I've been following the World Darts Championship this year, the evening sessions starting at 7pm London time puts them right in my afternoon working-from-home/watching tv schedule. I havent watched much of the darts since I left the UK, so I'm catching up. Most of the players I used to watch are either commentating now, or have had their inevitable heart attack and died in the years I missed out on. Or have been fired from commentating for making crass statements about child abuse, Eric Bristow was always a dickhead.
Best game I've seen so far:
John "The Highlander" Henderson v Andrew "Gold Finger" Gilding
John Henderson may be the fatest "sportsman" in the world (non-Sumo category). Joe Cullen v Corey Cadby started at an amazing scoring pace, Cadby looks like he'll be around for a while, and he also looks like somebody who'll be easy to dislike.
I'll be cheering for reigning World Champion Gary "The Flying Scotsman" Anderson and Peter "Snakebite" Wright. Less so for Wright because he's Scottish, but he seems like a bit of a dick. So long as it's not Phil "The Power" Taylor, I'll be happy.
My tips for upcoming lesser-seen World Sports:
1. The Four Hills Ski Jumping Tournament. According to my German friend, this tournament on tv is a German/Austrian holiday tradition. Starts on Dec 30th and runs for a week over two German and two Austrian hills, it's on Universal HD and live streaming on the NBC Sports app.
2. The New Year Basho - First of the year's 6 Sumo tournaments. Runs January 8th to 22nd, NHK World shows a nightly 20-minute highlights show. It's like the darts, but semi-naked.