Well what an awesome display of darts from Taylor, Wade looked a little dumbstruck to me throughout the game.

Now I have read elsewhere people slagging Taylor off again for no reason other than he does what he does so well that they say the match was boring

Well from the point of view of wanting to see a closely fought game then I would say that argument has a little merit but frankly I think its just a case of hating the man for been so talented without due reason.

I felt a little sorry for Wade, but I could not help but admire the display by Taylor, its not his fault he is so untouchable when he is on form, and it makes games like the Lewis V Taylor match the previous week exciting when a player pushes him.

What would you rather see guys' a Taylor performing average each week so the others have a chance or Taylor performing at his very best?

I myself found it a bit boring except for him chasing his own record. Most people on the chat box I would say might agree as we were doing nothing but talking during that match. Wade even looked defeated after the first three legs.

Good post - although personally I don't like the bloke and would prefer not to see him at all lol.

If you want to see a genius at work then watch Phil Taylor - as I say I don't like him, but there is nobody better than him at the moment (or ever for that matter). The way he is going with his new fitness regime and healthy diet, etc, he will be top of the tree for another 4 or 5 years until he decides it's time to spend some time with his grandchildren.

Well I dont like or dislike Taylor, I certainly admire him alot, I dont mind at all seeing someone perform so well, but I think Wade just looked a little non plussed at times and a bit dumbstruck, maybe Wade should have made a better fight of it or maybe he just was not performing.

At the end of the day I really dont think darts would be as popular now if it was not for Taylor, and I don't think the standard would be so high either. Maybe he will carry on another 3 years or more, if so then its up to the other players to step up to the challenge and make his matches more exciting/closely fought.

I think you have to respect Mr T. for what he does, even at this stage of his career he's still working hard and improving and still raising the bar for others. Even if you don't like him as a person/player for whatever reason you still have to respect how good he is. No one come's close to achieveing the averages he does and if they do its more than likely a one off where taylor keeps it up week in week out. i think his tournament average was 107 before last night so it'll be higher again.

As for the match, it does kill the excitement when he steamrollers an opponent like he did Wadey last night. I think after the first few legs Wadey had resigned himself to defeat. I personally would prefer to watch the two players have a good close contest and at the minute that would mean taylor playing average but it is nice to see a performance like that every now and again. In an ideal world they would be throwing averages to match Taylor at his best. Now that would be a match!

I love watching Taylor thrash people and the better he plays the more I enjoy it. Seeing a man put an average of 2 out of 3 darts in a treble whilst hardly missing a double every time he steps up to the oche has me awe-struck. I watch Taylor at every given opportunity because he wont be around for too much longer and as far as i`m concerned i`ll not see anyone as consistently class as Taylor in my lifetime ( and i`m still in my twenties ).

I understand people saying the matches are less exciting because you know who will win but its not about the winning, its about the fashion in which Taylor does it that excites me.

Bigshow wrote:

I love watching Taylor thrash people and the better he plays the more I enjoy it. Seeing a man put an average of 2 out of 3 darts in a treble whilst hardly missing a double every time he steps up to the oche has me awe-struck. I watch Taylor at every given opportunity because he wont be around for too much longer and as far as i`m concerned i`ll not see anyone as consistently class as Taylor in my lifetime ( and i`m still in my twenties ).

I understand people saying the matches are less exciting because you know who will win but its not about the winning, its about the fashion in which Taylor does it that excites me.

Good point Big, its the craftsmanship that I enjoy watching too!

i think he's got many more years left at the top at least until his 60's. I didn't see the match but i hear it was marvelous.

Taylor me favorite. Nuff said. The greatest player now or ever was period.

SilverSaber wrote:

Taylor me favorite. Nuff said. The greatest player now or ever was period.

That is not being disputed here

Ok ya right, Like seeing him thrash folks. hehehhee

The only drama was whether or not he'd break his record. I drubbing like that IS only interesting because of the anticipation of something great. Taylor is always favored, but we watch to see if his opponents can raise their level in that moment and slay the giant. He has become a victim of his own success. I don't know a lot about him personally and I'm not saturated in the professional sport like many of you, so my impression of his character is limited, but positive. I do know that the best are always the biggest targets. People and organizations that are that dominating will always be disliked: New York Yankees, Walmart, Man U, Tiger Woods, Microsoft, United States, Apple, Phil Taylor. All have detractors in part because they have been so much more successful than their competitors. People like a winner, but if you win too much they think of you as a bully.

ochejockey wrote:

The only drama was whether or not he'd break his record. I drubbing like that IS only interesting because of the anticipation of something great. Taylor is always favored, but we watch to see if his opponents can raise their level in that moment and slay the giant. He has become a victim of his own success. I don't know a lot about him personally and I'm not saturated in the professional sport like many of you, so my impression of his character is limited, but positive. I do know that the best are always the biggest targets. People and organizations that are that dominating will always be disliked: New York Yankees, Walmart, Man U, Tiger Woods, Microsoft, United States, Apple, Phil Taylor. All have detractors in part because they have been so much more successful than their competitors. People like a winner, but if you win too much they think of you as a bully.

Well put Oche,
Tiger Woods will never be the same ever! Reason : his mental game has been compromised ! Okay its off the subject sorry.

I'd rather see Taylor performing at his best. Don't get me wrong, close games are exciting, but if Taylor was always average. Then, there wouldn't be excitement for someone who manages to rise to his level because everyone would be at his level. It's inspiring that he has excelled the way he has and no one should take that away from him or expect him to down play his skill to make the match "more exciting"

Like Grip says, I still can't understand why people say it's boring to watch Taylor!! After all do people say it's boring to watch any of the following:-

1) Barcelona or Real Madrid stuffing teams week in week out?
2) Stephen Hendry or Ronnie O'Sullivan when they were at their best stuffing people week in week out?
3) Mike Tyson destroying the Heavyweight Division for years and having no opponents that lasted more than a Round?

There are many, many more examples I could come up with, but I think I've proven a point with just those 3 really.

The man is pure Genius and has perfected his art and I for one would pay week in and week out just to watch him. When people say that it's always the Winners and the Best that get hated it's not true as there are many Sports people who are at the Top of their game that don't get hated - Miguel Indurain and Lance Armstrong (pulverised the Tour de France field for years), Chris Hoy, Fred and Joe Davis in the early years of Snooker, etc. etc.

Unfortunately, I think Darts seems to have a unique set of fans were they just don't like any one person to be too successful. After all didn't Eric Bristow get the same treatment when he was dominant?

Exactly Chris!

I doubt anyone would have said that about watching Don Bradman when he was scoring all his runs against whoever.

I remember watching the West indies thrash England at Cricket 5-0, I think they did it twice, and although I supported England I very much enjoyed watching the skill of the West Indies, then the same thing happened when Austrailia thrashed England, again it was a none contest but was still great to see the likes of Warne etc performing at a high level of skill.

Ah, Greenidge, Haynes, Richards, Holding, Garner, etc. etc. What a team that was!!

chrisbamb wrote:

Ah, Greenidge, Haynes, Richards, Holding, Garner, etc. etc. What a team that was!!

Marshall too! R.I.P. loved to watch him bowl

Taylor is just amazing to watch, for me. It seems that he's trying to better himself more than he wants to beat his opponent. I always prefer him doing his best (and anyone else for that matter), than doing average so the opponent can have an exciting close match.

Overall, a high-level close game is my preferred game to watch.

What I can't get over about Taylor is his intensity - did anyone else notice how focused he was on the task at hand? Here he is leading the points in the Premier league and was basically playing a match that no bearing on what happens to him - he is in the playoffs regardless of the outcome. Yet he threw every dart as if he was playing in the finals at the world championships at the Ally Pally. That's what I took away from watching the match.

I'm starting to find it a bit boring now too if i'm being honest, Taylor is just streets ahead of everyone else atm. It is hugely impressive to see a man hitting 110+ averages nearly every week but great matches in any sport are normally close ones........ and Taylor just doesn't have any rivals just now so his matches aren't 'great'. Guys like Anderson and Chisnall can go with him on the floor events as far as averages are concerned but Taylor has consistently produced the goods on the big stage year after year after year......... he's the best there is, best there was and best there ever will be, no question....... but it does get boring watching him dish out a thrashing week after week!

chrisbamb wrote:

Ah, Greenidge, Haynes, Richards, Holding, Garner, etc. etc. What a team that was!!

I've got all their autographs!! My dad got it for me years ago when the Windies were up in Scotland. My dad played for Perthshire at the time Will see if i can find it and take a pic! Apologies for going off-topic

Goofy wrote:

I'm starting to find it a bit boring now too if i'm being honest, Taylor is just streets ahead of everyone else atm. It is hugely impressive to see a man hitting 110+ averages nearly every week but great matches in any sport are normally close ones........ and Taylor just doesn't have any rivals just now so his matches aren't 'great'. Guys like Anderson and Chisnall can go with him on the floor events as far as averages are concerned but Taylor has consistently produced the goods on the big stage year after year after year......... he's the best there is, best there was and best there ever will be, no question....... but it does get boring watching him dish out a thrashing week after week!

chrisbamb wrote:

Ah, Greenidge, Haynes, Richards, Holding, Garner, etc. etc. What a team that was!!

I've got all their autographs!! My dad got it for me years ago when the Windies were up in Scotland. My dad played for Perthshire at the time Will see if i can find it and take a pic! Apologies for going off-topic

Wish i had autographs from these guys.

Found it

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Unfortunately i played with it a bit when i was a kid, hence the cracked bits down the bottom

canuckdartnut wrote:

What I can't get over about Taylor is his intensity - did anyone else notice how focused he was on the task at hand? Here he is leading the points in the Premier league and was basically playing a match that no bearing on what happens to him - he is in the playoffs regardless of the outcome. Yet he threw every dart as if he was playing in the finals at the world championships at the Ally Pally. That's what I took away from watching the match.

Thats a good point Rob, he was very intense!

Goofy wrote:

Found it

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Unfortunately i played with it a bit when i was a kid, hence the cracked bits down the bottom

Great memento that Geoff!

I know its off topic but nevermind, the first Test Match I seen was the windies v England at Headingley in 1980 I think, never got any autographs though, wish I had though.

About 1995 I was walking down the corridor of the local University and coming towards me was Jimmy Adams with a Cricket bat slung over his shoulder, no idea what he was doing there really, must have been doing some coaching.

Jimmy Adams the ex-Windies batsman i presume and not the current County player I always remember the Windies keeper constantly shouting 'catch it Jimmy' when Adams was fielding at short leg in a match years ago...... practically every ball bowled

I actually played myself for a number of years....... opened the batting for Luncarty in the Small Clubs Cup final when i was about 18

Wow, just googled to see if there was anything online from that match - http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/431/431763.html

Superb, will have to show my dad

Yep the windies Adams, well done on your 41, nearly got a half century.

chrisbamb wrote:

Like Grip says, I still can't understand why people say it's boring to watch Taylor!! After all do people say it's boring to watch any of the following:-

1) Barcelona or Real Madrid stuffing teams week in week out?
2) Stephen Hendry or Ronnie O'Sullivan when they were at their best stuffing people week in week out?
3) Mike Tyson destroying the Heavyweight Division for years and having no opponents that lasted more than a Round?

There are many, many more examples I could come up with, but I think I've proven a point with just those 3 really.

The man is pure Genius and has perfected his art and I for one would pay week in and week out just to watch him. When people say that it's always the Winners and the Best that get hated it's not true as there are many Sports people who are at the Top of their game that don't get hated - Miguel Indurain and Lance Armstrong (pulverised the Tour de France field for years), Chris Hoy, Fred and Joe Davis in the early years of Snooker, etc. etc.

Unfortunately, I think Darts seems to have a unique set of fans were they just don't like any one person to be too successful. After all didn't Eric Bristow get the same treatment when he was dominant?

To understand why they say that, you have to know why they want to watch in the first place. If they're watching to appreciate greatness, then it shouldn't be boring. If they're watching to see great competition, then you should be able to understand because they're not getting it. People didn't watch Tyson fights to see 10 rounds of great boxing. It wasn't competition, it was a spectacle. They watched to see how quickly Tyson could knock someone out. And near the end, after people were always paying $50+ for the pay-per-view and the fights lasted less than 10 minutes, they got bored. People don't hate winners? Really? I didn't say everyone does, but there is always a segment of the population who dislike someone or something just because they're successful. I'm not sure how Indurain was treated, but you think people didn't/don't hate Lance Armstrong? No athlete has been scrutinized more, tested more, been the target of more accusations than Lance Armstrong. People dedicate their lives to trying to destroying him. He's hated.

getagrip wrote:

Yep the windies Adams, well done on your 41, nearly got a half century.

I was gutted tbh, was going like a steam train on a great batting track! Think we had under 60 on the board when i got out........ which shows you how well i was going Bowled round my legs by a bloody leggie while trying to ping him over square leg for 6