[blml] Disclosure f2f

[Robert Geller]

Marvin French さんは書きました:
>Are there any other games of importance for which local rules are free
>to differ (officially) from a global standard? I can't think of any,
>and don't see why bridge should be different. Well, basketball does
>have two standards, but only two.

In baseball the designated hitter rule is used in some leagues (US American 
League, Japanese Pacific League) but not others (US National League,
Japanese Central League).   Furthermore, there are unique "ground rules"
in each ballpark depending on local conditions (for example, what happens 
when a ball gets lost in the ivy covering the walls in Chicago's Wrigley Field).

In football (called soccer in some nations, not even the name of the game is
a global standard!), the size the the field is not standardized 
    "The field is rectangular and may vary in size. In international competition, 
     it measures from 100 to 130 yards (91 to 119 meters) long and from 50 to
    100 yards (46 to 91 meters) wide."

In gridiron football ("American football") the length of the field differs in the 
US and Canadian Leagues (100 yards vs 110 yards).  The overtime rules 
for resolving tied games are different in US college football and professional 
football.

IMO the alerting rules in bridge (variable in each country) are comparable to
ground rules in baseball.  For example, if ivy covered walls were forbidden
in baseball parks, then you wouldn't need ground rules for balls lost in ivy.
But there would be an uproar from the fans in Chicago if you tried to ban ivy.
So baseball is stuck with the special ground rules for Wrigley field.

Similarly since standard biddiing differs so much from one country to another 
local options (ground rules)  are inevitable in bridge.  If there were standardized
rules, would the US, for example, accept the madatory use of multi 2D in
ordinary pair and team events if the rest of the world wanted it?  Of course not.
Almost every other country uses metric weight and length measurements, 
but pounds and feet and miles are still used in the US.

IMO the alerting rules could only be standardized if everyone around the world
used the same bidding system.  Which isn't the case now, and probably never will
be?

-Bob 

-----------------------------------------------------
Robert (Bob) Geller,     Tokyo, Japan        geller at nifty.com