SPECIAL GAMES
Club Games
Christmas Eve Wed 12/24
SJBC 10:30 AM OPEN
SJBC 7PM CLOSED
Oakwood 7:30PM CLOSED
Christmas Day Thu 12/25
SJBC
10:30AM & 7PM CLOSED
New
Year’s Eve Wed 12/31
SJBC 10:30AM OPEN
SJBC 7:00PM CLOSED
Oakwood 7:30PM CLOSED
Charlie Dorn Champs
Tue 1/25 10:30AM SJBC
Special Unit Games
Wine & Cheese Game
Sat 1/31 7PM SJBC
Pro-Am Game
Sun 2/29 12 Noon SJBC
MiniMcKinney-AoC
Sun 3/7 12 Noon SJBC
NAOP
District Qualifying
Sat
1/3-Sun 1/4 Oakland
Monterey Regional
Mon
1/5-Sun 1/11
Most club games: OPEN
WHAT’S INSIDE?
Prez Sez 1
Dietz 3
Masthead 3
Top Ten 3
I know that I said in a previous column that I wasn't going to mention this again, but did you happen to read Barbara Sonsini's Palo Alto column in the November issue of the "Forum"? In that column she said, and I quote: "...since we renewed our lease there's been no interesting mail. That includes no invites for that intra-district team rematch with San Jose. They must be terribly intimidated by all our stunning results at this summer's regional." To this I must add we were stunned when we finished the last team competition with Palo Alto. As you all must remember, the score was Santa Clara Valley 5, Palo Alto 0. Isn't the proper protocol for the loser to challenge the winner to a rematch? Am I missing something here? We are the champs!
Hope you all enjoyed STAC week, and had the opportunity to attend our Holiday party. So, which turkey did you like better? The food was great, as were the deserts. I went an extra mile with my dog this morning in order to work off the great amount of great food that I consumed. Thanks go to Gigi for the great organization, Lynn Yokel for arranging for the room, Art Fonda for picking up the ham, Panette Talia for barbecuing the turkey that Ray Yuenger was supposed to bake (and that's another column-- something about the charcoal wouldn't stay lit), and to everyone that brought a culinary delight and especially to Will Watson, who directed the game for us.
The Holiday
Party event winners (everyone! that was a great feed) were North-South 1st
in A were Ken Kenfield and yours truly, 1st in B went to Billie
Mechanic and Helen Mitchell and 1st in C to Gabrielle Pani and Judy
Clark. In the East West directions 1st in A were Gigi Spinazze and
Wayne Stuart, 1st in B were Rajeev Gupta and Vandana Vidwans and 1st
in C went to Sherry Waki and Eileen Edwards. In the Non-Life-Master game, 1st
overall were Dick Pitzer and Bill Garfield. In the under 50 1st
overall went to Gail Meikie and Donna Webb. (Donna, could you coach Neil a
little?) In the under 20 group we had a tie for 1st between Patricia Yelvington and Jan Kiernan
and Dick Pitzer and Bill Garfield. Way to go! The results can be seen
online at our Web site: http://www.sjbridge.org
We have scheduled three Unit games to start off 2004, and they are as
follows:
January 31: A wine
and cheese party
February 29: A
Pro-Am game
March
7: Ace of Clubs/Mini McKinney Award Game
Watch for postcard
with the time of each event. By the way, for those that don't know, you win
extra points at Unit Games...kind of like Club Championships!
Well, that's it for
now, and as always, I look forward to seeing all of you at the tables.That's it for this month, so I'll see ya at the
tables.
Conscience
Court by Bill Langlois
As most of you know, the league has adopted a policy of Zero Tolerance toward bad behavior at the table. For the record, I’m squeamish about ZT. First of all, it’s been a debacle in other settings. A schoolboy was suspended for brining a paring knife to peel his apple at lunch. At another school a girl got into trouble for giving a friend a Midol (We have to keep these drug pushers off campus!). In our context, it fails to take account of the fact that bridge, played well, involves a high level of pressure. Emotional reactions to sudden disasters are only human. In my opinion, our goal should be to keep them rare, brief, and quickly apologized for.
Nevertheless, the league had to do something. Not too many years ago, rude behavior toward partners and opponents was epidemic, and many quit playing in our games because of it. ZT may be an overreaction, but the mechanisms we have to implement it are not. If you are a victim of rudeness, you needn't -- shouldn't -- take it passively.
In extreme or habitual situations, the unit will organize a hearing before a disciplinary committee – that’s my job. However, it should seldom come to this. Two other levels are available to you.
If the rudeness is severe or prolonged, call the director, even if you’re not the victim. (Attention experienced players! Protect our newcomers.) This will often be enough to correct the situation. If not, in the context of a club game, you still have appeal to the unit available. At other levels, analogous appeal mechanisms are in place.
Often, however, the best thing to do is to speak to the
Unit Recorder, and we have a good one. Based on my experiences, her services
aren’t used enough. Elsewhere in this issue, Carole describes her job. Do read
the article. By dealing with problems in a quiet, non-threatening way, Carole
can help prevent their recurrence long before things escalate to the level
where I handle it. Since the recorder has no disciplinary authority, you’re not
tattling, you’re helping someone avoid later trouble.
