Tell me on a Sunday

Lots of news, I guess. We've got the school for an MHL on the NFA Saturday (11/12). I just sent out a message to the troops to begin assembling. Plus I'm sending out messages to the world about the MHL stuff in general. Yahoo, out of great fear that I'm a spammer, only allows so many emails per hour, so I'm a quarter of the way through the mailing list. Spam? Me? Why don't they stop those ^%$#&*&% Nigerians?!?!?

Yesterday's MHL was, in a word, a nightmare. The shifting registrations, the judges who didn't show up, the teams that didn't really know who they had or didn't have. You don't want to know about it. It got to the point where I put out Policy schematics with literally no idea what might happen, with judges names pulled out of a hat, or no judge listed. I wasn't sure, to be honest, which teams/judges I had or didn't have. Of course, the teams that gave me the most problems had no adult running them. Next time, I expel them from the league. I don't need the aggro. As a result of this hoo-ha, I never really got a chance to hang with the novices; I will correct this omission next week.

As for Big Bronx, that was, by comparison, quite the normal tab room. It was fun to have the Rev BA in there grabbing every warm body north of 125th street to judge Pffft. And O'C had a great judge pool for LD. We gave folks 4 strikes, and it had no effect on tabbing because most people struck the exact same villains, few of whom were on O'C's A list, and since we had the judging assigned by rating, and he had As up the proverbial wazoo, all went swimmingly. That is, once the ballots actually reached us. That building is enormous, and the travel speed is in direct ratio to how much you actually need the ballot. Enormous, but not really big enough for a big Big Bronx and an MHL too. They were MHLing in the sewers, the poor things. Next year we'll separate the events as we used to in the past, starting MHLs the week after BB. That'll work, as long as we have the venue. For that matter, maybe there's no reason to do beginners only? Something to think about.



And that? The one on the left next to So-Crates? That's the trophy you get for torturing O'C. I didn't know there was a trophy involved. I didn't even know it was a competition, much less that I was going to win it. Great googly-moogly!

Honestly? It's in recognition of my work for helping preserve Big Bronx, and I'm honored and flattered to receive. I did indeed do my best to keep them alive in the region, and I fought for their bids (I've got the email to prove it) and so forth and so on. My next contribution to the Bronx, and I'm sure Big Bronx fans everywhere will applaud this effort on my part, especially the ones who want to get home before the next tournament starts, is duct tape. I mean, I don't want to say that O'C is a little talkative on stage, but before he started talking, Craig was a freshman. By the time O'C got to handing out the octos awards, Craig had graduated. Duct tape, applied orally, might help next year. Jeesh!

We talked a lot to JW about the region, by the way (he was up to check things out and pick up an award himself; the Cruzies flew fast and furious). The bid situation, NFA, the whole thing. I can't believe JW won't put Bronx back on the list next year, not because NFA's bids need to be "replaced" but because the caliber of the Bronx pool will be, plain and simple, bidworthy. Which is the only criterion that counts. And if NFA bounces back, better still for everyone.

And that's it for Sunday. And you know, and I know, that the best thing I just wrote is that one single word. God, I'm good. What word? Come on. The Cruzies? If that doesn't stick, I'm packing it in, Pedro.