Minnesota Scrimmage
2018 — Minneapolis, MN, MN/US
UMN Scrimmage Paradigm List
All Paradigms: Show HideNew 2024:
email chain: bosch.e2010 (gmail)
Truncated version if you're reading this before a round and I'm your judge:
- I flow on paper - please adapt to this. Give me a little pen time when you transition from card-to-card or arg-to-arg and also consider that I have to flip sheets of paper between arguments. If I'm not flowing every card during the 1AC / 1NC, it's because I'm reading the evidence with you - not because I'm not paying attention.
- I have been involved in policy debate in some fashion since 2006, and I have been coaching college policy debate since 2014. I've coached at KU, Concordia, and now Samford. I have coached every argument style and I have little preference for how you approach the debate. I just want everyone to make smart arguments and debate the speeches as given / the flow - not competing speech docs.
- I am an expressive judge. If you pay attention to my non-verbal communication during your speeches and cross-x, you will probably figure out how I'm vibing with your arguments. I don't try to control my face when I judge because I believe, at its core, debate is about persuasion and communication - and persuasion is about figuring out how to convince your audience (your judge) that you are correct - and non-verbal communication is a component of the communication process.
- I worked on grid and climate policy for several years in the real world - do with that what you will.
- I will not evaluate arguments being made about things that happened external to the round I am judging. I don't know any of you, you don't know me, and it is not my burden nor is it fair to ask me to assign a value statement on someone's character via ballot. If you believe that a someone's conduct is harmful and warrants investigation and resolution, I encourage you to contact the relevant NDT/CEDA/ADA committee who is charged with conducting a fair and professional process.
- Frivolous or last-ditch effort ethics challenges are bad for debate and I will be deeply frustrated if this is the path you choose. Legitimate ethics challenges exist and should/will be taken seriously, but ethics challenges are not just another argument to use to win a debate.
- I think rebuttals should be slower than constructives, persuasive in nature, clarify key issues of the debate, and close doors. Rebuttals that are read at full throttle almost-exclusively from a pre-written text aren't persuasive to me and generally aren't contextualized to the debate that actually happened. Rebuttals MUST have impact comparisons, reasons I should prefer your evidence / warrants, and rationale for why the above means you win the debate. the 2NR / 2AR should be answering the questions that are central to the debate, and thus, my ballot.
Online Debates:
- if you think clarity might be even kind of an issue, you should slow down. Clarity and argument quality are vastly more important than quantity of arguments.
- I will always have my camera on when listening to speeches and cross-x, and turn it off during prep time. If you are about to start a speech and my camera is off, I am not there - be sure to get confirmation that everyone is present.
General thoughts:
- I care about evidence and evidence quality, but it is up to the debaters to make arguments about the evidence and whether it does / does not support the claims each team is making. I love debates that actually dig-in to evidence comparisons, spin, and who did it better - but I see these debates happen very rarely. Yall are letting each other get away with egregiously bad and under-highlighted evidence, and I am beyond ready to hear some debate about it! Teams who have good evidence, are good at unpacking it, and don't rely so heavily on reading a million new cards in the 2AC / 2NC will be rewarded with excellent speaker points and a complimentary RFD.
- I think flowing and debating from the flow are lost arts in the age of Zoom debate - I will appreciate and reward debaters who flow, maintain flow order and actually do line-by-line argumentation. The number of times I have seen entire impact scenarios, off-case positions, dropped arguments, etc. answered by the other team in the following speech because they were in the speech doc, but not read, is too high.
- I value narrative and good storytelling - a lot of debates end up sounding like fragmented parts with no connective tissue or meta-narrative that explains why one team is winning. Do your best to zoom out and explain how all of the pieces fit together in a story that concludes with a ballot for you. This is true of ALL types of debates - from the most technical, wonky policy debates to the most deeply philosophical or performative critical debates.
T - USFG / Framework
- I judge clash debates all the time, and I vote on different things most times, truthfully. You should slow down in these debates because they are more analytic heavy and evidence-light. I don't enjoy T debates that become "how fast can I read my speech doc and then go for whatever they missed."
- I think the best T/framework 2NRs collapse the debate down into 2-3 key impacts and bury the aff on winning the controlling internal link to those impacts. The majority of the time should be spent framing out why those impacts are the most important in the debate, and why the aff's interpretation can't accomplish them / is worse for whatever debate-reason.
- I think reasonability is usually worthless, and the best 2As defending a non-T USFG aff have a really good counter interpretation, solid offensive reasons to prefer that interpretation, and impact turns / defense on the neg's best offense.
quick thoughts on common things:
- IMO, clash is an internal link to education and it's better framed that way rather than as an impact in and of itself.
- TVAs can be helpful to solve the aff's offense, but not required. Whatever happened to good ol' switch side debate solves the offense? I do, however, love a TVA that is found in the aff's evidence, the articles / authors they cut, or maybe even a previous version of the aff. HOWEVER!! Don't just say "XZ's Aff" - I will have no idea what that aff is, nor do I think telling a team to read another team's aff is super persuasive.
- limits, what a great link argument. tell me why limits are key, why your limits are the best ones for achieving your desired impact, and why the other team's interpretation has none / few limits on acceptable affs. Limits determine ground, and certain ground is better/preferable - that's the frame. Ground is inevitable, and you will never win that there is no ground. The more the aff can win that the ground their interp provides is good enough to achieve the neg's impacts, the more the aff ballot becomes likely.
Ks on the negative:
- are always good and allowed. any aff interpretation that says otherwise is a waste of your time - find a better argument / fw interpretation.
- your link argument has to talk about the aff and be about the aff. I don’t think links of omission are links. If the 2NR is explicitly going for a link of omission, you’re going to have a hard time.
- I don’t think criticisms always need an alternative (critique is a verb, after all). Make sure you explain how the "alternative" interacts with affirmative solvency / how they are different / how the alt accesses the aff (beyond just a generic root cause explanation).
- I love a good K trick.
- the role of the ballot is to tell tabroom who won the debate. generally, i decide who won the debate based upon who did the better debating of the arguments in the debate, not some arbitrary standard set up by one team or the other.
- Permutations are tests of competition, and that is all. That means if you read severance / intrinsicness - those are reasons to reject the perm, not the team.
- If you are aff, tell me how the permutation functions for you and why the link is non-unique or untrue. By the 2ar, you should be deciding whether you're going for a permutation/link turn strategy or an aff outweighs or impact turn strategy - not all of the above.
Theory:
- most theory debates are poorly debated and don't impact my decision unless a team is willing to go all-in on theory in the later rebuttals. If there is one conditional K or CP, don’t waste your time. I can be convinced that most types of counterplans are good or that they are bad.
Old 2019
General:
I FLOW ON PAPER. I judge debates much more effectively / think harder about the debate / give better comments when I flow on paper. This is the only thing that I wish debaters would more effectively adapt to – give me a little pen time when you transition from card to card / arg to arg and please consider that I have to flip sheets between arguments.
I believe judges should adapt to the debaters, not the other way around. I will do my absolute best to objectively and fairly judge your debate, regardless of the arguments you choose to read. I would much prefer that you read the arguments you’re interested in / are better at debating than attempting to adapt to what you interpret as my preferences based upon what I have written here.
I find myself to be a much more “technical” judge than I once thought, and by that I mean I tend to pay a lot of attention to the way arguments evolve as the debate progresses. That’s not to say that I don’t enjoy the 2NR / 2AR spin game, but that those “spins” need to be traceable to previous speeches. In addition, I have and will vote on technical concessions SO LONG AS there is an IMPACT to that concession – debaters concede irrelevant arguments all the time, as it turns out.
I evaluate debates in segments – I think each flow has compartmentalized “mini-debates” that take place within them that I evaluate piece by piece (for example, on a critique, the “link debate” “perm debate” “alt debate”etc etc, on a disad the “uniqueness debate” “link debate” “impact debate” “impact turn debate” etc etc etc). If you label these segments clearly and follow these segments throughout the debate, I will be a great judge for you and your speaker points will reflect your organization / flow tech.
WITH THAT SAID!! I do enjoy non-traditional flow and speaking styles, so do not be afraid to pref me if you debate with a different style – I judge these debates a lot and have no problem following / figuring out what needs to be evaluated.
I’m a very expressive judge. You will know if I am feeling your argument if you pay attention to my non-verbal communication. I believe debate is a communication activity and you, as debaters, should know how I’m vibing with your arguments throughout the debate.
Note about speed: Speed is fine, but please make your card / argument transitions clear with vocal inflection. If I miss an argument, 97% of the time it’s because I didn’t hear you say “and” and I thought you were still reading evidence. Your speaker points will reflect it if you SLOW DOWN on tags and don’t just read them like another piece of evidence. IMHO, debate is still a persuasive activity, and being persuasive gets you bonus points. I will always be fan of a slower, persuasive rebuttal.
I don’t think you will have an issue reading almost any argument in front of me, but since folks seem to just read philosophies to find out how people feel about K debate and framework, I guess I’ll say some stuff.
Affirmatives: I think affirmatives should, AT THE VERY LEAST, be in the direction of the topic (but being topical is so much better). I think the best K affs have a resolutional component and have literature that is inherent to the topic. I can and have been persuaded otherwise, this is just my baseline.
Affirmatives should have a solvency method - I don't particularly care if that's an instrumental affirmation of US(fg) action or not (see FW discussion below), but you've gotta have a method that you have solvency for - I really don't like affs that state a lot of problems and argue that the revelation of those problems somehow does anything - that's not negatable. This is along the same lines of "advocacy" statements that don't take an "action" (I use the word action very carefully - I think a lot of things are actions). Statements are quite difficult to negate.
Framework/Topicality:
I think topicality debates need to be SLOWER than other arguments - you want me to write down more, you need to give me more time to flow. In general, I DESPISE T debates that are read entirely off blocks and read at the speed of cards. I don't think this is helpful, I don't think this creates depth, I don't think this is good for education, and I'm probably flowing like 2 words / argument tbh.
I am significantly more persuaded by topicality arguments (ie: the affirmative needs to defend international space cooperation bc that’s key to limits) than framework arguments (ie: debate is a game, the affirmative needs to defend instrumental USFG action bc them’s the rules and and it's unfair and they are cheater cheater pants).
I think negative limits arguments have the capacity to be quite persuasive if teams go for the correct internal links based upon the aff / 2ac strategy. One of the biggest mistakes I see (primarily) 2Ns make is going for the wrong limits scenario. Just like any argument, some links are stronger than others, and you don't need every link to win in the 2NR, so pick the best ones that you think tell the most compelling limits story based upon the particular affirmative. Don't forget to contextualize limits arguments to the COUNTER-INTERPRETATION not (only) the aff itself.
Topical versions of the affirmative are important, but you have to actually explain WHY they are topical versions of the aff (ie how they meet your interpretation, even better if they also meet the counter interp) and how they address the affirmative team’s offense. Ev for TVAs is preferred. I don't think you need to have a TVA to win the debate.
Things that are not persuasive to me:
decision-making
“People quit”
“Small schools XYZ”
I’ll default to competing interpretations unless you tell me otherwise. Reasonability – how do I decide what is reasonable and by what metric do I use?
Critiques:
To make a link argument, YOU HAVE TO TALK ABOUT THE AFF. The aff has to have DONE SOMETHING that you have linked to an argument. I don’t think links of omission are links. If the 2NR is explicitly going for a link of omission, you’re going to have a hard time.
I don’t think criticisms always need an alternative (critique IS a VERB, after all). Make sure you explain how the "alternative" interacts with affirmative solvency / how they are different / how the alt accesses the aff (beyond just a generic root cause explanation).
I'm a sucker for K tricks - affs: don't get bamboozled.
Aff fw v ks: Often is an argument made in the 2AC that is just repeated over and over and not advanced in any meaningful way. If you think framework is important for how I evaluate the K debate, you need to do better than that.
“Role of the ballot”:
I have significant problems with ROBs. I think "role of the ballot" is an empty and meaningless phrase. The "role of the ballot" is to let tabroom know who won and lost the debate. I don't think my ballot does anything for activism / changing the structures of debate / anything at all. I tend to think most ROB claims boil down to "ROB: Vote for me" which is silly af.
Now, this is different than telling me how to evaluate the debate, how I should filter impacts, how I should prioritize arguments, or in general, how I should make my decision. You can and must do that to win the debate.
Perm stuff:
Permutations are tests of competition, and that is all. That means if you read severance / intrinsicness - those are reasons to reject the perm, not the team (unless the negative team gives me a compelling reason for why the team should be rejected, tbh, haven't heard one yet.).
There is a lot of discussion about why competition standards for advocacies / methods should change when a K aff is read – eh, I’m unconvinced this is true. My default position is that your method should compete, which means, it has to withstand the permutation test. I could, perhaps, be persuaded that the affirmative shouldn't get a perm if the negative is willing to commit the time and energy to explaining why competition standards should change, how they should change, what debate looks like with those competition standards, how it applies in that particular debate, etc. Sound like a lot? Yeah, it kinda is... just beat the permutation with disads and solid link explanations.
You can be certain that I absolutely will not reject a perm on an assertion of "no perms in critical debates" or "no plan, no perm."
Case debate:
is highly under-appreciated. Oftentimes 2ACs just assume the neg doesn’t know anything about the aff and entirely mishandle case arguments. Punish. Them.
I have and will vote on case turns if they outweigh the aff or if the aff has such diminished solvency that they outweigh the aff.
Theory: most theory debates are garbage. Prove me wrong. If there is one conditional K or CP, don’t waste your time. If the alt isn’t actually vague, make a different argument.
Update 4/1/2023
*If you are scanning this philosophy as a nonmember of the community, seeking out quotes to help your political "culture war" cause you are not an honest broker here and largely looking for clickbait. I find your endeavors an unfortunate result of a rage machine that consumes a great deal of quality programs without ever helping them thrive or grow. Re-evaluate your life and think about how you can help high schools and middle schools around this country develop speech and debate programs, core liberal art educational, to improve the quality of argumentation, that otherwise is lacking. In the end, as an outsider looking in, you are missing a great deal of nuance in these philosophies and how they operate in the communities (multiple not just one) around the US and the world.
If you have landed here as a representative of Fox News or an ally or affiliate, I would like to see the receipts of the bias that has and continues to perforate your organization from Roger Ailes to Tucker Carlson and more. Here is my question, when you learned about the Joe McCarthy era of conspiracy theory, along with the hysteria and demonization of potential Americans who are communist (or sympathizers) and "pinko" (gay or sexual "deviants"), is your gripe with McCarthy that he had a secret list without evidence, or do you recognize that a core problem with McCarthy is his anti-democratic fear that there actually ARE communists, gay, trans, bisexual, Americans?
My next question is when and where you think it is acceptable for a person with strong beliefs to exist in democratic spaces. Bias is inevitable and part of this debate game. Organizations attempt to manage types of bias and coaches and debaters learn how to adapt to certain bias while attempting to avoid problematic bias. What do you think? Would right leaning presidential candidates vote for an argument that affirms trans athletes in sports? Should a trans judge leave their identity entirely at the door and embody a leading republican presidential candidate who is against medical care for trans persons? Both answers are no. The issue you seek to lambast for viewership clickbate is much deeper and more complicated than a 3 minute video clip can cover. Thank for reading.
REAL PHILOSOPHY
Background: Indiana University Director of Debate as of 2010. Background is primarily as a policy debater and policy debate coach.
Email Chain: Bdelo77@gmail.com
The road to high speaker points and the ballot
I reward debaters who have a strong knowledge of the topic. Those debaters who can articulate intricacies and relationships amongst topic specific literature will meet what I believe are the educational benefits of having a topic in the first place.
Using evidence to assist you with the argument you are trying to make is more important than stringing evidence together in hopes that they accumulate into an argument. “I have a card judge, it is real good” “pull my 15 uniqueness cards judge” are not arguments. Ex: Obama will win the election – a) swing voters, Rasmussen poll indicates momentum after the DNC b) Washington post “Romney has lost the election” the base is gone… etc. are good extensions of evidence.
Less jargon more eloquence. I get bored with repeated catch phrases. I understand the need for efficiency, but debaters who recognize the need for innovation by individuals in the activity will receive more points.
Speed: I expect I can digest at least 70% of your speech. The other 30% should be general human attention span issues on my part. I firmly believe debate is a communication event, I am saddened that this has been undervalued as debaters prepare for tournaments. If I agree with X debater that Y debater’s speech on an argument was incoherent, I am more and more willing to just ignore the argument. Computer screens and Bayesian calculus aside, there is a human in this body that makes human decisions.
Should affs be topical?
Affs should have a relationship to the topic that is cogent. If there is no relationship to the topic, I have a high standard for affirmatives to prove that the topic provides no “ground” for a debater to adapt and exist under its umbrella. Negatives, this does not mean you don’t have a similar burden to prove that the topic is worth debating. However personally I think you will have a much smaller hill to climb… I find it disturbing that debaters do not go further than a quick “topical version of your aff solves” then insert X switch side good card… Explain why the topical version is good for debate and provides argument diversity and flexibility.
Policy debate is good: When I prep our files for tournaments I tend to stay in the policy-oriented literature. This does not mean that I am unwilling to cut our K file or K answers, I just have limited time and job related motivation to dive into this literature.
K Debate: Can be done well, can be done poorly. I do not exclude the arguments from the round but nebulous arguments can be overplayed and abused.
(Updated 3-2-2022) Conditionality:
1) Judge Kick? No. You made your choice on what to go for now stick with it. 2NRs RARELY have the time to complete one avenue for the ballot let alone two conditional worlds...
I tend to believe that one conditional substantive test of the plan advocacy is good (agent CP, process CP, or ?) and I am open to the idea of the need for a second advantage CP (need to deal with add-ons and bad advantages) or K within limits. I'm not a fan of contradicting conditional advocacies in how they implicate 2AC offense and potential.
Beyond 1-2 conditional arguments, I am torn by the examples of proliferating counterplans and critiques that show up in the 1NC and then disappear in the negative block. There is a substantive tradeoff in the depth and quality of arguments and thus a demotivation incentive for the iterative testing and research in the status quo world of 3+ conditional advocacies. The neg's, "write better advantages" argument has value, however with 2AC time pressure it means that 1ACs are becoming Frankenstein's monster to deal with the time tradeoff.
Plans: I think the community should toy with the idea of a grand bargain where affirmatives will specify more in their plan text and negs give up some of their PIC ground. The aff interp of "we only have to specify the resolution" has pushed us in the direction where plans are largely meaningless and aff conditionality is built into core 2AC frontlines. The thing is, our community has lost many of its fora for discussing theory and establishing new norms around issues like this. Debaters need to help be the change we need and we need more in-depth theory discussions outside of the rounds. Who is the Rorger Solt going to be of the 2020's?
Reading evidence:
I find myself more willing to judge the evidence as it was debated in the round (speeches and cx), and less willing to scan through piles of cards to create a coherent understanding of the round. If a debate is being had about the quality of X card, how I SHOULD read the evidence, etc. I will read it.
Sometimes I just have an interest in the evidence and I read it for self-educational and post-round discussion reasons.
Judging:
I will work extremely hard to evaluate the debate as the debaters have asked me to judge it.