Fall Semester Reflections?

Very few affirmatives are even close to topical. Those few affirmatives that are topical have almost no way to deal with the states counterplan, because the federal government doesn’t generally reform infrastructure. The topic is written such that it’s easier to win that closing Bagram Prison is topical than to win that funding random infrastructure project X is topical. (assuming, of course, you are in front of a flow critic.)

I wouldn’t be surprised to end up flipping negative in outrounds of NFA (assuming, of course, that I get there.)

Will is right, except I have been having a harder time on opp. The topical cases have pretty solid generics that can bet them pretty easily, while the non-topical cases don’t really link to the generics, and are close enough to being topical that it is pretty easy for them to beat most Ts. That could also be because I am not a very good T debater, and am too lazy/busy to research good strats against all the non-topical cases.

I don’t understand the states CP right now:
They say, “Federalism bad, States do it, avoid tix.”

That strat falls to, “CP solve deficit – states don’t have money to solve, states would be the actual agent anyways – the Fed blows shit up not build it… N/M = give the states money, and tix is just easy to mitigate/Risk of turn – at least it is to me… I haven’t dropped to tix this year.

Then run a DA on states have no money if you feel like beating a dead horse.

Run a T that says they are not transportation infrastructure… Then run the solvency block that says T/I is always racist… Then run Racism bad! Either they are racist or they are not topical. Awesome a$$ double bind.
easy way to win, asking a judge to vote racism good would not be fun and most args they make on how they are not racist means they are not topical. I haven’t tried it yet, but I have been thinking about it for a while.

Following UCLA (Nick) I have posted my full aff on the wiki space, but probably won’t be competing any more… we don’t go to NFA so no reason to keep doing it. However, I still encourage more people to put their aff up on the wiki case list. If you get lost on your way there, here is a link for you: http://nfacaselist.wikispaces.com/

i don’t even know what a “topical” case is this year. i haven’t seen or been in a round yet that didn’t have some wanky def that excluded the entire field. granted that’s every year but no one really has found a case where we can all look at it and say sure that topical. their is no real concept of what the core is for this year, its fluid and no one seems to be able to put their finger on a golden definition. i mean for example the must be “physical” change trans infra t ever one has stashed somewhere. What the hell is a physical change? kinetic energy? must change atomic structure of the object ? Electricity is technically a physical. New case idea paint murals depicting racism is bad on every under pass and reread the brick by brick stone by stone impact card. its like mead 92 all over again.

i have enjoyed the research of the topic so far, theirs just to much to read and so little time. at nats i think it would be foolish to only be packing 1 case as your go to case, the topic is to big to justify it your case is not unique and money says u can find one with the same impacts with different actors and solvency mechanisms.

Really, I thought the paint the roads white is an extremely topical case…

cross apply lets make murals on highway underpass idea. again though, its all up for interpretation, i think aesthetic changes under limits the topic and and doesn’t follow true with the lit base. but hay that’s the nature of this years resolution and the vague terms of reform and transportation infrastructure.

I’m just going to come right out and start by saying that it’s been a fun first semester. Honestly, I thought it would be harder to beat a lot of the competition than it ended up being. Keep in mind that I’m the only one at UCLA who does LD, so I don’t do practice LD debates. None. Zero. I’ve relied on my high school policy experience and my superior technical and strategic knowledge to win. Parli keeps my analytical abilities sharp.

That said, I think I’m also disappointed by the resolution. It’s both overly-broad and limited at the same time. You’re either topical and your case sucks/has no unique big stick impacts or you’re slighty nontopical and have good impacts but can’t fight the time skew of the last rebuttals on the T debate.

The negative has very little ground, which is exacerbated by the lack of predictable aff limits. Most disads just flat-out suck. That means I’m forced to run my generic politics + counterplan strat or my topicality + kritik strat every tournament if there’s an unfamiliar case that pops up, which I hate.

Also, yeah, Mat mentioned this, but I want to encourage people to post their cites on the wiki. No scratch that. I *demand* it. Not your plan text, I want the actual tags and citations of your 1AC – if you don’t know what this constitutes then look at my wiki page, because I’ve done this for both affs I’ve read so far. Why would I make this information available? Two reasons.

One, case debates are way more educational than reading topicality every round. I’d much rather debate the merits of hydrogen than drone on about topicality. Posting cites allows people to prepare specific strategies against your case.

Second, it forces you to defend your shit. If you don’t release your cites, you can get away with not doing your work because no one will have anything specific to say. Release your cites, voila, you’re suddenly very responsible for defending the 1AC arguments you make and foreseeing potential 1NC arguments. That means you do more work, which means better and more educational debates.

I challenge people to post their cites. Defend your shit. Otherwise, why do we bother?

White roads aren’t just for the looks, they also absorb carbon or something like that and use better materials then current asphalt so they are env safe. I haven’t run the aff… I planned to against Nick if we hit in outrounds just to screw with him a bit, love ya Nick. However, I am sure that rebuilding roads is a form of reforming transportation infrastructure that is substantial.

Although, I really do like your overpass idea. If I go to NFA I will bring that with my natives. This is up front disclosure months before a tournament I doubt I will attend. However, I will be running it if we get funds to go to NFA! If you really wana see it run at nats then start donating to the “Send Mat 2 NFA Fund!” #*$($’ing kapitalism….

Don’t think that you are the only one with limited resources though Nick. Just because we toss novices into tournaments with Camp ev and Juan runs my natives aff doesn’t mean that we have resources, too. I will give you props for being the best freshman for sure in so-cal and maybe in most the country.

*****MOST IMPORTANT*****
yes, I starred this thing!
I think we should, as a website, come up with a topic for next year’s selection and submit it under someones school, doesn’t need to be mine since I wont get any props at NFA for it. Isn’t that coming up for the due dates or something? Anyone else have a feeling on that, or is it just me? (I’m not ‘fully’ jacking the thread, it is about reflections and making a better topic for next year is part of the reflection ;p)

“Then run the solvency block that says T/I is always racist… Then run Racism bad!”

Seriously? That’s silly…

“I’ve relied on my high school policy experience and my superior technical and strategic knowledge to win. Parli keeps my analytical abilities sharp.”

Seriously? That’s a lot of bravado…

This thread deserves an award haha

Topical cases this year: a plan to change the way America goes about constructing its physical transportation infrastructure. Paint the roads white, or some functional variation, is an excellent example (as I am running it!). Tear down dams is another good one. Be minute guys, just find some technology we’re not using that we should be and advocate the hell out of it.

Anyway yeah, Will is on-point as usual. No one wants to be topical, but fortunately, very few people have solid t answers. I chalk it up to taking advantage of the lack of strikes/prefs in NFA–you run your wonky untopical case in front of a lay- or oldschool-critic, thus engaging the neg asymmetrically. At worst you have to read some card that says the words “transportation,” “infrastructure” and something tangentially related to your case (i’m looking at you, Loma high speed internet 1AC )

Any devoted LD debaters should make their way out to Missouri and Kentucky. We went to WKY this year and I had the pleasure of hitting Kaleb and Jessica from WKY. Since a) they’re all phenomenal debaters and b) able to focus all of their time and coaching resources on LD, they take this topic to a crazy level of depth. If you guys get the chance to make it out to NFA you’ll see

That being said I don’t have authority to make this offer officially, so this isn’t 100%, but if you ARE able to make it out to NFA and strapped for cash, USAFA probably has some floor space for you Gimme a buzz and I’ll see if I can secure it.

and I use too many emoticons.

i think the community has failed in a whole, with this topic, from the coaches/judges to the participants, starting with the judges/coaches allowing for blatantly untopical cases to be circulated and then the judges actually voting them up, if you want them gone send a message to teh community that you aren’t going to vote for them!!!! and kill them then and there!!!!, also to whoever is running natives, a word from the wise i wouldn’t, i run it and it has barely pick-up any rounds especially w/ lay judges, with the way things are right now don’t runa topical case like natives ppl won’t buy it LOL, but it really has not done very well!!!!

I think the single biggest problem in the wording of the resolution is “reform” instead of some more specific verb such as “rebuild” or “physically alter”. Also, and “its” before “domestic” would have been good.

I thought this semester was pretty awesome. I’m happy to talk about transportation because I’m really passionate about helping all those people who are stranded because of malfunctioning buses, stuck in traffic because of road repairs, etc. The work I put in was my way of paying homage to them.

I can completely relate to Nick in terms of being the lone LD’er on the team. I relied on my own research, assistance from some amazing LD’ers and past times of debating in both Parli and LD in order to get me where I needed to be and that was to sweep prelims, be the #1 seed and win gold in Junior. I had no LD practices because I didn’t have anyone to practice with. I guess at the end of the day, hard work does pay off.

Onto the issue of untopical cases. Yes, people ran untopical cases but I think at the end of the day, the better LDer wins. If you can’t prove that case is truly untopical to the judge, that’s your fault for not prepping evidence and or showing the judge why your opponent is untopical. I know everyone has been crying wolf on the Natives Case. (I personally haven’t hit it but I did somewhat prepare for it.) If the LD’er running it can get away with it, then by all means give the win to them.

I found it funny that many coaches prep their students cases when their students didn’t know squat about it. For an example, STAA 09 was a case Danny put on the site and even when people were running it, they didn’t know how to a.) Run it right or b.) know enough to show the judge they adequately knew what they were talking about.

The funny thing is, I expected my opponents to be knowledgable about some of these cases online that if I ran it, they’d be able to answer back. I’m not ashamed to say I ran STAA 09 this year. It may not have been danny’s case to a T online but I put it together and I adequately defended my case. I’m more than happy to post it online, give copies to the judges because that was all me.

I know people were running frivolous Disadvantages. That needs to be fixed in order to restore clash and the educational aspect as the Negative in rounds. Planetary Disadvantage? Really and the Masking DA leading to nuclear war? since when does a domestic issue become an internal link to a global disaster?

The thing that I love and appreciate about LD is the fact that it isn’t quite parliamentary. Your opponent can’t just come in the round and win due to nuclear impacts if its a.) not probable and b.) doesn’t even link to case or make sense. Furthermore, I enjoy debating by myself because I like depending on myself to get the job done.

Fall Semester was a good show. I look forward to next semester and defending my title.