(kind of)

      On November 27th, 2003 members of the Chilliwack Scrabble Club got together to honor the man who started our club over five years ago.  Bill Kinsella (pictured left in the red shirt) is in the process of moving to Yale, British Columbia and we are all going to miss him very much.  Besides losing one of our best players, we are also losing a good friend, but the good news is that he will only be about an hour away and plans to come back and see us now and then.  None of us are sure why he would be moving to Yale? Could it be the lure of the big city lights, the fabulous night life or perhaps the casino gambling?  Probably not, in fact it is more likely to get a break from all of us!
Of course no party would be complete without a few games of Scrabble thrown in, so here are some pictures of our fun night.  We had an excellent turnout, with many of our old original members attending who we don't often get to see any more.  On the left we see Heather annihilating Dawn and Jennifer trying to look cheery despite losing to Jay. 

Then we have Awesome Ann, who won all of her games, taking on Relentless Renee. 

Meanwhile, Bill systematically takes apart Pat.  However, Pat had a good excuse for losing as she was the one that worked so hard setting everything up for us. 
Special thanks also go out to Iva, for all of the arrangements that she made.  Here she is battling it out with Ken, while Stew is overwhelmed by Hazel. 
We also get to have a look at Doug who is obviously contemplating a very important move against Selma and next to them we find Helen, looking very sharp in her lucky sweater against Betty, who insists there should be an inquiry launched into why she can't seem to draw a blank!

Jay tells his much older sister Jill, what to do and it appears she is giving a demonstration on how to wring his neck!
Finally we have our man of honor, who is looking forward to eating the crust of his pizza.  (His favorite part.) Take care of yourself Bill and good luck to you and Barbara in your new home! Don't be a stranger and thanks for everything!
 

Here is a recent article that Bill wrote for the Province Newspaper about Scrabble. 08/16/05

Why a Scrabble Board Means More to Me Now Than Any Field of Dreams

   Zek, zax, kex, qat, ulu, cwm. No, my computer hasn't gone mad, these are words in the dictionary and needed to play the board game Scrabble. Scrabble means "to grope frantically." But in Scrabble one does not need to know meanings, just words. In the 1930s, an unemployed New York architect, Alfred M. Butts, invented the game. But it wasn't until the 50s that it took off commercially. Now there is a Scrabble set in one out of three North American homes. Since the 50s, I too have owned a Scrabble board. I started a club in Chilliwack, using tournament rules, but never played in a tournament until 1998. There are over 200 clubs in the U.S. and Canada, with hundreds of tournaments annually, sanctioned by the National Scrabble Association. I was on book tour in Saskatchewan when I attended my first Scrabble tournament in Moose Jaw. It was a rude awakening. I saw myself as a good player, but those folks made me look like a rank beginner. Disillusioned by the 1994 baseball strike (millionaire players and owners who cared nothing for the fans who filled their pockets), I vowed never to buy a ticket until all the players involved were out of baseball. It's a vow I've kept. Now I go to all the Pacific Northwest Scrabble Tournaments, instead of attending baseball at Seattle. I enjoy tournaments and playing on the net because I am naturally competitive and the game depends more on skill than luck. Tournaments are divided into levels pitting opponents of similar skill. The world's best players, many from Thailand, speak no English and resemble idiot savants, in that they memorize tens of thousands of seven- and eight-letter words. To be an adequate competitive Scrabble player, one must know the 96 two letter words, and the 700 plus three letter words, and have a modest skill at anagramming. With a rack full of vowels, it is good to know vowel dumps like LOUIE, AALII, or ZOEAE. A rack of consonants is easier. With an open vowel on the board, one can get rid of three or four tiles using words like QWERTY or SLUMMY. It's also good to know words like CRWTH. And it's necessary to learn the dozen or so Q-without-U words. Vancouver has an active club -- http://ca.geocities.com/vscrabblec/ -- with a rated tournament annually in March. One of its top members, Dean Saldana, recently represented Canada at the world championships in Kuala Lumpur. I've improved over the years, but still can't play with the Big Dogs, who can beat me repeatedly, regardless of the tiles they draw. I've won my division four times and placed in the money on other occasions. I'm heading this week to my 52nd tournament, the National Scrabble championships in Reno, my third try at The Big Show in Scrabble.

W.P. Kinsella, author of Shoeless Joe and other fine baseball stories, can be reached at buzzard2_99@yahoo.com