November 2019 - 7

➺ InBox
Going green

I am in total agreement with Barbara
Morin's letter in the August issue. We
need to stop providing disposable cups
at games. To promote the culture of
not using disposables, I suggest that
the "gift" at registration at regionals
and nationals should be travel mugs or
ceramic coffee cups. Section tops can
get the same.
To save paper, we should not provide
blank convention cards for players to
score games. Ninety percent of players come with a convention card filled
out, and use the blank convention
cards only to keep score. The front part
is rarely used. We can use a separate
score sheet for pair games, printed for
scoring on both sides, like we do for
team games. It could be designed as a
thinner sheet, printed both sides, with
scoring for 14 boards on each side.
Let's save some trees!
ARUN SAVARA
Honolulu HI

Not my problem

I disagree with Barbara Morin's
assertion that bridge players "have a
duty to protect the environment." As
a bridge player, I have no duty at all
except to abide by the rules of the game
and by ACBL rules if I happen to be a
member.
CYNTHIA BENTON
Fort Worth TX

Looking back

I played in ACBL games from 1964 to
2002. I read Simon Cocheme's "Advances in Bridge" to try to gauge how
much the game has changed. Some of
the things that went away during the
time I played: ashtrays and "Please do
not smoke at this table signs"; traveling score slips that frequently made
the scoring complicated at the end of
the night (I was a director for about 25

Letters to the Editor

years); masterpoint rating slips to mail
in (I still have about 20 points I was
saving to go over 1000 points); men's
pairs and men's team games.
Some things that seem to have
changed: It appears to me that the
average age is much higher and if true,
I wonder why. Even Goren bridge was
a little daunting to new players. Could
it be the professionalism of even club
games is frightening? Maybe interest
in video/online stuff is keeping them
away: I was the faculty adviser to a
games club for 10 years and could not
get students interested in learning
backgammon, chess or bridge. None
of these changes made me stop, but I
have stopped playing basketball and
volleyball.
CARLSON YOST
Portsmouth OH

Soccer update

Having just started playing bridge
this past November, I have nothing
even remotely intelligent to contribute
about the game. However, as an avid
soccer fan, I was surprised by Simon
Cocheme's assertion in his "Advances
in Bridge" article that nothing has
changed since the 1950s in that game.
Many new formations, the offside rule,
the use of substitutes, incidences of
handball, the back-pass rule, formations of walls, are just a few examples
of the many laws of soccer that have
changed or evolved in the last years.
The comment that technology isn't
used is also incorrect. All the major
European leagues (with the exception of the English, which is initiating
it this season) have been using Video
Assisted Review to help referees. And
even in England, goal line technology
has been in place for a couple of years.
This is on top of all the technology used
to monitor player fitness, injuries, etc.

Maybe my insights into bridge and
Mr. Cocheme's into soccer are two of a
kind?
PAVLOS ALEXANDRAKIS
New York NY

Why I don't play rubber bridge

The odds on getting dealt a yarborough (no card higher than a 9) is 1827
to 1. So, sitting South in the regional
open pairs at the recent Las Vegas
NABC on July 23, I was only slightly
surprised when, on Board 19, I was
dealt:
♠7 4 3 ♥7 6 4 2 ♦9 8 7 4 ♣4 2.
However, the next round, on Board
21, I held:
♠9 2 ♥9 5 4 2 ♦7 6 5 4 2 ♣9 3.
What are the odds of getting two yarboroughs in one session? Should I ask
for a partial refund of my entry fee?
Things, however, improved. In the
next round (Board 24), I held:
♠9 7 2 ♥7 6 ♦9 8 7 4 2 ♣Q 5 4.
And the following round, on Board
26, my card holding shot all the way up
to:
♠J 7 4 2 ♥9 4 3 ♦Q 8 4 ♣10 9 6.
JOE KIVEL
Newport Coast CA

A salute to Eldon

Several years ago, I was appointed
tournament chair for the Williamsburg
(VA) Regional and told that part of the
responsibility of the position was to attend Mid-Atlantic Bridge Conference
meetings. So I dutifully attended the
next MABC meeting, uninvited and
Letters to the editor are welcome by regular mail and email.
Brevity is considered a virtue, as is subject matter with relevance
to a majority of ACBL members. Unsigned letters are not
considered for publication, so please include your name and
hometown. Letters may be edited. All letters will receive a
response. Send emails to editor@acbl.org.

November 2019 Bridge Bulletin

7
November 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of November 2019
