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Charlotte Scrabble Club
NASPA Club #668 |
Charlotte :: Myrtle Beach :: Gatlinburg :: The Park Carolina Cup :: State :: Alpharetta |
| Tournament Coverage TSH Reports Brackets Annotated Games Photos |
Got a chance to catch up with Mr. Hawaii, Greg Heidler, this round. He didn't come from Hawaii for the tournament. Rather, he came from Mexico, so it was just a hop, skip, and a jump (not). He's all tan and rested from time off on a diving boat in the lovely Cabo region. He tells me that he and two other Hawaii residents (Mark Pistolese and Ken Smith) met up with a vacationer (name escaping) and they did a mini tournament on Maui a couple weeks ago. So, it appears that life is full of sun, fun, and SCRABBLE for Greg. He makes all of us look like such pasty white Northerners. Wait, we are pasty white Northerners!
David Koenig and Winter are having a wonderful romp of a game in front of me this round. I can always tell when David is having a good game, because he enunciates his play scores more clearly than when the game is closed, crowded, lacking in the ol' dynamism. This was a seven-bingo game, four of which were played by Winter: IPOMOEAS for 69, BOTANISE for 74, DRASTIC for 88, and ANTENnA for 69. David played REZONES for 105, BUDGETER for 64, HAULMiER through the U for 82, and the fun JUKING for 65. David's win, 488-425.
Barry Keith lost to Joey Mallick again this round, 312-429. Joey got away with DRACHmAL*. Barry expressed delight at being here and getting a chance to play such good players as Joey. A father of 3, teacher, husband: time off for SCRABBLe tournaments is few and far between. As an aside, Barry showed me a photo of this three kids: they are the sweetest little towheads! He's enormously proud of them, you can tell.
Matt Bernardina vs. Chad Harris. Game in progress, I see: TATSOIS, ELUSIVe, RENNASE, and GOATEED.
On Liz Gottlin vs. Dave Rauppius' board I see TRANNY and instantly find Stefan Rau to discuss why this isn't on the "poo list." He bats his heavily mascara-ed and eyeliner-lined eyes at me and asked why I was asking him about this, which of course was funny. I sputtered, forget that part, and let's talk about TRANNY. He said, "uh... transmission. Not everything is a spurious as you might want." Okay, lesson learned, mr. smart guy. But, let's just be clear, a guy prettier than me who can also whip me in SCRABBLE is just not fair.
Jacob Cohen defeats Benton Bowen this round, 405-395. It's becoming a habit, this beating Bob. I see OUTWOrE on the board and BONGERrS*, the latter being Benton'sgem. Jacob said, "oh Benton got away with that one." And I said, snarkily I might add, "oh a phony is on one of your games and it wasn't played by you?" :) Benton then joked about thinking a bong sounded good right about now. The shared inside jokes and guffaws are what it is all about, you know?
Jason Luci vs. Mark Abadi: ArOUSES and DESERTER.
John Luebkemann lost his second game to Ian Weinstin, 358-429. I glance over the paperwork and see that John had some pretty ugly racks and a blank deficit. John's moral victory, I declare, is playing INQUIET for 112, MOIRAI, and OCULI. The latter two are some fun, rack clearing babies. I see Ian's WAGGlES for 80 and RoDSMEN for 68.
Terry Kang Rau and Joanne Cohen are giggling across the room. I get waved over to their slightly naughty board. Terry asks me if sense the theme. QUICKY and JISM jump out immediately, but I pretend not to see them and make her point them out. :) She got down the lovely ToVArISH for a 98-point double-double. I see Joanne's INLIERS and she points out the 1-letter tiles and wants me to sense that theme. :) The highlight, though, according to Terry, is that at one point Joanne had DEGONAD on her rack and Terry points out, with the caveat of she would have had to be ahead and solidly winning to do so, that she would have just let that play stay on the board to go with the game theme.
Libero Paolella (he is going to hate me by the time he reads this, I think I have spelled his name 27 different ways this event) has won four games in a row and is actually bouncing on his toes wiht excitement. When pushed, I uncover his real delight: he isn't going back to snowy, cold Toronto when this event ends. He is going to visit a friend in Florida (ahhhh.... nothing like sun and warmth).