[blml] De Whale

[Eric Landau]

At 08:42 AM 4/16/07, rwilley wrote:

>I have a question of my own:  At what point do Herman's little quirks
>render him unfit to work as a TD or serve on Appeals Committees?
>
>First and foremost, I want to differentiate between taking a Devil's
>Advocate type position on a discussion list or an Appeals write up and
>official actions as a working TD or Appeals Committee member.  I see
>nothing wrong with blowing smoke on a discussion list.  Its fun.  It
>might even qualify as productive.  However, I would have very real
>concerns if these same idiosyncratic little beliefs were to be used in
>rendering judgments during an event of some kind.  I very much believe
>that players should have an expectation of equal justice.  The rulings
>that they receive should not depend on the luck of the draw with
>respect to which Tournament Director or which Appeals Committee is
>hearing their case.  Obviously, life isn't perfect.  Different TDs
>have radically different skill levels.  Many of them will make honest
>mistakes.  However, I believe that there is a very big difference
>between an honest mistake and refusal to conform/enforce to the
>majority opinion about the laws.
>
>To me, the most obvious analogy is Bobby Wolff.  Like Herman, Wolff
>has his own little causes.  Like Herman, Wolff believes that he can
>completely disregard stare decisis.  My impression is that Wolff isn't
>permitted to serve on many appeals committees any more.  Instead, his
>contributions have (largely) been limited to rendering increasingly
>bizarre commentary on the Appeals process.  I'm really starting to
>wonder whether Herman has reached the same point:

Mr. Wolff, who has contributed greatly to the game of bridge as both a 
player and an administrator, is now regarded by much of the official 
ACBL community as being, to put it politely, a bit past his prime.  His 
idiosyncratic opinions about points of law, which continue to get more 
and more idiosyncratic as he ages, are listened to with deference, even 
published as official commentary from time to time, out of respect for 
his stature and his continuing desire to contribute to the game, but 
have not been taken seriously by very many folks for some years now.

But Mr. Wolff is not, and (TTBOMK) never has been, a working TD.  That, 
to use an American idiom, would be a whole different ball game.

This is in no way intended to imply an answer to Richard's question.


Eric Landau                     ehaa at starpower.net
1107 Dale Drive                 (301) 608-0347
Silver Spring MD 20910-1607