fred / John and Michael / Andrew combos both suffered surprising losses.  But Rich / Rebecca came back with a beauty in game three, getting the win and securing a 9-9 tie for the night.

Props:
John - For making the list with this week's High Out.
Dave & Darian - For celebrating with us.

Week 14:

Rich began the night with a smooth win in S501, and what ended up being half of our points for the night.  By the time we picked up our second point, from Fred / John, it was the second round of Cricket.  We closed Cricket down 10-2, and quickly ended the night at 16-2 after three games of D501.

But our 2 points were more than enough to lock-up third place in the subdivision.  And we all know that this is not the end of the season, but merely the beginning of the playoffs...

Season Notes:

We continue to improve, as The Ship again delivered it's best season ever, in many respects.  For the second season in a row, we finished the season in sole possession of 3rd place.  We had 7 wins, 2 ties and only 3 weeks in which we lost.  We beat or tied all but one team in our subdivision, and scored 132 points overall.  We won more than half of our games in every variation of play, and we had our best All Star point totals ever!

Season-Ending Props:

Playoffs - Round 1:

This is a special time of the season.  A time when all of the best players come out to represent their leagues and play in a game that really means something.  Yes, it's the start of darts playoffs (oh, and the MLB All-Star game, too.)

Just like Bobby Abreu in the HR Derby, The Ship knocked the ball out of the park early by winning the first three games and four of the first six.  The four wins put us on pace to execute the Grand Master Plan (GMP), and things were looking good.

Our middle-inning relief was a little shakey, and we faltered a bit in Cricket.  Rich / Andrew managed a split, as did Fred / John and Michael / Rebecca.  With only three points in the round of Cricket and seven overall, we were just off pace of the GMP, and we needed a strong effort from the bullpen.

But the bullpen was totally unable to hold the lead when Fred / John and Rich / Andrew both lost the opening games of D501.  Suddenly we found ourselves needing a win just to force a playoff.  Luckily Michael / Rebecca were up to the task, and their win sent the teams into extra-innings - a game of six-on-six 1001 to decide the night.  With flashbacks of last season running through our minds, The Ship stepped to the line for bonus cantos.

The game was neck-in-neck, with many lead changes as each team whittled down their scores.  Some big darts from Michael helped knock the score down, and we got down to double-out first.  Luckily for us, the other team got stuck on "5", which bought us more than a few shots at double-4 and double-2.  Finally Rebecca stepped up and, like Jason Giambi in the rain or Jim Leyritz in Game 4, she nailed home the winning dart, sending The Ship to its first-ever appearance in the Second Round of the Playoffs.

Props:
Rebecca - For taking The Ship to new heights!
Michael - The late-inning relief stopper!

Playoffs - Round 2:

Rescuers clawing through bricks pulled seven dart-playing victims to safety Thursday in lower Manhattan after a building under construction for 15 weeks suddenly collapsed, sending buckets of nails and a shower of breakfast onto the sidewalk and street. Bartenders and onlookers were on the scene within minutes of the collapse, which trapped the chuckers beneath the remnants of the crumbling building at Broadway and Whitehall Street. One of the victims was attending a nearby concert, and was injured in the resulting fallout.

The Fire commissioner said the building's front wall and roof came down quickly, when a stream of darts were viciously thrown at it in four consecutive S501 games.  At least 2 emergency dart units responded to the collapse, and were able to stave off the early destruction with two wins.

Authorities attempted to order a halt to the ongoing demolition of the former building at the site of the collapse. However, another barrage of six consecutive Cricket games were too much for the structure, and it imploded upon itself.

"I saw rubble everywhere," said one attending fan. "People were standing there crying. It was quite disastrous."

The NYDO has pledged its cooperation with the city's investigation into this collapse.

Props:
Michael & Mindy - For bravely battling the inevitable, and salvaging some dignity for The Ship.