BB uncertainty

[Walddk]

With the Bermuda Bowl only 44 hours away, it's still uncertain what we will be able to broadcast on BBO vugraph. At this point, we can only guarantee one table. Hopefully we will manage to get and train a few volunteer operators before the start on Sunday morning local time.

 

We have the equipment (laptops) and connections we need, but we don't have the people to operate. A couple of BBO'ers are working on it at the venue. Will keep you posted as (if) I get more information.

 

Roland

[jillybean]

:D That is very bad news, lets hope some people step up to help out.

[DenisO]

That is bad news indeed Roland. At the time of the Olympiad in Istanbul there seemed to be a special relationship developing between the WBF (Jose Damiani) and BBO with BBO being apointed as official vugraph presenter and also doing a lot of programming for the onsite scoring displays. Has that died the death as we now seem to be in the lap of the gods to get good internet coverage of Bridge's Premier event. I've not checked what Swan have planned but for me there is no contest between BBO and the Swan broadcasts.

[Walddk]

According to a web site on the internet, I am 3,115 km (1,947 miles) away from Lisbon, so I don't know more than you I'm sorry to say. Fred is busy preparing for play to start (and so he should be!), Hervé is busy working for the WBF (and so he should be because he is paid by them).

 

Who serves the interest of BBO then? I don't know, but all we can do at this point is hope. From an earlier thread you may recall that it would be "desirable" but not "necessary" for me to be there. I accept that without complaints. I even managed to get a few e-mail addresses for potential volunteer operators.

 

What I do know, however, is that I prepared for this. I have 64 commentators signed up for the first week (25-30 for some of the rounds). Needless to say we won't need a fraction if we don't get more tables than one.

 

Let's keep our fingers crossed. Maybe I have good news to deliver when we get closer to the start.

 

Roland

[uday]

I might be confused but

 

As far as I know, the WBF is planning to use BBO for audience vugraph (no typed commentary).

 

When they do this , the audience vugraph will be available here as well. Just as it was in Istanbul -- the actual vugraph show is running on another BBO machine (in Estoril) and is being copied to the real BBO machine. We will not be able to talk to the operator, but we will be able to see what he types, and our commentators and members can treat it as if it is a normal vugraph.

 

I suspect Herve (Zmud99) will login to our BBO as often as he can to co-ordinate.

 

In addition to the wbf-audience-vugraphs, we'll have whatever tables Roland can organize.

[Gerben42]

I'm sure there must be some Portuguese junior players who want to help out. Being operator with the best of the best at the table is great, join in!

[DenisO]

We have the equipment (laptops) and connections we need, but we don't have the people to operate. A couple of BBO'ers are working on it at the venue. Will keep you posted as (if) I get more information.

 

Roland

Perhaps a Broadcast in the main BBO Bridge Club for volunteers (Portuguese with English?) operators would help. They would need to know who to contact at Estoril!

[Walddk]

We have a few names already. I gave them to Fred before he left. Rui Marques is also at the venue (one of the TDs) and a skillful vugraph operator. Hopefully they can work something out in order to get more tables in.

 

Roland

[mrdct]

as it was in Istanbul -- the actual vugraph show is running on another BBO machine (in Estoril) and is being copied to the real BBO machine.

I must say this worries me quite a bit. The coverage to the online audience from Istanbul was less than successful under this model and, from discussions with Uday prior to Sydney, when a similar approach was considered but eventually dismissed, it seems to be quite a hassle to set up anyway.

 

The only possible justification I can think of is if the internet connection in Estoril is dodgey. If that's the case, the WBF really need to take a good hard look at themselves and put high-quality broadband internet high on the list of venue criteria for future events.

 

Multi-table coverage is hard and takes quite a bit of planning and preparation together with a least two or three experienced operators and a supportive convenor.

[Walddk]

Although the WBF was/is the organizer in both instances, there is a world of a difference between Sydney and Estoril. In Sydney, as far as BBO was concerned, we had:

 

1. Dave Thompson and Nick Fahrer to prepare for the event. They started 6 months before. Everything was planned to the tiniest of detail.

 

2. David Stern, a keen and skillful convenor who was very supportive of the BBO activities.

 

3. Susan Doty, Richard Willey and Wayne Burrows who flew over from USA and New Zealand to serve as (very experienced) operators. So did Dave, Nick and a few other volunteer Australians. All well prepared in advance.

 

4. No competition from other bridge sites.

 

----

 

In Estoril we have:

 

1. Hervé Lustman (zmud99) who is a part-time BBO'er because he is employed and paid by the WBF during the 2 weeks.

 

2. Fred Gitelman, who is a player for USA2 and therefore not available to deal with BBO matters (as expressed by himself). Quite understandable.

 

3. No volunteer operators from abroad, because the WBF budget does not allow this to happen.

 

4. Competition from Swan Games.

 

So it can't come as a surprise to anyone if our coverage from the Bermuda Bowl will be inferior to what we saw from Sydney. We are obviously all determined to make this as successful as possible, but the conditions are not the same.

 

Roland

[nikos59]

What Roland is said is perfectly accurate,

on the other hand the pie at Estoril is bigger than

at Sydney. I, for one, wouldn't mind to watch, say,

Garozzo-Forquet (they play for Italy seniors, don't they?)

 

Nikos

[Walddk]

What Roland is said is perfectly accurate,

on the other hand the pie at Estoril is bigger than

at Sydney. I, for one, wouldn't mind to watch, say,

Garozzo-Forquet (they play for Italy seniors, don't they?)

 

Nikos

They do, but not as partners. Garozzo with De Falco and Forquet with Masucci (Mosca-Sbarigia the 3rd pair). In this context, however, it's worth noting that BBO does not decide which matches we will be broadcasting. The on site commentators do.

 

Roland

[Walddk]

Latest info. Our 3 matches (all from the Bermuda Bowl) Sunday will be:

 

Round 1: USA1 vs. Argentina

Round 2: Portugal vs. Chinese Taipei

Round 3: Italy vs. Netherlands (rematch of the final from Istanbul last year).

 

More good news:

In all likelihood we will be able to add a match to every round from Monday. A couple of volunteer operators found, and they will be trained by Hervé later on Saturday.

 

Roland

[Gerben42]

But I still agree with Nikos, every round will have enough interesting matches that it would be unlikely that something not so interesting would be broadcasted even if it were "second choice".

 

Also the VC will be interesting to watch and the star-studded Seniors (the Italians have already been mentioned but don't forget for example Zia, Pszczola, Klinger, etc. etc. etc.)

[Finch]

I'm going to be grossly politically incorrect here.

I would rather watch virtually any match from the BB than any match from the Venice Cup.

 

(But as I shall only be able to watch about 1 session in 50 you can probably ignore me!)

[Walddk]

I'm going to be grossly politically incorrect here.

I would rather watch virtually any match from the BB than any match from the Venice Cup.

 

(But as I shall only be able to watch about 1 session in 50 you can probably ignore me!)

We won't quite ignore you (on the contrary!), because our fixtures for Monday are also from the Bermuda Bowl. They are:

 

Round 4: China vs. Canada

Round 5: Egypt vs. Russia

Round 6: USA2 vs. USA1

 

With a little bit of luck we may be able to add one match to at least one or two of these rounds, but it's still uncertain at this point.

 

Roland

[Walddk]

Tuesday's fixtures (all from the Bermuda Bowl):

 

Round 7: Australia vs. Brazil

Round 8: England vs. USA2

Round 9: USA1 vs. Poland

 

Three very good matches in prospect. Unfortunately I can't deliver good news regarding more matches in every round. Getting volunteer operators at the venue seems very difficult, but Hervé (zmud99) will keep trying.

 

Roland

[DenisO]

Three very good matches in prospect. Unfortunately I can't deliver good news regarding more matches in every round. Getting volunteer operators at the venue seems very difficult, but Hervé (zmud99) will keep trying.

 

Roland

I hope Herve has some success - unfortunately you only get one chance to record these matches :D

 

It seems strange that if you look at the data for the 1992 Olympiad on Nikos's site that we have pbn data for 6 matches (both rooms) in all 33 rounds. Although BBO Vugraph technology didn't exist then, the effort required to record all those matches must have been similar to what would be needed for BBO today. I wonder what was different about 1992 - were the WBF more supportive or were the local players in Salsomaggiore more intersted in recording bridge history?

 

Denis

[nikos59]

About the 1992 marvel, I may be wrong but the reason of

this comprehensive coverage is that we gave the data of

the onsite Vugraph program of Prof. Baldi. I mean, the onsite

Vugraph had six-table coverage (this was a decision of the

organizing committee) and all these data have been conserved

and after successive suitable conversions are available to

anyone. The excellent Vugraph program of Prof. Baldi has been used

extensively in the past by WBF -I don't know if it is still used.

Perhaps someday more data from the 90s will surface (for

instance, Yokohama 1991 had four-table coverage).

 

Nikos

[Deanrover]

If I am needed and can get cheap flights and accommadation I would be willing to cover the final few days if enough interest is expressed. However, I have a few possible family commitments so we will have to see.....

[Walddk]

Wednesday's fixtures:

 

Round 10: China vs. Portugal (BB)

Round 11: Italy vs. USA2 (SB. Garozzo, Forquet and Zia among others)

Round 12: Italy vs. Sweden (BB)

 

We may get a bonus match in the middle round, but nothing confirmed yet.

 

Roland

[Guest Jlall]

Quite a senior bowl match. Garozzo vs Zia...wow lol.

[chicken]

any chance for some venice cup matches?

[Walddk]

If we were to decide, we would most likely have a couple of Venice Cup matches during the round-robin. The thing is, however, that we don't have a say as long as we are only connected to the onsite vugraph match in each round. The decisions are made by the onsite commentators.

 

If it is technically possible, in combination with getting enough volunteer operators, we would be happy to add one match in every round. Then we could even decide which match to go for, and then we would have a chance to show the women.

 

I suspect that we will get something from the Venice Cup eventually; if not before, then in the knockout phase, but at this point it's nothing but a guess. With all due respect to the women, the Bermuda Bowl has and should have (my opinion) first priority, simply because it's a fact that this is the wish of the vast majority of the viewers.

 

Roland

[Walddk]

Although it may hurt Frances to see this, we will get our first match from the Venice Cup Thursday. Here are the fixtures:

 

Round 13: Italy vs. Egypt (BB)

Round 14: China vs. England (VC)

Round 15: Japan vs. England (BB)

 

As was the case Wednesday in rounds 11 and 12, we may add one match to rounds 14 and 15. No promises though.

 

Roland