10/28/04 Update
to all:
well, we pushed the envelope even further in response to our california trip
and our east coast endeavors were far more competitively rewarding - michael
richardson and phil bouska demonstrated that they can debate with some very
strong teams: fort hays state defeated harvard, dartmouth, and northwestern,
while going 5-1 win-loss during preliminaries at the cap city debate tournament,
catholic university, washington, d.c. - they also defeated liberty and towson
- their only loss was to wayne state (detroit), and was on our more mainstream
side of the topic (fossil fuel consumption) - we affirm the old order amish
community in yoder, ks: on the negative, we install the room as a political
art installation, using gps receivers and monitors, and radio frequency identification
chips, to disrupt and critique the dominant political order - michael and
phil were seeded 5th out of nearly 50 teams at the tournament: unfortunately,
we won the coin toss for octafinals, chose affirmative, and ended up losing
because they still thought we were too wild: ah well, they ended up in a tie
for ninth place - michael richardson was the 13th individual speaker, out
of nearly 100, after a tie for 7th place was broken after four tie-breakers,
and using judge variance (.46 to .45) to break the last tie, that is, michael
got one hundredth of a point less, on average, from his judges - michael's
and phil's success at a strong second-tier, national tournament confirms for
us that our strategic choices are heading us in the right direction and that
we are beginning to establish this new team on the national circuit - this
weekend's tournament at harvard university, cambridge, massachusetts (home
of the new world champion boston red sox: hail to the victors) will be a viciously
competitive, first-tier, national tournament and the hardest tournament of
the year thus far: we expect to be challenged far beyond anything yet this
year: harvard will serve us well for the rest of the semester, the next semester,
and the nationals, perhaps not so much in the immediate difficulty of the
situation
the following students will attend from friday, 7 am, until early tuesday
morning:
bouska, phil
mabrey, paul
richardson, michael
thanks for the continuing support - paul mabrey is really contributing to
the team's success and giving something very valuable back to fhsu
enjoy
:bill
10/21/04 Update
to all:
well, despite the beautiful weather in malibu and the incredible time we had
with our arguments at pepperdine, the tournament was a decidedly mixed bag
michael richardson showed us and the community that indeed he is ready to
assume the mantle of team leadership this year, announing his presence demonstrably
at pepperdine this past weekend and stepping out from behind paul mabrey's
shadow: michael finished as the 10th speaker out of the nearly 120 debaters
participating in varsity - this is an exceptional performance and turns out
to be the silver lining in our otherwise competitive fog - the team of michael
and phil bouska stumbled competitively for the first time this year and for
the first time as a squad in a long time - their win-loss was 2-4, beating
only san francisco state and eastern new mexico, while losing to florida,
southern illinois, whitman, and southwestern - the team finished well out
of the running
we took some challenging argumentative stances, pushing the debate envelope
even further than we ever have (quite a statement from a team that has inhabited
the revolutionary vanguard of intercollegiate, tournament debate: our provocation
was met with studied refusal by some, curious interest by others, and a steady
dose of losses - at this point strategically, we are invited to either reconsider
the extremity of our positions or to push the envelope even further . . .
those of you who have been following us for lo' on these six years know full
well what we intend to do this weekend in washington, d.c.: we will push even
further and attempt to drag the community (kicking and screaming, if need
be) into our political, art installations that upend location and spatial
assumptions about the world - we are learning the lessons of defeat early,
so that we do not have to revisit them during the remainder of the season:
as our friend fritz (nietzsche) points out, "that which does not kill
us, only makes us stronger"
toward that end, we will be leaving at an ungodly hour, tomorrow, thursday,
the 21st and returning late in the evening of the 25th - the following students
will be attending:
bouska, phil
mabrey, paul
richardson, michael
thanks for all the support
enjoy
10/13/04 Update
a somewhat belated update from our late september tournament to georgia state (9/25-27) - the tournament hosted one hundred and twenty teams from all across the country, many of the best teams competed - the top thirty-two teams clear to double-octafinal elimination rounds: it took a 5-3 win-loss record with the necessary number of individual speaker points (each speaker receives quality points for their individual performances in a each of their eight preliminary rounds, about 220 per speaker and 440 for a team) - michael richardson and phil bouska tied for 20th place team performance with a 5-3 record, but missed clearing to elimination rounds by .71 speaker poitns (out of their 444.5 combined points): they finished in 36th place, when the tie was broken - while disappointing, we were heartened by the strong, national finish so early: our goal is to finish the semester strong nationally and we seem to be on track so far
michael and phil had an extraordinary first day of competition: the finished 4-0, defeating missouri, mercer, pittsburgh and georgia - this was far above our expectations and we knew they were in for some very difficult competition the next day - they lost debates to harvard (3rd seed during prelims) and michigan state (2nd seed), both which were excellent learning experiences - the turning point in the tournament, though, came during the 7th round, when we debated iowa: some of you might remember jason regnier, who is a phd student at iowa and helps coach their debate program, was a national championship debater here at fhsu - so, in a debate that it turned out we had to win, jason successfully coached his new school to defeat his alma mater (he admitted that he did so with a heavy heart): we lost that debate, but defeated richmond in round eight and we went out to eat dinner that night not knowing if we had cleared to elims - we returned to the hotel, sated but quickly disappointed to learn that we did not clear - we learned the next day, just how close we were - michael was tied for 39th individual speaker out of 240 speakers, an admirable showing given the size and quality of the tournament - due to their early success, there were only four teams with a more difficult tournament schedule (based on opponent win-loss record) than michael and phil: they certainly earned their spot and learned some great, important lessons
we are attending a tournament at pepperdine university in sunny malibu, ca (arrival temperature: 88 degrees) - the following students will be attending the tournament: we leave at 9 am tomorrow morning and will return at approximately 2 am on tuesday, 10/19:
bouska, phil
mabrey, paul
richardson, michael
michael and phil tuned up for pepperdine by publicly debating paul and i about foreign policy: we had a blast and more news will be forthcoming on that event and future forums
thanks and enjoy
:bill
Thursday, September 23, 2004
FHSU Debate News
we attended our first debate tournament of the new season - returning to the team is junior/senior, michael richardson, and joining the team as a transfer from wichita state is phil bouska - paul mabrey is returning to the squad primarily as a student-coach
our first sojourn was to spokane, washington and gozaga university's "jesuit debates": this was the first year that the squad has traveled to this part of the pacific northwest, since i have been coach - we thought the trek would be worthwhile since the national debate tournament will be held there in march, for which we hope to qualify: figured we would test the pacific waters and see what we had this year
approximately 60 teams attended the tournament, including a strong showing from our midwestern district - we all were pleased with michael's and phil's first debate tournament together: they mangaged a 4-3 win-loss record at this unusual 7-round tournament - michael and phil had to win both of their final two debates, defeating denver and then central oklahoma, in order to clear to the elimination rounds, an accomplishment at which we thought they would have to wait until later in the semester to have a chance: they were seeded 19th after the seven preliminary debates and were scheduled to debate cal state fullerton in the first elimination round, a team that had defeated us in prelims - michael and phil were ready for them this time, however, and managed to defeat them on a close, but decisive, 2-1 decision - we were very excited to have made it to the round of 16 and had a chance to avenge another earlier loss to long beach: unfortunately for the tigers, we will have to wait for another tournament to recoup these losses - michael and phil lost a very close 1-2 decision and finished in a tie for 9th (out of 60 teams)
michael richardson demonstrated that he was ready to take the leadership role after two years debating in the shadow of paul mabrey: michael received the 25th speaker award out of approximately 120 debaters - this hopefull will prove to be his year: phil did a great job given the change of venue and a radically different style than he was used to at wichita state - we are all thrilled with our opening weekend and look forward to a much more challenging tournament in atlanta, ga at georgia state university's tournament this weekend: we leave early friday morning and will return late tuesday night - the following students will attend:
bouska, phil
mabrey, paul
richardson, michael
hope you all have fun this weekend in beautiful hays, i know we will
enjoy
:bill
