As soulless academies and corporate cash drive a wedge between fans and stars, darts remains one of the last sports where you can bump into the players in the pub or down the shops.
So we really enjoyed this snap of 2001 World Champion John Boy Walton, who now works at Co-op in Sheffield, and was spotted by BBC’s Dan Walker in the home baking and canned fish aisle.
Not all darts players embrace the everyman role like John Walton. Ted “the Count” Hankey went for more of a “clammy and mysterious” vibe, which sometimes got a little too dark for the usually pantomime surroundings of Lakeside.
Last week this famous clip resurfaced, in which Hankey converses with Satan on the oche: “Do I fancy double 12 or double 8? Who is in charge, me or the devil? I think I am in charge. Fucking cunt, double 8, shake his hands. Just do it, come on you cunt!”
https://twitter.com/RWA_002/status/1477810459600375809
Bit macabre for the darts – it’s usually more of a “four pint jugs for a tenner and Smurf costumes get in free” sort of vibe.
If you need something cheery after that, here’s the great Bobby George celebrating a 180 by ripping down his shirt pocket to reveal his dancing nipple. That’s more like it!
https://twitter.com/R_A289/status/1480711813213917187
Speaking of gothic energy, we’ve always felt there was something of the night about Phil Mickelson. With his wild eyes, pear-shaped torso and undertaker haircut, he’d make the perfect creepy butler in a haunted house film.
So it was a bit of a shock to see Mick boogying like a tipsy father collecting his daughter from the school disco in this advert for a shirt brand.
As embarrassing ads go, it’s not quite Virat Kohli “walking like a dude, feeling all cool“, but still very enjoyable.
Beautiful piece of fan fiction from Cants on Twitter, who shared this photo of Alan Shearer and asked: “What if Shearer turned up one week with a full head of hair and refused to admit he used to be bald. Is there a plan in place for that?”
It’s the Clásico tonight, as Real Madrid face Barcelona in the semi-final of the Spanish Super Cup, which is being held in Saudi Arabia for slightly depressing money reasons.
It’ll be a far cry from the usual febrile atmosphere, which reached its apex following Luis Figo‘s infamous defection from Barca to Madrid in 2000.
On his first return, Figo was greeted at the airport and hotel by fans throwing missiles, burning effigies and holding banners reading “scum” and “Judas”.
He avoided taking corners for fear of attacks, but he was still mercilessly abused and pelted with oranges, bottles and mobile phones. The decibel level reached 112, equivalent to a plane taking off.
Two years later, he felt emboldened enough to take the set pieces, which turned out to be a mistake. Missiles rained down as he approached the corner. Among the debris: coins, knives, glass bottles, and a pig’s head. Wouldn’t try that in Riyadh…
“I liked loud music, I smoked, I drank, and I bowled a bit of leg spin. I don’t have any regrets,” Shane Warne tells viewers in his new Amazon documentary, which features a surprising amount of introspection from the legendary leg spinner.
Given all that candour, you’d think the producers would devote a bit more air time to Warney’s Achilles’ heel: sexting.
In fact, he’s arguably a pioneer of the medium, having lost the Australian vice-captaincy all the way back in 2000 when he admitted to exchanging “a bit of dirty talk” with a nurse he met in a Leicester nightclub.
In total, the tabloids would expose him in a further seven sexting scandals, which must be a record.
His marriage to the long-suffering Simone survived several of them because Shane always persuaded her to take him back.
But in 2007 he well and truly blew it, when he sent a message intended for his mistress to Simone, telling her: “Hey beautiful, I’m just talking to my kids, the back door’s open”.
Following his divorce, Shane shacked up with Liz Hurley. They even got engaged but it was only a matter of time before Warney would succumb to his old ways, informing a businesswoman that he would “like to see you riding me” via WhatsApp.
And he was still at it last year, telling a married woman, “I can’t wait to devour you”. Got a feeling that won’t be the last time!