[kenberg]

Some further comments from Steve Robinson

Quote

Mike Cappelletti Sr. passed away November 14th after a brief illness associated with his recent diagnosis of multiple myeloma.

Mike had a distinguished career as a bridge player and was also a world-class poker player. He was especially knowledgeable about the variant called Omaha poker, and was a long-time columnist for The Card Player magazine.

Mike's bridge career of firsts spanned 46 years. He won his first national championship in 1967 in the Master Mixed Teams as that event was known at the time, playing with his wife Kathie, and won his second national championship this past spring in St. Louis with Dick Wieland in the Silver Ribbon Pairs. Mike also achieved seven second-place finishes in national events including the Reisinger and the Blue Ribbon Pairs, two of the ACBL's most challenging national events. Internationally, Mike was a bronze medalist and achieved a sixth-place finish in two world bridge championship events. A fine player by all accounts, Mike was a Grand Life Master with over 24,000 masterpoints.

Being a great bridge player is truly an accomplishment, but Mike's contributions went further—he believed in volunteerism and in giving back to the game he so loved. In addition to serving on numerous national committees for the ACBL over the years, Mike was President of the Mid-Atlantic Bridge Conference, the host organization for many wonderful regionals; President of District 6; and President of both the Washington Bridge League and the Northern Virginia Bridge Association.

We will remember the cigar and the twinkle in his eye. There is a great story about Mike and how broad his grin was when he overheard a first-time regional player who was quite new to the game excitedly tell her friend after she had left his table,
"You will never guess what just happened! I just played two boards against a bridge convention!"

As you continue to play bridge, think about Mike and emulate his love of the game.

Life is short—make the most of it, and enjoy your time at the table.

A gathering of Mike's friends may be held during the upcoming Phoenix NABC—please check the Daily Bulletin for details.

A local Celebration of Life will be held sometime during the next few months and you will be sent more details on that as they become available.

Somehow I always seem to remember the small things. I was defending against Mike and his partner, Mike being dummy. I was pretty much a beginner, I knew nothing, I new no one. About half way through the hand his partner laid his hand down face up and, after an interval that would have been sufficient for a more experienced opponent, Mike started to scoop up the dummy. "Wait", I almost shouted, "am I supposed to work out how these cards are going to be played?". Mike gently replied "Fair enough", laid the cards back down, and his partner explained, without a hint of condescension, what was probably a totally obvious sequence.

As I learned more, I came to realize that Mike and the other WBL players mentioned by Henry Bethe represent bridge at its very best, in play, in ethics, in service.

[barmar]

Anyone think he'll probably get a national event named after him in the near future?

Personal connection: my father died of multiple myeloma in his early 50's.

[Cyberyeti]

Nelson Mandela - somebody who has been a part of history for my entire life, and who IMO prevented a bloodbath in post apartheid South Africa.

[Aberlour10]

It makes me really sick to post in the same forum together with such a people like the member above.

EDITED: Thanks for deleting it

[Cyberyeti]

Aberlour10, on 2013-December-05, 18:42, said:

It makes me really sick to post in the same forum together with such a people like the member above.

Indeed, to see how important Mandela was and what could have happened, just look at Zimbabwe where the bitterness wasn't left behind in a similar situation.

[eagles123]

5 mins of research would set you straight chaps... look at SA before/after NM... ah well no point arguing here to talk bridge not discuss politics

[Cyberyeti]

eagles123, on 2013-December-09, 17:42, said:

5 mins of research would set you straight chaps... look at SA before/after NM... ah well no point arguing here to talk bridge not discuss politics

I've done an awful lot of research on it including talking to a lot of people who were there at the time, I really don't know what you're talking about

[GreenMan]

Someone said Mandela was the only politician who'll be missed.

[ggwhiz]

I lived in Pretoria from 97 to 2000 and can't believe the level of ignorance from some comments I've seen on the net.

Things like "He was just a terrorist" and "Murderer of women and children"........ and worshipped by their survivors? Brilliance is in short supply but stupidity knows no bounds.

[eagles123]

ggwhiz, on 2013-December-09, 18:16, said:

I lived in Pretoria from 97 to 2000 and can't believe the level of ignorance from some comments I've seen on the net.

Things like "He was just a terrorist" and "Murderer of women and children"........ and worshipped by their survivors? Brilliance is in short supply but stupidity knows no bounds.

Ok I'm missing it: why was Mandela so great?

sorry but I get fed up of this worship of Blacks and hatred of whites seemingly for no reason. i.e. any white on black crime it's racist, and black on white crime it's a coincidence

To me SA has gone backwards in every way since Mandela. It was a powerhouse, now a joke. And that's not even getting into why he was imprisoned in the first place...

[hrothgar]

eagles123, on 2013-December-09, 18:38, said:

Ok I'm missing it: why was Mandela so great?

Mandela is credited with preventing South Africa from collapsing into a bloody civil war.
He established the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions.
He established a pluralistic democracy.
He stepped down after one term rather than establishing himself as a strong man.

How's that for a starter?

[Cyberyeti]

eagles123, on 2013-December-09, 18:38, said:

Ok I'm missing it: why was Mandela so great?

sorry but I get fed up of this worship of Blacks and hatred of whites seemingly for no reason. i.e. any white on black crime it's racist, and black on white crime it's a coincidence

To me SA has gone backwards in every way since Mandela. It was a powerhouse, now a joke. And that's not even getting into why he was imprisoned in the first place...

It's easy to be an economic powerhouse when you essentially have slave labour.

Mandela is a large part of the reason apartheid fell, in that he was somebody the whites felt they could trust. His lack of bitterness and willingness to put everything aside and move on towards a new South Africa was a large part of the reason there was no bloodbath. See Zimbabwe for how it might have gone otherwise.

An anecdote: a friend of mine was playing a bridge match at a white farmhouse as apartheid was falling. He goes to put his coat in the cupboard under the stairs and the first thing he sees is the rocket launcher.

It could have got seriously messy, and Mandela is a large part of why it didn't. He was prepared to go against his own black advisors to keep most of the whites onside, and had the personality to do that without alienating his own side.

[y66]

Quote

Bill Porter, an Oregon door-to-door salesman who plied his trade for decades despite having severe cerebral palsy, and whose story inspired an Emmy-winning television film starring William H. Macy, died last Tuesday in Gresham, Ore. He was 81.

The successful door-to-door salesman must be skilled at driving, walking and talking. Mr. Porter did the first of these not at all and the latter two only with great difficulty. But through a combination of persistence, gregariousness and charm, he was for many years Watkins’s top salesman in the region comprising Oregon, Washington, California and Idaho.

After graduating from high school, Bill Porter, seeking work, was deemed unemployable by the state. The state offered him disability benefits. Mr. Porter declined.

Encouraged by his mother to pursue a sales career, he applied to the Fuller Brush Company but was turned away. The Watkins company turned him away, too, until Mr. Porter, in his first successful pitch, persuaded them to give him their most inhospitable territory in Portland.

He covered it by foot, taking the bus as close as he could get before disembarking to walk his route — eight to 10 miles daily. He had the use of only one hand; in it he carried a briefcase filled with pictures of his products. A traditional sample case would have been too heavy.

Working on commission, he braved all weather and a spate of slammed doors. Little by little, the orders came, for soap and spices and dog biscuits. When the products arrived, his mother delivered them by car; in later years, when she could no longer manage the task, Mr. Porter hired Ms. Brady.

In his best weeks, Ms. Brady said, Mr. Porter might earn $300 or $400. In 1997, after being hit by a car while headed out to his rounds, he sold his wares by telephone.

Ms. Brady, who had worked for Mr. Porter since 1980, witnessed a sterling example of his sales prowess in the late 1990s. They were trying to fly to a speaking engagement in Canada: lacking a photo ID, Mr. Porter was barred from boarding.

Anxious to make the next flight, they drove to Mr. Porter’s home, unearthed his baptismal certificate and raced to the Department of Motor Vehicles. A helpful clerk, who recognized Mr. Porter from local news coverage, fast-tracked his application for a nondriver ID.

In a matter of minutes, Ms. Brady recalled on Monday, Mr. Porter obtained his ID card and also sold the clerk a large tin of cinnamon.

[Aberlour10]

Peter O'Toole

Good bye Lawrence

[ArtK78]

Howard ("Howie") Cohen. December 19, 2013 after a long illness.

Howie was a fixture in the Philadelphia bridge scene since before I started playing (I have been playing since 1973). He was a friend, sometime partner and teammate, and always had a smile.

Howie won his first and only NABC in Toronto in 2010 - the Wernher Open Pairs - with my frequent partner, Meyer Kotkin.

Howie was truly a character, and often his own worst enemy. My favorite story about Howie was that one time he was going to a hearing in his divorce case. On going through the metal detector at the courthouse, the alarm went off. It turned out that Howie had on him a metal cigarette case. Only what was in the cigarette case was not cigarettes. It was pot. For some reason, the authorities took a dim view of this.

Howie, you will be missed.

[mikeh]

eagles123, on 2013-December-09, 18:38, said:

sorry but I get fed up of this worship of Blacks and hatred of whites seemingly for no reason. i.e. any white on black crime it's racist, and black on white crime it's a coincidence

I think this passage tells me everything I need to know about you. Especially the emoticon.

Maybe the mods could bring back the minus button just for your post.

[barmar]

mikeh, on 2013-December-23, 17:45, said:

I think this passage tells me everything I need to know about you. Especially the emoticon.

Maybe the mods could bring back the minus button just for your post.

We had to use the Delete button for his earlier post. It was just 2 words long.

[Scarabin]

This is the season for tolerance. Mikeh once lectured us on the need for intolerance of tolerance. Perhaps we could ponder the need for tolerance of intolerance?

[mikeh]

Scarabin, on 2013-December-24, 21:19, said:

This is the season for tolerance. Mikeh once lectured us on the need for intolerance of tolerance. Perhaps we could ponder the need for tolerance of intolerance?

My comments back then must have stung you for you to feel the need to take such a shot at me, especially at this time of year. My own preference is to hope for tolerance of everything and everyone but the intolerant, so I wish you...as well as everyone else who plays any role in BBF, a happy holiday season (for those for whom this is a holiday season).

[gordontd]

ArtK78, on 2013-December-22, 23:14, said:

Howard ("Howie") Cohen. December 19, 2013 after a long illness.

This took me by surprise until I realised it must be another Howard Cohen than the former proprietor of TGR's & Howie's Bridge Club in London.