Sky Sports 1, Thursday It was a night to get the beers in, put the phone on silent and settle into your favourite ass groove on the couch. Yes folks, thank God it's, em, Thursday, when the stationary sportsfan was presented with three options to pass the time.

Golf 's fifth major! A quarter-final of the greatest cup competition in the world! And the match an entire sport had been waiting for: Phil Taylor vs Raymond van Barneveld in Premier League Darts!

Of course, it was a line-up that could never live up to so many exclamation marks. We can excuse the golf, people who watch it on a Thursday either have far too much time on their hands or far too much money on a three-ball (ask your bookie). Meanwhile, the greatest load of balls in the world rounded off its four-night stint on the BBC and Sky with a scoreless draw between . . . ah, who cares. It was the darts that came closest, at least creating a genuine sense of occasion.

Unlike the FA Cup, BBC and Sky haven't been able to share darts. Raymond van Barneveld used to be the main man on the BBC, winning four world championships. But after losing in the final this year he switched over to Sky.

This provides the opportunity to answer what has been a classic pub argument. Would Phil Taylor (who has won 13 world championships, mostly on Sky) be as dominant if he had Barney to contend with?

Thursday night was their first competitive meeting.

Over 3,000 people crammed into an arena in Bournemouth with tickets allegedly being sold for 400 quid sterling a pair.

Because of the convoluted league system, Barney had to play one of the sport's lesser lights in the opening match. Peter 'One Dart' Manley waddled out to the strains of '(Is this the way to) Amarillo?'; bet there were a few gutted faces when he bagsied that one for his entrance music.

The commentators didn't expect an awful lot from Manley: "He's had a long drive from Carlisle to Bournemouth."

They didn't get an awful lot either, as Manley lost 8-3 in the best of 14 sets game.

In the process, Barney managed a nine-dart finish, a feat rarer than dartboards in Dublin pubs.

The crowd went nuclear, and On the Air must admit to spilling some of its pie and mash when he nailed the double 12. Was Taylor watching? As commentator Sid Waddell put it, "Tennessee Williams couldn't have written a better script."

Waddell, a smart guy with an exceptional knowledge of the game, can be tremendously irritating to listen to. When he talks like a human, he's a joy. But his default setting now seems to be some kind of angry monkey/distressed elephant hybrid that makes you want to throw a dartboard at the television. The best fun to be had was watching the golf while the rest of the undercard was on and flicking back occasionally trying to catch him in midsentence: ". . . when the head of Gotham City has to sit in the stalls, " ". . .Gordon Brown has put a tax on chopsticks, " and my personal favourite, ". . . may your cheddar always stay moist."

Finally it was time for The Showdown: The Power vs The Man. Not the best of nicknames for Van Barneveld admittedly.

Presumably he wanted to get one that was a bit more serious than 'Barney' and saw a play on Van the Man.

But nobody on Sky uses the Van part of his name, so next to fellow players 'Jaws', 'Hawaii 501' and 'The Tripod', 'The Man' just sounded rubbish. Spot the new kid.

After the ad break, Sky guided us through a timeline of iconic moments in history. Man landing on the moon (in the general sense, not Barney), the fall of the Berlin Wall, that sort of thing, before asking "will you remember where you were when you saw Taylor play Barneveld?". For all its snigger-worthy bombast though, by this point the atmosphere was oozing out of the television. The two lads took to the stage as if it were a heavyweight boxing match. Barney went up first, looking genuinely overwhelmed. When Taylor made it up, the crowd who had gathered around the stage refused to go back to their seats. This was it, they were witnessing history.

Did it live up to it? No. In fairness, Ali v Tyson in their prime couldn't have lived up to that sort of hype.

Barney went 3-1 up, but a 120 and then 95 finish from Taylor made it 3-3 at the interval. After that, Barney's form deserted him and Taylor opened up a 7-4 lead. Knowing he couldn't be beaten, Taylor relaxed, allowing the Dutchman to win the last three legs. A draw, 7-7. It was a thrilling finish, and a fitting result, but somehow left me feeling a little cheated that, after investing so much, myself and the lads would have to do it all over again to find a winner. "I never realised a draw could happen in a game of darts, " said a clearly drained Van Barneveld. You haven't known your new employers that long, have you Barney?