Huddleston,+Keith

In my local circuit, I wear two very different hats. I judge a bunch of policy rounds that are often critical (or hyper-critical). But when I judge LD, I am doing so in a place aptly described by 2015 NSDA champion Nicky Halterman as " a moderately traditional local circuit."

I really don't want you to adapt to what you think my paradigm is. I want you to debate with the arguments you are comfortable with, have practiced using, and (ideally) have fallen in love with.

Let's talk about theory, though.

I also think theory is impossible to debate if you've never had experience with it. . I am sympathetic to a debater who doesn't know how to answer theory in the correct "format" and I will give their argument weight as the best I can when sorting a theory flow. In other words, **I place a higher burden on the person running theory to win it, rather than on the person who is defending against it.**

That makes sense to me. Also add the layer that I too am inexperienced with theory in an LD round and you may conclude that you may have to reconcile yourself to being able to run a K, DA, CP, or, you know, the actual literature on the topic.