backgammon

backgammon
I love backgammon

in my short life I have played a lot of backgammon
in college some people were playing Nintendo
while me and my friends were playing backgammon
we played rummy 500 for a while
but we really played backgammon

on that once in a lifetime right out of college trip to europe with my buddy rob and our bicycles trip
on that same trip
I spent some of my time in the south of france
nice, frejus, and agay
in agay I stayed with a best friend's girl friend's best friend's parents
parents of a college graduate I had never met before
but she was a friend of a friend of a friend

while relaxing poolside we chatted
the backgammon table was out
so as we met for the first time we got to know each other over backgammon
we would go to the beach, or around town, to lunch, to dinner, to a bar
then there was backgammon

short into the short stay at their summer house in the south of france I was playing backgammon with her father
he was a charming man with wonderful stories from an interesting life
we were talking over backgammon

as we played we talked about the game and the gambling
we talked about money
actually we did not talk about money
he had class
I wanted to talk about money
we talked about the doubling cube and the odds
we talked about the percentage of luck and the percentage of skill

we talked about backgammon

we never talked about cheating
but
I started to understand that people sometimes intentionally miscount in their own favor to aid in winning the game
yes
on purpose
if the error is in favor of your opponent it is an accident
otherwise it is intentional
the player knows going into the game that this is part of their strategy

I am not sure if I get it
leading and stealing in whiffle ball is different than intentionally miscounting in putt putt at the beach
what is the pleasure in taking a cab to win a marathon?

yet
there seem to be games where on the highest level cheating is built into the process

somebody explain this to me?

okay...
I live in Washington DC, home of Mayor Marion Barry
the world can be unbelievable some times

one last tangent
when I first met my wife we were out on outing with a group of friends
there were darts and backgammon as we waited for a pool table
while waiting for the table I lost thirty five dollars to her
later that week I showed up with a backgammon table as payment of the bet
she accepted the payment
when I got married... I got that backgammon table back

since the arrival of my two sons I do not think I have played backgammon once
there has been very little scrabble
and
almost not croquet or bocce