Another Canadian Apology

Meaningless Perhaps, But Necessary

Your Daily Bulletin editor was shown a strip of paper left on a fellow Director‘s vehicle yesterday, which had an anti-American message on it. It seems that someone with strong opinions not based in facts has decided to place these offensive notes on vehicles with U.S. licence plates. My fellow Director laughed it off, but it made me very sad indeed. Some will undoubtedly be angered by the message, and quite reasonably so, but I hope you will realize that this is surely the work of one or two people and not at all even a significant minority's view.

One of the things that a majority of Canadians exhibit as a national characteristic is the perhaps overuse of an apology, even if someone else is at fault. We devoted most of a closing ceremony at the Olympics to the concept in 2010! Really, we just hope that it can help a bit, when something unpleasant happens that is clearly the fault of one of us who (we hope) will not represent us all.

So, if you got one of these messages on your windshield, I am sorry. I humbly ask that you recognize this is a silly opinion shared by very, very few. Are we happy to see our American friends in Penticton year after year? Absolutely yes (win or lose!). It is sad when your visit is marred by something like this, whatever your reaction. I am deeply ashamed that any Canadian could do such a stupid, needlessly offensive thing.

The Western cross-border Districts have always seen great cooperation between our two nations, and while COVID or political changes might alter behaviors, most of our friends from the other side have stayed friends, with the Internet helping us keep in touch, and visits that are perhaps less frequent than before, becoming that much more important. Penticton is one of these special places where we can play our favorite game against some people we haven’t seen for awhile, and forget the headlines and have fun. That’s the message that should be on windshields.

What’s My Name?

This Day in History - June 16 Birthdays

The five self-describing historical figures below were all born on June 16. Can you name them and place their birth years in chronological order? (Hint: the five people are in alphabetical order by surname.) Answers below.

• “I began in vaudeville and was already a veteran actor of radio, TV, stage, and film when I suddenly hit it big in the 1960s: a Tony Award for The Subject Was Roses and an Oscar for the same role on film, followed in the 70s by a TV sitcom with me as ‘The Man,’ an older guy running an even older garage in LA with a Mexican-American co-star.”
• “I was a hockey defenseman drafted by the Vancouver Canucks in 2001 and played on the team that got within a game of the Stanley Cup in 2011, scoring the double overtime goal off a weird bounce that won the semi-final series for Vancouver. In 2020 I joined the Hockey Night In Canada analysis panel and provide witty counters to the others with their sources and rumours.”
• “I was born in Spain but moved to Germany shortly afterward and speak many languages. As an actor, I began in German productions, but broke through to English productions, with a part in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds and by playing Formula One driver Niki Lauda in Rush.”
• “They called me The Grand Old Man Of Golf and pre-pended the word ‘Old’ to my name, to distinguish me from my son, also a golfer. I organized and played the first shot in the first edition of what today is know as The Open Championship (or, in America, the British Open), and won it four times. I restored St. Andrews to its rightful spot as the home of golf after it fell into very poor condition in my absense as I worked at another course.”
• “I thought it was a fair deal; 25% of all proceeds to be set aside to pay legitimate claims for compensation by the company that was pumping and taking my country’s oil out of the ground. The remaining 75% would have helped bring us into the modern world very quickly and allow us some control over our affairs. But the West was not to be denied; I was deposed, jailed, and kept under house arrest until my death. All to prevent my country from owning its own natural resources.”

535 tables at the end of Day Two (Tuesday), 68.7% of the 2019 total.
In 2025, there were 286½ tables to this point.
In 2019, there were 778½ tables to this point.
For full details, check out the Table Counts page!

Bridge clubs and tournaments throughout the ACBL are struggling with returning to live play, so comparing this tournament's attendance to one before the pandemic is not really fair. We'll hope to get a little more than last year, around 60% of the 2019 pre-pandemic attendance, making the target number 1930 tables this time — but perhaps we will be pleasantly surprised!

Masterpoints for all players are updated nightly here first, with everyone’s current red and gold point total listed alphabetically below the leaders, before a shorter leaderboard is added to this page.