…with Gary Moss

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Do you know those people who are always saying that they’ll do it LATER? For many of those people ‘later’ never comes. “I’ll do it later” is simply another way of saying “No!”

The truth is that we cannot do everything. There is just too much to do. BUT . . . if and when we do want to accomplish something, there is no time like the present. We all have insulated ourselves from doing many of the important things in life. Maybe for fear of failure. Maybe for fear of success. T.V. is a great insulator; we allow ourselves to develop patterns of watching endless, mindless scheduled presentations. We veg in our favorite chairs or man caves and the real world and time passes us by. The relative comfort of this state of being holds us back from going out into the unpredictable world. We rarely, if ever, make any kind of meaningful contribution to the world from that chair (maybe we enhance the Neilson Ratings).

I meet people all the time who say that they want to become better scrabble players. Talk is cheap. Much of talk is just a filler to avoid awkward silences. I usually jump on their statement, coming back with a plan to help them move toward their scrabble goal. That quickly exposes the emptiness of their declaration.

But really, anyone who does decide to learn how to play better scrabble can do it. And there are many real contributions that scrabble mavens can make to their children, their communities, and world.

While it is true that some people might only substitute scrabble as an escape mechanism like T.V., others use it to teach language and thinking skills to their children; some use it with seniors to exercise and maintain memory function; some use scrabble’s popularity to create fund raising activities for meaningful charities; still others use scrabble to network and interact with people around the planet.

People learn things when there is an element of FUN in the mix. Scrabble bring that to the mix.

What are you waiting for? There is no time like the present. Call me today 949.510.1673 and invite me to be your scrabble coach. Begin your fun scrabble adventure now. letter.man.moss@gmail.com

So, you want to be an ‘EXPERT’ scrabble player. Experts win much more often than lose; and winning is much more fun than losing.

But I’m sure that you know that expert scrabble players didn’t get to that status by wishing and hoping and praying. They didn’t even get there by being very lucky (there is about a 30% luck factor in the game due to random drawing of tiles).

How did those beginning novices become expert players? Each player made the decision to improve, developed a passion and drive, found a mentor or coach, adopted a system and study habits, and melded all that.

Did they become experts in a day? a week? a month? a year?

Each success experienced most likely contributed to the next spurt of energy that led to the next level of success. That’s how most learning happens. Each accomplishment stands upon the shoulders of previous accomplishments.

Some systems are more productive than others. One person may choose to open the dictionary and learn one word at a time. That is great. But what would you say if I told you that there is another system that,when applied, will help you identify dozens of bingo combinations, with a fraction of the effort of random study? Would you consider using that system for a fast start?

Some people are proud and want to do it there own way. That’s fine. Other people, like myself, are always looking for valid shortcuts that are time tested by previous experts in the field. Meanwhile, I always remain open to new possibilities to improve on older systems.

When the handheld Franklin (electronic dictionary) came on the scrabble scene in the early 1990s, word power and word knowledge experience a quantum leap among scrabble players. This hand tool was relatively easy to use and provided easy access for players to anagram and unscramble racks of tiles, finding lesser known words. I watched players ratings climb and soar dramatically following the introduction of the Franklin.

Even though the Franklin is still on the market, other newer tools have emerged. The experts have helped fashion these tools and those who use these tools properly have soared to the highest levels in the ranks.

Learning and knowing words alone is no guarantee for becoming an expert. The words are only one of many components of the game of scrabble.

Allow me to become your coach. CLCIK HERE

“Oh you’re so lucky.” You can usually hear those words being uttered at any scrabble club. Due to the LUCK FACTOR in the game (about 30%, based on the luck of the drawing of tiles) a player may have perfectly balanced racks in one game then struggle with rack after rack of mostly vowels in the next game.

Seasoned players understand how frequently the tiles turn. In order to be prepared for unbalanced racks, the wise scrabble player may study word lists that are ‘heavy with vowels’: aalii; aioli; teniae; or ourie. Or, lists that are heavy with consonants: crwth; qwerty; rhythm.

I played 3 games this afternoon at the club in Huntington Beach, CA. I guess that I can say that my day today was a typical day in the life of a scrabble player. The score in the first game was very close, teetering back and forth. With the tile bag empty, with only a play or two to go, I had no vowels. Having tracked the tiles, I knew exactly which tiles were on my opponent’s rack. I assumed that my opponent would go out in 2 turns without opening the board, giving me a chance to play off my consonants. My opponent was struggling and didn’t understand my predicament. At one point she said, “I guess you’re going to win.” I took a deep breath and sat quietly waiting for her to make her next move. She made a rookie error. She played to earn the most points, but that gave me an opportunity to go out, play ‘rent’, using an ‘e’ which she supplied. Later I showed her that by playing her tiles one at a time without opening the board would have won the game for her.

In Game #2 I opened with a bingo. I was feeling very confident and unbeatable. WRONG! My opponent matched my bingo with one of her own. Then she played 3 more bingos on during her next 5 plays. I lost my more than 200 points.

The 3rd game was a turn around for me of game #2. I did play a 64 point bingo (bonnets); but I had 3 other huge scoring plays: injects for 64 points (a double/double); zoos for 92 points (‘z’ on a DWS playing two ways and the play touching the TWS); lastly, I played quey for 78 points with the ‘q’ on a DWS to a TWS.

Two scrabble games are never the same. That make for interesting fun and new challenges in every game.

Get into the game in 2012. Allow me to coach you online. CALL NOW: 949.510.1673

Actually, when you think about it, how could anyone begin anything in a place other than where they are.

And yet, many impatient ‘wannabe champions’ come to me and want me to tell them everything at once so they can sign up for and win their first tournament a few weeks from today. I’d be wrong to take their money on that basis.

For the last year I have encountered one up and coming scrabble competitor and repeatedly told her that in order to become a better player she would do better by studying more, and not count the time playing as her study time. She resisted that advice. She played endless games at clubs and online. She either couldn’t or wouldn’t acknowledge my coaching. Last week I met her again at a tournament. She began the tournament with 3 consecutive wins against some highly ranked opponents. During the lunch break I ask her what she was doing differently. She admitted, “I’ve finally see the value of study over just playing a lot.” I guess that she had to discover the difference for herself. I expect that if she keeps it up she will become an awesome player.

Another player who recently began playing at clubs had noticed that the seasoned players own the skills to play bingos during most games. He want to jump right to playing bingos and bypass the somewhat boring task of memorizing the 2s and the 3s. He doesn’t get how the 2s in particular permit seasoned players from getting their bingos down on the board by using those useful and necessary ‘hooks’, in order to fit. Until he ‘gets it’ he will struggle and be frustrated.

One can rarely do calculus if they have not mastered algebra. Politicians who are not students of history will tend to make the same mistakes of the past over and over and over again.

These two scrabble lessons are also useful life lessons. A steeple is less than impressive without the church. Frosting is nothing without a cake. Without a strong foundation a mighty skyscraper will tumble.

Begin Where You Are. Choose a good teacher. Create a strong plan. Utilized tested tools and materials. Invest your time wisely and efficiently. Keep an alert eye on your goals. Measure your steady progress. Celebrate your incremental achievements.

Become a better scrabble player in 2012. CLICK

Who’s fault was it? Once the damage is done, does ‘fault’ really matter that much anyway?

When learning to drive a car, we are taught the rules of the road and then we are cautioned to ‘drive defensively’. Those are wise words. The smart driver learns to develop a 6th Sense that reads potential dangers from the other drivers and pedestrians in the vicinity.

As hard as driverS try to avert accidents, even the most cautious of drivers are vulnerable to the recklessness and misjudgment of others.

A woman is trying to park in a COSCO parking lot. She positions her car in waiting for a spot about to be vacated by another car. All of a sudden the exiting car accellerateS in reverse and sideswipes the bedazzled woman waiting to park. In spite of being in the right, the woman’s car is damaged and she is emotionally shaken. The man in the exiting car apologizes profusely, but the damage is done. He offers up his driver’s license to exchange information. The woman looks down to copy the information and notices the man’s date of birth. He is 99 years old. Do you think that he has full control of his reflexes?

Two players are battling with words over a scrabble board. The game is a cat and mouse game with the lead changing back and forth. It is mid-game when player A places the word ‘strainer’ down on the board. Player A counts the score, announces the score, hits the clock, records the score, and replenishes his rack with 7 tiles. Player B is wrapped in thought. Her eyes and full attention are on her own rack of tiles, looking for some comeback play of her own. She never realizes that Player A played 8 tiles when he played his bingo. Was that cheating? It all depends. Knowing the player, it most likely was an innocent oversight. The point is that Player B owns an equal share of the responsibility to know the rules and to hold Player A to the rules.

Two players are playing in a tournament game. (The results of every game in a tournament has consequences for all of the other players in that tournament. So, if one player quits during the tournament or if one player allows an opponent to score at will, all the other players in other games will suffer when the dust settles and the focus is on the bottom line.) In this instance, Player A was a new tournament player and therefore somewhat trusting that others wouldn’t cheat. Player B was a seasoned player and his ego was subject to being devastated by losing to some novice. This game was very competitive in spite of the players’ very different previous experiences. I was the director and standing nearby, watching the game. It was down to the end of the game when Player B placed all 7 of his tiles down on the board, counted the score, announced the score, hit the clock, and recorded the score. (He had not yet replenished his tiles.) Player A turned the board. Player B uttered, “Aw shit.” Player B turned the board back. Player B rearranged the tiles. (He had misplaced the tiles when he first placed them down.) Player A’s jaw dropped but sat silently and watched. Player B cheated but his opponent never called, “DIRECTOR”. Due to this occurrence, Player B went on to win the game, win the tournament, and had his name etched onto the trophy. Without being summoned by Plater A, I could only watch in horror.

Even when cheating occurs, the opponent is responsible for calling FOUL. Yes, we are our brother’s keepers.

How big is the memory bank in your brain?

My first computer (1974) had a capacity of 64K. That seemed huge at that time. Who could possibly need more, I thought.

But then people wanted to do more functions and multiple floppy disks helped fill the bill. Today it is common to have multiple terabytes of memory. When did the word ‘terabyte’ surface? And the computers of the future will store even greater chunks of information as some other kind of bytes.

When we play competitive scrabble the conventional way, one to one, face to face, we are totally reliant upon that personal memory chip lodged somewhere between our ears. Even though dedicated scrabble enthusiasts study and review the entries in their respective dictionaries day after day, the processes of dilution and escape are ongoing simultaneously.

Our mothers have long known about the occurrence in nature called ‘In One Ear and Out The Other’. This maddening reality frustrates mosts scrabble students and saps the energy from some. The memory is somewhat like a muscle. It must be used consistently to remain strong. Without regular use it will atrophy. Even the player who devotes 40+ hours a week to study doesn’t dare go off on a hiatus without their study lists and a working version of Zyzzyva. If and when they take time off from reviewing and inputting more data, their memories dwindle too, just like yours and mine.

The first thing I ask of prospective student for my online class, SCRABBLE 101, is for their total commitment to the class: a portion of every day for 5 weeks (35 consecutive days). People who think that they can become good-great scrabble players by playing 4 games a week are self delusional. How good do you really want to become?

Part of the fun of the game for me are the regular ‘AHAs’ that occur. Sometimes I can stump an ‘expert’ with a simple 3-letter-word that they have forgotten: ‘shh’; ‘cru’; ‘oud’.

There are 1,015 3-letter-words in the OWL2. How long would it take you to learn all of them?

There are 13,015 legal words in the OWL2 + the LWL that end with ‘….ing’. How many of those words ending with ‘ing’ will take an ‘s’ after the ‘ing’? (ans. 1,235) Having this information, what new strategy does this suggest?

After playing serious, competitive scrabble for nearly 25 years, I am continually amazed that I continue to learn new words and new strategies at every session. That’s why this game is always so fresh and alive for its enthusiasts.

If you choose to become a better scrabble player in 2012, allow me to be your coach and mentor.

Gary
(949) 510-1673
letter.man.moss@gmail.com

I remember being 8 years old, in 1950. I had mastered addition and subtraction. I received an ‘H’ in Arithmetic on my report card. ‘H’ was for ‘honors’. I remember sitting with my brother and trying to impress him with my math skills. I would tell him, “In the year 1960 I will be eighteen, you will be fourteen, mom will be forty, and dad will be forty-three”. Then I’d go on, “In the year 2000 I will be fifty-eight, you will be fifty-four, mom will be eighty, dad will be eighty-three, and auntie Annie will be eighty-seven. I felt sooooo smart and I was verrrry proud of myself.

This was all at a time before the transistor radio and the hand-held calculator. Most people didn’t have a TV set. The few who did have TV only received reception a few hours each day for a limited number of hours. At other times there was only a test pattern and a droning static noise.

People ate at home most of the time and only ate out on special occasions. A big treat was buying ice cream from the Good Humor man who drove up and down neighborhood streets peddling ‘toasted almond bars’, ‘dixie cups’, and ‘creamsicles’. On Saturday afternoons our babysitter would walk with us to The West Town Movie Theater where admission was a quarter and popcorn was a dime. We’d watch the likes of Roy Rogers along with a Newsreel, a few cartoons, and a serial chapter of Flash Gordon.

For fun we’d play sandlot baseball on the empty lot at the corner of our block, we’d have gin rummy or monopoly tournaments with friends and neighbors, and we’d play ‘baseball on the stairs’ (bouncing a tennis ball off the front stoop).

No cell phones, no iPads, no computers. When mom wanted me to come home for dinner she simply stuck her head out the window and shouted my name. I was always within shouting distance and I came along within a few minutes. After dinner we might all listen to the radio: Jack Benny; Fred Waring; The Lone Ranger; The Shadow. We all had great imaginations back then. As we listened to the stories on the radio we would imagine our own brand of scenes and the action.

It was a time before Interstate Highways and Jet Planes. A simple drive of 70 miles, from Detroit, Michigan to Toledo, Ohio might take more than 2 hours. I once went on a train trip from Detroit to Washington, D.C. that took more than 13 hours. People speculated that travel would be so much faster in the future. (If today in 2011, you choose the wrong time of day to travel the 50 miles, from Laguna to L.A., it could still take you 3 hours.)

But as you know, the whole world has shifted and use accelerated gears. Everyone is in a hurry. Everyone seems to feel entitled. Nobody wants to wait; nobody wants to get there last. If you are in someone’s way you may get pushed aside and pepper sprayed. If you grab the last pair of ‘Air Jordans’ off the shelf someone might even shoot you to get them away from you.

In some ways, the world of scrabble has been speeding up too. In the last 60 years the game has expanded from solely a kitchen-table, family game, into an association of competitive scrabble players, world wide. A number of different word sources serve different geographic designations. The home players still far outnumber the competitive mavins. The online players of scrabble and simpler versions like ‘Words With Friends’ captivate millions of players every day after day after day.

At times the speed of it all and the loudness of it all becomes overwhelming to me. Maybe it is just a sign that I’m getting older. I prefer the way that it was. Why did they have to change the taste of vanilla ice cream, from the way it tasted at Zukins on 12th Street? Why did Kellogg’s stop producing ‘Corn Soya’ breakfast cereal? Why did they eliminate the entries ‘da’ and ‘emf’ from the official scrabble dictionary?

SLOW DOWN ALREADY! YOU’RE KILLING ME, COLLINS.

In recent years, when I’ve shopped at Grower’s Direct (a produce market), I often see a fruit or vegetable that appears new to me. Many of these are hybrid varieties. The names of many of them haven’t yet been added into the OWL2. Names like ‘aprium’, ‘yuzu’, ‘tangor’, ‘dekopon’, or ‘pomato’. The ‘grapple fruit’ is a combination of both grapes and apple.
Grape + apple= grapple. The fruit tastes like grapes and looks like apple. It is a brand name for Fuji or gala apple and it has been specially treated to make the taste of the fruit flesh like a grape.
Not every ‘word’ has found it’s way into the OWL2. That is why the competitive version of scrabble is really a memory game. When playing the game one has to distinguish words as being included as entries in the OWL2. Other words may well be real words, but if not in the Official list, they are NOT ‘legal‘ to play in a scrabble game.

There is another subtle version of cross-pollination that occurs, more directly related to scrabble players. When I began my scrabble career in earnest, I lived in the northwestern suburbs of Detroit, Michigan. Detroit happens to be just south of Windsor, Ontario, Canada. As a result of the approximation of the neighboring countries, many scrabble players on both sides of the border would travel to and from US and Canadian scrabble tournaments without hesitation.

Would you imagine that the day to day word usage and language of the two regions are different? Most people would think ‘No’. We all speak English. However, I found that there are many words used by Canadians that are used less frequently in the US. The differences are even greater between the US and the Brits or the Australians or the South Africans . . . and we all speak English.

Scrabble players learn words from one another as they play and the words which they learn are replayed in other games in other locales. Hence, scrabble players are responsible for cross pollinating words and language around the country and around the globe.

Introducing language to others is nothing new. It has happened for as long as people traveled beyond their local communities. Why is Portuguese spoken in Brazil? Why is Spanish a major language in California?

The scrabble dictionary includes the entries found in as many as 7 other world dictionaries. A ‘word committee‘ designed by NASPA (North American Scrabble Players Association) is responsible for additions, and deletions to the OWL2.

Sometimes observers look at games being played by scrabblers in-the-know and question, “Are those real words? Isn’t that a foreign word?” The rule is: if a word exists as an entry in the OWL2, then it is ‘legal’. Hence the word ‘xu’ (a monetary unit of Viet Nam) is legal; the Yiddish word ‘kvetch’ (to complain) is legal; the Gaelic word ‘crwth’ (an ancient stringed musical instrument) is a legal word.

Why are there so many Yiddish words in the OWL2? Maybe it has to do with the makeup of the committee when the original official word list was formed. And there are words included that are derived from many other ethnic sources.

The entire world scrabble community does not limit play to solely the OWL2. England, Australia, South Africa, and other countries use The Collins or SOWPODS. These lists are considerably larger that the OWL2. Players who play in both circle face an enormous challenge to compartmentalize their word (good in one or good in both). NOT AN EASY TASK.

In May, 1997 I won the Los Angeles, CA. Club CHAMPIONSHIP because my final opponent played a SOWPODS’ word in error, and lost when I successfully challenged her (Rita Norr).

You can expand and cross pollinate your word knowledge by coming out to play scrabble at one of the many local clubs sprinkled across the country and around the world. Come with an open mind for learning. You will be welcome.

Carnac the Magnificent was a recurring comedic role played by Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. One of Carson’s most well known characters, Carnac was a “mystic from the east” who could psychically “divine” unseen answers to unknown questions.

The powers of ‘Carnac the Magnificent’ have been shared by many other famous seers through the millenia. In recent times you may recall Steve Allen as ‘The Answer Man’ and Ernie Kovacs’ ‘Mr. Question Man’.

Just the other night, as my head touched my pillow, strange incarnations, compressed with magnificent wisdom, in the form of a misty cloud from a medicinal inhaler, hovered over me, then rested over my face. The knowledge seeped into each orifice, traveling through my veins and arteries to the synapses within my brain. There they settled and deposited vast sums of wisdom. And a loud booming voice instructed me to, “Share, share, share it all.”

When the voice quieted and the cloud lifted from my face I got out of bed and sped to my computer where I began to type faster than I have ever been known to type.

Duis aute irure dolor in in velit esse molestaie cillum. Tia non ea soluad incommod quae egen ium improb fugiend. Officia deserunt mollit anim id est. Et harumd dereud facilis est er expedit distinct. Nam liber te conscient to factor poen odioque civiuda et tam. Neque pecun modut est neque nonor et imper ned libidig met, consectetur adipiscing elit dolor set ahmet lorem ipsum. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.

It was if I was typing in fingers. At first, I knew not what I was typing. I had to go back to sleep in my bed in order to dream the answers to my questions. Soon I discovered that the most efficient way for me to tap into the text quickly was with a series of cat naps. And so it was.

Here are a series of answers and subsequent questions pried from within my new found wisdom.

Answer: A loaf of bread, a jug of wine and thou.
Question: Name three things that have yeast.

Answer: A, B, C, D, E, F, G.
Question: What were some of the earlier forms of Preparation H?

Answer: Shoo-be-doo-be-doo.
Question: What do you look for when you’re tracking a shoo-be-doo-be?

Answer: Kitchy-kitchy-koo.
Question: What do you call a military coup led by General Kitchy Kitchy?

Answer: Big Ben, Joe Namath, and a scrabble player’s phoney.
Question: What is a clock, a jock and a crock.

Answer: Heavy breathing then aaaaah.
Question: What sound does a scrabble player make before he/she explodes?

Answer: Donald, Benji, and Alexis Carrington.
Question: Name a duck, mutt, and a slut.

Answer: Bobby Orr, Bobby Hull, David Poder.
Question: Name two hockey players and a hockey puck.

Answer: Catch-22.
Question: What do the Los Angeles Dodgers do with 100 pop flies.

Answer: A triple and a double, catcher’s and fielder’s, and Dolly Parton.
Question: Name two big hits, two big mitts … and a famous country singer!

Answer: Five I’s and Two U’s.
Question: What do you get on your first rack for when you’re playing an Expert?

Answer: Dippity-do.
Question: What collects on your dippity in the morning?

Answer: William Safire.
Question: What’s Shakespeare’s first name, Kingfish?

Answer: Knickerbocker.
Question: What do you want to avoid doing when you shave her bocker?

There are gifts and then, there are GIFTS.

You may be the kind of gifter who chooses to give practicle items like a bottle of wine, a susbscription to Field & Stream, or a pajama-gram.

As for me, I like to receive and give items that are very unique and memorable. To people who already play the game of scrabble, I prefer to shower them with scrabble related tiles, custom scrabble boards and word study lists and cards. CLICK

It is my experience that All People, avid scrabble players and non-players alike, are really pleased and impressed when they receive the Official Scrabble Name Word List, seen below.

At first they look upon it strangely, thinking to themselves, “What the hell is this?” When the then take a closer look, they discover that it is a truly personalize gift designed especially for them, with great love and care.

The presentation is made up of lists of words from only the letters in their name. And those words are some of the highest scoring words to be found in their name. Isn’t special is that?

Take a peak at the gift below, made for Judith Weatherspoon.

The presentation comes framed (8.5 x 11) with the option to hang on a wall or set upon a table or desk. It becomes a great conversation piece. Even when a group of friends may have one, the words are always different (unless your friends all have the exact same name as yours).

I can almost promise that there will be many words on your list that you never knew before. (Most people actually know less than 5% of the words in the dictionary,)

This makes a fun holiday gift. (notice how it placed Christmas theme pictures in the margins.)

I can alter the themes for any special event or season. You can request a predominant color.

From time of order via Paypal, you can receive delivery via Priority Mail within 4 Days. If you are near Laguna Woods, California you can pick up directly from me Next Day.

ORDER NOW! CLICK