Billy+Graves

Debated 4 years at Stratford High School (Houston) Competing for University of Houston in Policy

Questions? Email me at gravesbila@gmail.com

__**Speaks:**__ I heard from someone once, can't remember their name: "You have a 30 until you start speaking," and I believe that to be the case. In all seriousness though I'll likely start at a 28.5 and go up and down from there. Sometimes I won't start at the 28.5 and whoever finishes speaking first I will try and rank them and rank the other person based off of that. It depends on the round. But I will try and stay within the 28-29 range if at all possible.

__**LD:**__ I did LD for most of high school and I feel like I'm one of the few that likes the direction that it is taking. But with that in mind I feel like I have to say this before anything else: IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND YOUR ARGUMENTS, DON'T JUST READ THEM. That is a huge pet peeve of mine, if you can't explain what your argument is saying in CX or you read a Counter-Plan and can't tell your opponent if it's conditional or not, these are instances where you shouldn't be reading these arguments. Pretty self-explanatory but it happens all too often. I'll try and go through all the concerns one may have, starting from what is asked the most.

Speed: I am totally fine with it, if you aren't clear or loud enough I won't be worried to say either of them. However I won't say them a total of more than twice, after that I'll drop speaks. I'm pretty good with understanding you even if you aren't the //most// clear but that doesn't mean that I won't have issues. On that same point, I don't think being fast for the sake of being fast is worth it. If your opponent isn't comfortable with it, don't do it just to get an advantage. Debate is an educational activity, if both sides are fine with it, speed will be fine with me. If it makes it completely one sided then I don't necessarily think anyone will be learning things from the round.

Theory: Legitimate abuse is needed for me to vote on theory. Don't just read shells because you think you can get away with it and opponents can't answer. As I said, debate is about education. While theory can //sometimes// be educational, more often then not theory really just seems to be a time suck. The next question normally asked about theory is what do I default to? I tell everyone that asks me this that there really isn't a default. Both are good things for debate but be sure to implicate why I should prefer one or the others. One line in theory shell that says: "prefer competing interpretations" then moves on doesn't give me a reason why I should buy it. You're just saying the words. Give me a theoretical reason WHY I should buy competing interpretations or reasonability. Both have reasons why they're good, I've heard them tons of why. But debate about those reasons. Theory should be debated well and if it isn't implicated why do I vote? What role does theory play? How should I evaluate it? All of these questions should be answered. I'm a bit more lenient on Topicality shells as opposed to any theory violations, but there still has to be actual abuse. All of the above still applies.

Kritiks: I'm fine with you reading them but I'm not super versed in the lit. I have a basic understanding of most but don't expect me to know the tiny distinctions between the arguments that you're reading. I feel that a lot of the time the alt needs to be pointed out much more which doesn't happen all too often. Try and be sure to explain this and contextualize it, weighing it against the world of the Aff. If I don't get how the alt works by the end of the round, then it's very doubtful that I'll vote on your K. Impact analysis is still important and you have to engage arguments made by the aff. Just saying K outweighs or making generic claims isn't enough. Do work just like any other argument.

CPs: If you spend a minute and a half in CX trying to answer if your CP is conditional or not, you probably shouldn't be running it. With that being said, I'm fine with them as long as you understand how it functions in regards to the aff. You don't have to read a competition section that's longer than whatever your net benefit is, but it should be competitive in some form or another. Overall I'm fine with them, but most of these are arguments that I like, so I will hold you to a high standard and your ethos will tank with me if you do them badly.

A lot of what I said above applies here but I'm not going to hold you to as high of standards on things like theory. How it's evolved in the two are completely different, and they can be debated as such. The biggest thing for me is that you have to read case arguments in the 1NC, starting case in the block isn't fair, and especially as a 2A I feel very strongly about this. The main thing however I think I have to say here that wouldn't have been addressed above is that I will buy pretty much any argument. Obviously there are thresholds with blatantly offensive arguments (racism good is really the only one that comes to mind) but for most anything I can be persuaded. Debate well and you'll do fine.
 * __Policy:__**

__**PF:**__ I don't really know what paradigm questions you'd have for this, but the biggest one I can think of is big picture v line-by-line. And I'd prefer line-by-line for sure. That's really the only thing. Make the debate interesting educational and all will be good.