And Brickbats

You probably did not notice it in the photos from my previous post.  But, one of the American ladies held up a sign as their team received their award for winning their prestigious prize in Shanghai.  Here is another shot; you will be able to better see what their sign said.

Forget the specific message of the sign.  The sign could have said "Hillary is a Bitch" or "Abortion is Murder" or any other similar political and partisan words.

This was not the venue for such a statement.

This was a moment for celebrating brilliance at the card table, and competition around the world, and nations coming together in one spot to peacefully spar at the greatest brain game ever created.

Instead of honoring their nation and their achievement, these ladies had to take a moment to behave like selfish adolescents while representing 300 million people.

I will leave you with the words of one of the directors from our governing board for bridge in the U.S.

The most touching moment that I have ever seen with regard to the World Bridge Federation was in New York when the winners of the school games from Poland took the stage to receive their medals for winning and their National Anthem  was played.  They sang and tears flowed from their eyes.

They were representing their Country, a country that had been without an Anthem for many years and they were proud of their country and their bridge.

Politics has no, I repeat NO place at these events.  Celebrate the victory and vote however you want but leave your crude signs out of this venue.  This is the most disgusting thing that I have seen and if the people responsible for it ever represent the USA again do not expect that I will pull for them to win.

Today I attended a club game in Durham, NC after having heard about this and asked numerous players about their thoughts about what happened.  To a person they were horrified and were not happy the money that they paid for International Fund Games went to supporting actions like those in China.