And...we're back

I've just arrived home from the Pittsburgh Scrabble Tournament, and the report on my tournament results is only slightly better. I ended the weekend with a 4-and-8 record...but at least that put my play today at two victories for four games. Turns out Cross-Tables had only predicted that I win five of the games. I guess that's not so much worse than I thought...but then, on the other hand, several of the unrated players on Cross-Tables, though playing in their first tournament, weren't exactly beginners. In reality, I'm sure I didn't qualify for my seeded position.

So I think a tournament of 48 players that has nine new competitors (although most are not new to the game of Scrabble) is really awesome! It doesn't necessarily mean more people are playing Scrabble...because most people don't invest the time, money, and effort in a tournament when they first start playing. But it certainly means that more people are playing more seriously. Is this geek chic we're seeing? Maybe in our age of all-digital communication, the new, desirable cave man will be one with a big brain instead of a big biceps. Natural Selection, after all, is a constantly changing thing. (First...two Darwin references in one week make me really proud! Second...I'm seriously digressing here.)

Okay, so....second-to-last, but by no means second-to-least (whaaa?)...three out of our four WV Scrabble players at the Pittsburgh tournament did very well!! Chris, who was playing in only his second-ever Scrabble tournament, took second place in our division! Adding a mini-sweep to that very same division, Martha took home her first-ever first place win in a tournament!! AND...Martha's husband, Brad, took first place in his division (the middle division of three).

After the initial sting of my defeat wore off (and my late Saturday desire to "never fucking play Scrabble ever again"), my resolve was only strengthened. I'm not fooling myself about the situation...and if I ever want to get much better I'll have to invest some real time and effort to the cause. Plain n' simple. So we'll see. Life can get pretty hectic and there's not always time to be studying word lists. How is it not logical that one could absorb under-the-pillow word lists by osmosis? (Why, oh, why are the gods of simple physics against me?!?!?!)

And more worth it than a win was seeing the friends I've made on the regional Scrabble circuit...and making a few new friends, too. I loves talking with some smart people. Speaking of which, spending my four-hour drive chatting it up with Martha was refreshing. She's got a whole can of peas. Brad watched a movie on the way up, and napped some on the way home...both of which I hope were a very tiny, mini-vacation for him.

Okay, so...in conclusion. I'm truly proud of my fellow West Virginians and the weekend wrapped up pretty well. Stan and Terry put a great deal of effort into this tournament and then made it seem effortless as it went so smoothly. And, yeah...I know that other paragraph up there was supposed to be second-to-last. It's the New Math.