Monday, February 18, 2008

Bridge for Kids - Sign me up!

Sunday mornings usually find me in front of the TV, with my coffee and Sunday papers (while in the States, mind you – in Canada, all the “decent” papers come on Saturday) watching “Sunday Morning” on CBS. It features reports on people, places and events in the news. We always chuckle at Bill Geist’s silly innocence and Miguel probably would admit that his favourite part of the show is the “sun” motifs that take their inspiration from the topics covered each week. Funnily enough, my friend Nora confessed her love for this show this week in an email – so I’m not the only “Sunday Morning” fan. But, this is not about Sunday Morning – nope – it is about the report they featured yesterday on “Bridge”.

You see, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are obsessed with bridge. On “Sunday Morning”, they discussed their love of the game and they were shown at a tournament playing with all kinds of other bridgeaholics (assuredly less wealthy bridgeacholics). They have even started a “Bridge in the Schools” program – donating money to set up programs that teach children to become obsessed with playing duplicate bridge. It was only a year ago that I started taking bridge lessons – and so there is no way I will ever be able to catch up with those who have been playing a lifetime. I know that Bill Gates will never call me to ask me to play in a tournament with him (boo hoo), yet I will still continue my pursuit. My family always played cards – euchre (a little similar to bridge) was the favoured game. My grandfather was a gamesmeister – he taught us to play checkers, chess, crokinole (has anyone even heard of that game?). He never let us win – he was a fierce competitor and playing with him wasn’t always fun. When I arrived in Kansas I promptly located the local Bridge Centre and have been learning more, meeting friends and fueling my obsession. Who knows…..maybe Bill Gates will be calling me soon………

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

No comments about bridge since I do not play cards and do not come from a game playing background. It always seems like a nice idea for people to play challenging games like Bridge with friends and family. What I look forward to is a sun created by one of my artist friends. How about Miguel designing a sun for the show? I am sure that he could come up with some wonderful ideas.
NMR