JC>Let's talk about the FRENCH (a/k/a "Stench") Defense
 I'd love to talk about the French Defence! It certainly is a difficult
little beastie for White to play against, that's why I play it as Black!!
JC>I do soooo poorly as white vs it.
 Me too!! I scored my first ever victory over the French in a graded game
this season by playing the King's Indian Attack. However the position I got
was awful!
 These days I'm tempted to play the line:
 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 (3...Nf6 is IMHO nothing to fear) 4.Bd2 and it 
takes
a very well prepared French player to cope. 
 
JC>PS try e3 as an opener sometime..guaranteed to catch the average club 
player
JC>off stride from the get-go!
 To quote Nigel Short on another bad idea: "If I play that my only chance is
that they guy will die laughing!" :)
 I understand what your saying and I too agree that if you are confident in
your ability you can play 'passive' or 'weak' moves and then aim to outplay
your opponent in an even game. I would suggest however playing something that
isnt' quite so problematic as e3! Okay, there are transpositional 
possibilities
with d4 and c4 but then what have you gained if you transpose into the lines
you were trying to avoid?! 
 I suggest 1.b3 it's a solid move and if you can 
appreciate the subtleties of the positions that result from this opening then
you can often get the 'average' player while he's still congratulating 
imself
because he read somewhere that this is a 'weak move'.
 If you really want to play off-the-wall stuff then 1.h4 or 1.a4 are good 
ideas
and again before the opponent realises your not completely incompetent he's 
probably made some tactical blunder. 
 Anyway, I think opening theory is diverse enough that you can play 'unusual'
or 'dubious' solid lines without resorting to something like e3!
 On the other hand I definitely believe in whatever works for you, so I wish
you the best of luck with 1.e3 and salute a free spirit in the age of 'book'
players.
         Later,
                Dave
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