DoctorOne

Hello there, Now as the event from Antalya is reaching its end, my desire to drop in these words was triggered by the importance of the subject raised here by Roland. I would like to emphasize what seems to me to be a very fundamental set of characteristics of the vugraph broadcasts brought to us by BBO, and that some people out there unfortunately tend to forget, be it intentional or not. I’ll try to be clear, addressing all friends who use to watch and enjoy the BBO vugraph. - First of all, we have to keep in mind that these broadcasts, as part of the whole BBO concept, are available to us for free!! As we get used to it and enjoy it more and more, we tend to forget it. This is a wonderful feature allowing us as Bridge fans to travel around the word, sitting comfortably in our places, watching all important events from all countries, thus reducing the distances in geographic, social and cultural terms. I am not aware of any other discipline where one has such an easy access for free. - Every broadcasted event that you, spectators, are able to watch is the resultant of a huge combined and joined effort made by several cascaded “teams” none of them can operate properly without the appropriate input and, therefore, each team has its own role and responsibility in providing the necessary input for the next. That being said, the two teams of concern here are the “Venue team” and the “BBO Vugraph team”. - The “Venue team” is set by the event organizers. Among others, the table operators are members of this team and their role is to record the events that are happening at the table (bidding, card play, alerts, etc…) in order to reflect the input from the players and, more, try to “materialize” the ambiance at the table, typing in comments and explanations as they are exchanged by the players. If anyone out there thinks that this is an easy task, a matter of few mouse clicks, then he/she is definitely wrong. I can tell you it is very hard, even harassing sometimes during long events, to be there, almost invisible to the players in order not to disturb them, catch every single detail, with maximum concentration to avoid any mistake in the maneuver. - Generally speaking, in accordance with the “free of charge” spirit of BBO, the organizers and operators do their job with almost as a single reward the feeling of pride and happiness that they have successfully transmitted the event from their country and that it has been watched by thousands of people around the world. Having organized few broadcasts, I can tell you this. Things may go wrong, because of a power failure or of a lost connectivity or any other unexpected and out of control reason. And when this happens, the amount of frustration and disappointment that the organizers and operators feel “on site” is by no measure even comparable to what you feel behind your screens. Their only concern in these moments is to do all they can to re-establish the situation properly. And all what some of us find to do then is to start throwing their insults and revealing their unacceptable comments to those people who can not do anything about it !! Let’s put it this way. On a power failure in your place, you pick up your phone and start insulting the phone operator at the electricity company and the power is… still off, right? Even though you pay for it, right? Then you feel better as you relieved some of your work day pressure since, as it happens, you work at the electricity company as… a phone operator! How would you qualify this behavior? Think of another example. You turn on your TV planning to watch a tennis match at Wimbledon. The match starts and, suddenly, it is raining and the match is interrupted… So, you would tend to think that the organizers there expressly invoked the rain? Who would you call to insult? The referee? Or maybe the TV commentator? - Now on to the “BBO Vugraph team”. When the first broadcasts started via BBO, it became obvious that a team of commentators was needed in order to bring some “life” onto the screen and that someone will have to take this in charge. Contrary to a vugraph in an “on site” room during a specific event, the BBO vugraph has to deal with different time zones, simultaneous broadcasts from different countries (there have been some days recently where more than 7 or 8 countries were broadcasting !!), proposal of different languages for the commentary when applicable, etc. As you can see, there is a need for a huge coordination effort. - And, again, in compliance with the “free of charge” principle, this has to be done on a “voluntary” basis. And BBO found its “volunteer vugraph coordinator”: Roland Wald. With the help of many others, he did (and still doing) an enormous and great job, slowly and confidently building a team of volunteers commentators (to which I am proud to belong), arranging the schedule, assuring all countries were equally served during their broadcast according to time zones, etc. One point seems to me very important in this regard, that spectators have to keep in mind. Coordinating and commentating in a vugraph session on BBO does not mean being responsible of what happens on site. BBO commentators are not necessarily on the event site. They may even be few thousands kilometers away from it, so what’s the point in throwing at them rude comments about broken or interrupted broadcasts? All commentators are giving their time and effort whenever they can with only one motivation: they love our game! And how interesting it is to have skilled people, from around the world, opening discussions, exchanging views and explaining issues regarding both technical and cultural aspects of Bridge! I enjoyed meeting them on BBO and have learned a lot to their contact and there is no place for any kind of blame on any of them. It is unfortunate, but that is the way it is: those who do less are those who criticize more, because they have no opportunities to make mistakes! - I am absolutely on line with Roland when he says that he believes more in education rather than in punishment. I think it is also to some extent our task as members of the BBO Vugraph team to explain this issue to the spectators and new comers. With better understanding, I am sure then that they may change their behavior. However, I am thinking about a proposal to “protect” the Vugraph theatre with an access right and I may write about it later. Meanwhile, there is ONE issue that we must never accept any negotiation about: the author of any comments, having racial content, should be immediately banned. And if I am raising this, it is because, shame, I have received some during the Antalya commentaries. Those who are concerned will recognize themselves. I am aware that I may and will be receiving many “hidden”, aggressive and rude comments as a reply to this. Still, my final conclusion here is simple. When you see the broadcast as a “final product”, delivered for free, keep in mind the word “respect”: respect the players, the operators, the commentators, respect others, and, more fundamentally, respect yourself! Or else, leave! BBO should not become an arena for those who want to fight. There are enough arenas for them out there, mainly due to the behavior of their similar. BBO shall remain an excellent example of how Bridge contributes to create peaceful an civil links among people around the Globe !