nah it's ok most of the time cos i aim it at the blokes face and then i get a good score, win-win situation
I voted no, but only because there wasn't a third option that said something along the lines of - I've got a hell of a lot of respect for him because being able to dominate darts in the way he has over the last 15 years has been amazing, but at the end of the day he can never be truly classed as one of the great sportsmen of all time because darts cannot be considered one of the greatest or toughest sports. Darts is basically just one action you have to perfect. And you can perfect it just by standing up. And in a pub. In my opinion, it is more of a game than a sport. But I'm not going to argue too much against it being a sport as it loosely fits the dictionary definition. I think snooker is a good thing to use as a comparison. I consider snooker a sport for sure. However, no matter how great a career a snooker player had, they would never be considered one of the true great sportsmen either - only the greatest at snooker. Darts and snooker both stemmed from pubs / clubs and you can easily practice both with a pint on the table next to you. Even though both games have moved on significantly in terms of the professionalism of the people at the top level, they will never be considered worthy of mention when people talk about the true greats of all sports combined. Even though in terms of practice hours, snooker and darts players probably put in just as much (if not more) than footballers, rugby players, or jockeys, for example. For me, a lot of it comes down to physicality and/or personal risk. I think the more physicality there is involved in your sport (as well as skill), then the amount of respect you get for competing at the top level goes up exponentionally. Although I rarely agree with who gets the awards, the SPOTY awards is a good barometer of what sports people consider to be the 'best' in this country - boxing, athletics, motor racing, football, with notable additions from the likes of equestrianism, rugby, cycling, swimming, and perhaps golf. I think the same sports that are considered the 'best' in this country are the ones from which you would select your lists of the 'Greatest Sportsman Ever' - individual or not. However, if you went to Japan and asked a similar question, they might name you sumo wrestlers and baseball players. And Phil Taylor has more respect from me than a fat lad in a nappy who is good at pushing another fat lad over a rope, or a glorified rounders player...
