BullShooter Magazine August 2019 Number 8 Volume 36 | Page 15

I think that really got me men-
tally prepared for The BullShooter
Finals, in Chicago.
Pacer: That was definitely a
fine tune up and you didn’t slow
down one bit in Chicago. You
ended up with championships
in The Top Gun Mixed Triples,
with Heidi Schraeder and Marc
Marchesani, Men’s 501 Doubles
with Marc, Mixed Cricket
Doubles with Paula Murphy and
took 2nd in the Mixed Triples
701 with Heidi and Marc. There’s
not much I can add to that but
wow!
Connor: It was really an experi-
ence. I got the opportunity to meet
so many top level players and it was
amazing to get praised by players
who have accomplished so much. I
was very pleased with my play but
getting so much recognition can be
a blessing and a curse.
Pacer: Well Connor, I know
you set goals, but I doubt if you
ever set one to have a bullseye
on your back, but that is what
performance like that does. The
days of you showing up to a tour-
nament unnoticed are probably
over.
Connor: (Laughing) Let me tell
you something humorous that hap-
pened to me in Chicago. The first
night I was working on getting pre-
pared mentally for the weekend and
I was watching this guy who was
throwing some really good darts. I
went up and challenged him and we
ended up playing for quite awhile.
It turned out to be that I had chal-
lenged Danny Baggish and it ended
up costing me a few $20 bills. (Both
laughing)
Pacer: The odds on that hap-
pening were about as crazy as
you drawing your own part-
ner for the Blind Draw in
Pittsburgh. Danny won the AA-A
Pro Cricket Mixed Doubles with
Paula Murphy and you won the
Mixed Cricket Doubles with her.
Connor: Isn’t that hard to believe.
Let me tell you about Paula. I don’t
have words to describe what an
absolute gem of a person Paula is.
She was absolutely wonderful to
play with, the whole event.
Pacer: I understand that Mike
Maloney set you and Paula up.
That guy has put more champi-
onship teams together than
anybody, it’s just amazing.
Connor: Tom, he just does it
out of friendship. He also set
me and Marc up with Heidi
and we played two great events
together. Marc and I made a
point to keep Mike in drink
tickets over the weekend. I also
want to thank Dirty Jersey
Darts who has been great and
L Style who I just signed with. I
also have to thank Darin Young
who always has the time to talk
about the game. Also, players
like Jim Widmeyer who made
me get better by beating me so
much and Bobby Freeman who
was my first mentor and gave
me the goal of being able to
compete with an accomplished
dart thrower. We really get into
it when we play. If you didn’t
know us and listened to how we
bad mouth and rag each other,
you’d think we were going to
fist fight, but nothing could be
farther from the truth.
Pacer: Connor, before we
wrap this up, do you have a
home dart bar?
Connor: I play at Anet’s Pub
which is my local bar of choice.
I also play a Singles league at
Pat’s Bar, which my parents
used ot go to, over thirty years
ago. Last but not least, thanks
for calling me.
Pacer: Connor continues to
set and exceed his darting
goals. However, like a typi-
cal mother his mom wasn’t
entirely comfortable all the
time her son was putting
into his extreme pastime.
After he returned from Chicago
with a bunch of trophies and a
handful of checks, even she had
to agree that there just might be
something to these darts.
Pacer
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