[Double !]

SUPER
Fantastic
Excellent
and
Well Done

[pclayton]

Fred, Brad, Geoff, Eric, Ron and Russ:

You have certainly earned the right to represent the greatest country in the world (with apologies to others ). I watched most of the matches and I am impressed with the way you played, although I missed the last two segments .

But now the work begins. If we are to beat the Italians (or you to beat Nickell), we need all the partnerships on the team to perform at their best. We can't be languishing in 3N when 7♠ is cold.

I know that all of you had been playing for 10 days straight, but Estoril won't be any different. I hope that all the pairs get in many many practice sessions and work out their sequences between now and November. This is no such thing as overpreparing for an event like this. We all have our other priorities: family, work, professional commitments, but this is a once-in-a-lifetime venture.

Understand that you are representing the United States. Feel any pressure? GOOD! You are no different that someone that qualifies for our Olympic Team. The training does not stop when one makes the team. The training begins after you qualify.

Use this pressure to motivate you to prepare for what may be the most important tournament of your careers. Not many can say they have represented their country.

But even fewer can say they won a world championship either.

GO TEAM EKEBLAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Rain]

........................

[Gerben42]

Quote

You have certainly earned the right to represent the greatest country in the world

<puke> Rooting for your country is okay, but this is just, well... I need to throw up. First step is to realize that there IS no greatest country. There are things like "the greatest country for playing bridge" (Poland? Australia?) but no overall greatest country. But enough politics.

Quote

If we are to beat the Italians (or you to beat Nickell)

Although these 2 teams are favorite many other teams will be of similar calibre.
To quote your fearless leader: "You forgot about Poland"

But other than that - CONGRATULATIONS AND GOOD LUCK!

[csdenmark]

Congratulations to team Ekeblad

I really like to see USA2 now also will be emphasized in strong systems. The team composition for USA1 and USA2 will now be similar.

- Rodwell/Meckstroth + Greco/Hampson - playing Meckwell Club
- Hamman/Soloway(Hamway Club) + Ekeblad/Rubin(Hamway Club(modified))
- Nickell/Freeman + Gitelmann/Moss playing SAYC/2o1

Hamway Club is a derivation from Orange Club employed by The Dallas Aces. I think many americans have much to thank Mr. Ira G. Corn Jr.

-----------------------------------------------------

Anybody who knows why Team Welland was only 4 handed?

[hrothgar]

It was an enjoyable series to watch, however, I'm still trying to make up my mind why...

There was definitely some great bridge and the commentary was very well done. [From my perspective, the most interesting hand was the 6♠ contract at the end of the event where Fred lead the 9 of hearts hold KQx in trump and threatening a ruff] It was a very interesting hand and the commentators did a nice job explaining it.

With this said and done, I think that some of the attraction was more a function of the see-saw lead than anything else.

Still, good way to spend a rainy Sunday

[Fluffy]

pclayton, on May 23 2005, 03:42 AM, said:

But now the work begins. If we are to beat the Italians (or you to beat Nickell), we need all the partnerships on the team to perform at their best. We can't be languishing in 3N when 7♠ is cold.

Dome of us don't want them to beat anyone outside US

[mike777]

[quote name='Jlall' date='May 23 2005, 09:46 AM'] [QUOTE]This is analogous to me giving the Mavericks advice on how to prepare for the playoffs because I played high school basketball. [/QUOTE]


Justin, I assume you were being humorous here.

This is the very essence of fandom.
I know a Million Cub and Bear fans who offer up a lifetime of advice simply because we played high school baseball or football. We call them "my team" and in the case of the Cubs and Da Bears I think we have more "invested" in them than the "owners".

BTW seems the Mavericks and their owner could use your insights. At least they try and play defense now.

[cherdano]

Congratulations Ekeblad indeed!

While I technically agree with all Justin wrote, I think some dose of armchair quarterback advice is a good sign that bridge has indeed become a spectator sport And since I am sure Fred and Bred need my advice in particular, I will add that they should stop opening 1NT on 5-4-2-2 hands -- my aunt recently got a very bad result doing so!

[kenberg]

Enjoy your victory, all of us watching certainly did. In assessing the play I recall the story of the football player who received the opening kickoff and ran it back for a touchdown. When he got to the bench the coach told him he cut left when he should have cut right, kept his head down when he should have kept it up, held the ball wrong and so on. The player thanked the coach for his advice and asked "How was it for yardage?"

There were many many hands that will make for lively discussion. For now, congratulations both on the wonderful win and the superb online show. Not all of vugraph connections were perfect at all times either. But it was very very good.

Cheers,
Ken

By the way, is there a way to do spell check on this? I'm a so-so speller and an incompetent typist.

[Elianna]

kenberg, on May 23 2005, 12:59 PM, said:

By the way, is there a way to do spell check on this? I'm a so-so speller and an incompetent typist.

You could first type what you want to say in a word processing program that has spell-check, then copy and paste it here (after running the afore-mentioned spellcheck, of course).

[pclayton]

Justin - did I ever say or even imply that I'm qualified to be their coach? I think you are taking the term "we" a bit too seriously.

Even then, Is anything I'm saying BAD advice?

I think everything in the post is rather generic. Maybe I'm not even qualified to say that though - sheesh!

[luis]

Bridge is a game with many facets.
Things involved in a team match go far beyond reaching 7♠ or 3NT or whatever, the fact is that Ek's team won a big match and earned the right to go to Portugal and now a new journey begins. Good luck and thanks for a well fought match that we were happy to watch for free in a very nice vugraph broadcast.

[glen1]

I think Justin has got this all wrong. Not only should the BBO general membership adopt the Ekeblad team as their own, but BBO members should be organized for preparing the team.

First a group of BBO members involved with physical fitness will be relocated to Vegas where they will put Fred on a rigorous training program (as a former programmer he will like this). This will involve the same activities as Sylvester Stallone had to do while training in the movie Rocky, and to the very same uplifting music. He will be fully primed to deliver the knock out punch in the final rounds of the event.

Meanwhile Mr. Moss has semi-retired after quite the past in futures, and idleness will leave him poorly prepared for Portugal. Thus the BBO membership team needs to arrange Brad a spot on the Apprentice filming this summer, where working with The Donald will help him later deal with WBF directors and drawing Trump out.

Since this will be a collaborative BBO effort, I’ll leave it up to other three readers of this thread to suggest appropriate assignments for the rest of our team. I wonder if Russ has given up smoking or if we need the BBO membership team to put that out?

[uday]

Quote

as a former programmer he will like this

All this bridge has made him our most important former programmer. Guess I'd better dive into that client code now

[luke warm]

a word about phil's post... i took it, i'm sure, exactly as he meant it... as congratulations on a job well done and encouragement to stay the path... knowing phil as i do, he was just trying to pump up "bbo's team" (i would say america's team but i don't feel like getting flamed )

[shoeless]

Glen - think you are on the right track here - seems to me a team physician, nutritionist, sports psychologist, meditation coach and image consultant might also step forward to help the boys out. A public relations consultant might be advisable as Fred's silver in the Bowl in 95 seems to have gone unnoticed - so punching up awareness can never hurt. A crash course in Italian language may also serve well. Even though much of this could be volunteer there will be some costs involved in trimming the fat and nullifying the atrophy, so if we all dig deep and send Ekeblad $10 BBO - i think we can all rest easy that we have done our part. The one area I am not concerned about is their bridge skill so no coaching is necessary. What a relief - who could we find to do that?

[shoeless]

Uday not sure you should be too hasty - Fred is just peaking on his 10 year cycle - after he wins the Bowl he should be back for a significant period. yeah right!