Debate: Bump Lives!

So I sent out what I trust is the final Bump email, and the tournament is on, and it will take place in Sailorville. Needless to say, having moved to early November to avoid the bad weather of December, I am now planning on moving next year to early August, where the chance of snow in the region is only about 50-50. I mean, hurricanes and lightning weren’t bad enough, we then had to have a nor’easter? There are still people in my area who don’t have power. The worst situation is those who got it back and then lost it again. I was amazed when I woke up this morning to less than complete desolation. I didn’t know it was possible.

Tonight I’ll do all the Bump paperwork, porting the tournament over to TRPC and printing up the invoices and whatnot. As it turns out, we have lost a wing of the grammar school, primarily due to last year’s vandalism. To say that this pisses me off understates it. As long as I’ve been doing Bump there have been students whose behavior is unacceptable. My response has always been to rid myself of those students, which is one reason why we don’t have policy anymore. Now it looks like we’ll lose Novice PF next year, not because I want to rid myself of Novice Pfffters, but because if we have our full contingent of schools back, we will fill up the grammar school (or what’s available to us) with Novice LD only. Too bad, but I can’t do anything about it. If coaches do not train their students in the art of proper behavior, this is the result. If there’s more damage this year, it will be the end of novice completely. So be it.

I do wonder about scheduling overall, though. I remember back to when I used to do 5 rounds. Then there was some sort of buzz that to maintain a quarters bid, you had to do 6 rounds, so I did. Then, of course, we lost the quarters bid (with virtually no changes in the nature of the tournament), so I’m seriously wondering if I need to bring the 6th round back next year. I’m more inclined to do 5 and a run-off, to tell you the truth. That way, we could eliminate the Yes-Virginia Round at 7:30 and start at a more civilized 8:00 on Saturday, and still end at roughly the same time. We’ll see. This is seriously on the table.

One of the big losses this year will be the announcement of the Jon Cruz Award, Given Annually to Jon Cruz For No Apparent Reason. This year’s winner (Jon Cruz) won’t be there for the award ceremony—

OH MY GOD! Please reread that sentence. Jon Cruz won’t be there for the award ceremony? Mother of Mercy, is this the end of debate as we know it? As you probably know, O’C is attending the G-Man’s wedding ceremony. As I’ve made perfectly clear, the next time Gazzola gets married, let him do it during Big Bronx! Jeesh! Not only is he taking away half my tab staff in the grammar school, he’s also taking away my parent in charge of feeding the assembled multitudes, because G-Man is Zip’s black sheep second cousin thrice removed or something, the relative from the crazy side of the family. Anyhow, the thing is that O’C is only tabbing half the tournament. I have adjusted for this accordingly, as will be made known shortly, beyond just eliminating the JC Award. There are consequences for actions!