Team SEWA World! - Pacmania II

dart_talker writes "To start I would like to thank everyone that had a part in making Pacmania I ($30,000 Steel-tip Tournament), and Pacmania II ($100,000 Steel-tip Tournament) happen! Both of these tournaments were wonderful events for darts players. I guess I mean, just how often do the top players in North America have a chance to compete in an event on their home soil where they have a real potential to make a profit from their efforts. However I am getting a bit ahead of myself. The story of “Pacmania Dart Tournaments” starts with Manny Pacquiao.

Manny Pacquiao is arguably the best pound for pound champion boxer active in the sport of boxing today. However that may not be what makes him important in the eyes of most avid darters these days. What darters see is a man who can change the face and fortunes of darts in the USA, and perhaps the world. Manny Pacquiao came to my attention due to his involvement in darts, not that I wouldn’t have discovered his skill at boxing, but boxing has been in a rather sorry state of affairs for a while now that it has not warranted much of my full attention. The point is however that it is unique for a major celebrity to make such a prominent public display of his enjoyment of darts, and it is Manny’s love for darts that caught my attention.

I discovered that Manny loved darts during one of my routine searches for information about what’s going on in the world of darts. It came to me in the form of an announcement of Manny’s “P2-million Manny Pacquiao International Darts Classic” on Dec. 12, 2008 in General Santos City in the Philippines (http://darttalk.blogspot.com/2008/11/manny-pacquiao-p2-million-international.html). From that point on I had to know more about this Manny Pacquiao fellow and why he was doing so much for darters. In delving more deeply into the question “Who is Manny Pacquiao?” I found that he was a great talented boxer and humanitarian. I also found out that he enjoyed darts (http://darttalk.blogspot.com/2009/03/mario-lopez-with-manny-pacquiao-darts.html). It would take a few months for me to discover just how much he loved the game.

Over the next few months I would learn more about Manny Pacquiao, and his boxing history as well as his plans to fight Ricky Hatton. In the many videos that I saw of his fights I came to see that Manny was a man truly dedicated to his sport. I would also learn that he is dedicated to darts and wants to be player. I read stories that he played darts after training for his fights in order to maintain a sharp focus. I then found videos of him shooting darts with friends in his Los Angeles apartment after training for his fight, and I knew that this guy was addicted to darts. How much did he love to play darts? I would soon find out.

While most boxers’ pre fight publicity is mainly about them bad mouthing their opponents and the weigh-ins are mostly loud contentious affairs. This was not the case for Manny Pacquiao. He actually went to London for a game of darts against Ricky Hatton! Well he lost that encounter, but it was the start of a Manny Pacquiao darts winning streak in the hearts of many dart players This streak started with the announcement of “Pacmania I ($30,000 Steel-tip Tournament - http://darttalk.blogspot.com/2009/03/manny-pac-man-pacquiao-dart-tournament.html)” which was hosted at the Wilshire Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles California. This would be the start unique opportunity for most dart players in North America, despite the fact that “Pacmania I” was on the same date as the 40th Annual Oregon Open.
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