Montiel,+Gloria


 * General:** Berkeley will be the first tournament I judge this season. But, don't be afraid! I've been around debate for the past 10 years...I was a high school debater, and I was a high school debate judge during my four years of college around MA and in some tournaments in NY.


 * Arguments:** I'll be honest, I tend to zone out during theory debates, although I always try to listen to them and judge them fairly. I understand that in some cases, they are totally necessary, but most of the time, they are poorly debated or used as time suckers, and they end up taking away from debating more substantial things like, extinction, rights, war (sometimes)...and all the other fun stuff.

Other than that, I'm fond of correctly ran k's (and those that have amazing alternatives). In fact, a correctly ran and correctly answered/ overall greatly debated kritik is one of the most beautiful things in debate for me!

Counterplans--make sure they are truly competitive both in the plan text and in the evidence you present for it. At best, I hope that it does not just say "do everything Aff does with different actor." There should be some substantial net benefit.

Disads--are totally okay as long as there's some coherent impacts that are explained and carried out through all speeches and there is a warrented link between the aff and the D/A.

Critical Aff's--are totally fine, but don't expect to say "because of our #3 Advantage in the 1AC, the D/A doesn't matter"...make sure the Aff is still doing work on explaining why or how the Aff kritik works and overall, make sure you are doing work in explaining any kinds of advantages from the 1AC throughout the entire round.


 * Cross X**-I don't mind open Cross X as long as the person being Cross X'd still answers most of their own questions, and as long as there's only one conversation going on--because many times in open C-X, it all turns into a major mess, and that's...sad.


 * Other stuff:** there should be no reason why debaters are not using all their time...it's imperative! because most often than not, you're missing a lot of arguments. Also, I'm not seeing too much line by line these days--it's REALLY important if you don't want me to start placing the args all over the place. And, there should be impact calc throughout the round (from both teams)...in fact, you should be telling me what to do every step of the way, instead of having me figure it out (otherwise, it may not turn out in your favor).

Overviews--if you're going to put one on an arg, make sure that you use it throughout the round, and if someone puts an overview on an argument, make sure you take time answer that.

Lastly, Spreading--it's okay, but if you're sacrificing clarity for speed, it's going to hurt you. ROADMAP every step of the way! and be CleaR!

feel free to ask questions....