Harvard Semis Chamber C 2018

Congrats to all in an event that seems to be more competitive each tournament.

Here it is.  As always, take whatever helps and ignore all the rest. 

Here's Emory

As always, take whatever makes sense and ignore the rest.

Here they are.

While we're waiting for the fun to begin at Emory . . .

I've long thought that I should confess that I have a terrible memory of debaters and the schools they go to?  Hand-in-hand with that is the fact that I'm practically face-blind, so as soon as we leave the chamber, poof.  It's all gone. 

I get the sense sometimes that everyone else knows everyone and where they go to school.  Not me.  At Sunvite Finals I gave a richly deserved 1 and 2 to debaters from the same school--I knew because their code BT was the same--and I assumed they were from some powerhouse in South Florida or in the Northeast or one of those schools out west.  But they were from Napierville, wherever that is.  (Illinois, I'm thinking.) 

In the room I just parlied, I'm pretty sure I know where one of the fourteen debaters is from.  The rest, even the ones I've judged a few times?  No idea.  (OK, DeVito is from New York--I know because it was In. Every. Intro.) 

I could learn where y'all are from, if I made an effort.  I won't. 

If my ballot-rankings seem eccentric sometimes, all I can say is that I'm sure of them (they seem obvious and indisputable to me), and you should be proud if I've ranked you, even if no other judge did.  School reps and relationships aren't playing any role in my decision, because I have only the vaguest idea who anyone is. 

Minneapple 2017 Prelims Chamber 4 Notes

Sorry these are going up a few hours later than promised.

As always, use whatever feedback seems helpful to you and ignore the rest.  

Here they are.

Resources NFCFL Fall Gathering Novice Congress Workshop

Here are my thoughts . . .

. . . on what makes Congress special.

. . . on how to select a bill topic.

. . . on how Congress judges think (to the extent we do).

And here's a manifesto of sorts.

TOC 2017 Chamber C Prelims

My commentary here is . . . a little uneven.  More useful than nothing, I hope.  TOC prelims chambers are like starting in a tough semis chamber.  Your judges and I had difficult decisions to make.

As always, use whatever makes sense and ignore the rest.

I didn't go on my usual "sanctity of evidence" rant (see earlier posts if you'd like) at the beginning of the round to see what would happen if I didn't.  It might have hurt a couple of people, but generally I did not see much of a difference.

Emory 2017 Chamber 7

The usual disclaimer:  Take whatever makes sense to you and ignore the rest of my lunatic ravings.

Chamber 7 notes.  Y'all were really good.  My top two were obvious but after that I struggled.