Loading ...mixing metaphors
With a heartbreaker of a fourth quarter yesterday in White Plains, one of the most successful IMP-playing partnerships in American bridge is no more. When the Spingold kicks off in Washington this July, George will play with Norberto Bocchi; Ralph is going to partner Bart Bramley and Chris Compton’s slated to bat cleanup with Bocchi. Rates to be exciting — I am definitely going to enjoy my (wait for it … ) ringside seats for the action and fireworks.
Wait.
Remember last time I was courtside? Great big Celtic flopped in my lap. George — I love you, honey, but maybe I’ll watch from the cheap seats. Just in case.
Published by stacy on June 13th, 2009 tagged Bridge | 5 Comments »
hi from white plains
Stephen Garner. Photo by Peg Kaplan
Published by stacy on June 9th, 2009 tagged Bridge | 3 Comments »
the learning curve — year one
My dad was a plucky little Irishman as fiercely competitive as he was full of Blarney. As far as he was concerned, money wasn’t the goal of any exercise; it was just a convenient way of keeping score. “Either we make a lot of money,” he used to say with glee as he dove head first into a new program or project, “or we learn something.” Sometimes he made money (professional liability insurance for legal aid attorneys and public defenders, errors and omissions insurance for nonprofit boards of directors), sometimes he learned a lot (nobody is going to commute to work in a gyroplane).
Every time somebody compliments me on my healthy attitude at bridge, I say a silent thank you to Dad for cementing in my mind a worldview that allows for making lemonade from lemons. We either win, or we learn something; and as long as we’re learning something, we can’t lose — even if we don’t win. When everything is said and done at the end of the next cycle, I’ll have sponsored 21 professional women’s teams (and two or three open teams) in major International competitions. Four full cycles in the American Women’s division, three USBF Women’s Team Trials and two World Championships. It has been, I assure you, the education of a lifetime.
George had arranged but I had not yet started my first competitive cycle when we went to the 2005 Open European Championships in Tenerife. I played the Mixed Pairs with Italian superstar Claudio Nunes; it was great and terrifying. I wore a couple of cups of coffee and watched a good hand and my bidding box flutter to the ground when I had to learn the hard way where to put all the stuff on the table when we play behind screens. That critical lesson payed off immediately, because when the American bridge year began a month later and I played my first Wagar Women’s KO, we made it to the semi-finals. I had only one disaster with the screen, the tray and my lap in Atlanta, and it didn’t leave a stain. I was careful not to mistake luck and a favorable draw for anything but; it didn’t surprise or particularly bother me when the rest of that year was a bust, results-wise: we couldn’t qualify for day two to save our lives in Denver or Dallas.
My freshman year was long on “learn something.” The most valuable (expensive?) lesson from my freshman year was this: in some quarters, commitments are made to be broken. It could’ve happened to anyone; my team was evenly split with three professional players and three volunteers. When one of the volunteers got the offer of a lifetime, we all wished her well, understood when she couldn’t play the Spring NABC, and welcomed her back a tournament later. Here’s the problem: my phone rang with enthusiasm after Atlanta, pro pairs thinking I might set my volunteers aside. We turned everybody down — made a commitment to the team, after all — and only regretted it a little when we later had to shop for fill-ins for Dallas.
A tournament later my pro pair had to back out of the Team Trials when one of the players had a family conflict. Where a volunteer is free to come and go as she pleases, the same isn’t true for the folks getting paid. There’s a triple standard, to be sure: only volunteer teammates can come and go. When George’s father passed away suddenly and we had to miss the first several days of an NABC, there were checks to write even though we hadn’t been able to play. Client’s got family conflict? Bummer. Don’t forget to sign the checks. Player can’t make it? Good luck finding a fill-in. There aren’t generally consequences for pros who can’t keep commitments, except perhaps opportunities which evaporate before they ever materialize. It didn’t take much of my freshman year before I learned to evaluate prospective professional players by many factors, including the record with which they have kept or broken professional commitments.
Best practice advisory, from one sponsor to another: don’t forget to discuss financial arrangements if circumstances make your attendance at a tournament impossible. Will your teammates agree to make up the missed date with other (usually regional) work? Should they play without you, 4- or 5-handed? Should they look for other work? You might not have to pay the full fee if your teammates get another gig — as long as you’ve discussed it in advance. As always, YMMV.
Tomorrow, lessons from my sophomore season: three nines, going minus and an idea that seemed so good. At the time.
Published by stacy on June 9th, 2009 tagged A Client's View, Bridge | 2 Comments »
brutal in the backdraw
George and company qualified for the backdraw, a disappointing finish to a match that George and Ralph kicked off with such success. The bye was no favor, with all three teams who dropped into the Round of 16 failing to advance in the race for USA1. Diamond, Jacobs, Strul, Cohler and McKellar now join the backdraw-swiss qualifiers (Beatty, Nussbaum, Blanchard, Lewis and Cole) and continue the fight for Sao Paolo.
Published by stacy on June 8th, 2009 tagged Bridge | 1 Comment »
throw strikes!
News from the front: George was up 16 when he and Ralph retired last night. The opponents went something like 35 IMPS unanswered in the first set today and so now we’re down 20-ish.
If only bridge were like baseball and the manager could take a trip to the mound to give some much-needed advice: Throw strikes!