From: Sherrie Saint John <saint@MIT.EDU>
Date: Tue, 25 Nov 1997 23:43:09 -0500
Subject: stumbling in for more commentary
Message-id: <v03007802b0a11dbf8f01@[205.181.94.83]>
Hi all. We're back home and I can't tell who is happier: Sherrie & Gregg or the cats! Our leisurely and romantic train ride from DC to Boston was neither. We lost our sleeping car due to a scheduling mix-up and the train was PACKED. All those marches on Washington never taught me to sleep well overnight while sitting up in any sort of public transportation (as a matter of fact, this is the first trip I've made to DC without a placard in tow to wave around Pennsylvania Avenue!). Steve Oliger might disagree and see a political bent to this trip (that of cramming SOWPODS down the throats of cgp's readership), but since I'd never studied the OSW or seen much of it in action, I really had no agenda prior to coming, honest.
This standing-room only train contained one person of extreme interest to Gregg and me: Matt Graham. When we found him about an hour in, sitting near the beverage car, he was halfway through a beer and delighted to chat with us. His trusted leprechaun, Marlon Hill, had seen him off at the DC train station, but the still very wound-up runner-up still had much to talk about. We gathered in the beverage car area to discuss the tournament. Matt was understandably disappointed in the result, but more than anything, he seemed to be hard on himself about not playing perfectly. He'd been pressuring himself to play as well as could be played with his tiles. If he lost in the pursuit of that goal, he could live with himself he said, but if he lost and didn't execute perfectly, he was going to be down on himself. Though I repeatedly pointed out the dead-on plays he'd made (which I'd gauged by the ovations and cheers from the room where the games were simulcast), such as LITERATI, he waved that away and mumbled about the missed short words (such as game three's HERB instead of BERTH/BETH "I've known BERTH all my life!"). At that very moment, he wanted to know what were the exact plays he could have made (via an analysis by Maven or DDBOT and not just those raised by onlookers who had told him plays they saw). Though Gregg had Mavened the games earlier that day as they unfolded, he'd done so on John Chew's machine, so we couldn't do much real analysis with the final games. But I remembered that I'd annotated his Round 21 loss to Joe Edley. I ran back to my seat, gathered the paperwork and laptop, and wended my way back to Gregg and Matt. We fired up Maven and spent the next hour going through the game with him, rack by rack. In the end, I think we eased his mind. According to Maven, he'd done a very good job. Maven would have preferred NONSOLAR elsewhere, but as he analyzed it, Matt thinks he still did the right play. We were about an hour outside of NYC (Matt's ultimate destination) and the laptop battery was nearing its lifespan when we parted ways. He was smiling, confident, ready to take a cybertaxi (as in FAST, he wanted to sleep!) home once the train landed at Penn Station.
Matt credited Video Flashcards, Crosswise, and Maven as his study guides. He prefers the consistent high-level competition they offer. The opportunity to play with a variety of high-level human opponents was one of his favorite parts of WSC 97. Next time, though, he wants a crack at Mark Nyman. They missed each other at this tournament.
I feel I speak for many when I say that Matt made impressive use of his pretty fantastic, recently expanded vocabulary, winning 13 games in a row on his way to the finals. Even he knows that top-level success isn't merely words, it is word knowledge in conjunction with strategy and tactics. And I think there was an abundance of words, strategy, and tactics on show in WSC 97's finals.
A cursory look through my in box does not show the exact prizes awarded. If I missed it and am repeating, forgive me!
1. Joel Sherman USA $25,000 2. Matt Graham USA $10,000 3. Joe Edley USA $5,000 4. Robert Felt USA $3,000 5. Mark Nyman GBR $2,000 6. Kendall Boyd NZL $1,000 7. Russell Byers GBR $800.00 8. Akshay Bhandarkar BHR $600.00 9. Adam Logan CAN $400.00 10. Brian Cappelletto USA $300.00 11. David Boys CAN $250.00 12. David Action GBR $250.00 13. Jeff Grant NZL $250.00 14. Allan Saldanha GBR $250.00 15. Ron Tiekert USA $250.00 16. Sammy Okosagah NGA $150.00 17. Gitonga Nderitu KEN $150.00 18. Missaka Warusawitharana LKA $150.00 19. Naween Fernando LKA $150.00 20. John Holgate AUS $150.00
I think I overheard Missaka Warusawitharana (LKA) tell Adam Logan (CAN) that he would see him in Chicago at the Nationals. Missaka will be attending school in the States when the Nationals roll around.
Other tidbits:
The representative from EIRE, Eileen Meghen, discussed with me her desire to see duplicate Scrabble. She thinks the luck factor sways games too greatly. At one point in the play-by-play action she pulled Mark Nyman aside to discuss this idea. I vaguely remember his saying it would "certainly change the strategy."
I was nearly flattened with a streamroller when I mentioned to a few contestants that I had some protiles for sale. I had more than five people offer to buy EVERYTHING I had! I ended up splitting them between a few competitors. Jim Nanavati (CAN) very nicely gave me back a set I had sold him and told me to mail him a set later so that I could sell his to someone from Asia (but since there is a Canadian mail strike, it may take a while!). Some attendees spoke about the trouble they had in obtaining Scrabble boards and general paraphernalia in their countries. Robin Pollock Daniel (CAN) autographed the set she'd been given and gave it to her final opponent to take back home. This story would be better if I could remember WHO, but I can't. Maybe Robin will fill us in.
A little bird told me that the next World Championships will be geared up for such merchandising: perhaps there might even be a sponsor-supported shop set up so that everyone from contestants to passersby can load up on the goods.
It's clear to me that there is a great hunger for the expansion of this game that we know and love!
sherrie
saint@mit.edu
p.s. I saw two interviews Joel gave today: On CNN, he charmed Natalie, the anchor, and gave her some U-less Q words to use in the annual games against her family during the Thanksgiving holiday. ON MSNBC, both he and John Williams were interviewed. Joel spoke about playing since early childhood and John spoke about the "feel-good" aspects to the game of Scrabble.
p.p.s. My mother and sister just called concurrently and told me how impressed they were were Joel on Good Morning America. My sister, Sarajane, thought that Charlie could have come up with some better anagrams. Even she found WEATHER! They both LOVED the tie! Good job Joel!!!!