In which various tournaments are updated

I’ve been helping Kathy put together this year’s Baby Bump. It’s now up on tabroom, although she’s still plugging away at the invitation. She took umbrage when I explained to her that no one actually ever reads an invitation. She claims she reads every last line of every last one of them. The exception that proves the rule, if you ask me.

BB will be like last year, with 4 rounds on a Saturday in novice and academy LD and PF. We’re also going to throw in a Congress, if the numbers can support it. Why not? It can be a profitable little activity, and we’ll have Catholic Charlie around to actually make it happen. My guess is that we won’t get enough interest, but it’s worth trying. We’ve got nothing to lose. The thing is, there’s only so many opportunities for congressfolk to get qualifications for the State tournament, which is the big thing around here for them. States operates on a process of obtaining half-quals at tournaments for your successes. In a shocking display of Rithmetic Makes the World Go Round, two half quals equals one full qual, and you’re in. The Paginator, hearing all this talk about half quals at the Christmas Chlassich last weekend thought he had wandered into the Tower of Terror. Oh, these Jersey people, especially the ones from Massachusetts. They just don’t understand.

Meanwhile, both Penn and Columbia are polished to within an inch of their lives. I’ll kill the TBAs for the latter the beginning of January. I’ve already done it for the former, but that one is way bigger, with way more rooms, hence way more demand. Both are big draws, though. It’s not just the Ivy thing, but that’s a part of it. People just like going to big cities and, of course, big cities are easy to get to. The tournaments aren’t half bad either, but that’s almost beside the point when it comes to colleges. If you’re looking for bids, they’re not easy to come by. And, given the cost of travel and lodging, they’re not cheap. Which doesn’t stop anyone, of course. I’ve had people insist that they should be admitted to these tournaments, despite not registering until the week before, because they worked hard to earn the money to go. Wouldst they had worked hard to train their coach to sign up with everybody else. Oh, well. I have no trouble playing the Grinch, or getting people in if I can. But I can only do so much.

Speaking of which, the series of plaintive woe emails from Kaz has turned a bit less woeful now that she’s found the extra space at the middle school that she was always hoping for. As long as she keeps all the Pfffters there, she can reckon ‘em by the dozens and it’s fine by me.

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