COMPLIANCE IN BOTH SPORTS AND BRIDGE

SHAME ON OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY – some members of the Football Team itself and certainly their Coach as well as the other involved miscreants who allowed such a catastrophe to happen.   Congratulations to the NCAA Compliance Committee for doing the opposite of what others might have chosen to hide under the same circumstances – and penalizing their heretofore respected great Head Football Coach Jim Tressel and forced him to resign for failing to live up to compliance regulations involving irregularities.   Contrary to public opinion, necessary rules are not meant to be broken – especially in this area.

Similarly, the playing of bridge (particularly at an international level and at a very visible venue) demands superior ethics and behavior — not an attitude which will allow one to sign one’s name on a compliance form (for whatever the restrictions are) but wildly and collectively, abandon its responsibility and darken the usual cherished awards ceremony for everyone in attendance as in the Women’s Bridge Shanghai incident.

Until tournament bridge actively prohibits its players from committing such heinous acts by strong discipline — opting instead to cater to shady politics and conniving by excusing such off-the-charts actions, bridge will never rise to the respect level that the game undeniably deserves and should enjoy.