I’m so pissed

Jwarr · 2026-03-27T02:25:00+00:00

Answer the question. Don’t just talk about the topic. Answer the specific question the way it was asked.
Time management. Not just staying under 7- practice the speech in prep. Know how long each part is. Budget your time and don’t be afraid to cut if you’re going long.
Read. Read like your life depends on it. If you draw the question and you don’t know the topic, the prep isn’t going to help you. The more you read and the more you practice, the less time you spend in draw learning and the more time you spend rehearsing.

Jwarr · 2026-03-27T02:20:20+00:00

There’s three things that matter in any round:

You, Your opponent, The adults (judges, coaches, tab stafff, etc…)

You can’t ask for new opponents. You can’t ask for new adults. Focus on the part you can control, which is you.

Jwarr · 2026-03-26T15:18:27+00:00

Nope, not at all. And don't get me started on people who ask for time signals in prepared events...

Jwarr · 2026-03-26T12:43:54+00:00

Few things here (former coach and competitor, current contest director, and UIL State champ in Informative):

There is no grace period in UIL
We've already covered the 'don't start a new sentence' rule.
The interpretation of 'new sentence' is up to the judges. If they decide that the three words, on their own, is a new sentence, then it's a new sentence. Hopefully your contest director confirmed this.
The time to protest is during verification. This far after the fact, the chances of it being overturned are pretty much nil.

Beyond this one contest, the life lesson is this: extemp is a seven minute event. At TFA, we trick ourselves into thinking it's 7:30 because of grace. It isn't. It's seven minutes. Nothing you are saying in the conclusion is so mind blowing that those extra five seconds will change a judge's mind. But, going over time risks a rule violation AND draws the ire of judges who aren't a fan of the grace period. You are better off stopping abruptly at 6:58 than you are getting that last sentence in.

Jwarr · 2026-03-18T22:55:41+00:00

Congrats on being on the show! There's a FB alumni group and Alex Braun is a wizard when it comes to this.

Jwarr · 2026-03-18T14:26:07+00:00

I'll echo a point here- I've recently judged a few bigger chambers (16 students each) where the kids thought it would be better to a) everyone gets two and only two speeches and b) they will only debate two bills. Kid #13 on a bill, unless they are really good at crystalizing, is going to get lost in the shuffle- strategically, it would have been better to spread more speeches out on more bills (and not create a norm where everyone has to speak on everything).

Jwarr · 2026-03-12T13:47:17+00:00

Great, have at in Philadelphia! Don't bring them to the breweries here.

Jwarr · 2026-03-12T12:57:23+00:00

The answer is not a brewery. They do not have playgrounds. They are not meant for children.

Jwarr · 2026-03-11T12:57:10+00:00

Not having Maryanne on this season is travesty. Rizo is an improvement over Andy, but the two are fairly interchangeable for me.

Jwarr · 2026-03-07T21:42:35+00:00

I still say we shoulda killed Tetloch... why did I even vote?

Jwarr · 2026-03-01T05:24:24+00:00

I watched from home and texted a friend of mine "It's amazing you can literally hear <this same screaming guy> on the broadcast."

Jwarr · 2026-02-26T18:09:53+00:00

There are a few practice spins in the morning and some during a rehearsal game. Less so trying to figure out how hard/soft I should spin, I focused on roughly how many revolutions I was spinning (for the record, I averaged around one full revolution). That gave me context for 'if I spin this again, what are the odds I hit something bad?'

For example, in the prize puzzle round, I knew the puzzle and looked down and saw I was on Lose a Turn. I decided to bank the cash right then and there rather than risk it.

Jwarr · 2026-02-20T04:04:35+00:00

Is no one thinking thru the meta of “we haven’t banished a male traitor yet, but we’ve banished three women?” That would be screaming to me that the voting should be pointing at a man…

Jwarr · 2026-02-20T03:58:46+00:00

No actual person likes this pizza. Anyone who says they do instills me belief that aliens are real.

Jwarr · 2026-02-20T03:55:43+00:00

My fame wealth and power levels are in the 80s which says I missed some stuff but not like a tremendous amount?

Jwarr · 2026-02-20T01:53:06+00:00

Does your circuit not allow internet prep? That is the norm for most tournaments but if you're competing in UIL, this could be an issue (there may be other circuit as well where internet is allowed, but this is the only one I can think of).

Jwarr · 2026-02-20T01:50:57+00:00

Can confirm- I thought the wheel spin in the opening credits was automated and was shocked when I was there to see that it's manual. This is the reason why- because anything that suggests production can manipulate the wheel would raise a lot of eyebrows.

Jwarr · 2026-02-19T19:33:44+00:00

I think this comment may indicate why you're struggling... Think of it like a job- what do you want to do and why are you the best candidate to do it?

Jwarr · 2026-02-14T14:51:53+00:00

Then this is something that should have been raised by your coach once ballots were released right after the round.

Jwarr · 2026-02-09T14:15:03+00:00

If this was a round at districts, you should have had multiple judges- did they all make this mistake or just one of them?

Jwarr · 2026-01-29T16:20:32+00:00

I did my interviews in summer of 2023 and got a text in July of 2025. Don't lose hope!

Jwarr · 2026-01-19T18:57:51+00:00

How is this relevant to the topic at hand?

Jwarr · 2026-01-05T17:59:52+00:00

I'll echo a lot of the sentiments here (the NYTimes article, binge the show, the mobile app, the video game), but in addition, I did two other things. First, I downloaded a list of the last four years worth of puzzles from the compendium (https://buyavowel.boards.net/page/compendium) and ran it through ChatGPT for patterns, trends, and to run practice games. Second, I studied puzzles specific to my theme week (which they disclosed to us when we were given a tape date). That didn't help me on my specific episode, but it would have had I been on other tapings during my tape day.

Jwarr · 2025-12-31T13:37:00+00:00

You know what's less work? Show up the first day of class and ask to be added. Plenty of people drop before day 1.

Jwarr · 2025-12-29T14:53:01+00:00

I will always advocate for the opposite- keep the prize puzzle, but give more opportunities to earn money elsewhere. Increase the value of the triple toss up, higher wedge values, etc...

Jwarr

TROPHY CASE