Friend,+Greg

Friend, Gregory (Northwestern University, Glenbrook North HS)

Style: Debate whatever way you think is best for you. In general though, I find it extremely hard to accept complete disregard for the topic. I think having a resolution and rules that are universally abided by is probably a good thing. In general, I take a pretty neutral approach to debate – I’ll evaluate almost any argument based on how it’s debated out.

Theory: Not the biggest fan but I’ll vote on it. PICS bad in front of me is never a winner. If it’s in your plan, you should be willing to defend it. I'm hard pressed on conditionality too, though more willing if there's multiple conditional positions. Don't drop politics theory args in front of me (e.g. intrinsicnss, vote no, etc.)...you will lose.

Counterplans: I love a good specific PIC with crafty DA strat. Consult CP’s are obviously fine in front of me – although I think you must have specific solvency/link ev, especially to beat back consult bad theory. That's a good rule of thumb for any questionably legitimate CP in front of me - if you have a solvency advocate, then it's predictable for the aff.

Critiques: I find good K debates interesting though very rare. If your speeches are full of useless jargon and assumptions of my understanding you will not win.. Long overviews are useless. So are discussions of pre/post fiat. Framework debates should be used to determine how to evaluate representations, ideology, etc., but it’s a question of how those representations affect the plan’s ability to solve (e.x. discourse shapes reality). In other words, you should use the framework question to setup the role that the ballot should take. I usually default to letting the aff assume the plan passes, and letting the negative use representations, methodologies, ideologies etc. as a way of opposing the case (i.e. getting link ground). Thus, affs need to win why policy discussion is more important (e.g. judge choice model), and negs need to win a case turn (reasons why even assuming the plan passes it won’t solve). Of course impacting turning the K is always a good possibility (biopower good, terrorists really are evil, violence is sweet, etc.).