skar9@live.com 
Booed From the First Dart: Littler vs a Hostile Amsterdam Crowd Luke Littler walked into AFAS Live on Friday night knowing what was coming. The World Series of Darts Finals in Amsterdam has become one of the more difficult rooms for the teenage world champion. Last year the Dutch crowd turned on him in the … Read more
When Celebration Crosses the Line: Noppert’s Eyeline Cheer and Apology to Littler Professional darts is a game of millimetres, mental toughness and unwritten etiquette. On Friday night in Amsterdam those lines blurred for a moment. Danny Noppert, the experienced Dutchman, celebrated a big score directly in Luke Littler’s eyeline. Seconds later he offered an apology. … Read more
Luke Littler is still standing. In Amsterdam on Friday night he beat Danny Noppert 6-4 at the World Series of Darts Finals and kept the clean-sweep talk alive for another round. It was not a demolition. It was a first-round grind at AFAS Live, the kind of match that tells you more than a 6-1 … Read more
Jalen Brunson spent last spring winning a title with a wrist that kept snapping on him. Now, six days before the defending champions open camp, the picture that dropped from a New Jersey gym told Knicks fans what they needed to see. No brace. No wrap. Left arm fully extended on a jumper, the same … Read more
Phil Taylor once looked untouchable. Sixteen world titles. Sixteen World Matchplays. A run of nine successive majors that felt like it belonged to another planet. Luke Littler is 19 years old and five tournaments away from doing something The Power never managed. That is not hype. That is the calendar staring him in the face. … Read more
Luke Humphries will stand in Luke Littler’s corner as a teammate. He will not stand there as a passenger. That is the line Cool Hand has drawn around the most outrageous season in modern darts. Littler is chasing a clean sweep of the televised majors. Humphries has already said he does not want it handed … Read more
The arrows are already flying in Amsterdam, and if you blinked on Thursday night you missed the shock of the week. Michael van Gerwen, the man who owns this tournament like nobody else, is already packing his bags. Daryl Gurney took him out 6-5 in a last-leg scrap that had the AFAS Live bouncing. The … Read more
Luke Littler does not need another reminder that darts pays now. He already collected the first million-pound World Championship cheque. This weekend in Amsterdam he can add another six-figure payday without it even touching the rankings. The World Series of Darts Finals are into their 12th year at AFAS Live. The total pot is £450,000, … Read more
Madison Square Garden was supposed to feel like a victory lap. Instead it felt like a locked door with a four-figure price tag on it. The Knicks just won their first NBA title in 53 years. Opening night on Oct. 20 against Philadelphia is banner night, ring night, the first chance for the city to … Read more
Amsterdam expected a party. What it got instead was a punch to the gut. Michael van Gerwen walked into AFAS Live as top seed, defending champion and home favourite. He left it after a first-round defeat that nobody in the building saw coming until the darts started missing. Daryl Gurney, a late call-up after visa … Read more