Why the U.S. Open was great

By Marlo Montanaro

Where do I start... Okay, bad news first then the good, right? Finish positive...

My only two regrets all weekend at the US Open were: 1) Because of a previous commitment, we got there late and missed the FNM and the competition on Saturday; but we did get there at night in time for the Dart Challenge, which was awesome, and stayed for the finals on Sunday.

2) My second regret was that I didn't meet up with anyone from SEWA! I know you were all there, but I didn't make any connections. Oh well, next time I'll have to play in the tourney and find out who you all were... I even held up a �Team SEWA Rocks!� card throughout the dart challenge!

Now on to the good stuff...

We were standing in line to get into the Cabaret Theater; I was there with my wife, Dee, and 9-year-old son, Victor. We got talking to a guy named Chris from Utica , NY , who never saw a 9-year-old kid at a darts tournament before. After about two minutes of conversation, he asks my son who he's rootin' for. My son replies, �The Americans and Phil Taylor; he's my favorite.�

Chris pulls out some papers with loads of autographs on them, tears one in half, hands it to my son and says, �Here's Phil Taylor's autograph, I already have two. The little guy has to go home with something.� My son is now walking six inches off the ground! Chris from Utica � you and your mates are awesome! A heartfelt thanks! He didn't have to do that.

In to the Cabaret, and the next indication of a great night � we got seats right up front! (Of course, there's not a bad seat in the house.) Then the emcee starts joking with my son! Now we're really having fun. Sitting right up front, we're a shoe-in to get on TV.

Now for some great darts! Taylor, Johnny K, Carver, Barney, and Russ Bray! What a night of arrows! At the end, we took our 180 cards up front and got Barney's autograph before he left.

Sunday � the finals. We got in line for the Cabaret a little late � my son was busy winning a purple dragon in the Mohegan Sun Kidz Zone. Somehow, even from the back of the line, we got even better seats up front.

I guess everyone thought my son was cute because they kept paying attention to him, especially when he started making comments like, �Dad, Phil only needs a 32 to check out...� and he started going nuts with the 180s. All the people around us seemed to think Victor was great.

During one of the intermissions, Russ Bray came over and we got a picture with him. Russ is a great, down to earth guy. I finally got a chance to thank him for answering my question on the Unicorn UniBlog site, which won me a set of John Part darts. Russ was genuinely interested and he remembered my question and my name! (The family picture with Russ was a personal thrill.) What a great person.

As we got to the semi-finals I believe, they started having the players walk through the crowd to get to the stage. The high-5s were flying. Phil Taylor missed my son's hand; but when he got to the stage, he stopped and went back to make sure he high-5'd the �little lad.� Victor is now walking two feet off the ground.

Of course, Phil goes on to win. We stayed for the award ceremony. Phil dedicates the win to Andy Hamilton. At the end of the ceremony about ten people who were sitting up front got Phil's attention to let him know Victor wanted a picture with him. �The little lad? Get him up here!�

WOW! Everyone could have tried to get a shot with Phil and the trophy, but they all did their best to make sure my little guy got in there. I think Victor flew through the Mohegan Sun instead of walked.

On the way out we ran into Russ Bray again; he stopped, shook my hand, and said, �Great to meet you Marlo, and I hope we get to see you again real soon.� I mean, we chatted for all of two minutes and he remembered my name four hours later!

So, I'd say we had a good time. Now, where were all those SEWA folks hiding!?

(OK, so if you haven't figured it out, we were the family up front with the purple dragon.)

Game ON !

Monty