BDS at the world bridge championships
Call them the Dixie Chicks of the bridge world. Make sure you check out the photo and whole story at the NYT (yes, it’s worth it):
In the genteel world of bridge, disputes are usually handled quietly and rarely involve issues of national policy. But in a fight reminiscent of the brouhaha over an anti-Bush statement by Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks in 2003, a team of women who represented the United States at the world bridge championships in Shanghai last month is facing sanctions, including a yearlong ban from competition, for a spur-of-the-moment protest.
At issue is a crudely lettered sign, scribbled on the back of a menu, that was held up at an awards dinner and read, “We did not vote for Bush.”
What next? The world shuffleboard champions showing up in these?
Guess we should be glad the bridge gals weren’t showing off “Impeach Bush” socks, keffiyehs, or Truther gear.
You’ll love the BDS-infected player’s explanation:
“What we were trying to say, not to Americans but to our friends from other countries, was that we understand that they are questioning and critical of what our country is doing these days, and we want you to know that we, too, are critical,” Ms. Greenberg said, stressing that she was speaking for herself and not her six teammates.
Reminiscent of the “Sorry everybody” antics of the last presidential election, remember?
The French are backing the whiners:
“By trying to address these issues in a nonviolent, nonthreatening and lighthearted manner,” the French team wrote in by e-mail to the federation’s board and others, “you were doing only what women of the world have always tried to do when opposing the folly of men who have lost their perspective of reality.”
The proposed sanctions would hurt the team’s playing members financially. “I earn my living from bridge, and a substantial part of that from being hired to compete in high-level competitions,” Debbie Rosenberg, a team member, said. “So being barred would directly affect much of my ability to earn a living.”
But as the bridge federation head points out:
“This isn’t a free-speech issue,” said Jan Martel, president of the United States Bridge Federation, the nonprofit group that selects teams for international tournaments. “There isn’t any question that private organizations can control the speech of people who represent them.”
Next time: Shut up and play cards.
***
Related: The Insanity of Bush Hatred.
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Glad to see there are still some organizations that feel they and their members should stay out of politics and stick to what their organization is about … good to see … thanks Michelle …
Also … saw and enjoyed your column on TownHall as always … ululations? … wow … gotta admit I had to look that one up …
…
What ever happened to being willing to pay the consequences of ones actions? Had I chosen to ‘make a nonviolent statement’ in such a venue, I would have fully expected to be banned by life. If they are only being suspended for a year, get a job at Walmart for a year. It’s getting off light as far as I’m concerned.
Not to mention, they choose communist China??
Whatever happened to prosecuting seditious behavior?? They should have stayed.
These folks need to think through what the results of their actions might be–before they commit to the act. I don’t feel sorry for these idiots and besides, I didn’t vote for these folks to represent me in the “bridge world.”
It’s one thing for Americans to argue about things while we’re at home, but to go abroad and do it is like discussing intimate family problems with a non-family member. It’s just not good manners.
If this is part of the “bridge” to the 21st century, I’ll Pass.
Politics and cards, entertainment or visits to the proctologist don’t mix.
I am pleasantly surprised someone is finally being held accountable for their childish behavior. It appears the United States Bridge Federation is chaired by adults. I never voted for Clinton or Carter, but was still able to perform my duties under them as my Commander-in-Chief no matter how incompetent their leadership or badly we in the Military were treated during their administrations.
Shut-up and deal!
Ewww… is there anything less attractive than brainless women? No, there is not.
It looks like they took “theory of vacant spaces” literally and tried to engage their brains.
You can go to any town square anywhere in the U.S. and get on a soap box and rail against the government without fear of arrest. Someone can get up on the soap box after you and call your opinion moronic. That does not mean that you have the right to say anything you want anywhere, anytime. When liberals are confronted with reality they always retreat behind their misunderstanding of the 1st Amendment.
Erm, these are called CONSEQUENCES. You know, what you suffer for your actions. Didn’t your mom ever teach you about this? Even my 8 year-old knows that there are consequences for your actions.
My Great-Grandmother was a Life Master at bridge…she didn’t achiece this by stupity
I’ll reserve judgment until any penalty is really assessed. Until these people are held responsible, and pay a price for their actions, this type of behavior will continue, and accelerate. A public thrashing and a loss of any benefits they expect to reap is the very least they should suffer.
GOD! Would I love to see THIS:
After one of these displays,
another American displays a slightly different sign,
“We didn’t vote for Clinton, either!”
or
“We certainly didn’t vote for GORE!”
Ah … pipe dreams … and I don’t even smoke.
Sounds to me like she has enrolled in the Michael Vick school of consequences. Seems Vick’s behavior kinda affected his income earning potential too.
B RIDGE
D oth
S uck
Had the team from the People’s Republic of China won the world bridge championships, they could have held up a sign that read “We did not vote for anyone.” Of course, they would have been taken out back and shot, but the point would have been made.
Kevin – I don’t think the point would have been “published/broadcast”. The chinese would have done what they do – scrub the tapes. The MSM everywhere would have willingly scrubbed their tapes too – just so they could continue to have “access”. Guess what – it didn’t happen.
I bid 6 clubs.
M6 care to join me in some fun?
I’d like to serve this group of idiots a large mug of STFU.
The funny thing in all this is that NO ONE in America would even KNOW about this stupid tournament and these losers who waste away their days playing a dumb card game built for the 90 year-old mind if not for this puerile publicity stunt and shameless narcissism.
SHUT UP. Seriously. SHUT UP. It’s over. No one plays bridge. No one of consequence.
Hey, conservativesRus. It was a silly joke. My IQ exceeds that of a slice of pizza. It was just… a… joke.
The slightest criticism of the Clintons during their term in office was met angrily with conspiratorial accusations and condemnation.
The left acts like little babies for seven years now and we’re supposed to accept this as rational political discourse.
If the dragon lady is elected, just watch how these same people react when she’s criticized.
And she will be, trust me.
Enough said.
“Live by the Sword; Die by the Sword!”
Ever notice how these juvenile, seditious twits seemingly always choose to shat themselves while on foreign soil?
Bridge?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAACKKK*HOCK ~PHFFTWEEEE
Yup. That’s about it.
Kevin: What you said was absolutely true. And it made your point perfectly. No lack of IQ even contemplated from my end – I thought your comment was quite insightful.
I, as a player that plays bridge at the North American Bridge Championships and regional events (the largest ones we hold yearly), am pleased to see that the USBF has not lost sight of the most important concept of this discussion: the fact that politics has no place in sport. Regardless of whether you are for or against Bush, to state in all places China that you are against your own country is both criminal and deserving of sanction. Furthermore, the regulations are quite specific with regards to this – it is part of the agreement tendered between the USBF and the players before the trials concluded.
I think a year’s ban would set the correct tone that as representatives of the United States you represent all of us, not just the obnoxious minority that refuses to let go of the past. Additionally, the cost to the players are not just for the year they would be gone – their reputations have already become sullied and stained as a result of their actions.
Keep in mind as far as I am aware of, three of the seven involved (six players form a team, then there’s the non-playing captain) have written formal apologies, while the other four have to quote a poster on Bridge Base Forums’ bulletin board, “…take a flying flip”.
The punishment may include:
1. Banishment from all USBF and ACBL events for one calendar year.
2. Disqualified from competition for a spot on the World Team Olympiad team in 2008 in Beijing.
3. 1 year of probation after the banishment is completed.
4. The team en masse must write a letter of apology. The USBF and/or ACBL reserves right to publish it.
5. 200 hours of community service, half which must be accomplished before probation begins.
6. The team must write a record of facts that can be used in a court of law.
7. There is rumor that the suspension may also enter American Contract Bridge League play as well (the sanctioning body for bridge in the U.S. for tourney play).
All in all, a strong message being sent.
If she says she is “only speaking for herself” then why does her sign say “We”??
Can’t these people at least not have to lie about their reasons for doing something so stupid?
How condescending. How utterly, utterly condescending. Ugh.
My first thought was to comment on how ugly these women are. Then I thought , that wouldn’t be very Christian of me. What would I look like if I was 90 years old and sat under artificial lights for hours on end. It also runs the risk of enticing Southernboy to the conversation.
keylime
how about we add suspending their passports for a couple of years and put them on a no-fly and no-drive list to prevent them from leaving the country during that time …
Yep – photo verification optional.
INSIGHTFUL?! It was supposed to be funny…
No, I don’t think banning them from travel is appropriate. Just because they had an error in judgment does not exclude them from coming to and fro.
What I do think tho is, the USBF’s funding comes directly from the ACBL, and thusly there is a strong notion of damage to reputation and status for U.S. bridge in general, which is starting to make a comeback with youth and mid-aged (I am nearly 32 for the record) coming into and staying in the agme.
#10, I totally agree. I have an 8 yr old and a 5 year old and they have both heard me talk to them about the consequences of their actions.
She looses income~she’ll think next time before she does this again won’t she?
I’m French. I can reassure everybody on this site that this has gone unreported here in France, so whatever these card players were hoping to achieve it has certainly gone unnoticed on this side of the Atlantic.
As a Frenchman, I would also like to call upon US liberals to stop using our country for airing their weedy opinions about how they want the US to be run.
They don’t seem to realise that their opinions carry little to no interest here.
“Doc,those little blue pills you gave me work really good,in fact a little too good,I’ve had an erection for 3 days.”
“Don’t worry,we have a cure for that now,I want you too look at this photo…..”
JLP
Sounds like these airheads bid 7 no trump and were set 6 tricks,doubled,redoubled and vulnerable
I guess Laura Ingraham has another book to write..
Kevin, I think it’s one of those things that’s too painfully true to be funny. One of the reasons I’m so eternally grateful to our military is they keep me from living in a country where protesters would be treated like that.
Stop it, I can’t quit laughing. Oh yah, I’ll look at the photo. Good advice.
I do not need this moonbat apologising for me or my country. Can you imagine? This woman is apologising for her country to a communist Chinese regime. Is she crazy?
Ahhhh yes, Shanghai, China…….a lovely place where freedom is highly valued. The moonbat should stay there. They deserve each other.
did you not read her little sign???
Aww c’mon folks. These ladies were taking a lot of heat about our country’s actions, and they just didn’t want to be viewed as “Ugly Americans.”
Their mistake was that what they really needed was a much bigger sign to stand behind!
I hear Code Pink is hiring.
Not so BRAVE are you know there, Debbie? That’s right, you have freedom of speech….but it comes with a price tag- Boo Freakin’ Hoo. What a moron!
What could have been said instead of the BS sign to all those “other” countries questioning American Politics:
1. “Thank you for your concern, but I do not wish to engage in a political discussion. Care for a mint?”
2. “I don’t feel this is an appropriate forum to discuss politics, care for a mint?”
3. “I don’t talk politics in public, thank you”.
4. “You worry about my country, I’ll worry about mine”.
5. “Kiss my grits”.
On another note, just to clarify, this is a women’s bridge team right, ….oh, no, no I can’t….its just too easy….:-D
I think these girls went A Bridge Too Far
backwoods conservative,
Most good humor has a grain of truth to it. This one has more than a grain. I am not sorry.
****UPCOMING ATTEMPT AT HUMOR ALERT****
Marines, as well as members of the other “lesser” branches of service, (now laugh, relax, and begin to breathe normally again) sometimes find the humor in things that others either don’t see, can’t see, or refuse to see. Sometimes we military folks even laugh at things that shouldn’t be funny. I don’t think that this was one of those things, but I could be wrong.
At least conservativesRus thought I was being “insightful”… GEEZ.
And by “this one” I didn’t mean the upcoming one, I meant my previous one, to which you referred earlier.
I’m thinkin,
A bridge over troubled waters
Bridge to Terabithia
Lost bridge while flappin’ jaws?
Instead of trying to Bridge the Gap, they should’ve just “Run Silent, Run Deep”
I play poker as a serious side. There’s a strict rule at all tables: No politics, period.
Bridge players, be the Dem. Rep., Lib, whatever, should should STFU and play cards.
And if you’re going to punny people:
A Bridge That’s Gone Too Far
methinks this is a great photoshop opportunity………I ask the great people of MM: what SHOULD her sign say???
#57 – oh again, no, no, I just can’t…its just too easy!
bbwwwwaaaahhhhh ha ha ha
They say every dog has its day…
So, they would rather have had that self proclaimed “meteorologist” and “inventor of the internet”, Al Gore, to have been president. Good Grief!
I had no idea one could make a living playing bridge, and the money is good enough for it to be your principle income. What the he** have I been doing with my life? Oh and I tried to do a bridges of madison county joke, but couldnt think of anything.
#61 – that was probably because Meryl Streep was in the movie….
I was a registered Democrat and I didn’t vote Dem…that’s sad..sadder for the Dems, I still wouldn’t change my vote.
On a side note, I thought Jamie Farr stopped crossdressing when M*A*S*H* stopped filming.
I will say he looks good for 73, though.
My God! they are ugly. Just went back to the top and saw them. ” The horror…..The horor”
They get no sympathy from me that they jeopardized their livelihood. Anyone who exploits a non-political forum to make a political statement should expect undesireable consequences.
aj and trinitytim
More like they were standing on The Bridge on the River Kwai or were on The Bridges at Toko-Ri … both of which fell out from under them …
Send the board members of the bridge federation that sent them there as representatives of the US a message. I just did. This is what I said:
Dear Sirs and Madams:
As an American, I am appalled at the actions of your American team at the world bridge championships regarding the slur about President George Bush. They were there playing as representatives of our nation, and George Bush is our president. They showed an extreme lack of class, decorum, and basic manners. They are, in short, a national embarrassment. They proved themselves to be unfit representatives of our nation who have wholly trivialized the endeavors of your organization. Quite frankly, they should play for another country, one of which they can be proud representatives. You do not travel abroad to represent your nation, and then spit on your nation to the glory of the foreign press in attendance. What nasty, petty people these women are. I hope your sanctions of them are swift and severe. They do not deserve the honor you have bestowed upon them as ambassadors of our nation in the bridge-playing world.
board@usbf.org
Too late to worry about that now.
This was not at all them trying to let anyone “know that we, too, are critical.” It wasn’t critical of Bush at all.
This was an attempt by the ladies to distance themselves from the criticism that they had heard at the tournament, an attempt to “wash their hands” of what America is doing right now.
It was an appology for being an American.
It continues to amaze me that any American Jew would be against the war against very people who want the destruction of Israel. Is this another case of I have mine the hell with everyone else?
So would being exterminated which the enemy of the USA wants to do to you.
What I don’t get is most liberals seem proud to be liberal. If I was a liberal, I’d keep my mouth shut about it fearing someone would ask me what I do believe in.