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NSC 2011 Commentary: Round 5

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Go to: Before the Tournament, Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, Round 4, Round 5, Round 6, Round 7, Round 8, Round 9, Round 10, Round 11, Round 12, Round 13, Round 14, Round 15, Round 16, Round 17, Round 18, Round 19, Round 20, Round 21, Round 22, Round 23, Round 24, Round 25, Round 26, Round 27, Round 28, Round 29, Round 30, Round 31, After the Tournament.


Round 5

To start off this round, Alan Stern (Shadow Hills, CA) asked former NSC champs to stand and everyone clapped for them. Then he asked anyone who had ever won any division at a nationals to stand: more applause. Then, anyone who thought they were going to win a division this year to stand. He said even those with 0-4 records stood a chance!

Before Mary Rhoades started the round, she told us about her trip to the hospital to meet with Michael Bassett (Port Clinton, OH). His surgery went very well this morning and he's doing very good. Maybe he will even make it to the event some time tomorrow!

Delightful news in division 4: Jack Titzman (Magnolia, TX) has won his first game! He bingoed out with ROADIES and won. HIs first win at his first nationals for this 12 year old.

Hannah Lieberman (Charlotte, NC), a human version of sunshine in a bottle, walked by my table and shared her wonderment at just winning a game by one point in today's lunch bird game and then coming back to the main event and eking out another 1-point win!

I asked John Chew about our player numbers; this is his response: "108+90+70+58 = 326. Tomorrow, Michael Bassett (Port Clinton, OH) may make it 327; Caesar Jaramillo (Seagraves, TX) will however drop out on Monday."

Kate Fukawa-Connelly (Kittery, ME) walked up to my table and gave a resigned smile. She's yet to break 400 points and she's only won one game so far. When I expressed dismay, she characteristically changed the subject and got positive about something else, "Cecilia Le (Cambridge, MA) just won her game though!"

I find the owner of the shiny gold tiles in division 1. Manop Phiphatboonserm (Thailand), the poor guy whose last name is too long to fit on one line of his name badge, brought this set from Thailand. They are like the old style protiles with a paper insert covered in a cube of clear plastic. Every game played on them has the players grumbling, but I cut Manop some slack. At least he brought tiles and he had to travel much further than most others!

Jeff Fiszbein (South Lyon, MI) walloped Mike Baron (Corrales, NM) this round. Instead of talking about the game, we just talked about the clipboard, which has the medicine name Zoloft emblazoned on its large clamp. Jeff confessed that when games got really boring, he'd flip up his scoresheets and start diagnosing his opponents. At the back of the clipboard, there are medical indications for some mental illnesses outlined. Mike found this hysterical and grabbed the clipboard to check out the lists of indications. I bet he uses that clipboard for this game. :)

The NSA's Katie Schultz had boxes arrive a few minutes ago. Now her desk is covered in dictionaries and tools of her trade. Once her colleague, John D. Williams, Jr., comes later today, the press table will be all set. I love having John around. He has excellent taste in chocolate!

To honor a favorite player who is battling cancer, Dan Pratt made a new tableau that he put up over lunch. Check it out in this round's photos!

Go to: Before the Tournament, Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, Round 4, Round 5, Round 6, Round 7, Round 8, Round 9, Round 10, Round 11, Round 12, Round 13, Round 14, Round 15, Round 16, Round 17, Round 18, Round 19, Round 20, Round 21, Round 22, Round 23, Round 24, Round 25, Round 26, Round 27, Round 28, Round 29, Round 30, Round 31, After the Tournament.



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