Come on you Reds...

For those of you who don't know, I committed a crime in a past life and have been subsequently punished in this one by developing at a young age an incurable condition known as dura mortis fautor Aberdonia - die hard Aberdeen supporter. This has several symptoms including, but not limited to: mood swings, depression, nausea, the incapacity to get round to writing a letter that you've been intending to write forever, cynicism, pessimism, tendency to snort derisively whenever someone supporting any other football club claims a referee has been biased, and in severe cases, madness. Don't get me wrong, it has its advantages - an ability to spot a cheat at three hundred paces, a thorough understanding of corruption within the establishment, and the unparalleled high that comes with beating Glasgow Rangers. Last Saturday I travelled to Pittodrie, as always, in hope rather than expectation, of achieving that high, and would inevitably find myself chanting Come on you Reds!
  I maybe didn't expect to win, but I knew what I did expect: cheating from players wearing blue shirts and a referee letting them away with it. And Willie Collum didn't disappoint with a perfectly inconsistent and incompetent display guaranteed to rile the home fans. Yes, referees have an extremely hard job. That doesn't mean to say I'm willing to let them off with it when they are so obviously right word-that-rhymes-with-the struck-through-word. Glasgow Rangers kept their end of the bargain too; cheating their way to a 2-1 win.
Legal Disclaimer: This is my blog; my views that I express are entirely my own and I will say what I see fit, when I see fit. If any representative of the aforementioned football club wishes to try and convince me they are not a bunch of cheating b******s (you know what letters the six asterisks are in place of - leeper), I'd be most interested in listening, we can discuss it for a length of time and at the end of the discussion conclude that I am right. (To paraphrase Brian Clough). The same invitation is extended to Willie Collum, but of course he shall be hiding in his glass house claiming that ten thousand football fans are wrong and he is right. Scottish referees bleat on and on about respect; I'd instantly have a lot more respect for them if they came out and said: "We hold our hands up, we admit it; we are rubbish at our jobs and the main reason for this is that we are human" - it is their pretence that they are actually good at their job that annoys me.
  So, with the fiasco of football over on the Saturday, I could turn attention to a different type of Red that interests me - Red Points. Two opportunities presented themselves this week. First up was the Gall Cup on Sunday. This was a Teams-of-4 event; a Swiss system over 6 rounds. We had a late pair change so we didn't expect to do too well.
  The field was a mixed, but predominantly accomplished strength. We drew one of the harder teams for the first round and were consequently sent upstairs (where the bottom end of the field plays), and we didn't come down all afternoon. We won the second match against a visiting Central District team with a +800 swing on one board being the difference. In the third round, we thought we produced a strong score card, but apparently not - we lost the match 20-0. That loss was to prove costly, as it was our last loss of the day, yet we didn't get to above average VPs.
  The next match was fairly uneventful - what swung it for us was a game swing including 5SX for +200 at our table. That 13 cancelled 10 IMPs out on the last board. That was against a strong, Grand Master headed team from the shire - the fact they stayed upstairs all day was a sign of how hard it was to do well.
  There was a certain importance to Match 5 as it was against a team that included McLeod Senior. Bragging rights were at stake - not that I do any bragging when I win, I just don't want to be the bragee. We kicked off with a 3 Hearts contract played by me. I don't remember anything about it which means it must have been a par score. Unfortunately, my counterpart was in 2NT and made 9 tricks, so we were headed for -6 on that board. The second board we played - Board 29 - was a nice pick-up as we pushed our opponents to 3 Spades Down 1, while my Dad played in a 3NT contract that surely wasn't there so did well to come 1 off. Board 30 was what my Dad would later point out was the board that could've drawn the match. Indeed, having scored boards 25-29, the score was at 12-12, and we picked up 4. Lessurl and I beat 3 Spades by 1, but apparently we should beat it by 2, because our team mates were allowed to make 2 Spades owing to defensive error, so I'm told. Deep Finesse disagrees and tells me 8 tricks are there. As far as I am concerned, that was not what lost them the match. Board 25 did that.

10 8 7 6 3
A 10 7
J 4 2
J 5

A J
Q 6 5 4
A K Q 10 8 6
6

I, North, am the bottom hand. As Dealer at Favourable, I open 1 Diamond. Lessurl says 1 Spade. I reverse with 2 Hearts and Lessurl bids 3 Diamonds. Since we play Blackout, we are now in a GF auction. Since the clubs are wide open, 5 Diamonds is where we play. Now, ten tricks is all I have, and my counterpart is in fact only in 3 Diamonds and making only nine.
  East leads Ace of clubs and now looks for a switch. He chooses a spade and that is enough. The queen appears and I win with the ace before cashing Ace and King of Diamonds. They are 2-2, so now I play the Jack of spades to force the King. My heart entry/stopper is forced out too late as I have three winning spades. I gratefully put 400 in the plus column. This was only technically a defensive error - there was no real indication which major to attack and I'm sure about 50% of defenders would do the same.
  Then I got this hand:

A Q 9 8 5 4 3 2
K Q J 6
---
A

There are three passes to me. I open 2 Clubs and Lessurl bids 2 Hearts - showing 1 ace. I bid 3 Spades to set the suit and Lessurl bids 3NT, intended to play but understood as serious. (We haven't got that far in the system file writing yet). After that, I cue bid 4 Clubs, partner 4 Hearts, and after 4NT finds no Kings, I say 5 Spades. Dummy is:

---
A 9 8 7
Q 7 6 5 4
Q 9 7 3

As it turns out, when I get in and play Ace and a small spade, the King drops, so 12 tricks are there - but it's not a contract many will be in. A solid Game against us not bid at the other table lost 6 on Board 27 but we won 16-12 for a 12-8 VP score.

The last round was another match I was keen on winning. I won't go into details about the play, but the winning board this time was 1NT by me, making +1 when really I should be getting slaughtered. That put us on 55VPs; five below average. Still, in an event like this, 5 below average with 4 wins is better than 5 above average with 2 or 3 wins, so I'm quite content with 0.72 Red Points.

The next Red Point opportunity was in the Scottish Cup. It was a long shot - a home draw against HUNTER. When faced with a match like this, you want to be on your best form and unfortunately, none of us were. Despite the odd major swing in, IMPs leaked everywhere and we lost by just under 100 IMPs. 2 Reds would've been all we would've had for our efforts anyway; SPEARS was waiting to destroy us in the next round had we found a way to win.
  I've never won a Scottish Cup Match, but that's not important right now. It is still one of my favourite competitions to play in - largely because of the 32 board matches. Most bridge enthusiasts enjoy nice, long team matches. The Scottish Cup is Scotland's best offering.
  I say most bridge enthusiasts, but I can't really be right about that. Otherwise, there wouldn't be only thirty-something entries. I worry for the future of bridge when less than 200 players in the entire country are inclined to enter that country's most prestigious event. The guarantee of defeat (which I grant you would be the case for certain players) surely isn't/ shouldn't be a factor. It's never stopped me!