Last night there were 8 Sailors at the meeting. Since I thought I only had 5 1/2, this was rather noteworthy. We had already noted the reemergence of OK last week, and he was back yet again, shockingly enough. He might really be back for the duration. I had talked to the Zip parental units at the parents' meeting, and lo and behold, the Zipster himself was back, although without his fuzzy slippers. And finally, there was this sophomore George, whose name is Robert, who never actually debated last year, who was also back. Presumably this trio were all there simply to eat our brains, so I admit I remained on the alert for the whole meeting. If I have to start bringing a baseball bat to future meetings, so be it. The living dead aren't going to destroy my team, make no mistake about that!
The first-timers' event seems awfully early this year. Usually if follows the Bronx, this year it precedes it. Which means that we're really speeding things up. Oh, well. We can sleep when we're dead. (Which, as I pointed out, may be sooner than we think, if I don't bring my baseball bat.) We covered the structure of an LD round and laid out some themes for cases of Mod Nod. I feel so rushed, though, and that's not a good feeling.
I don't know how much effect my screed yesterday about attending tournaments had overall, but I did get a few responses. The thing is, it wasn't really about Monticello, which is just one of the tournaments that people are letting dangle in the wind. I do think that Monti can be improved, and I know just the people to do it, the Monti team. Plus, as I've said, we have ideas for supporting tournaments officially with some nice bells and whistles. But we can't make people come. The tournament, any tournament, is only as good as the people who attend. I've watched an awful lot of ebb and flow over the years, of tournaments rising and sinking in prominence. I can understand that. Things change. But I have also seen a most amazing case, possibly the most striking example of the community abandoning a tournament, then blaming the tournament for their abandoning it, while the tournament itself didn't change much at all, except in the number and provenance of the attendees. The tournament lost its bids, and the debate community pretty much turned its back on it, not going there and then complaining that nobody went there. Attendance progressively shrunk year after year. It almost died, not of natural causes, but of politics and neglect. I remember tabbing it practically on my fingers. I'm sort of proud that I stuck with it through thick and thin, and in a small way kept it alive, because that means that when it runs again this year, I can say to myself that I'm a part of it. (Big Bronx, obviously.) The comparison to Monti is not terribly invalid, although in the latter case, it is not informed by petty politics and national $ircuit skullduggery. Anyhow, Monti will happen this year, although without the Official Meatloaf of the MHL, and with any luck, we'll start getting it back into contention. I'm sanguine.
Although, to be honest, I'd be more sanguine with a belly full of meatloaf and fewer zombies attacking me.
No comments:
Post a Comment