Name: JAMES “BIGDOG” LONDON

Age: 36

Marital status: MARRIED

City: CLEVELAND OHIO

Occupation: FORMER SECURITY GUARD– NOW DISABLED

I was asked by a friend to fill in for a match or two while the regular guy was on vacation. I ended up being the best player on the team from night one so they asked me to stay. They were in the lowest division in the Cleveland darter league, one of the better teams saw me throw the second night and they asked me to play with them. I said no at first but after a year or two I made the decision to take darts seriously so they picked me up and the rest is history.

In which league(s) do you play?                        Cleveland dart club in Cleveland Ohio

How far from home do you play?          3-4 miles.

How many days per week do you engage in darts? When I was serious in the early to mid 90’s, 3-4 nights a week. Now that im old and worn out just one night is good.

What kind of darts do you use: weight/ brand? 26gm darts and it’s a generic fixed point. I tried hammerheads and they just never seemed to work for me.

What other activity/sport do you participate in or watch? I coach all three of my kids baseball teams and I love football!!!!!!

What is the most annoying antic you see from other dart players? Ssssssssssllllllllllllllloooooooooooowwwwwww Play. Goofing off between throws. Going to buy a round of beer when its your turn.

Is league night too long, too short, just right? Just a tad on the long side. But to get the games in people want to play its about right.

On which team(s) do you play? Bobby O’s darters out of Bobby O’s tavern in Lakewood Ohio

How do you pick a team to play on? You either become a captain and start your own team or you know people. Or you can be real good and teams will ask you to come play for them.

Which other family members play?        none

Tell us about conflicts darts create in home or work life? None really for me. When I played a lot I worked third shift so darts was before work. Now that I don’t play so much the wife and kids have pretty much taken up the place of darts.

What keeps you playing darts? Love for the sport. Every time I try to leave I miss it a lot and try to get back in. I hadn’t played in about two years when I heard about a trails tournament where the browner was adding 150+ dollars to the payout. So I decided to go and I finished top 8 in singles and won doubles. So much for getting out of darts. (lol)

What goals in darts do you have? My goals were to go to a major tournament and do well. In Cleveland we have a program called the tournament trails program. You can play any one of 4 nights at various bars. You get points for monies put in and rounds won. Once you accumulate so many points you are offered a trip to a major tourney in the USA. I went to the Vegas tourney in 1996 and got to the third round in singles 301. I also went to the Kentucky open in 2002 and won the blind draw on Saturday night with a great player named Alan Mathews.  But by far my biggest goal was to beat a ranked player and I did that in the early 90’s when I beat Gerald Verrier at the Cleveland dart tourney. He was ranked in the top 5 in the USA at the time. (by the way I got beat by Steve Brown the next round- also top 5)

What has been your best moment in darts? Also see above paragraph

What’s your advice to a newbie dart player? 3 things practice, practice and decide. I say decide because practice early is important but you also have to make a concise decision early on in your darting career. You have to sit down and say to yourself – how much time do I really want to dedicate to this? – How good do I really want to be? – Do I have the time and energy to devote 4-7 hours a day on practice and 3-4 hours a night 4-5 nights a week playing in leagues and in tourneys? – Do I have other responsibilities that will interfere with my goals?

And last how good do I want to be? -  If you’re not looking to be great don’t expect great things for little or no effort. If you want to be great don’t expect great things with no effort. You will most likely get out of darts what you put into darts.