Debate: Bump update

The following is what I have sent to the registered schools. Since all of it is true, and it seems complete, I have nothing to add here.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. They’re even predicting another storm!

We do not wish to cancel the Bump tournament, but the hit from Sandy, which is ongoing in our area, makes it impossible to conduct business as usual. Part of the problem is the inability to predict what the situation will be like next week. One thing that is for certain is that the power outages in our area have brought our attempts to secure housing to a standstill: we simply can’t reach people. Further, given the disruptions being undergone, it is unlikely that people will be able to commit even by next weekend. So, desperate measure number one: housing is cancelled for the tournament.

Most of the teams signed up for the tournament come from a reasonable distance either from New York City or the Hudson Valley. To enable those teams to commute to the tournament on both days, the schedule is changed thus, in desperate measure number two:
Tournament registration Friday at 2:30 to 3:00, followed by 2 preset rounds. Estimate finishing time Friday, 7:00. No dinner will be served. Since we will thus not be spending that money, the school fee of $25 will be waived.
Round 3 on Saturday morning starting at 9:00 am. (Obviously, no requests for flight B will be entertained, because we can’t put everyone in that flight, which is where everyone will want to go.) Lunch will be provided. There will be 5 rounds of both VPF and VLD, breaking at most to octos. This should assure us of our TOC bids. NPF and NLD will have as many rounds as they can fit in.

Desperate measure number three: there is a possibility that we will move the tournament to a different venue, TBA Monday. This could be another high school closer to NYC. When I know, you’ll know.

For folks with or seeking motel reservations, at the moment the area is chaos, with the powerless in situ. This should clear up by next weekend, for the most part. If you decide to motel your team, use the motels on the route 129 strip between White Plains and Tarrytown, as they will be in close enough access to whatever venue we use. PLEASE NOTE: If there is no change of venue and we are forced to rely on Hen Hud, there is a chance that it still might not be accessible, so don’t secure unrefundable reservations.

We expect that following this message there will be drops aplenty. Desperate measure number four is that we will almost certainly clear much of the waitlist for entries covered by judging. (Well, I guess that’s not all that desperate.) More will be known as I know it. If you are going to be one of the dropping schools, please do so sooner rather than later. We have no choice but to stick to the Monday night closing no matter what happens, and you will be held accountable for fees accrued.

All of that said, we are doing our best to make a good tournament happen, and I would imagine that we will change things again as we know more about who’s coming and where they’re coming to. There is even still a chance that it might not happen. I will keep you posted. On the bright side, the tournament is guaranteed to generate more [TAB] emails than all previous Big Bronxes combined, so Jon Cruz: eat your heart out!