If you know me at all, you know i’m a bridge fiend. I normally play twice a week at the local club, and then sometimes on the weekends for nearby tournaments. And then i ALSO use up my vacation days from work to travel around the country playing bridge. In fact, Lance and i will be attending the San Diego North American Bridge Championship for 9 days around Thanksgiving. Yes, for Thanksgiving i will not be with family – i choose bridge instead. My parents don’t understand this, but i can’t help it.
The average age of bridge players belonging to the American Contract Bridge League is about 70. And that’s with people like me bringing the average down! Bridge used to be a staple in college cafeterias. Now, young people may not even have heard of it. More commonly, “oh, my parents play, but i never learned.”
So anytime bridge gets some press, i’m excited. I don’t want this game to die out because no one plays anymore. And recently the Wall Street Journal published an article about bridge. It starts off:
I am not sure if there are clinics that will help you get over bridge, but if there are not, then perhaps some enterprising entrepreneur will take up the idea. I think it would work, but the problem is that we all know what those admitted would do in their spare time. Exactly.
And somehow I feel it would not work. Addicts have to want to change, and most bridge players I know have no desire to do so.
Any exposure for bridge is good, in my opinion. There are currently efforts to get bridge back in the schools, the most successful being the Atlanta Junior Bridge program. Raleigh is attempting to start a junior bridge program as well, but we haven’t gotten our feet off the ground yet. Bill Gates and Warren Buffet (shown at right, playing in a tournament) have even gotten involved in supporting youth bridge. I hope all of these things help revive a fabulous pastime.