Darts

As spectators of sport, I believe we often forget just how impressive the things we're watching actually are. Unless you've played the sport at a competitive level, it's difficult to truly understand. As many on here will already know, football is my favourite sport. I've loved it since I was a child and I fall for the sport more and more each year. Over the years, however, the demands that I place on players at my club have been pushed higher and higher. Many football fans will admit that they've spent time yelling at a player from the stands or in front of a television because he's apparently messed up something that he's expected to execute perfectly. Something that annoyed me for many years was when a player would make what was quite clearly, in my eyes, the wrong pass. I'd be infuriated that this professional footballer would be so stupid as to hinder his team in that moment. However, over the last couple of seasons, I've come to realise that I was the stupid person. You see, I'd spent years watching these games from an angle that gave me information that the players on the pitch didn't have. Watching a game on TV allows us to get an overhead view of the game. We can see almost all of the pitch at once, see where there are spaces to pass, and when a player is offside etc. This is the same experience in most areas of the stands, and you can actually see even more as you aren't restricted to wherever the camera operator decides to focus on. Yet, over the last two seasons, I have changed my seat at Anfield for Liverpool games. I'm now sat on either row 1 or 2, depending on the competition, and it's made me realise just how difficult football actually is. Instead of being above the players with a view of the entire pitch, I'm now at their level. No longer am I able to see the spaces available for a pass that were once so obvious to me. No longer can I clearly see if a player was offside or when a run should be made. Ultimately, it's made me realise just how talented these footballers are to do what they do and make it look so easy. That leads me on to another sport, or game if you think of it as that, and that's darts. I can't say that I've always been an avid darts fan, but I would watch it a lot with my grandfather at Christmas time when I was younger. Over the last couple of years, I've tuned in to watch the darts on a regular basis and found myself enjoying it a lot. However, it always looks incredibly easy on TV because you're watching the best of the best. I was humbled badly recently as I moved to a new apartment which happened to have a dart board set up in the living room. 'Awesome', I thought, before quickly realising that I was absolutely terrible. I've been here for around a month now and have played casually with friends almost every day, spending time on my own practising too. Although I am much better than I was, I now realise just how good the professionals I'm watching on TV are. The other day, I managed to hit my first 180 which felt good. I then went on to hit 3 doubles called out by my housemate in a row and I couldn't believe it. Yet, I came across the following video of my favourite darts player, Michael van Gerwen, and I couldn't believe what I was watching. 17 perfect darts! Agonisingly close to two perfect 9 dart finishes, but the fact that he is able to do this is awe-inspiring to me after playing for a month and realising how difficult this sport is. And that leads me on to me asking you if you've had any realisations about sport like this? Is there a moment in sporting history that you find unbelievable that perhaps goes unnoticed by others?