June
14, Memphis, Tennessee
Nick
Nickell's never-give-up bulldogs came from behind yesterday
to crush their opponents in the final two sets and capture
first place in the USA Team Trials. These bulldogs won
all three of their matches - the quarterfinals against
the Weed team, the semifinals against the Meltzer team,
and the final against the Welland team - in the same fashion.
They came out of the box sluggishly in the first quarter,
allowing their opponents to practically knock them out
of contention, with scores of 29-to-1 and 49-to-16 in the
first two sets of the quarterfinals (then coming back to
win by 103), 68-to-8 in the first set of the semifinals
(then coming back to win on the next-to-last hand by a
score of 6), and 56-to-26 and 29-to-10 in the first two
sets of the final (then coming back to win by 100)!
How
do they do it? Why they are bulldogs, that's how! They
never get depressed, they never |
scold
their partners, they never try to make up for a disastrous
score on one hand
by gambling on the next hand. No, they simply sit there
and plug away until their opponents wilt.
Does
age matter? Not to bulldogs. Half this team is over 60,
but they are mentally in top shape, concentrating only
on the cards - never smiling until that final snapshot
in the winners' circle. Bulldogs don't smile at the table!
Bulldogs simply bid and play bridge with (mean) poker-faces.
And who has a monopoly on bulldogs? Why Nick Nickell does,
as his bulldog team wins yet another first place in the
most difficult team event on the American calendar. Winning
the Trials gives the team the right to represent the USA
in the upcoming world championships' Bridge Team Olympiad
in Turkey, this coming fall. Will the next world championship
be another Turkey-shoot for these guys? |
No!
It won't. Because it's likely they won't be going to Istanbul
to bulldog it out with the other top teams of the world.
Turkey is no place for bulldogs or any other American bridge
players, insist many of the top bridge players in America,
and the Nickell team will probably opt to wait for the
2005 world championships to test their skills again. Stay
tuned to the Bridgetoday.com website for more updates on
the Turkey world championships.
To read all about how the Nickell team did it in Memphis, and how you can be
a bulldog, too, read the article Bulldogs Versus the World in
the July issue of Bridge
Today eMagazine.
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