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One of my heroes! In 1948 Alfred Mosher Butts, an unemployed architect, invented the greatest word game in the history of the world: Scrabble Brand Crossword Game. He named it Criss-Cross Words and didn't make much money from it. He sold the rights to a family called the Brunots who renamed the game Scrabble and marketed it from their home. It got plenty of rave reviews in the early 1950s. Demand for Scrabble became so great that the Brunots could not keep pace with the orders. They in turn sold the rights to Scrabble to a manufacturer. Over the years Scrabble's ownership has passed through several companies. Hasbro presently owns the North American trademark name of Scrabble. Each year millions of games are sold and hundreds of tournaments are held under the aegis of the National Scrabble Association. (Yours truly is an expert ranked player who directs an official NSA club in Canada. I can often be spotted officiating major Scrabble events. Look for me at the 2008 U.S. Nationals in Orlando in July!)
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Scrabble
Alfred
Butts
Added: 17th November 2007
Views: 315
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
 
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This is a group photograph of the seven esteemed and distinguished officials who worked the 2004 National Scrabble Championship in New Orleans. Which one do you think is me?
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Lava1964
Added: 17th November 2007
Views: 293
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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I was born in a small Canadian city in 1964. I am unmarried. Miss Right has not yet come along. I'm beginning to think she never will.
As a kid, I love acquiring knowledge on a variety of topics, hence my love of trivia.
My father got me interested in history by making me watch documentaries when I was eight years old. I am truly grateful he did this.
I developed my own passion for sports history. My favorite sports are baseball, boxing, tennis, hockey, football, and soccer. Baseball is far and away my favorite. I live and die with the exploits of the Boston Red Sox. (I was a Red Sox fan long before it became fashionable.) I play fastpitch softball as a kid when that was a popular pastime in Canada. I was a second baseman. Good glove, weak arm, decent contact hitter, not much power, I normally batted second. I have been a softball umpire since 1978. Last time I counted, I had worked over 2,300 games.
I've always loved words and the English language. It's possibilities are truly limitless. I modestly say I am a writer of some repute. I began writing pieces for sports encyclopedias at age 19 and really haven't stopped penning sports articles since then. I used to write a weekly sports nostalgia column for a local newspaper. I allegedly had half a million readers at one time. (My column ran for five years before a dim-witted editor took over the sports department and dismissed all the freelance columnists and replaced them with hand-picked toadies. Accordingly, I have put a curse on him and his family.) I've had three books on baseball history published. All have received kind reviews. I still write the occasional piece for nostalgia publications. If anyone is really interested in my stuff, I sell collections of my columns on demand. My books are available through mail order from my publisher in North Carolina.
I am a tournament Scrabble player and official. I have an expert rating (which I am quite proud of) and I'm usually ranked in the top 40 in Canada. I help run a local club and local tourneys, and, for some reason, I am much in demand to officiate and organize tournaments in many places. Scrabble has allowed me to travel to Las Vegas, Reno, Phoenix, New Orleans, and this summer...Orlando. It's nice work if you can get it. It must be my aptitude for organization which I acquired from both my parents. Scrabble is quite a diverse and odd subculture. Nevertheless, my best friends are Scrabble players. The game helps me retain what is left of my sanity.
Along those same lines, I enjoy all competitive endeavors. I always play to win. This is why I love game shows too, I suppose.
Occasionally I do real jobs too. I've been a private tutor since 1994. My students think I'm brilliant. I always try to live up to their expectations.
I think I have a good sense of humor. It's a hybrid of American and British mirth. I especially love puns. I am cuddly.
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Featured
Member-
Lava1964
Added: 1st May 2008
Views: 203
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Posted By: Steve |
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This is a clip from the documentary film Scrabylon. It's about some of the folks who are among the world's best Scrabble players. (These are the people I have to keep under control at tournaments!)
Tags:
Scrabylon
documentary
Scrabble
Added: 17th July 2008
Views: 104
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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