TUNA ON NATIONALS QUALIFICATION

["Jason Cruce Trice" <tricejas@student.msu.edu>]

PERHAPS I CAME ON TOO STRONG IN MY LAST POST, BUT SOMEHOW I BECAME THE "BIG
TEAM" BULLY THAT VALUES MY INTERESTS IN DEBATE OVER ALL THE "LIL GUYS".  IF YOU
WILL RECALL, MY FIRST POST AGREED STRONGLY WITH TUNA'S #1 GOAL, BUT MERELY
QUESTIONED HOW NATIONALS FOSTERS THAT GOAL AND NOTED THAT OTHER FACTORS, SUCH
AS COMPETITIVENESS AND MANAGABILITY OF NATS, ARE WORTH CONSIDERING.  I AM
COMPLETLY FRUSTRATED THAT EVERY ISSUE TURNS INTO AN ELITISM ARGUMENT PITTING
"BIG SCHOOLS" AGAINST "SMALL SCHOOLS"--AS TO WHICH SCHOOLS FALL INTO EACH
CATEGORY STILL PERPLEXES ME.  DEBATE IS OUR (ALL OF US) ACTIVITY; AND WHILE
THERE ARE COMPETING INTERESTS AT STAKE WE SHOULD STRIVE TO BALANCE THESE
INTERESTS INSTEAD OF REJECTING ANY SUGGESTION DEEMED ELITIST.

MANY OF TUNA'S ARGUMENTS ABOUT MY ELITIST ATTITUDE CAN BE IGNORED BECAUSE THEY
WEREN'T REASONS I CITED IN FAVOR OF NATIONAL QUALIFICATION.  THESE INCLUDE:  I
AM MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE "LIL TEAMS", ANNOYANCE WITH THE NEED TO SQUISH BUGS
IN EARLY ROUNDS, AND BAD JUDGES BROUGHT BY "LIL TEAMS".

AS TO THE POSSIBLE EXTINCTION OF NATIONALS, I'M NOT VERY QUALIFIED TO DEFEND
THIS ONE.  I WAS MERELY REFERING TO PREVIOUS POSTS BY ROGER BILES (WHO SPOKE
FROM HIS OWN EXPERIENCE IN RUNNING NATIONALS) AND OTHERS THAT ADVANCED THIS AS
A DISTINCT POSSIBILITY.  AS OF NOW, WE HAVE NOT A SINGLE VOLUNTEER TO HOST
AS A DISTINCT POSSIBILITY.  AS OF NOW, NOT A SINGLE SCHOOL HAS VOLUNTEERED TO
HOST IT NEXT YEAR.  WHILE IT MAY BE DIFFICULT TO FIND A "GOOD" HOST FOR ANY
NATIONAL TOURNY, SIZE CERTAINLY CONTRIBUTES TO THIS DIFFICULTY AND OUR PROBLEM
MAY SHIFT FROM FINDING A "GOOD" HOST TO FINDING ANY HOST AT ALL.  AT ANY RATE,
IT IS AT LEAST AN ISSUE TO CONSIDER ESPECIALLY IN LIGHT OF THE FACT THAT OTHER
THAN TUNA'S INTENSE DESIRE FOR HIS NOVICES TO ATTEND, THERE IS STILL NO UNIQUE
ADVANTAGE PROVIDED BY NATIONALS FOR NOVICES.

AS TO THE ISSUE OF TELLING YOUNG DEBATORS THAT THEY CAN'T GO TO NATS.  AS
RECENTLY AS MONDAY, WE AT MSU TOLD TWO PEOPLE THEY COULDN'T GO.  IT WASN'T
HARD, IN FACT, NEITHER ONE OF THEM EVEN BATTED AN EYE.  IF WE HAD A SYSTEM OF
NATIONAL QUALIFICATION, IT WOULD BE EVEN EASIER.  THE OPPORTUNITY EXISTS FOR
EVERYONE--JUST QUALIFY.

TUNA SEEMS TO THINK THAT I IGNORED HIS "NATIONALS UNIQUELY ENERGIZES NOVICES
FOR THE NEXT YEAR.  AS CRITICAL AS HE IS OF MY ELITIST ATTITUDE, I HAVE MY
DOUBTS THAT HE EVEN READ MY LAST POST AS THAT WAS THE JIST OF EVERYTHING I
SAID.  WHY DOES COMPETING AT NATIONALS UNIQUELY PROVIDE THIS OPPORTUNITY??  AS
PREVIOUSLY MENTIONED, MERELY ATTENDING NATIONALS AND SEEING "BIG" DEBATE WOULD
CAUSE OTHERS TO ASPIRE TO BE THAT GOOD SOMEDAY.  EVEN TUNA HIMSELF USES
INSPIRE YOUNG DEBATORS TO STRIVE TO BE THAT GOOD SOMEDAY.  EVEN TUNA HIMSELF
SAYS THAT OBSERVING ELIMS CREATES THIS DESIRE.  THE OTHER REASON--FACE CRUSHING
EXPERIENCES--ARE CLEARLY NOT UNIQUE TO NATIONALS.  MOST EVERY WEEKEND PROVIDES
MORE THAN ONE TOURNAMENT THESE TEAMS COULD GAIN THE SAME EXPERIENCE.  TO MY
RECOLLECTION BOTH KLEINE/DEVEREAUX AND CONNELL/STAKELUM ATTENDED DOZENS OF
OTHER TOURNAMENTS BESIDES NATS.  UNLESS YOU TAKE YOUR YOUNG DEBATORS TO NATS
AND ONLY NATS, THESE ARGUMENTS HOLD LITTLE WEIGHT.

THE QUALIFICATION STANDARD TIM SUGGESTED REQUIRES ONLY THAT A TEAM WIN 50% OF
THEIR ROUNDS AT ONE TOURNAMENT.  I DON'T KNOW TO WHAT EXTENT THIS WOULD LIMIT
NATIONALS, BUT IT CERTAINLY WOULDN'T BE SOMETHING OUTRAGEOUS LIKE A 20 TEAM
ROUND ROBIN.  AS I HAVE SAID BEFORE, THIS ISN'T HARD TO DO--EXTEND 1) MANY
FROSH COULD DO IT AND 2) IF YOU CAN'T QUALIFY, YOU ARE GETTING MORE THAN YOUR
FAIR SHARE OF FACE CRUSHING EXPERIENCE TRYING WHICH TUNA WOULD SAY ENERGIZES
THESE PEOPLE TO STRIVE FOR GREATNESS.  AS TO THE IDEA OF A QUALIFIER
TOURNAMENT... OOOH TUNA YOU SUBVERSIVE.  IF YOU CAN PUT IT TOGETHER AND GET
TEAMS TO AGREE TO FORFEIT ROUNDS, FINE.  DO WHAT YOU NEED TO DO AND BE THE
REBEL YOU ARE.  REGARDLESS OF YOUR LITTLE "QUALIFIER TOURNAMENT" THE
QUALIFICATION PROCESS WOULD STILL LIMIT TEAMS ENHANCING THE COMPETITION AND THE
MANAGABILITY OF NATS.

JASON TRICE

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