This a story about Maureen Brines and her quest to earn a T-shirt at the Spring NABC in St. Louis. Tracy and Maureen Brines are new to Unit 163 this past year.
Tracy and Maureen Brines
To begin this story, I need to introduce Tracy and Maureen Brines who are new to Unit 163 this past year. They are here because of a job opportunity for Tracy at the Palo Nuclear Plant. They are accomplished bridge players. Tracy has directed and taught classes and Maureen has played for a shorter time, but is storming into greatness. They have been supporting most of our tournaments and doing well, too.
The T-shirt story comes about when they went to the ACBL Spring National in St. Louis, Missouri. The story was published in the June and August Bridge Bulletins. I have copied the letters to the editor which tell an amusing and interesting story.
Here is the June letter by Tracy Brines. “At the Spring NABC in St. Louis, Maureen, my wife and partner, discovered that the section-top prize was a T-shirt. After about five days of getting beat up in the national events (Rockwell Mixed Pairs, Silodor Open Pairs), she was distraught at not winning a shirt. We played one day in a Daylight Open pairs, having a section top, only to discover that because it was scored across multiple sections, we actually had a pair of section thirds. Undaunted, we went after shirts in the evening side game, our third session of the day. As the game was about to start, I looked around and saw Bob Hamman two tables down, sitting the same direction as we were. All I could think to say was, “Go tell him what size shirt you wear. I am sure he has enough…”
And here is the rest of the story published in the August Bridge Bulletin by Bill Howard of Green Valley, Arizona, entitled, Maureen’s Prize. “You published a letter in June about Maureen Brines and her quest to earn a T-shirt at the Spring NABC in St. Louis. For those who are wondering whether she was successful, here’s what Paul Harvey would call “the rest of the story.” You may recall that Maureen and her husband, Tracy, played in a pairs’ game with Bob Hamman playing the same direction in their section, so they missed out on the shirt. Well, my partner Ed Helpert and I went looking for teammates for the Swiss teams on the second Sunday and ran into Tracy and Maureen, who were desperate to find teammates with total masterpoints low enough to keep us in the ‘X’ part of the A/X Swiss. Ed and I qualified for that honor, so we teamed up with them. Tracy and Maureen played well and we came in first in X, so Maureen got her T-shirt.”
Hope you get to know this couple, who are playing and supporting bridge in Unit 163, sometime soon. If
you haven’t already been introduced, you may just recognize them when you see them sporting their
NABC T-shirts.