Watch Out For Those Checkers Players
Jul 26th 2007eBoard Games
With all the attention being given to poker, spelling bees, and Sudoku, there is one group who of people feeling left behind—the professional checkers players. Last week their fading brotherhood gathered in Memphis for the 41st American Pool Checkers Association Tournament, and it was just as intense a competition as the 4th of July hot dog eating contest or the World Series of Poker.
The tournament featured characters such as Jack Katcher, a Ukraine native who made his living as a professional checkers coach, and Calvin Monroe, a man known simply as “Iron Claw.” Many people at the tournament were eager to spread the word that checkers is not the simple kids games it’s thought to be.
“There are millions of moves in checkers,” said Wayne Lockheart, 55, this year’s tournament director. “Most of the checkers players have a library of books.”
I think the checkers players deserve their 15 minutes of fame. There’s no reason First Take can’t go on hiatus for a week (or forever) and be replaced with televised checkers.