Brown,+Andrew

Andrew Brown

East Kentwood, MI

Updated October 31, 2012

**Section 1: How to not get your points nuked. ** A. In-round manners: Be polite. That means sit down and flow the round. I want 1 person standing during speeches and 2 during CX. That’s not just me being old and cranky either; it’s fair warning to you that (this is the part you really want to pay attention to coming up) //almost all of my decisions are based on dropped line-by-line arguments //. B. Post-round manners: If you have questions after the round, ask them politely. Some arguments that you have been running all year (or years) I may not be familiar with chapter-and-verse. I know your soul is crushed that you just lost, but I’m not changing my decision and never have in the past 17 years. If you were rude or overly aggressive to me, I’ll probably end up telling a lot of other judges/coaches that you were acting like a brat.

**Section 2: How to not lose the round ** <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">A: I usually vote for the best policy option, but am willing to listen to different frameworks. If you are critical, you need to have a realistic alternative, "Vote for me!" is NOT a realistic alternative. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">B: Impact Calc is a good tiebreaker when comparing policy options, but is NOT a substitute for winning links and uniqueness. We haven’t had a whole lot of global nuclear wars yet, y’know. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">C: On a speed scale of 1 (normal human having a conversation) to 10 (fire-engine pitched wail) I’m most comfortable around a 4 or 5, but I’ll still try my best if you choose not to pay attention to this. If I miss something, I won’t feel too bad about it afterward, though. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">D: I am more easily convinced than most judges that a purely defensive argument (if it is good enough) can confer zero risk to a position. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">E: I am tired of people who strategically refuse to engage their opponents' substance. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">F: I’m pretty random on theory; you’ll need to win a persuasive abuse claim (usually in-round abuse).