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I remember smiling when I learned that the 2007 ADA Great Lakes Regional Championship was going to take place at Harrah’s Hotel & Casino in Joliet, Illinois, in the heart of Chicagoland. That’s what the vast, bright and exciting urban region that rests like a crown on the state of Illinois is often called by the media. The term generally refers to the third largest county in the USA, Cook County, Illinois – my kind of county, I might add.
I know Chicago and its suburbs well and never miss an opportunity to visit and enjoy the unique experiences the area has to offer. I have a number of friends in darts from Chicagoland and I was interested in seeing how the darts scene had expanded there since the ADA franchise owner, Kevin Graham, had undertaken an aggressive expansion program. I had heard that the number of Chicago-area ADA teams had quadrupled in the three or so years that had passed since my last visit.
An additional enticement was the fact that the 2007 ADA Great Lakes Regional Championship was the first ever, the inaugural GLRC. I’m going, I told the wife. Great news, she said, me too!
Julie, her best friend from high school lives in Buffalo Grove, right there in Chicagoland, she informed me. We could meet for a drink with Julie and her husband, Jack, before the Championship, then go on to Harrah’s in Joliet and have a great time with darts, at the casino and the first class hotel there.
The wife and I met up with Julie and Jack on Thursday afternoon - the day the Great Lakes Regional was to begin – in the bar at the Drake Hotel in downtown Chicago, right on the “Magnificent Mile”. The deal was, I was informed, that we were to have cocktail’s and light snacks, while the women reminisced about their high school days.
Now for me, Chicago is a place of thick, juicy hot dogs chased down with cold Budweisers at stands named “Beefy’s, “Sammy’s”, “Underdogg” and so on. Or pork burritos, “pastors”- at 2 in the morning after a night of darts - at Arturo’s over on Western Avenue. The Drake is a wonderful hotel, been around since the 1920’s, few celebrities pass through Chicago without stopping there.
Upon meeting Jack I was pleasantly surprised to learn he had played darts years ago in the Windy City Darters league! So while the women became reacquainted we talked darts. I told Jack about the ADA and how it was the only nationally franchised darts organization in America. He listened intently and was particularly interested in hearing about the ADA Professional Darters Certification Program (PDCP). He told me he had recently been considering taking up the sport of darts again. Unfortunately a previous engagement will prevent him from attending the Great Lakes Regional, this time.
The afternoon ended with Jack and me agreeing to meet the following Regional on Monday night to play darts at a place in his old neighborhood, an area known as the Near North Side. That would work out beautifully, since I was staying in Chicago to make some business calls.
As we were wrapping things up, Jack asked me if I ever did crossword puzzles. Occasionally, I said, but not as a rule, why do you ask?
He was, he told me, a regular doer of cross word puzzles. The term “Great Lakes” always reminded him of a frequent cross word clue – “HOMES”. It is an acronym, he said for the Great Lakes – Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior. Like that slang term for a good friend, I said as we parted, “Hey, Homes! See you Monday”
The wife and I arrived at Harrah’s in Joliet at mid-afternoon. Joliet is located southwest from downtown Chicago, an easy trip by car and we arrived in plenty of time to look things over. We checked into our room and went right down to the Competition Room.
I have been to all of the ADA Regional Championships this year. This one was different. For one thing it was the first one at which the venue had specified an age limit. Only those over the age of 21 could enter the Harrah’s Hotel and Casino. This wasn’t a problem for my wife and me. We had taken our children and the wife’s parents with us to the National Championship in Orlando for a great vacation last summer. But this was to be an adult getaway, with the grandparents watching the kids back home while we got away.
The other unusual aspect of this Regional was the competition space. It was very close to the casino, in fact in less than two minutes you were there. As you walked to and from the hotel, you passed right by the dart courts and bar that were set up for the ADA competition. As opposed to being off in a secluded area, the competition area was on display to the passing public – A good idea, I thought.
Thursday night was the first event. Budweiser returned as the official beer and the first event, the 501 singles competition got underway at 7 PM. I was then reminded of another unique aspect of ADA tournaments - the format is “best of 3 games, best of 3 sets”. Members play a minimum of four games and a maximum of nine. As far as I know, this is an ADA innovation that makes for a lot of darts. Another innovation is the double bull activated bull’s-eye in the soft tip events. With no “fat” fifty point bull members must concentrate on hitting the trips to win just like the traditional game.
We had a great time that first night and stayed up late visiting with ADA members and playing some table games in the casino.
Over a late brunch Friday morning my wife pointed out something that I had noticed at other ADA Regionals, but had not given much thought to - the regional competitions were taking on the appearance of national tournaments. We saw darters in Joliet from all over the country – the state of Virginia was well represented, contingents from Colorado and Vermont were also in attendance. That was some pretty long distances, she noted.
Friday was probably my favorite day of the competition. For one thing, I am partial to Cricket and this was the day of Cricket singles in the afternoon and Cricket draw doubles in the evening. The format was the same from the day before, best of 3 games, best of 3 sets.
Toward the end of the Cricket singles this DJ from a local radio station appeared and challenged all comers to a game of 9 darts-high score. And as a handicap, he stood 15 feet from the board and shot his darts from a blow-gun! He was hilarious; turns out he is a DJ at 100.7-FM WRXQ. That was the station I was tuned to for the rest of my stay, for sure. When you are in Chicagoland, tune in, his nom de drive time is “The Freak” and he certainly lives up to it.
In addition to the entertainment offered by “The Freak”, Jim Beam Black offered great prizes for the challenge – if you beat The Freak you won a nifty Jim Beam ball cap and 7 out of 15 challengers did just that. After the challenge, The Freak gave a pep talk; it was nonsense but very funny – something about concentration and thinking of a brown bunny?
Speaking of Jim Beam Black & Hornitos tequila, the ADA’s newest sponsor, I have to say they know how to lay incentives and premiums on you – the top prize being one that I would pay hard cash for if given the chance, a Titleist Jim Beam Black golf bag. The ball caps and T-shirts were pretty cool too. But then Beam Global is a class act, they own some top shelf Brands as well as my favorite after dinner drink, Courvoisier.
I ran into Glenn Remick, the ADA President, after the Friday evening draw Cricket doubles, and he told me that Beam Global was pleased with the event and has signed on to sponsor future ADA events, in fact they’ll be at the Mid West Regional in St. Louis in January.
At the bar Glenn introduced me to Jennifer, the bartender at the Harrah’s lounge bar. It turned out that she was an ADA member who had made special arrangements to take long breaks to compete in the event! I wished her luck and toasted her commitment to our sport.
I’ll tell you another good story like that, Glenn then said. Glenn orders quarters from the hotel’s bank for the electronic darts machines used at the Championships. At the Great Lakes there were 20 Shelti Eye2 machines (and 8 steel tip courts). The quarters are then delivered or picked up, in this case, by the casino and kept in the “Cage” (the Casino’s bank area). Glenn thought in this case the casino could simply provide the quarters thus saving him going through the hotel. This process normally goes smoothly however he had a difficult time getting through to the Cage Supervisor, an auto attendant kept looping him back to a dead-end message. We’ve all been there, I noted, last week I spent a half-hour trying to get through to my kid’s doctor’s office.
Finally Glenn got through by a random dial. This person then put him through to the Casino’s accounting department. The woman who answered the phone there said he needed to talk to the Cage but she would check with her boss to see if he knew anything. Glenn waited and waited on hold for the woman to return. She finally came back on and said “you are all set, Mr. Remick, my boss is an ADA member and he says he will see to it that you are taken care of”.
Getting so you can’t go too far without bumping into an ADA member, I said as Glenn and I shook hands and he went back to helping Championship Director, Karl with managing the event.
Saturday was a mixture of doubles (men’s/women’s) and mixed triples in both Open and Neutralizer events, a full day and night of competition ending past midnight. A new “side” event was the addition of the Darts Parlour Poker tournaments. This is the brain child of Charlie & Barb Hanes who flew in from the Denver Colorado area to introduce this new product. I played in several tournaments; it’s a great game that brings together the card game and skill of throwing darts. It was well received by all who played and Glenn informed me Charlie and Barb will be attending the Mid West Regional in St. Louis.
Sunday the finalist from the Open events competed for their respective titles. This format has a dual purpose. First and foremost it provides the opportunity for everyone to watch some great darts in a theater styled setting. Secondly if the media attended it guarantees them a great photo opportunity and the ability to interview Champions. In this Regional it worked as the Joliet Herald News covered the event posting an article and photo on their front page!
The Great Lakes Regional was a great time. Harrah’s legendary buffet lived up to the title and there is also a great eatery called the Ace Diner in the Casino where the wife and I enjoyed a meal more than once.
With no appointments until late Monday afternoon, we slept in late and I put the wife on a plane for home out of Chicago’s Midway airport that afternoon. We kept the rental car’s radio dial on 100.7 FM RXQ and were delighted to catch “The Freak” and his drive time antics. It was great being able to put a face to the voice. After seeing her off, I called on a client in the area before heading downtown to meet Jack for a night of darts on the Near North Side.
We had a great time and ended the night at Arturo’s (2001 N. Western Avenue) with Hornitos shots and “pastor” burritos. Believe me, you cannot find a better way to end a darts evening in Chicago. Jack and I bid our farewells in the wee hours, but not before we agreed to meet again in January at the 2008 ADA Mid West Regional.
Jacks parting words were “See you in St. Louis, Homes”.
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