So we get to vote on the USCF’s Executive Board.
I don’t follow USCF politics very much unless it’s really juicy. Sam Sloan fits the bill…too bad we can’t vote on Paul Truong. Some of these other names I probably should know but don’t. Except IM Blas Lugo is big in Miami, so he’s familiar. And I do know Bill Goichberg wears glasses.
We should choose some random chess bloggers to write in, and see how far it gets. (“Chess Life announces that Eric Hecht and this, uh, some Blunderprone guy have won the election…”)
Flashback: $am $loan
No no no NO! I want to have fun… and politics is not what I call fun. ( but thanks)
My best Bill Giochberg moment: He and his wife typically come up to the events at Sturbridge, MA ( Continental and Eastern Class). At one of these events, He was looking up ratings on line via a dial-up modem, when his wife, taking entries, decides to run the credit card device… because it’s like bringing money to the event, disconnects Bill… he has a fit, they have a huge LOUD spat in front of everyone. She was cool. She just let him rant on and on until finally she says “What’s more important, running credit cards or getting the latest ratings?” For the rest of the weekend, they weren’t saying much to each other.
In all honesty, though, Bill’s done a lot for Chess promotion and the “big events”. He brought in the multi-day schedules that convene on teh last rounds and the notion of re-entry in these events ( why not… you make more money as an organizer).
What we really need is someone to put some life back into USCF. It’s time to “Pimp my chess”. Get sponsorship and somehow bring CHess to the TV. I mean if ESPN2 can cover crap like championship trick pool shots, then how about a speed chess championship? ( at least it’s fast pace)… now, there, I’d be willing to volunteer being a commentator. I’d cover it like I cover my history chess stuff… I’d throw in the human interest stories and the Bios … man… it’s time to Pimp this game out!
Awesome! Pimp my chess!! That would make a great campaign slogan.
Bill has come up with great ideas for tournaments over the years. I have to laugh about the Bill and Brenda story. I’ve seen the same thing happen at the World Open when I used to direct there. The fight was more about who needed the internet connection to check for ringers’ FIDE ratings, versus Bill reading RGCP to catch up on the latest political gossip.
Keep the two Brians in Massachusetts, though at least Brian L has come to the intelligent decision to drop out, and support Bill.
I’m voting for Shawn Bradley.
Don’t we get to vote for three? I say write in chessloser, the Mascot and Clint Eastwood. chessloser will pimp things up in a big way, the Mascot is the Trickster of legend and will keep everyone on their toes, and Clint Eastwood will solve this lawsuit situation with the application of deadly force if necessary. These are the men/people/eggs to get the frickin’ USCF freak show back on track!
The USCF council is a bunch of old guys who play chess instead of finding hot babes. I can’t be a part of something like that.
@Blunderprone: “Pimp my Chess” LOL. Yo, check out my ivory and jade pieces, yo.
Probably mentioned this before, but for a while, ESPN or ESPN2 had some speed chess during the afternoon (this was about 14 years ago). They even did the whole John Madden diagram deal, where they’d do something like circle a Rook and draw an arrow down the open file it was controlling. Honestly, it felt very cheesy.
@Polly: Out of curiosity, why are the two Brians unsuited?
@Derek: Ha! He’s perfect: a polite, mild-mannered man who will get pushed around by people shorter than him.
@Robert: There’s an unfortunate flaw in the plan: write-ins require the USCF number written by the name. Just goes to show what high-handed, exclusive elitists the USCF leaders are. (On the plus side, we get to vote for four, so it’s more likely one will slip through.)
Why is it that Chuck Norris wasn’t even mentioned as a write in?
Yeah, since we get to vote for four, Clint Eastwood and Chuck Norris! Really, after that, could anything stop the USCF?
* Chuck Norris will write himself in. In person.
* Chuck Norris’s beard checkmated Kasparov in four moves.
* The Norris piece was originally part of chess. They took it out because both players would win everytime.
Clint, heading into USCF exec board meeting: “Get three coffins ready.”
Clint, returning from board meeting: “My mistake. Four coffins.”
That was probably a movie reference. Unfortunately lost on me since I’ve only seen one of his movies, the one with the girl boxer.
Apparently it’s from Fistful Of Dollars.
You didn’t see the ones with the orangutan?
“Right turn Clyde”
All I know is if that is the best picture Sloan could come up with for himself, may God have mercy on us all.