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Let's open the p20 can of worms again

[Sorry to do this to everyone, but this post shouldn't be too
controversial, I hope.]

A lot of concern has been raised (I think by Ken and Tuna) recently
about the possibility of only picking 20 in a Pick 20 scheme as a way of 
gaining a tactical advantage.

I don't think so.  Here are two responses and then I'll put my money where
my big mouth is:

First, the idea that one could avoid having one's 80th choice that is
at the same time one's opponents' 1st choice is tactically unsound.
It gets that advantage, true, but at a larger cost.
I personally would rather have that match than any of my non-picked judges,
so I intend to pick as many as I can accept from the booklet or from 
previous experience.  In other words, the disadvantage of having a nonpicked
judge tremendously outweighs a mismatch in rankings among picked judges,
so all teams should want to increase the chance of getting a picked judge.

Further, and even stronger, there might be no free rider problem.  If 
teams can be assured that some teams are picking as many as possible, 
games theory dictates all rational teams will follow to avoid those few
teams' unpicked judge, especially if the teams picking as many as they can
are competitive with a significant knowledge of the judging pool.

So here it is:  Berkeley BS (that's me and Dan) will definitely be
picking as many as possible and I now offer to prove it come
Nats (and assuming that Pick 20 stays voted in) by letting anyone
glance at our Pick 20 form.  If there is a pool comparable to the last 
two years, I can guarantee that 80+ judges (that's a conservative estimate)
will appear on the form.  

Please forgive the not-so-humble assumption that Berkeley fields competitive
teams with a significant knowledge of the judging pool.  As many can attest,
I'm still working on the humility thing :).

zack
Cal Debate
Archive created by Jonathan Stanton (jonathan@cs.jhu.edu)
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