What a battle in the alley today. The fearless Dogs led by the BigDog howled their way to a crushing victory over the hapless Cats. One after another the helpless furry creatures fell to the superior play of the massive canines. The alley knew it would be one of those "special" days when in the first round Francylou announced that both she and her partner Kat_Masterson had a double Yarborough. For the first time in alley history not one point was held by either partner. Within 5 minutes, Dittny and Acastofmany reported the same thing. Another phenomenon reared it's ugly head at the end of round 1. Not one cat victory was recorded for the entire round. Just about this time is when it should hit that this is April fool's day. Here is the way it really happened. A determined team of Cats stormed the alley today with claws flashing. They stormed to one of those patented first round leads piling up an 11-3 lead. The second round didn't start much better with the Cats taking the first 5 for a 16-3 lead. Finally the Dogs reported a win but the Cats poured on the pressure ending the round 17-11. The BigDog jumped in as a sub in the 3rd round but found himself on the other side of the enemy lines. He was subbing for a Cat!! He may be a great team leader, but as a spy he is hopeless. In the one hand he played he helped AlanMitchell with a 6NT slam. Super spy Pob will have to give him a few lessons. Al the Dealer was acting up as usual. Borderline reported his opponents Novelty and Cooljoe had bid 8 slams in the same round. We later found out that it was only one slam but it had the effect of 8 due to the excess amount of catnip in the room. Ceereeusly and Colin_thecorgi had 2 slams in the same round for the Dogs. The third round looked like the Dogs were coming back strong and at one point were within 2 points. The Cats dug in their claws even deeper to close it out at 34-22.

I have a request for you regulars. Please take notice of those in the lounge looking for partners and see if you can help match them up. I try to watch for it but sometimes it gets so busy, I loose track of who is still looking. This is important when it is a newcomer, but doubly important when one of our friends gets left out..

Next week Iain is back. The following week will be OldYank. If anyone is interested in directing, please let me know. I will put the director's schedule on the club calendar so you know which open dates you can volunteer for.

Our new Max's Alley Club is underway and growing. Be sure to check it out and join. You are welcome to invite your friends to join as well. Feel free to post a message or upload your picture or put your birthday on the calendar. You can get club news and message board postings sent right to your e-mail so you don't miss any good stuff.

Daylight savings time starts tomorrow in the states. Next Saturday we will be on EDST (Eastern Daylight Savings Time). Check out the time zone converter on the Ryder "welcome" page to coordinate your time zone.

Happy Birthday to our friends: Moyan and Silverwind. - (feel free to post birthdays on the calendar at Max's Club.)

Seen on the fire escape: Kenny_ha2, Catwitch, Percipitationdog, Sadie, Seaweed4_48653, Softfire, Hbear,

Big welcome to our latest newcomers: Muffin_the_mule01; Noddy; Josh_Johnson46; Ceereeusly; puddytat90210; Cat_lady_galadrim

And it was nice to welcome back old friends: Myrna and LittleSwan;

and although she only stopped in to say hi - Sadie

Supersubs were:- Kenny, Seaweed, Rebekkah, Linda

Slams were bid and made by: Puppyfinn/I8cats4dinner - 6H; Ceereeusly/Colin_thecorgi - 6D & 6NT; Novelty/Cooljoew - 6S; Pob/orla - 6H; AlanMitchell_98/sub Kenny_ha2 - 6NT

The trophy for purrrrfect 3-0 tournament goes to:

The dogs were: Muffin_the_mule01/Noddy; Jean/xBrorsen; Ih8atecats/kalinka; Joelf/Catherine; Borderline50/Kippers68; Rueful_rabbit/Feldenpuppy; Dixiedeez/C_E_Dean; Puppyfinn/I8cats4dinner; Lorainew/Brown_kangaroo; Bobsgirlanne(Seaweed)/Josh_Johnson46; Ceereeusly/Colin_thecorgi; Deltagayl/Rsquirrel; Harrietcocker/Happilyeverafter(linda); Nonny/Jamesgreywolf

The cats were: Don_kitti/puddytat90210; Kat_masterson/Francylou; Scorpiokirsten/Midnight1952; Novelty98/Cooljoew_41; Pob/orla; Little_Ladybug/Silverwind; Myrna/LittleSwan; Dittny/Acastofmany; Producer/Wombiepie; Smilodon_king-cat/Cat_lady_galadrim; Galeb/Kennelong; Ppp_p3/Star_392000; s_catitude/lacatsmeow; AlanMitchell_98/Lynh_uk(Rebekkah)(Kenny_ha2)