In the beginning was Axén.
The former football coach who became a TV expert and football media Leif GW Persson said during the just concluded world championship about Andreas “Dirty Harry” Harrysson in Aftonbladet:
“There has started to be a real darts fever in Sweden and he is behind it.”
That was an unusual one and an unnecessary touch of humility on Alexander Axén’s part.
In order for a sport, or something else in society, to gain interest, it helps if the right person(s) appeals to the right target group.
The football podcasts are a good place for nerds. If you get something to take root there, you can count on an intense blossoming of interest among both podcasters and listeners.
That was what Alexander Axén did when he managed to spread his interest in darts. He has been as important to darts as the journalist Göran Zachrisson once was to golf.
During the WC, I suddenly heard men on the right and left talking about darts in the same way that men (un)normally talk about how to make the perfect carbonara.
It didn’t sound like talk about sports. It was improvisational theater where sportsmanship was dressed up as an art form. There was talk of the nearest pub where you could throw darts.
It doesn’t have to be a pasta with poetry, passion and perfectionism in the recipe
Of course, many women watch darts and of course there are as many women as men who make carbonara, but then it is meant to be a good dish. That’s enough.
It doesn’t have to be a pasta with poetry, passion and perfectionism in the recipe. Cream in the carbonara? Seriously…
People close to me have been aware of darts for a while.
Good neighbors, of course. The breadth of his sporting interest is hard to beat, but he doesn’t go on missions.
When the Swedes began to rave about the US Masters in golf a few years ago, he had long since seen all the competition days since Augusta’s major could be seen on television in Sweden.
Whenever I mess up and asks if we’re going to meet, he might be in a snooker drama.
That “GG” during the darts World Cup in Alexandra Palace thought we should celebrate next Christmas in “Ally Pally” was completely logical.
The silence that meets me is like I spilled a splash of cream in the carbonara
The “dog man” in my coffee group has a younger interest in darts, but when he and “GG” get lost in darts, throws and numbers, it’s always time to break in with:
“But they only throw arrows.”
The speaking silence that meets me is as if I spilled a splash of cream in the carbonara.
The dog man belongs to that kind of geek who likes to buy stuff. No need for new arrows? That particular need to buy has been quite collective lately.
Me and another friend, Norrmannen, have plans to build an altar where the Dogman can have and honor his running watch.
My attraction to ski shops is not entirely healthy
I don’t need to say that “GG”, the Norwegian and the Dogman belong to the family that spends Sunday evenings watching American football.
For the Good Neighbor it is there nor any new invention. He saw his first live game with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers…
… “10/27 1991. Cod 27-0 vs. Green Bay Packers” comes unhealthily quickly in a swirling mess when I ask and you have to give him that he’s not a die-hard supporter. He is at SSK.
I have no problem understanding the dog man’s shopping spree. My attraction to ski shops is not entirely healthy. Almost on par with the magnetic power commercial gardens have on a woman in my absolute vicinity.
On the way home from the season’s first ski trip, my son and I stopped at McDonald’s to eat and watch “Dirty Harry’s” Round of 16 match in the WC.
Previously I had only seen glimpses and summaries of darts, mostly with Luke “The Nuke” Littler. To hook the Axén-Zachrisson connection, Luke Littler has done for darts what Tiger Woods once did for golf. A phenomenon the sport has never experienced that spreads its name far beyond its sport.
With a Big Mac (it still works) in hand I saw for the first time a darts match from the start and it was initially difficult to get rid of that:
“But they only throw arrows.”
After all, it is the audience in “Ally Pally” that makes the Darts WC special.
All sports that have something to do with something can become interesting and if you have someone to hold onto automatically increases interest and sure, it was exciting to see Andreas Harrysson shake world number five Jonny Clayton, but it is the audience in “Ally Pally” that makes the Darts World Cup special, but not so special that my interest in the championship was ignited after Harrysson’s hope for victory was extinguished.
And that’s exactly what makes today’s sports landscape fantastic.
You can skip any number of sports, competitions, teams and stars.
There is still as much as you like to choose from.
During each Winter Olympics, for example, the interest in curling usually has the potential to reach the fever level where darts has just been.
But that sport would – just like all minor sports – need an Alexander Axén.
Read more texts by Johan Esk here
