Yesterday was O’C’s birthday. He told me he spent the day waving at the Queen. I could think of nothing to reply.
I have to admit I was taken aback when Jules told me that Nostrum was going on hiatus, especially since about two weeks ago he told me they weren’t going on hiatus. They like to stick to their guns, I guess, unless they're sticking to their other guns. Of course, back in the day, the guys always took the summer off (and the Jewish holidays, the Christian holidays, anniversaries of all scientific discoveries beginning with the letter K, and, I think, periods of heavy sunspot activity). Whatever. It gives me more time to go to the movies on these warm summer nights if I don’t have to narrate. Now all I need is some decent movies to go to.
Continuing the MJP discussion, Pajamas Wexler asks: “How difficult is it at larger but not huge tournaments (such as the Bump) to have all 1-1 or 2-2 judge match ups in round 6?” Well, Bump will stay community rankings, which means that it really doesn’t apply, but Joe and Sheryl are pretty religious about using all the judges in the pool as best they can. We tend to have a lot of range, and therefore a lot of flexibility. I’m imagining that at Big Jake and the Pup, using MJP, we’ll be able to match everyone to the exact same number every time, and that it will usually be a high (as in low) number, especially at Jake where O’C hires a couple or ninety extra national judges, including the ones he flies in from Pago Pago, so it would be by design that lesser numbers are used, to relieve the higher numbers, which we will do. In any case, I think we’ve got what has to be an ageless problem of students wanting the best judging and not thinking that inexperienced judges are the best. They’re right, but that doesn’t exclude the need for them to understand and win ballots from those inexperienced judges. At its heart, the activity involves all the basic tenets of public speaking, including knowing your audience and adjusting accordingly. Or, if you will, judge adaptation. No debater who can’t adapt is good. Period. End of story. You don’t have to like it, you just have to do it. It will make a better person of you in the long run: trust me on that. Keep in mind that we also often put lesser judges in the undefeated bracket because there’s less on the line. Since you’re going for speaks, how you get them becomes an issue. And a fascinating one.
Anyhow, I like July because it feels so non-debate. Of course, I have started wrangling Sailors for the Pup and I’ll be reserving motel rooms shortly, but that’s about it on the early early side. I had lunch with CLG yesterday (she’s freshly back from an Ireland trip), and I have to report that the one thing she was most intrigued by in activity news is the Disney Debate Adventure. Of course, I told her, we’ll be live-blogging it. Or at least twittering it to death. #DDA. Will O’C wear a fanny pack? Will Kaz get Cinderella’s autograph? Will Menick get even more Mickey tee shirts? A waiting world wonders.
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