| |
BGonline.org Forums
Saturday morning speech in Pittsburgh
Posted By: Chuck Bower
Date: Saturday, 27 February 2010, at 4:55 p.m.
(The following report is 100% from memory, and thus potentially inaccurate. I encourage others present to correct/addend.)
The scheduled starting time for matches was noon, and the ABT awards followed by the auction were scheduled at 10:00, earlier than typical for US weekend tournaments which may partially explain why some BGOnliners showed up late. Bill Davis took the podium to announce & hand out awards for the top 20 points getters from the 2009 ABT season. "Acceptance speeches" were non-existant, until #1 Ray Fogerlund was brought up for his trophy.
Ray started by saying that in his life there were two groups of people who mean the most to him -- firefighters and backgammon players. He quickly got emotional and had trouble continuing. He then went to the nearby water station to get a drink and compose himself. When Ray returned he was still somewhat choked with emotion.
Ray next mentioned some troubles BG is having -- with attendance down. He said there is a festering problem that needs to be brought to the forefront -- cheating. Ray then went into a long rehash of an occurrence previously reported and discussed in detail here -- a 1st chance semifinal match at the December LA tournament between himself and an unnamed opponent. (Someone please attach a pointer to that thread.) Ray mentioned the score of the match and that very early in a game his opponent asked him if he hadn't just taken two consecutive turns (i.e. without his opp getting to have a turn). Director was called. There was a handful of kibitzers, some with vested interest in the outcome of the match. Ray mentioned his friend Norm Wiggins by name and then said Norm was the only one who provided testimony when director Patrick Gibson asked for third party opinions. Ray then singled out another unnamed kibitzer who (paraphrased) has such a good memory that he gets kicked out of LV casinos for card counting at blackjack, but had a surprising memory lapse at the table here, telling Pat Gibson he didn't remember anything. Ray referred to this unnamed person as "a liar."
Ray then launched into an analogy with baseball, where in 'recent' times extra umpires have been needed to detect cheating -- specifically pitchers using non-allowed substances to unfairly improve the grip on the ball -- "spitballs". Ray said that Patrick, a highly respected (including by him) veteran director was hoodwinked by Ray's opponent into making an erroneous ruling (against Ray), similar to how a single umpire can be duped into concluding that a doctored baseball is clean.
I didn't have my watch with me, but I'm pretty sure this speech lasted at least 15 minutes, and it seemed like it went on for much longer than that. At least once Bill Davis tried to get Ray to hurry up and I also recall Rob Maier saying something to Ray. Neither seemed to have an effect. Note that Ray was coincidentally also the auctioneer. During the speech there was an occasional shout from the audience, none of which I remember but I don't think they were expressions of support.
I skipped out to shower during the Advanced auction and returned to see Rich Munitz talking positively about the fast developing USBGF. The Open auction followed and it seemed pretty dead. None of the usual audience banter (and both Carter and Phil were present); unspirited bidding; low prices. At least it went pretty quickly so the play could start on time. Bottom line is that a lot of wind expended early resulted in taking the wind out of the sails of the calcutta audience.
| |
BGonline.org Forums is maintained by Stick with WebBBS 5.12.