In which we debrief on Wee Sma Lex

I went up to Lexington Friday after work. The traffic in the other direction was stopped dead from about Hartford to Waltham, from what looked like accidents. I vowed never to go in that other direction. I also posted on FB that I was going, in support of regional debate, mostly just because everybody else was going to Glenbrooks, which seems to be the de facto way to spend the weekend. We only had about 400 (!!!) people at Wee Sma Lex. What do I know? Anyhow, that post got more likes than anything else I can remember posting. It was nice to see.

Of course, I used to love going to Glenbrooks, back before I dumped it in favor of WSL. We had a lot of fun, it was well run, it had a great, quality-of-life type schedule. And we always did well. But the lure of a tournament that would take all of the younger side of my team, train them to be housed, build up a little confidence and not cost much money eventually won over the day. Driving back on Saturday night and stopping at Reins was another thing in its favor, although I didn’t do that this time. As it turned out, the traffic was quite light heading back, and I just barreled through, singing along with my oldies playlist. Made the trip in record time, but I did miss having a nice Reuben. You can’t have everything.

As predicted, WSL was fun. Got to work with the Massachusetts folks, Pajamas Wexler, Undead Averill (the only live person I know with a memorial tournament) and Kaz, and the Lex team, which is very competent. We had plenty of e-balloteers, although there were enough Luddites to warrant firing up my printer. Most of the entrants were PFers, not surprisingly. New England was among the first regions to go gangbusters on the event, because, according to CP, it was seen as an offshoot of speech back then. No longer. It’s got its own momentum now. And as more schools swear off LD (not to mention Policy), the brainpower has got to go somewhere. PF is the place. A perfect event? No. The best debate event overall these days? Pretty much. Easily trained judges providing a broad base of adjudication that mitigates against overspecialization is probably the biggest part of it. And the fact that coaches can understand it, as compared to LD, where the 14th shell off the 32nd spike in 7 second blips has rendered much of it into virtual nonsense, at least in the $ircuit world. But then again, circuit debate is a pretty limited animal, which many of us often forget. Treat yourself to a non-circuit tournament once in a while. You’ll be amazed at what you’ll see, like people debating the resolution and adults involved in nurturing the activity. (I know, that is so illegit. Sigh.)

Speaking of CP, I was really disappointed that the software worked well all weekend. I hate when that happens. For a while we were talking about TRPC, which they were using at Glenbrooks, and singing the praises of Rich Edwards, although we’re not terribly in love with the program anymore, now that tabroom has come along. The half hour savings in every MJP round is reason enough to switch. The fact that we were comparing CP to Rich Edwards, and actually started referring to CP as Poor Edwards, is probably not something I should mention here.

So, even without a team I was glad I went. I knew I would be. You would be too, if you went. Or you were if you did. If you know what I mean.