I meant to write more about States, and then I got hung up.
What with catching up after vacation, new operating software development at work, some DJ
personnel issues, a new granddaughter, and Trump still pretending to be
president, it’s been hard to get back on track.
My old argument with States was that they weren’t keeping up
with modern practices. Indeed, they weren’t even keeping up with the practices of
the tournaments at which students were qualifying for States. They were out of
step with themselves and it didn’t make sense. Some of those old practices
seemed entrenched entirely because they were entrenched.
Honestly, they haven’t really changed much, but sitting on the
other side of the table enlightened me to the fact that most of the attendees
were not, like some of us, dismayed by the conservatism of the operation. They
were, in fact, the embodiment of that conservatism. Debate in their regions was
entirely, or almost entirely, parochial. Coaches and teams were doing what they’ve
been doing since Hector was a pup. New-fangled ideas had no place here. JV and
I had been talking about possibly introducing e-ballots, but most of these
folks didn’t even have tabroom accounts. They weren’t ready for streamlining.
Nor were they looking for it. After all, we ran a fast, efficient tournament as
far as they were concerned. We did judge calls, JV made a few jokes, and they
were on their way. Maybe they saw some LD rounds with 47 theory spikes, but my
guess would be the other side, with the “big picture” was picking those rounds
up. More to the point, and in keeping with my own argument, these students were
used to picking up these kinds of judges; it’s how they qualified in the first
place. A few might have picked up quals at circuit events or colleges, but most
got them locally, in their local leagues, where the judges are parents and the
coaches are proud of ‘em. Come to think of it, when it came to no-show judges,
they weren’t the regional parents, not even the ones who came down from the
frigid north. It was a handful of private schools that are always problems,
that always think they can buy their way out of parents having to do anything
for their children other than sign the checks and pay the bills. In other
words, it’s the schools I always sell judges to last, if at all, because they’re
not doing their fair share. In the immortal words of Richard Sodikow, often cited by
Bro John, money can’t judge rounds. It will ever be so.
So for the most part the judges were game, and smart
students knew how to pick up their ballots. I did my best to provide balance,
but there are only so many hours in the day, and my fear of actually using
tabroom’s regionalization setting after having it bite us on the collective
butt at Rather Large Bronx kept me on the manual side of it. One curious rule
of the tournament is that, starting with semis, schools still in it, in that
division, are blocked from judging that division. Honestly, this sort of fear of shenanigans seems
to me also a little out-of-date, but it does sort of infect the organization.
They’re a little less trusting than, I think, other places I’ve been. Which may
be another reason why JV wanted me in the tabroom, other than the fact that I
may have a little experience along those lines: with no horse in the race, I
would be perceived as neutral.
Then again, in the last couple of years I have judged for
Bronx, Lexington, and, in quotes, Scarsdale, meaning that these three schools
can honestly conflict me so that I’ll never ever judge their students. Hmmm.
Maybe there’s method to their madness.
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