In which the NYSFL has its moment

Right now you are probably asking yourself, I wonder how States went over the weekend? Well, I'm happy to fill you in.

For reasons that will elude me to the grave—in fact, I can see myself on my death bed turning to the love ones around me, gathered there to see me off in some semblance of style, and whispering with my last breath, “Why the fig jam do they do that?”—the 5th and last round of the debate prelims is a flip round, even though in the previous 4 rounds were not flip. And this is both in LD and PF. What is the point? What is it about the 5th round that suddenly the basic business we've been handling the first four rounds is suddenly unacceptable? What were they smoking back in the Eisenhower Administration or whenever when they came up with this wrinkle? By the way, they also do this at CatNats. Go figure. 

I bring this up because making this happens requires a switch in the software before round 5 is paired. The switch makes all the rounds, in PF and then in LD, flip-for-sides. This is not a problem when you are then going into elims, which are all traditionally flip-for-sides. But if, in 2025 you have flipped that switch and then never switched it back, round 1 in 2026 is, voila!, flip-for-sides.

Oops.

Fortunately this was only a minor setback, and we probably didn’t lose too much time, since the first round is always rife with confusion anyhow. Still, it was a pain. So it goes.

The good news is that Kaz was back with us, She and I make a good team, and we get things done. One of the most fun parts of the deal is when you actually have to play with something, like balancing judge usage and judge rating in a large double-flighted round. You could just press the button and devil take the hindmost, but good tabbing evens everything out for the sake of the most possible fairness across the board. And, of course, it has to be done quickly. This is where teamwork is essential, meaning a good team is essential. Kaz and I (or any combination of Kaz, Janet, Vaughan, myself, Frank O’Bono, Catholic Charlie) can do this well. I mean, we do it all the time, and we pride ourselves on it: best possible pairings. (The other thing we pride ourselves on is fixing our mistakes quickly; we’re not perfect, after all. But we can see mistakes that may not be obvious, and quickly fix them one way or another. That is also a good tabbing skill.) So, three cheers, us. 

After that first minor setback, we zipped right along, and by the end of Saturday we were right on schedule. Sunday, with three judges in every round, had a realistic enough schedule to give the debaters plenty of time in between rounds. It was tight once or twice, but only because the occasional schmegeggie took forever to fill out their ballot. On occasion we would send our enforcer, Amy from Upstate, to set them on the straight and narrow. (I only ever see Amy from Upstate at States; she would be useful everywhere! What tournament doesn’t need some serious enforcement?) 

On Saturday, Mr. Softee (or the legal equivalent) showed up when the sun was shining and the air was warm, and before long he had an endless line for the rest of the day. Catholic Charlie and Rick O’Bono flashed their tab FastPass credentials to get to the front of the line, but when Kaz and I went out, we weren’t under any pressure and were happy to just stand out in the sunshine. And, after all, there was a nice chocolate sundae to be had for the waiting. Sadly, Mr. S  (or the legal equivalent) came back on Sunday for a cold, rainy day relatively free of ice cream seekers. Oh, well. He broke the bank on one of the days. That was, hopefully, good enough. 

And then it was over, another States in the books, and we were all very satisfied with the weekend as a whole. We’ll see you all again next April, back at good old Bronx Science. 

Next up, CatNats!