Wednesday, May 27, 2015

In which a cat goes into hibernation


The eternal game of Coach Musical Chairs is really revving up around here. Anybody looking for work?

Anyhow, Byram Hills at the moment is in the hands of BenK, who most people probably know as one of the highest preffed judges around, right after RBG, Dredd and Judy. Byram’s plan is to move in the coming season from the depths of winter to the last embers of summer, i.e., the week before Yale. BenK is seeing it as a prep tournament. Others may see it that way too. The thing about prep that I’ve learned is that it only draws people if the participants are of the same caliber as the competition one is prepping for. Then again, first time out on a new topic with lots of TOC bids at stake in both PF and LD? And even if you’re judging the Academy division and not debating yourself, a chance to hear what people are batting around as case ideas? An early-birder in the region might be something of a stroke of genius.

I’ve agreed to tab it, and given BenK my thoughts and whatnot. Limited numbers, for one thing, until you know what you can accommodate. You don’t want 80 kids from one school dominating a division, in other words. Feel free to let Bryamians debate on their home turf; you really don’t need a terribly large student infrastructure in a mostly-e-ballot situation. They just get in the way, and, often, worse, try to run things. When it comes to running things, the students goofing around at the ballot table eating takeout sushi and watching Adam Sandler movies back-to-back probably aren’t the ones in charge, but occasionally they need to be reminded of that. Whatever. And reach out early throughout the region to promote the event. I don’t think it will be a door-buster, but it could easily be quite legit, all things considered.

Oh, yeah. He's also ditching the Bobcat name and simply calling it the Byram Hills Invitational, to distinguish it from its frigid predecessor. The invite should go up the end of this week on tabroom. Happy new year.

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