And so onto the stage arrived the latest teenage sporting sensation. The sudden, improbable and staggering emergence of Luke Littler at the PDC World Darts Championship last week gave the sports world that sweet, sweet injection of its favourite sugar rush: a previously unknown teenager bursting onto the scene in a brilliantly effortless, refreshingly cool blaze of glory. Littler made winning look easy while also just being a normal teenager. He celebrated by buying takeaways and staying up to play on his Xbox. He almost became the world champion on his Ally Pally debut. Did that really just happen? Was it all a dream?
But what the 16-year-old’s explosion onto the scene was a reminder of is the unstoppable and irreversible power of hype in sport. The thing about Luke Littler now is he’s a once-in-a-generation talent. He’s going to be the greatest player the world has ever seen. He will win the World Darts Championships 47 times. No one knows what will happen but it doesn’t mean people won’t try to predict it. And while it can be hard to not get carried away while high on the excitement, it takes much longer for those expectations to come down once they hit the ceiling.
