Blackjack!

I have entered the names of the newbies into the great spreadsheet of life. 21 of them, not counting the Speecho-Americans. Blackjack! We’ve already lost some; there were faces from last time that didn’t pop up again, so we are cutting out some of the ribbon clerks. If we hold true to form, we’ll hover at 20 or so for a couple more weeks, take a drop right before the first MHL, and cruise out with that number, more or less, till the end of the year. 15 is my estimate come April.

More than the whole team put together last year. Including NoShow and DebateIsMyLife, both of whom made appearances last night. Will wonders never cease?

There are certain things that always baffle me, chief among them being why it is so hard to get a 14-year-old to sign up for a listserver. I mean, don’t these people spend their entire lives buzzing their imaginary friends on MySpace and downloading music where, if there’s a third chord, it’s a miracle? Is it too much to ask that they buzz a real person or two every now and then? So far I’ve only got half a dozen of the 21 on board electronically. Every year it’s the same thing. I can’t wait until they start installing brain chips in people at birth; then all I’d have to do is activate them, and we’d be done. I’ll send out invites to the laggards, since I now have their emails. That should help.

The meeting last night, which obviously packed them in and which was rankly hot and airless, was on the introductory stuff, which the Red-Headed League of Novice Coordinators will follow through with today. We covered the parts of a round, that sort of thing. Then the elders started pouring in, and we talked about the topic. Needless to say, the odd bit of rousing was required after the weak showing at Yale. First of all, the CP was sent, I hope, down the terlet. Here’s the logic:

X is good
Y is better
Therefore ?

Well, it certainly isn’t Therefore, X is bad. All the novices agreed to that without any nudging on my part. Unlike the Elders, whose judges were, apparently, the first folks they encountered who, like the novices, also agreed to that. With luck, the era of the HHHS CP is now dead. It lasted one whole weekend. Counterplan, we hardly knew ye.

Then we talked about a general set of arguments with premises that are quite acceptable, and logical conclusions that are quite acceptable, and all you have to do is flesh it out. That is what the plebes will work on for their couple of novice tournaments. After that, they’re on their own. I mean, I probably could outline case positions every week or so, but it’s not my job. I’ve got enough to do. If debaters can’t come up with their own case positions, they should be doing Oral Interpretation. I mean, if someone tells you what’s to run, what’s the difference between that and reading Amy Lowell? Although, of course, I have nothing against telling people what NOT to run, or providing hints of what makes sense to me. But case positions? I don’t think so.

Meanwhile, Bump and a lot of other things are sinking under the weight of the new season, but I should catch up shortly. I still haven’t chivvied the judges because what I thought was my fresh registration spreadsheet, custom-honed after a decade or so of Bumpage, was in fact a Districts registration spreadsheet, similarly custom-honed but for very different functions. I’ll get one up by tonight and kick in. I do begin to worry (imagine that, worrying about Bump) that we are, as George Clemens put it, part of the trifecta including Apple Valley and Glenbrooks. That does put some burden on travelers, but then again, they just might split up, as was done last week with the Greenhill, Wake, Yale trifecta. And Glenbrooks is limited, after all, so it’s not like whole squads can go. But if I had to choose between Apple Valley and Hen Hud, with their octos bid, they have to look a lot more appealing. On the other hand, their lack of crappy prizes has to work against them, so that’s at least something in our favor.

Anyhow, tonight it’s Bump judges, Pffft trophies and an MHL broadcast announcement. And, maybe, finishing the edit of Caveman. And blowing my nose, because I have a cold. Which is good, because I’ll get over it before I really have to do anything when does the season kick in for real. When does the season kick in for real, anyhow?