The whole team couldn't go, but three intrepid debaters and one parent (required to drive and pay for things) braved the wilds of Massachusetts for the Harvard Classic tournament. This is the biggest tournament in the country, at the oldest and most confusing school in the country. In Boston, where they last repaved the roads in the Hoover administration. Nine hours away by Interstate. Whew.
It was our best chance to get some practice in before Metro Finals, so we loaded up the car with the Public Forum team of Stephen Maddock and Valerie Pratt, and John Holsinger for Original Oratory. On the drive up we admired the scenery, worked on cases, and read "Good Omens" by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett aloud to each other. It's a wonderful book; picture the Book of Revelations as scripted by Monty Python and you'll be close. We had a great time.
Mr. Gregg always gets us into comfortable hotels, and according to the map our Holiday Inn should have been easy to find. It was, once we realized that the best way to reach it was by driving through a mall parking lot. The map also seemed to show that we could get to Harvard Yard easily enough by just following Massachusetts Avenue. Right.
I've traveled a lot, and I pride myself in my ability to find my way around most places. Boston humiliated me. I was utterly dependent on the GPS on my dashboard. In fact, the dashboard receiver got swamped by tall buildings, and I found myself using both the GPS and Sprint Navigation at the same time.
Our kids battled bravely in a huge field. There were over 200 schools in Varsity Public Forum! We estimated that there were nearly 5000 students in the tournament. It was spread out over several buildings, and I didn't get to use the school pass most of the weekend; the one time I did, I discovered that you can get out of the parking garage but not back in, unless you use the same door you exited. I guess it makes sense in Boston.
I must say, I saw something in Boston I've never seen before: a panhandler, on the median strip at a stoplight, with his cardboard "Homeless, please help" sign, talking on his cell phone. No one else seemed to think it was strange, so maybe it's me. He probably has his own blog.
The tournament management did some very clever things to keep things moving. They posted copies of the schedules on their Web site as soon as they were available, which made it possible for me to stay with the car and get people where they were needed on time. Unfortunately, they posted the schedules as PDF files which are difficult to read on cell phones. And their web site required you to log in each time to get them. It vindicated my habit of keeping a laptop in the car, and Sprint wireless broadband came through nicely.
Once we determined that no one had broken to finals, we packed up and headed home. The kids had given up their mid-winter break to do this tournament, and we needed to get back in time for classes on Tuesday morning. We made it in good order, in spite of some difficulty escaping from New Jersey when I misread the exits around Newark Airport. I'll have to do some more road trips to get my confidence back. Metro Finals are local, over the next three weeks or so, but that will determine who's going to CFL Nationals in Albany. I think I can find Albany.
Doug Pratt
www.pratthobbies.com
"If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six hours sharpening my ax." --Abraham Lincoln
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