Mlive.com's Printer-Friendly Page: "Darts player zeroes in on $1 million
Saturday, April 22, 2006
By Bob Becker
Press Sports Editor
GRAND RAPIDS -- Dave DePriest may one day be a world champion, but he won't call himself an athlete.
'I used to be an athlete,' DePriest, 32, said this week, talking about his black belt in the martial art of shorinryu. 'There was one point where I won 22 tournaments in a row. But what I'm doing now can't be compared to dunking a basketball or running a marathon.'
Early in March, the Grand Rapids man topped a field of 197 dart-throwing competitors in Chicago to win the Midwest Regional. Twelve regional winners nationwide are in the field for the World Series of Darts, set for May 19-21 at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut.
The event is being co-sponsored by ESPN, which will telecast it nationally, and first prize could be as high as $1 million.
'I would call darts a sport, but those who play aren't what we think of as athletes,' DePriest went on. 'There are many sports when you just can't make it because you aren't big enough or strong enough.
'But in darts, you can get to any level you want because there are no physical limitations. You need good hand-eye coordination, accuracy. You have to be able to focus.'"
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