SEWA - The Underdog -- a book for dart players?

Erik writes "Recently I was asked if I would be interested in reading and reviewing a book written by Joshua Davis a contributing editor of GQ and Wired magazines. Now before you fall out of your seat, or question my sanity, yes I was referring to me, as in “would ‘I’ read the book”?

Can you believe it? You probably can’t (if you know me anyway), but for some crazy reason Mr. Davis, or his assistant or perhaps some astrological anomaly actually wanted me to do so. Before they could wake up (or perhaps sober up) I quickly replied ‘Yes’ and provided my address for shipping of said book. I then began trying to figure out what on earth possessed them to ask me, a dart player who writes about darts on a popular website and desperately needs a spell checker installed in his main CPU (as in brain).

Soon after I received an interesting looking book with a very slight man (as in small) facing off with a rather large man (as in mountain) in traditional sumo diapers, er garb…or whatever they call it. Looking rather amusing if nothing else, I dove in and found myself reading for the next few hours. I was simply amazed at the rather, um, brave (yes very brave) things the writer had immersed himself into. Then somewhere between bullfighting and getting squashed by very large men – and boiling skin off in a ridiculously hot sauna – I realized that Joshua Davis was very much like myself, and perhaps like many dart players – no I didn’t bull fight or roast in a sauna more akin to a blast furnace, but that’s not what I am talking about. We do after all compete in what could be termed an ‘Underdog’ sport and some of us go to extreme (or at least expensive) lengths to do so. We are quite possibly cut from the same cloth – well maybe not quite the same, after all playing darts is slightly (slightly?) more safe then bullfighting and requires a little less strength then arm wrestling, but it could take us to foreign nations and find us meeting new friends all over this great land all the while competing for little to nothing and gaining no real fame or fortune.

Joshua's book (see reviews: The Underdog) was really a fun read and at times had me laughing and comparing experiences and at other times had me contemplating the meaning of life -- or perhaps at least the meaning of the competitive spirit of Americans. Above all I found it to be a very appropriate read for anyone contemplating competing in the ADO Regional playoffs or perhaps one of the many ADO sanctioned tournaments – especially those who’ve not yet played darts!

So if there was ever a book written for dart players, that doesn’t have anything to do with darts, but that might shed some light into our drive to succeed and give us something to chuckle about, this is it.
Erik "