In which tournaments are opening left and right

And the hits just keep on coming.

UPenn registration opened today. Or as they like to call it, the Liberty Bell Classic, maybe because it’s everything it’s cracked up to be. As you’ll recall, this year they have moved from Presidents’ Weekend (which, for the record, the school doesn’t celebrate—they have classes that Monday because, I guess, Ben Franklin was not a president no matter how many people think he was and no matter how many statues they have of him around every corner) to the prior weekend. The question of numbers remains. It was pretty popular on the old weekend. How will it fare on the new one? Only time will tell, as we say in blurb-writing land.

Meanwhile, the Tigger is all but filled. Not surprisingly, PF has grown and LD has shrunk. On the other hand, surprisingly Plan Colombia won the day for the December resolution. There’s probably nothing wrong with this; it’s always a good idea for people to educate themselves about things outside our borders, especially where we don’t usually pay much attention. That was why I liked the Sahel topic back in the day. If you think US people know nothing about South America, try quizzing them on Africa. One of the things that has always impressed me about policy debaters is their knowledge not only of what some might perceive as obscure world events, but how those events play out with one another. In other words, the wonkiness is impressive. This will allow PFers to get another share of that.

Anyhow, as I said, PF numbers are definitely growing in Tigger land, but they’ve acquired the school next door for Friday night, and they can simply take over previous LD territory on Saturday, so accommodations are available. The IEs also seem bigger than usual, from the way JV described it. He may be limited on real estate in the usual middle school, though, but he seems to have plans on how to cope.

Columbia (as compared to Colombia) will open in a week or two, following my advice to give Penn a little time to get settled. At which point we’ll have three colleges in play. All I have to do is remember not to confuse them as I’m working on them. You can’t let people into the Tiggers from the Gem of Harlem, if you know what I mean. Vigilance! The cost of tabbing is constant vigilance!

Semper paratus, sports fans.

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