Versace's comments about Sanya

[barmar]

It's not like sanya is cheap and accessible for seniors either.

For billionaires like JEC, cost is almost irrelevant.

[jallerton]

For billionaires like JEC, cost is almost irrelevant.

 

It's not quite that simple. The more expensive the event becomes, the fewer the number of opponents who can afford to play becomes. Then the event is less special for the billionaires. Not many billionaires will be willing to pay for lots of opposing teams as well as their own!

[barmar]

The question I have and the reason I'm mocking the quote is why would more juniors at the event make it better? Because it's so nice to see young people playing bridge? Great. Just great.

Without young people, we're just seeing the same old pros every time. We lose old people due to attrition, so the game will wither away if we don't have new blood coming in. Young players also make the competitions more interesting, as they tend to shake things up.

 

In other sporting events, the old champions are always in danger of being usurped by young whippersnappers, and it keeps things interesting. Would tennis be as interesting if we were still watching Martina Navratilova vs. Chris Everett for decades?

[PhantomSac]

We are talking about the tournament where the pairs who were first/second/third in the world open pairs had an avg age of 33, the winner of the rosenblum included an 18 (!) year old and the winner of the womens teams had a pair that was in their early-mid 30s

[the hog]

Justin and others. I agree with your points regarding youth players. We always complain about the lack of young players taking up the game and as Justin pointed out, look at the age of some of the leading players in the event. However we need to be aware that not all older, even in the Seniors, players can afford the high fees. Look at Helene's post. I suggest this be looked at as a problem for everyone, not just those under 30. The fact is that posters here, with one or two exeptions, cannot do much. However if others such as Bocchi etc and of course Justin as a poster on this site make representations regarding the excessive costs, then MAYBE something can be done. I get the impression too often that Bridge is run for administrators and their cohorts and not for the players. Justin I am not telling you what to do, but perhaps as a young player you coud also voice your concerns to the organisers. None of us wants Bridge to die.

[Jinksy]

To be honest, the idea that 'early-mid 30s' is considered a young age for competitors says a lot about the state of the game...

[Trinidad]

To be honest, the idea that 'early-mid 30s' is considered a young age for competitors says a lot about the state of the game...

When my (then) girl friend (now wife) and I started to play bridge, we were 27. At every other table we heared something like: "How nice to see kids play bridge!". Sometimes they even used the word "children". It's really weird to hear that when you have been working as a project manager for 4 years, where some people would address you with "Sir".

 

Rik

[Jinksy]

Hah! I still get asked what I'm studying, more than a decade after that stopped having a sensible answer :P

 

Less flatteringly, I couldn't persuade a LOL that I wasn't a beginner after I described my P's 'weak 2' as '10-13 points with 5+Ss'. It didn't help my image that, holding 7♣s, I then neglected to respond 3♣s (showing long diamonds).

 

Suspect she might have been slightly more willing to believe I wasn't (mis)playing her system had I had an extra few wrinkles.

[jjbrr]

Without young people, we're just seeing the same old pros every time. We lose old people due to attrition, so the game will wither away if we don't have new blood coming in. Young players also make the competitions more interesting, as they tend to shake things up.

 

In other sporting events, the old champions are always in danger of being usurped by young whippersnappers, and it keeps things interesting. Would tennis be as interesting if we were still watching Martina Navratilova vs. Chris Everett for decades?

 

This is so out of touch with reality though, and imo represents everything wrong with the collective impression in the bridge world that we NEED YOUNG PLAYERS THE GAME IS DYING ITS SO NICE TO SEE YOUNG PEOPLE PLAYING BRIDGE. No, Barmar, we don't need young players at a world championship to "shake things up." That's just terrible. And as Justin points out, we aren't seeing the same old pros every time, though the ones we do see every year are there because obviously they deserve it, and that's exactly how it should be.

 

If we're using your tennis analogy, would it be interesting to see the Aces play the Blue Team for decades? ***** yeah, it would. It would be awesome. Rivalries are great for sports. But bridge around the world has gotten really good (and is still getting better!) and so we see lots of new faces every year. That also is great albeit in a different way. It doesn't matter who is playing at the end of the tournament, we can be reasonably certain the show is going to be of the highest quality.

[ArtK78]

When my (then) girl friend (now wife) and I started to play bridge, we were 27. At every other table we heared something like: "How nice to see kids play bridge!". Sometimes they even used the word "children". It's really weird to hear that when you have been working as a project manager for 4 years, where some people would address you with "Sir".

 

Rik

I sometimes get referred to as "young man" in my professional life. I am 58. It helps that my hair has not turned gray (well, only a little).

 

In bridge, I have been among the youngest players in my area ever since I started playing 42 years ago. That is true even now, although there are a number of younger players. What surprises me is when I find out how old some of my long-time opponents are. I only recently found out that one of my occasional partners is 70, and several other players who I regularly play against have competed in the Super Seniors event (70+) at the NABC.

 

I regularly play poker in a free poker league (World Tavern Poker - check it out online). Most of the players I play against are younger than I am, some much younger. Only a handful of the players are older than I am. I would say that the average age of the poker players in my league is around 35.

 

I used to play regularly with Dave Treadwell. Next to him, no one seemed old. I used to joke with Dave that he was too old for the Super Seniors events. Seriously, though, to the best of my knowledge, Dave NEVER played in a Senior event. He did not believe in restricting the competition by age (at least at the top end).