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George and I don’t play together very often. It’s better that way — we both need some sensitivity training. If you were with me before the break, you might remember that George agreed to play the Chicago Invitational Pairs with me in January, and that I was very nervous about it. We didn’t do very well, and it was almost entirely my fault. I lost my focus.
We’d run a few minutes late, as is occasionally the case, and George was hanging up coats or talking about his master-of-ceremonies gig at the upcoming banquet dinner or something. Nervous, I sat down at the table we’d been assigned; our opponents and their kibitzer were already seated. In general I refuse kibitzers at the table if I can do it at all politely; they make me nervous and interfere with my concentration. The woman was obviously the wife of one of the opponents, and I never dreamed of asking her to leave. The pair of old guys was familiar to me — maybe Shannon and I played them at the regional in October or something…
I said hello more cheerfully than I felt and started sorting a board into suits. “George’ll be here in a second,” I said. The one guy nodded at me and turned to his wife and said conspiratorially, by way of introduction, “George is a customer.” And with that one ridiculous remark, we had no chance to win the pair game on our wedding anniversary.
The same people Canadian TV called (in The Vince and Gavin video) Sponsors, this doofus was calling Customer. Like he knew what he was talking about. My outrage at the remark was first and foremost about the disrespect he intended to convey when he said it. See, the guys have been away from bridge for quite a while — a decade or so. They’re just dusting off their convention cards and coming back after working extra hours putting kids through college. Tournament bridge was different back when they were playing. There was some small stigma attached to having to hire bridge partners or teammates in order to win.
At some point during the last five to ten years, the pro-client climate changed fundamentally. Now, it’s nearly impossible for a team of all non-pros to win a major national or international title. Bridge in the 21st century is one of the professional sports. Like basketball. Or baseball. Nobody ever says “Jerry Reinsdorf, ha! Customer.” Or “Steinbrenner, the shmuck, has to hire that Jeter to play for him.” Like in the other sports, it sometimes takes more than money to attract and keep top bridge players. There are issues of friendship and loyalty, partnership and chemistry, professional history and personal affinity, all of which come into play. It was my incredible good fortune to be an inside observer for the nearly ten years George played with Alfredo and Lorenzo. My incredible good fortune … A lot of life passed while they were teammates — marriages, babies, wins and losses, visits here and trips there, and on top of it all, bridge experiences that were utterly spectacular.
So George came to the table that night, right after the moron made his rude remark. He sat down and was his completely charming, appealing self. He told a Ron Anderson story, treated the opponents and their kibitzer very nicely and was completely unaware that I was sitting there spitting mad, drafting all sorts of comments or remarks. What do you say to a guy who has so totally no clue?
We took most of the matchpoints that round.
When I told George about it after, he laughed. I’m still mad. 
April 24th, 2007 at 1:58 pm
Seems like George had it right, nothing you can do but laugh at ignorant people.
April 24th, 2007 at 4:48 pm
Ha ha ha, Justin you crack me up.
To Stacy’s point about the fading stigma associated with being a client: I think the stigma had to do mainly with the perception that clients with little or no expertise/aptitude for the game were being propelled to victory by pros.
As bridge has become more competitive, that perception has faded because now the client has to bring an A game to have a realistic chance to win a major event, regardless of how good the rest of their squad might be.
August 23rd, 2007 at 12:07 pm
Pretty cool stuff, Stacy. Got here by accident trying to research George’s aCBL record but it was worth the detour.
October 16th, 2007 at 4:10 am
[...] little double standard. Guys like Ray Lee and the ill-mannered opponent we discussed way back with customers come to mind. My response to that, by the way: [...]