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I was just looking over a list of pro dart player nicknames and realized that because I'm late to the whole following the pros thing, I don't know where a lot of these come from. I do know the Adrian Lewis "jackpot" story, I know why Brendal Dolan's nickname is "The History Maker," some are self-explanatory (Frosty the Throw Man, Chizzy, Big Ben, Bronzed Adonis, etc.), but others are a complete mystery to me and most of my searches on the subject came up dry.
Would those of you who know how players wound up with their nicknames be kind enough to fill me in on whatever ones you know? Some look like they were assigned by sponsors, others were clearly chosen by the player, but I either way there are a lot which really have me curious.
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Someone from Sky Sports gave Taylor his nickname "The Power" after apparently stepping on an empty CD case by Snap! "The Power".
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Any specific players you are curious about?
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10-20-2016, 06:04 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-20-2016, 06:06 PM by Berlin180.)
(10-20-2016, 04:39 PM)mc1958 Wrote: Any specific players you are curious about?
A lot of them, but in the spirit of the question the ones which immediately jump to mind are Winstanley, Ian White, Nicholson, Mensur S, Fitton, Price and Warriner (since they both use "The Iceman"), Manley, and Michael Smith. I'd have to check the list for others, but these are the ones which jumped out at me when I read your question.
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(10-20-2016, 04:37 PM)Great White North Wrote: Someone from Sky Sports gave Taylor his nickname "The Power" after apparently stepping on an empty CD case by Snap! "The Power".
Thanks, that was one of the big ones on my list, much appreciated.
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From memory Nicholson's comes from his time over in Australia where someone suggested he would be an asset to the game.
Fitton's is probably just from his name Darryl - that and Darren often get abbreviated to Daz, extend it and you get Dazzler.
Not sure about the others but could hazard a guess at some - Deano because he is completely OTT, White after the drink Diamond White, Manley as he only needed one dart to get a double.
I know you haven't asked about them but Mark Hylton is called Mile High as he used to be an air steward, and Peter Wright is called Snakebite as I believe that is his favourite drink (a mixture of lager and cider)
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Jamie Caven is called Jabba because he is diabetic and needs several insulin jabs each day
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Quick google search and it seems that Michael Smith is called Bully Boy as he used to work on a cow farm and was wrestling a calf so one of his mates called him a bully. Apparently the calf won lol.
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(10-20-2016, 06:27 PM)mc1958 Wrote: From memory Nicholson's comes from his time over in Australia where someone suggested he would be an asset to the game.
Fitton's is probably just from his name Darryl - that and Darren often get abbreviated to Daz, extend it and you get Dazzler.
Not sure about the others but could hazard a guess at some - Deano because he is completely OTT, White after the drink Diamond White, Manley as he only needed one dart to get a double.
I know you haven't asked about them but Mark Hylton is called Mile High as he used to be an air steward, and Peter Wright is called Snakebite as I believe that is his favourite drink (a mixture of lager and cider)
Thanks for this. I never would have guessed Fitton because I'm still not used to the Brit frequent use of 'z's in nicknames (Gazza, Duzza, etc) and never knew that Darren was often abbreviated to Daz (this is the first I've ever heard that). On this side of the ocean we have a different way of doing that, arguably even more annoying: if Fitton were famous over here the media would probably call him "D-Fit" (as in A-Rod, I-Rod, J-Lo, that sort of thing).
Also, as a beer-only drinker I had never even heard of drinks called Diamond White or Snakebite, so I never would have guessed those either (and my failure to specify Wright was an oversight, but thanks for the Hylton one, too).
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Andy "The Pie Man" Smith is pretty self explanatory since he looks like he diets of pies.
Paul "The Asset" Nicholson should change his nickname to something similar-----yeah that one.
Darryl "Super Chin" Gurney-----also self explanatory since if he was a boxer he'd have a bullseye on that big chin of his.
Ted "The Count" Hankey since he likes to come out in a cape once in a while looking like Dracula
John "Darth Maple" Part since he is from Canada and the Maple leaf is their national flag symbol.
Simon "The Wizzard of Oz" Whitlock, also pretty self explanatory.
"Big" John Henderson, no argument here.
Just a few off the top of my head.
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About Gurney, heard him say he was not happy with his nickname. His "manager" made him use that name and because he pays for everything Gurney is not allowed to change it. (According to Gurney in an interview with the Dutch tv)
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(10-20-2016, 07:07 PM)gumbo2176 Wrote: Andy "The Pie Man" Smith is pretty self explanatory since he looks like he diets of pies.
Paul "The Asset" Nicholson should change his nickname to something similar-----yeah that one.
Darryl "Super Chin" Gurney-----also self explanatory since if he was a boxer he'd have a bullseye on that big chin of his.
Ted "The Count" Hankey since he likes to come out in a cape once in a while looking like Dracula
John "Darth Maple" Part since he is from Canada and the Maple leaf is their national flag symbol.
Simon "The Wizzard of Oz" Whitlock, also pretty self explanatory.
"Big" John Henderson, no argument here.
Just a few off the top of my head.
Thanks. Having seen some of Nicholson's antics as a player I can see why he has a lot of detractors, but I really do enjoy his podcasts, and now that he's shedded the stupid WWE "bad boy" schtick I hope he makes a comeback.
I knew the Hankey one but failed to mention it, sorry. You're right, some of the others are self-explanatory, and some I was originally mystified by but figured out after a few seconds of thought (like why Mark Webster is called "The Spider"), but some still leave me wondering.
To an earlier post about Winstanley, I asked about him because the name reminded me of that awful Stallone armwrestling movie (for those who haven't seen it, I urge you not to, it's the sort of movie that the CIA uses at remote sites to extract information from prisoners).
While I'm thinking of it, why is James Wade "The Machine?" Is it because of an answer which suggests itself along the lines of machine-like precision in his throws, or is there actually anything else behind it?
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I --- AM --- STILL --- ON --- A --- PRO --- LIST --- !!!
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(10-20-2016, 07:30 PM)Berlin180 Wrote: Thanks. Having seen some of Nicholson's antics as a player I can see why he has a lot of detractors, but I really do enjoy his podcasts, and now that he's shedded the stupid WWE "bad boy" schtick I hope he makes a comeback.
I knew the Hankey one but failed to mention it, sorry. You're right, some of the others are self-explanatory, and some I was originally mystified by but figured out after a few seconds of thought (like why Mark Webster is called "The Spider"), but some still leave me wondering.
To an earlier post about Winstanley, I asked about him because the name reminded me of that awful Stallone armwrestling movie (for those who haven't seen it, I urge you not to, it's the sort of movie that the CIA uses at remote sites to extract information from prisoners).
While I'm thinking of it, why is James Wade "The Machine?" Is it because of an answer which suggests itself along the lines of machine-like precision in his throws, or is there actually anything else behind it?
As far as Wade is concerned, you are correct in your assumption as that is what I've been led to believe by all the commentators. The guy doesn't really get rattled and just comes back at his opponents like some sort of dart throwing android with little to no emotion when playing.
I think Michael "Bully Boy" Smith should change his name to "Aw, gee, not again, I hate my life and throwing darts is too much pressure"
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Wade used to be called 009 before the Machine as he used to hit a few 9 darters
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