July 27th, 2012 ~ Judy Kay-Wolff ~ 38 Comments 
For those of you who have not read (or do not remember) Bobby’s candid recall of days gone by in
“The Lone Wolff,” I’d like to focus on an unbelievably clever way of raping one’s opponents in such a clandestine manner and .. had Bobby not gotten wind of it .. it might still be in existence. This is an excerpt from Chapter XV – leading up to the subject story which I find absolutely fascinating in a gross sort of way.
“…….Professionals make many positive contributions to the game. That said, there are some dark sides to that scene, particularly at levels where the pressure to win seems overwhelming and success, at any cost, is the singular objective!”
“There have long been stories of pros meeting each other in the restrooms during tournaments to exchange information. Player A has already played Boards 7 and 8, for example, and he knows that every card is lying right for a 25-point grand slam on Board 7. It’s too late for Player A, but not for Player B, who hasn’t played Board 7 yet. Player B, meanwhile, knows that on another deal, a heart lead rather than the normal spade lead will defeat 3NT, so that information gets passed along. The matchpoints gained from these kinds of exchanges could be he different between third in the section and first – or even several places in the overall standings. This is reprehensible, but some competitors will give in to the pressure to win, especially when they are playing with weak players, and will look for whatever edge they can latch onto.”
“In the mid-nineties, I learned about another disgusting ‘technique,’ a private, surreptitious arrangement between contending teams: deliberately reporting incorrect scores, resulting in massive tampering with Victory Points For about a year or so, some of the professionals had been participating in a scheme amongst themselves, making deals that only the most devious of minds could have concocted. Here’s how it was pulled off.”
“Let us say two teams play in the late stages of a Swiss Event – not unlikely because the pros can be found at most tournaments during the year – and both are in contention to win. The top three or four teams, for example, might be bunched up within 3 or 4 Victory Points of each other, possibly a little more. With a 30-point VP scale (or even in the 20-point scale), there’s a lot of room for movement on the final round and the standings can change radically between the penultimate and the last round, depending upon the margins of victory.”
“The expected scenario is that you are likely to be playing one of the top several teams in the event on the final round. You have to be pretty darned lucky to be still in contention if you aren’t a tough team to start with.”
“Anyway, in the final stages of such an event, if two contending teams are playing each other, it probably won’t help either side if the outcome is a close win by one of them. All it would take to knock them both out of contention would be to split the Victory Points. For example, on a 30-point scale, a tie results in 15 VPs for each side. If it’s a two point win, the split is 19-11 – still not great for either team if there are several contenders with a shot at the victory.”
“So the deal was this – whoever won when two “friendly” teams played each other, NO MATTER WHAT THE MARGIN, the loser signed off on a score ticket that indicated a blitz. The next time, it might be the other team that won and got the benefit. What benefit, you might ask? You must be kidding! Well, if you’re a pro, how much better is it going to be for you if you can help your client garner first place rather than fifth or sixth? Won’t your client be more inclined to hire you again if you win 35 or 40 gold points than if you win 6 or 7? That’s all you would get if your team ended way down on the overall list.”
“The unscrupulous creators of this ruse named it ‘DOUBLE IMPS’. It was sickening to think about all the teams that were screwed – teams that were playing honestly. And who wouldn’t be upset to find that their second-place finish really should have been first and that they were jobbed out of it by a phony blitz on the last round? I felt that the perpetrators should be in jail, but I also felt that I had an opportunity to nip this thing in the bud. I was less interested in punishing the criminals than I was in just ending the practice.”
“To this day, I don’t know who started it, but I’m 99% sure it’s not going on any more. I learned the names of some of the principal characters, and at the next NABC I looked up one of the players involved in the scheme and took him aside. ‘I know what’s been going on with the Double IMPs,’ I said. ‘If this continues, I’m going to try to run you out of bridge.’ People who know me have no doubt about my sincerity and that I don’t make idle promises or threats. I’m serious in matters of this sort, and the person I was talking to had every reason to believe I would follow up on my threat. Individuals with larceny in their souls will do as much as they feel the can get away with, but if the heat is turned up and their livelihoods are threatened, they’ll toe the line. They may do it begrudgingly, but they will behave. The potential loss of earning can be a very cogent argument for conformance!….”
SO MUCH FOR DOUBLE IMPS.
July 12th, 2012 ~ Judy Kay-Wolff ~ 55 Comments
The transition to the bridge scene is centered around pure supposition, or in realistic imaginative terms — What Might Have Happened. In the early 1990’s and in the years following (when the ACBL began focusing on Junior bridge, primarily in the USA but also in Canada), my husband Bobby Wolff, (personally and as many long time bridge enthusiasts knew), singled out and led the charge to bring the USA up to being competitive in world play. At that time the USA had never finished higher than fifth in World competition and, although Canada had more success, their results still could have stood improvement — especially since they seemed to possess players with the talent to make it happen. From this point on I will not discuss Canada, although they apparently experienced some of the same problems which surrounded Penn State, but the details are not known to either Bobby nor me and without being 100% sure of the important facts, are better left to those who volunteer to step forward and update or decide to let it alone and let it remain under the rug.
According to what Bobby confided to me is that he was approached by two well known and world class bridge players, both with positive, likeable personalities who enthusiastically volunteered to help (pro-bono) do whatever was necessary to provide learning experience in bridge to make our American Junior Bridge achieve the result we all sought. However, to cut to the chase, both of those enthusiasts were also widely known as practicing homosexuals, which may or may not have changed the outcome of the lives of some of the attendees. Bobby, after much consternation, decided against accepting their kind offers for fear of what may lurk and, at least (according to him) make a safety play against anything untoward happening. Instead eventually he asked Chip Martel to captain one of our two teams who then triumphantly led USA2 to a 1st place finish in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1991 with Canada 2nd and USA 1 (the team Bobby captained) finishing 4th.
Since then the ACBL has also had a problem with keeping groups free of relatively young (but not junior age) womanizers and sometimes druggies (usually soft stuff and alcohol) from being integrally involved with mixed bridge camps. This includes possible wild happenings which was definitely not the intent or objective of those attending in the hope of becoming a positive combination of social and learning experience among young aspiring bridge youngsters.
The reason for this blog is topical (with the Penn State Report in Part I) and necessary for future planning — with the accent on the focus on top-notch general leadership. The result of Bobby’s decision was not unexpected — an obvious loss of friendship with some important volunteers who got the message loud and clear. He has no regrets. It should not have resulted in loss of respect among mostly liberal thinking people but rather for them to realize something bad could possibly have happened if not stopped. In fact, his decision was far from paranoid — but quite realistic, sensible and morally mandatory.
The readers of these two blogs (with only the earlier Penn State episode as a goad) should give serious thought to what the responsibility of the person overseeing the operation is to do, The answer is — whatever is best (in his or her opinion) for the good of the project (and the human beings involved) without regard to whom he may upset along the way.
Leadership has its price!
July 12th, 2012 ~ Judy Kay-Wolff ~ 3 Comments
PHILADELPHIA — Judge Louis Freeh on Thursday handed down a stinging report on Penn State’s actions surrounding the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse case, and it’s time to look at some of the key points he addressed.
Speaking before a packed room of media members and his own team that conducted an eight-month investigation, Freeh targeted four men at the top of Penn State’s leadership chain — former president Graham Spanier, former vice president Gary Schultz, athletic director Tim Curley, who is currently on leave, and former football coach Joe Paterno — as well as the school’s board of trustees, which hired Freeh to conduct the probe but committed a "failure of governance" in creating an environment of non-accountability.
The most damning elements of the report concerned the knowledge Penn State officials had about allegations regarding Sandusky in both 1998 and 2001, and their failure to report it to outside authorities.
Here are some of the quotes and notes that stood out to me after attending the news conference:
- Freeh clearly explained that the failure at Penn State went from top-level administrators to the janitors who cleaned and maintained the locker room at the Lasch football building, where Sandusky committed many of his rapes. "They [the janitors] witnessed what I think in the report is probably the most horrific rape that’s described. And what do they do? They panic. The janitor who observed this said it’s the worst thing he ever saw. This is a Korean War veteran who said, ‘I’ve never seen anything like that. It makes me sick.’ He spoke to the other janitors. They were alarmed and shocked by it. But what did they do? They said, ‘We can’t report this because we’ll get fired.’ They knew who Sandusky was. … They were afraid to take on the football program. They said the university would circle around it. It was like going against the president of the United States. If that’s the culture on the bottom, God help the culture at the top."
- Freeh was somewhat diplomatic but remained on the attack when asked about both Paterno and the board of trustees. He stated several times that he wanted to speak to Paterno and believed Paterno had a case to make to the investigators. He called Paterno "a person with a terrific legacy." Freeh went on to say that Paterno "made perhaps the worst mistake of his life, but we’re not singling him out." He also acknowledged Paterno could have stopped Sandusky’s crimes because of the power he held. Asked whether trustees who held their positions during the period of Sandusky’s crimes and remain in them today should resign, Freeh declined to comment, saying the question should be directed to the board. But speaking generally about the trustees, he said, "The board failed in its oversight of the senior officers of the universities. They did not create an atmosphere where the president and the senior officers felt they were accountable to the board." The board’s failure continued all the way until Sandusky was charged, Freeh said.
- Although Paterno undoubtedly will be the focus of the media coverage today and in the coming days, Freeh made it clear that others were just as culpable, if not more so. Spanier’s actions, including his refusal to provide trustees with information, according to Freeh, were both shocking and embarrassing. Freeh discussed Schultz’s 1998 confidential notes after being told of a complaint against Sandusky, "To ask the question, ‘Does this open a Pandora’s box? Other children?’ is a very strong inference that they were focused not just on what the report was, but the implications." Spanier and Schultz both use the word "humane" in their emails discussing how to deal with Sandusky.
- One of the big debates will be about the differences between what Freeh’s group found regarding Paterno and what the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office included in its grand jury presentation. Paterno’s supporters will point to the fact that Paterno never spoke with the Freeh team, and the state didn’t charge him after hearing his testimony about the 2001 incident involving Sandusky that assistant coach Mike McQueary relayed to him. "The attorney general has a different standard with respect to deciding whether to charge or whether not to charge," Freeh said. "We don’t have a reasonable-doubt standard. Our conclusion … was a reasonable conclusion based on the facts and circumstances."
- Arguably the biggest bombshell in the Freeh report concerns the 1998 allegations against Sandusky and what Penn State’s leadership knew. This took place while Sandusky was still employed at the school. Freeh didn’t find evidence of allegations in the 1970s or 1980s. Many of Sandusky’s crimes took place between 1998 and 2002. "What’s striking about 1998 is nobody even spoke to Sandusky, none of those four, including the coach, who was a few steps away," Freeh said.
- Freeh briefly addressed the NCAA and Big Ten, saying that his group has been in contact with both organizations throughout the investigation but didn’t provide them with any of the findings before Thursday’s release. "What they find is going to be based on their criteria and their conclusions," he said.
The crimes of silence (for fear of involvement as witnesses and people who want to distance themselves from the despicable actions) are very much like those who knew of potential immoral, disgusting bridge incidents – some of which were alluded to in “The Lone Wolff.” To be continued …..
June 27th, 2012 ~ Judy Kay-Wolff ~ 14 Comments
From my mind set, the once-elegant status of bridge is ebbing.
For the first fifty years of my bridge career, I attended the tournaments – missing perhaps three or four nationals – only because of illness or family crises. They were fabulous – relaxing, warm, friendly and with most of the top experts as cordial as possible. The same applied to the Sectionals and Regionals. People dressed more appropriately and popular events in local tournaments – like Mixed Pairs, Men’s and Women’s Pairs have disappeared. We even put on amateur entertainment, had quiz shows and panels or presented a musician to entertain the players after the game. The sociability has disappeared from the scene. It has become a business.
My tradition of attending the Nationals ended about five years ago and Bobby and I have not gone to one since Las Vegas. The reason – the continuing and increasing inconvenience and displeasure of air travel and airport red tape and the astronomical rise in the airline rates due to the economy as well as hotel and restaurant gouging and the general decline in the enjoyment of the two combined had a lot to do with it. But, there were other reasons.
We decided to downgrade our bridge playing to the sectionals and regionals in our immediate vicinity to eliminate the exhaustion and exorbitant total costs of the NABCs. Now, that is even changing. Perhaps Las Vegas is different than most other metropolitan areas and the great tourist trade adds to the enormity of the site. At last week’s Regional sometimes it was even impossible to make yourself understood in a dining place because of language barriers. And, how do you like paying three bucks for a glass of iced tea or cup of coffee? Don’t get me wrong. The LV volunteers and administrative staff couldn’t do better. Everyone was helpful and gracious and the prizes were terrific. That is not the issue. It is just the overall down-grading of the game.
Because of the time regiments (although twenty minutes from the site), we stayed at the hotel (The Riviera). I couldn’t tolerate the 7 a.m. wakeup calls for the 9 o’clock lift offs or the 8 a.m. jingle for the 10 o’clock games. What ever happened to the old fashioned one and seven-thirty starting times? I guess the idea is to cram in as many sessions to collect extra card fees and give away a plethora of masterpoints which draw the degenerates. Today. even in the duplicates they award those coveted points to people with forty percent games to have them keep coming back for more.
Another bone of contention is professionalism. Players who only play for masterpoints v. love of the game do not mix well with the real bridge lovers and I believe professionals who regard money more important than the game will eventually lead to its destruction.
Perhaps that is why the ACBL’s net worth went from two or thee million to maybe four or five million and the directors (even the inept ones) and administrators (a few of whom are not even bridge players) are well paid. It seems to be the objective to schedule as many sessions into a tournament as possible. Despite the horror and dissatisfaction of the players, the card fees have risen tremendously. (The Sunday Stratified Teams were $88) .. a far cry from the old days. With the advanced technology of the invention of the Bridge Mate, the directors’ burden of matchpointing (and even entering the names and numbers of the players at the start of the first round) have been relieved.
Lastly, I can think of nothing more disgraceful that in all these years with their many employees and resources, the ACBL has not made their main focus establishing a dynamic bridge system in the schools in America – unlike the European and Asian educational facilities which are light years ahead of us. It seems like we devote all our energy to the seniors and masterpoint giveaways and make little concerted effort toward a major junior bridge program here in the U. S. school system. Horn Lake needs dedicated and caring administrators and employees who love bridge like the old timers who ran the show back in Greenwich in the thirties, forties and fifties.
I guess I’m just an old fashioned lass who enjoyed the good old days of bridge when it retained an inordinate aura of class — and victories were more meaningful and prestigious!!!
June 18th, 2012 ~ Judy Kay-Wolff ~ 5 Comments
We are at the Riviera on the Strip for the Regional and haven’t touched a card yet as our event begins this evening. As some of you may know, the hotel was taken over several months ago and although the playing space no doubt remains super, the preliminary preparations to settle in were not to be believed. This was our plight:
Please note we have been playing here for six years (at least twice a year) and everything was copacetic! Nary a problem. We drove into the entrance as usual and found the entrance was no longer the entrance leading to check in and had to drive around twenty minutes until someone was able to guide us to the new check in spot (distant from the regular one). Bobby went to park the car while I was checking in and I got a ticket for my luggage. When I got to the desk, they told me I had no reservation (made three months in advance). When at the time I asked for a confirmation number, I was told it was unnecessary. All that had to be done was present Bobby’s player’s card to the Riviera. That was unacceptable and they re-confirmed that heretofore although that was the procedure, I should try something else. What that was — they had no idea. I finally dragged myself to the Players Club where they welcomed me with open arms and apologized as the original desk should have had our information.
I signed in, got my key but now the problem was to locate Bobby as I was not at the designated spot where we arranged to meet. Luckily, he had the good sense to head toward the Players Club where I had just left and we collided.
Now to the room – reasonable enough – but devoid of toilet paper (except for 1/4 of a used roll). Very few hangers and pillows too. I called room service and waited twenty minutes for them to accommodate my request for three extra pillows They could only give me two since they were running short. Imagine that! What an economy in which we are living.
After I unpacked and unpacked (we can’t commute twenty five minutes daily for a week at our ages so we indulge ourselves in the luxury of staying at the site). The fabulous Kristopher’s Restaurant (unbelievable but expensive) was remodeled in the overtake and is now renamed “R” – perfectly acceptable (not sensational) but substantially cheaper.
Their former coffee shop is now open from 6 to 2 (no dinner accommodations). They have done away with regular waitress service. There is a menu on the wall from which you order, you get a bill and after you pay, get a receipt and little stand with a number and you select your own table where your waitress brings the food. Rather plebeian for a once crowded all-day popular coffee shop. We will have to check around to see what has replaced it. The Banana Tree (oriental) is still open, thank heavens. It is quite good.
A double hallway of ground level shops have been replaced by video machines and other gaming facilities. Little is left in the way of shops. The sports book has been moved. You need a guide to learn where long-time places are now located or dissolved.
Incidentally, this is no reflection on the head honchos (Tom Shulman and Barbara Dunkley) who could not be more accommodating! Hopefully, the bridge sites are still as nice as they have been. We’ll find out soon enough.
June 9th, 2012 ~ Judy Kay-Wolff ~ 3 Comments
Today at The Las Vegas Bridge Club, Tom Grue (father of Joe Grue whose mother Sue happens to be one of our directors) couldn’t resist relating this cute story to me. Joe had done a little sightseeing at Hoover Dam (near Las Vegas) and sent his six year old nephew a bank replicating the famous site. He received the following thank you note:
“Dear Uncle Jow:
Thanks for the dam bank.”
Outta the mouths of babes ……………….
June 3rd, 2012 ~ Judy Kay-Wolff ~ 3 Comments
I am happy to report at the 2/3 mark Bobby’s team (Morse, Hamilton, Fisher, Lair and Moss) are up 26 with 30 boards to go against the team captained by Richie Schwartz. The event has gone exceedingly smoothly with an hour and a half for complimentary breakfast in the Hospitality Suite run by Joan Gerard and Barbara Nudelman which many of the participants have enjoyed. Their accompanying lunches are held at about two o’clock in the hotel’s restaurant (salads, lasagna, chicken, etc. and dessert and beverages). Not fancy – but more than adequate and comfortable. The two Senior Trials Directors, Bernie Gorkin and Ken Horwedel have been a delight to work with and all has been going as it should. No fights, no episodes, no words! An ideal setting and a credit to the USBF. Bobby and Dan are sitting (sleeping) off this match so it’s on to BBO for me to root for our other two pairs who are doing their damnedest to hold down the fort and keep or add to that lead. That’s it for now.
June 2nd, 2012 ~ Judy Kay-Wolff ~ 4 Comments
There seems to be radically wrong timing at these trials (SENIORS and WOMEN’S). A lovely complimentary breakfast was served in the hospitality suite from 8:30 – 10:00 followed by a captain’s meeting and play at 11:00. It doesn’t take an hour and a half to eat an impromptu breakfast but it appears the men wanted to start at 10 and the women at 11, so they compromised at 10:30. There is about 15 minutes between sessions which doesn’t give you much time to unwind, decide upon your lineup and go back into battle. The directors were very accommodating but that didn’t help the players. The second session team didn’t get out until 3:30 so if you played two in a row you didn’t have much time to run up to the first floor for a relaxing complimentary mid-afternoon buffet unless you were off the next session. And so on. It seemed we were on a constant merry go round and didn’t have dinner before nine – graciously shuttled by the hotel bus to a nearby restaurant upon request (because the hotel had a very sparse menu). You must bear in mind, you are (in one case) dealing with seniors. Give ‘em a break. And, as far as the Women, they didn’t want to begin until 11:00, but it was amazing how many of them arrived to stuff their faces at 8:30.
May 31st, 2012 ~ Judy Kay-Wolff ~ 6 Comments
Yesterday I left with Bobby for Schaumburg, IL (a three hours plus flight about 8 miles from O’Hare, so I was told – and the site of the USBF TRIALS – women’s and seniors). As soon as we and our luggage entered the cab we were informed it would cost us time and a half and extras (well above fifty bucks for the hop, skip and a jump to the Hyatt Regency). Fifteen minutes later we arrived at a lovely desolate hotel (with ne’er a body in the lobby except behind the counter) – but of course, we decided to come in a day early to unwind. It was, we believe, the same site used by the USBF a few years ago. It had a humongous lobby with small dining area and snack and regular bars and a shop for sundry items.
We had asked for a room on a low floor near the elevator as I, in my decrepit state (only kidding) have trouble walking since my knee scope. The room was adjacent to the elevator (who could ask for more?). The only problem was it had a shower (with no bottom ledge – with just toweling). NO BATHTUB. How old fashioned of me to expect both a shower and tub here at a Hyatt Regency facility. Naturally, we changed rooms, to a larger one with both bathing facilities. The room is lovely and overlooks the mammoth lobby. After unpacking (which never seemed to end as you don’t know whether you are going to be here a day and a half or eight days because it is a knockout), I set up the computer (god forbid travel without my Dell), we went to the coffee shop (which they name the dining room) for delicious burgers and drinks.
Then it was time to watch the Celtics/Miami Game and before we knew it, dinner time rolled around. That happens quite frequently with us. The hotel provides a shuttle as nothing is nearby (and of course it had been reserved by the later guests who had the foresight to arrange a ride). So, we ventured a speedway of traffic and ran across the highway to The Olive Garden we spotted on the cab ride in. My dinner was good but Bobby later learned the cuisine he had ordered with our foreign speaking waitress turned out to be something different (but he was so hungry he ate it anyway) and the gracious manager took it off the bill. I left a big tip — but so much for making one‘s self understood. I hope his bidding is more intelligible.
When we returned to the hotel, it was crowded and we just happened to bump into Bobby’s teammates – Mike Moss and Mark Lair (to be rounded out by Fred Hamilton and Arnie Fisher and of course Bobby’s partner, Dan Morse) expected to arrive sometime today.
After a good night’s sleep, we are raring to go and looking forward to seeing everyone again as we have retired temporarily (for the last five years – Las Vegas being the last NABC for us – and of course the WBF in my hometown of Philadelphia almost two years ago where the WBF was held). We are far from recluses as we play twice weekly at our lovely local club and the LV sectionals and regionals.
Till tomorrow – when the big events begin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
May 24th, 2012 ~ Judy Kay-Wolff ~ 1 Comment
One of my favorite players in all of Bridgeland is Eddie Kantar – not so much because of his brilliance and manifold contributions to the game – but because of his incredible sense of humor as demonstrated in the above article (pages 31-35). Not only are the stories true and accurate but delivered in unbeatable Eddie Kantar style. I’ll say no more. Read and enjoy them for yourselves.
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