"I Thought I Was Alone" Responding after Overcall by Marti Ronemus

Well, guess who was just named "People Magazine's" Sexiest Astrophysicist Alive? Yes!! It's Neil deGrasse Tyson! And here I thought I was alone in my gigantic crush on this guy. (One has to wonder how many were entered in this competition!)

If you haven't seen his "Star Talk" on late (LATE) night TV, you gotta catch it. For those of you who've been living underground for the last decade, Neil is the guy who's making science cool. He's the director of the Hayden Planetarium, author, TV star, been featured in Superman comics, and on and on and on.

However! I almost parted ways with him when he was instrumental in having Pluto demoted. While not solely responsible, he admits he "drove the get-away car" in the controversy. I have forgiven him, though, because he is the only person alive who could actually make me care about how black holes are formed.

And now, we at Vu-Bridge are hoping to make you actually care about responding to Overcalls. We continue Friday's discussion.

Our choices?
**Raise our Pard's bid... the weakest response we can give, not forcing.
**Name a new suit... forcing if we haven't previously passed and usually showing a five-card suit of our own. Usually.
**Cuebid the opponent's suit, promises a FIT and 10 or more points. Remember, with a fit and a BAD hand, we raise Pard's suit.
**Double. Negative Double, forcing, promises a nice 7-ish plus points and four of the unnamed major(s) and strong tolerance for the fourth suit (usually).
**Pass. Ugh. For Ray Charles fans, definitely at the bottom of the list.