Swanson,+Larry

I am the coach at Olathe North HS. I have been involved with debate for 30 years now. I competed in high school during Reagan's first term. I usually prefer that teams do what they do well rather than try to be something they are not. However, the danger with that is that many teams will assume I know their work as well as they do.

Speed - The more traditional you are the faster you can go. I prefer real structure to the over used "next".

K - I approach philosophy from the perspective of a political scientist (my undergrad work) and a historian (my grad work). What that means is I will have vastly different assumptions about the philosophical works you are citing. I will not look at them like a college debater does if you run them. That doesn't mean I won't vote on the K. It just means that my ballot will be unpredictable even to me as I tend to evaluate those positions from the perspective of my own experience with them outside the debate world. I also won't flow your tags. I will listen to the body of your cards for what the real arguments are.

CP's - I am not a big fan of the generic Ptix and consult offerings but I also won't do the work for your opponent. If you can beat them with this I will vote on it.

Case clash - I think this year offers some real opportunity for the negative to really clash on case. Teams that can do this in a way that has an impact on the round have a real advantage this year (space). I don't consider proving your opponent's argument to be invalid as defensive. Big impacts don't impress me as much as command of logic and the relationship between your position and your opponent's position.

I think most judges will take the easy way out if it is really there. I will too.

T - I am not really interested in your generic T blocks. I am interested in your ability to show me how the plan text of the affirmative case isn't what the resolution calls for. I will flow your T args. but the T debate is about the big picture for me. If you run this like Bill Clinton in front of Congress I won't be impressed ("It depends on what your definition of "is" is...").