Superheroes

I teach English classes at the community college, and recently I had my students read a piece by Sharon Cho.  She writes about how reading comic books at a young age influenced her; not only does she have a clear conception of what a hero is and does, she aspires to be one.  This made me wonder what a Bridge Superhero would be like.

First and foremost, I thought about the costume.  Every superhero has a special outfit, and I like to think that the BS (unfortunate initials, I know) would wear something sleek.  I'm thinking Cat Woman, but maybe with spades or clubs instead of cat ears.  Of course, it might be something showier like Wonder Woman, who knows?  Lest you despair that your club doesn't have a superhero because you've never seen anyone wearing anything like either of those, let me remind you that superheroes often walk among us in disguise--think Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne.

The main role of a superhero is to help those in trouble.  There's plenty of bidding and playing trouble during a game, but the BS would be judicious in handing out advice--no one likes a know-it-all.  Also, the BS would acknowledge good bidding and playing, never saying things like "You could have made 3 spades" after being set in 4 clubs.

Most of all, the BS would leap to the defense of players whose partners are mercilessly berating them.  This usually happens because people get so wrapped up in the game that they don't realize what they sound like; a reminder from the BS would set things right.

In addition to the type of courage it takes to speak up in defense of another, the BS would have bridge courage as well. Julie and I had a bad game Friday night, and after analyzing what went wrong we decided that we should have had the courage to bid more aggressively.  Of course you have to know when to jump to 3NT and when not to jump to 6NT (you know who you are).

In closing, every club has hidden superheroes.  To find them, just imagine what they might look like in costume--or look for kindness and courage.