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Darts and the World's Strongest Man

Witty blog by the Guardian's Martin Kelner on British TV sports coverage over the Christmas break...

It's all over now - Phil 'The Power' Taylor takes his 14th title - as Sid Waddell might say it's like taking candy from a big fat Dutch guy. 109.75 is his 3 dart average - a new record for all tournaments.

The crowd erupts and everybody's very happy - even Barney looks relieved for it to be over - he was getting a big shoeing there.

Crowd now chanting "There's only one Phil Taylor". Barney remains in trouble - he's really only getting the big shots in on his legs and can't take much off Taylor. at 5-1 in sets to Taylor and 1-1 in the 7th set it's not looking good for the Dutchman.

It's now 3-1 in sets to Taylor and this set is 2-2 with Barney having almost taken it 3-0. Barney throwing for the set but Taylor overtakes him and it's now 4-1 in sets - is Barney finished?

The great Sid Waddell

He's a Cambridge educated guy that worked with Michael Parkinson for quite a while. Wikipedia here has a bunch of other quotes.

11 darter from Barney - despite a maximum and huge ton 40s from Taylor. Great darts. 2 legs each in 4th set. Is Taylor now going to choke this?

Barney choking badly tonight - less than 25% checkout. Fortunately Taylor misses 3 checkouts in a row leaving Barney with a chance and gets back to 2-1 in sets. Despite playing like an amateur he's hanging on in there against some big stuff from Taylor.

Barnevald just seems to be chucking the darts randomly at the board right now, a bit like the amateur on Bullseye - he's not even close to the trip 20 half the time. Perhaps he's been paid to throw this?

More random Wadell: "With the heat he could generate he could throw daisies through a glacier"

Barnevald in really deep shit here - he's missed all his checkouts and therefore has lost the first two sets 3-0.

I'm watching this on Betfair's live video channel - a bloody good find for obscure events. However I'm spending more time watching the test card during the ad breaks than the darts.