Why does this blog exist?

I'm creating this blog because most bridge blogs seem to neglect what is, to me, the most fascinating part of the game--the social aspect. The glorious thing about bridge is that it requires three other people in order to play, and a computer can't substitute for that part of the game yet.

Some people, including my hair stylist, believe that all bridge players are old and crabby. Well, first of all, "old" is a relative term, isn't it? I confess that one of my initial attractions to playing at the local duplicate club was the number of people who would beam at me fondly and say, "Isn't it wonderful to have young people at the club?" I am 53, and most people don't consider me young. 

"Crabby"? Well, that's a relative term, too, and some of the entries in this blog will give you a more accurate sense of what that term might (or might not) be referring to.

This blog is not intended to tell stories of how hands were played, and it will not display hand records. I don't want to be bothered with formatting them, or loading gifs depicting them, first of all, and second, plenty of other people do blogs on that kind of stuff--you know, stuff about how the game is played. I'm more interested in the attitude with which the game is played.

I'm probably not going to identify most people who are featured in this blog, except for my semi-regular partner, Jan, who is a treasure. But, frankly, most of the people I write about don't need to be identified, because you probably have one (or possibly two) in your local duplicate club. You'll know who I mean.

I hope that those of you who only play online will be encouraged by this blog to attend tournaments or even seek out your local club (if one's available). The best part of this game is the people. You can define "best" any way you want.