Debate log, Concordia, part 1

Debate – round 6

To the tune of “Ice Castles”… kind of… I’m tired.

Oh Please, please let this round end
May it never come again
‘cuz I don’t want to remember…..
How it feels to hear you
De-ebate so bad

When I hear you,
Through the eyes of blah

I really can’t do the rest of this – it is just too bad in this round. I think the “education” standard and voter has been turned… for me…

The poor kids on the gov are getting waxed like a surfboard.
They are getting beat so bad their coach could roll them up and tie them on top of the van.

“If they are going to buy crack with my tax dollars, I want to know about it”. The best line from the LO..

I’m bummed Rex and D2 aren’t having a good tournament. As of round 5 they were 3 down… I’m not so sure I expected them to tear things up, but I really hoped they would.

I do think this has been good for D2 and Rex, D2 gets to run what he wants and Rex has a pretty good partner. I do think that with a bit of work together, they should be able to break at NPDA.

What kind of gets to me is that they have hit a really good Truman team rd. 1, a pretty darned good William Jewell team, rd. 3 – a Truman team they beat rd. 2 – one other team I don’t recall.. and Carleton (round 5). They are currently debating UNLincoln… which would be nice for them to win, rah rah rah…

I am currently watching a team from Truman, they are pretty good – and probably underrated if they are hitting this team now – I pretty much decided the round after the LO, and for sure after the MG – that didn’t answer any of the case turns, DAs or Topicality.

I kind of feel bad for the PM in this round. She is trying hard and seems to have a bunch of talent, but her case and plan sucked – and her partner sucked even more. I hate to bash on the poor kid, but he pretty much repeated case in the MG, but that is not answering the decent arguments from the LO.

When I see a team like this, I wonder if she isn’t paired with him out of a basic sexism on her team. This is a real problem in this activity. Women are either seen as “bitchy” and thus are not as good at debating, or they are seen as weaker debaters than they really are and paired accordingly.


After round 6….
Well – it is official, D2 and Rex were either 1-5 or 2-4… and I’m a bit bummed. They say they lost a couple of close rounds (3 & 6) – makes me wonder if it isn’t the suit factor… in a close round, there is an underlying classism that says that someone in a suit is a better debater. I don’t know whether to fight it or give in to it…

I think tomorrow night we will have enough time to go to Lincoln for Indian food.. that would be nummy…

Saturday ---

Since D2 and Rex didn’t break, we aren’t in parli debate today… that means D2 doesn’t debate at all today. The reason he isn’t doing LD is so that he can do homework – hard to argue with ☺..

Sometimes I wonder if I want to do this for too much longer. I usually think this way at this point in the season… since this is my 9th season, it is little wonder…

What IS really nice about this tournament (needed to get me in the mood again… )
• Seeing competitors I judged for four years judging and coaching. At least two or three of them are in formal assistant or director positions, others are in less formal but very important volunteer positions. They are writing ballots and probably making decisions as good as I made when I started judging them (kind of good… but, maybe not great… hmmmmm).
• Seeing the women of Concordia – This is the one shitty-ass town I’d move to in this state… because I could work with the Concordia team. There are MANY smart and talented women on the team and quite a few of which have remained for a while to coach. As a group, they are wonderful – because they remind me that women can survive in this activity… when I read crap about people who are being sexually harassed in debate, I have to remember Concordia.
• Seeing my friends – my good ones ☺ -- I got to chat with the brilliant coach from KC and two brilliant and funny coaches from Omaha yesterday. The male Omaha coach (MOC) has known me for a long time and that is always nice---- I learned a lot from him and seeing him is kind of like seeing family… except that he is funnier and more sarcastic than my family. He also laughs when I say things like “sometimes I wish my debaters didn’t have mouths that worked except in debate rounds”. I also get to see a brilliant coach from CA—which is a kick… he’s good at being the guy in charge, keeping things on time. He is the ONLY person programs should
• It isn’t a huge campus. The rounds are close together and it isn’t cold this year.
• We are probably going to the world’s best Indian food tonight… YEA, the only good thing in Lincoln.