My Two Favorite TOC Debaters

April 6, 2008

There was a time when TOC debaters actually debated. My two favorite were Max Stevens from Green Valley HS in Vegas and Ryan Lawrence from my school. When these two tangled, it was fun to watch. I’m sure they debated each other more than the three times I witnessed, but the ones I saw always came down to the last speech. What made these two standouts was their ability to articulate at a fast rate without crossing over into Policy spreading. Not to mention, they both maintained the traditional style of debating where they defended and attacked everything.

The first time I saw these two go at it was at USC when USC had a finals bid. I judged Max in an earlier round and dropped him because although he was definitely the better debater, his opponent gave him an argument that he didn’t handle very well. My team at that time was heavily into TOC and was mad at me because I dropped MAX STEVENS, the guy with umpteen bids. But remember, I base everything on turns so it really didn’t matter how many bids he had. When I judged, everything was based on the arguments. But even though Max had a 4-2 record, he still made his way to the Finals and earned another bid along with my guy – Ryan Lawrence. Max was a natural and Ryan was the researcher and I knew based on the earlier round that Ryan had a big advantage. The problem was Ryan was so intimidated by Max he didn’t have a chance in that final round. When I saw it, I really felt that Ryan had done everything right to win the round and it definitely came down to the last speech. However, Ryan began his last speech with, “Even though I’ve already lost, I’ll still try to provide a closing speech.” If you are reading this, this is a no-no. You never admit defeat, never. I was so mad because he had a panel of TOC judges that were probably going to give Max the win anyway – but I wanted to see what arguments they felt Max won. With his last opening statement, he took the pressure off of them because now they could use that as an excuse to give Max the win.

The second time I saw them debate was at Long Beach the following year. Long Beach no longer had a bid but still some of the best debaters in the country were there for practice. Since all of my judges had to leave, I had to judge the elimination rounds if they needed me. Sure enough I had to judge the Quarter-Finals when I found out that Ryan and Max were going to hit. I paid a former student who was a hired judge for another school to judge for me so I could see this rematch. I really wanted Ryan to win this round. Since Ryan learned his lesson and no longer admitted defeat but went down fighting, Max had to earn this victory. So once again they went at it just the way I liked it – right down the flow. Even though Max refuted all the arguments, his weakness became evident. Since Ryan did his research, he easily turned Max’s arguments while Max struggled to reciprocate. It was obvious to me that Ryan won but it was up to the TOC judges to determine a winner. Yes, Ryan won and went on to win the tournament.

The final time I saw them debate was the Semi-Finals at Stanford. Once again, they both earned their bids so it was just really for bragging rights now. If you have ever seen Max debate, then you know that he could be really intimidating. One thing I saw him do that I liked was before the round he would chat with you and get you to admit which side was your favorite. Then, if he won the toss, he would choose that side. Also, Max was good at dominating the CX, so if you had any chance of beating him, you had to be able to withstand his 3 minutes of grueling non-stop interrogation. Ryan, because of his knowledge and research skills, was actually able to neutralize Max’s intimidation because he gave all the right answers. In order to beat Max, you really had to know your case because he would exploit any weakness, no matter how small, your case had. For this round they were fortunate enough to have as one of their judges the debate coach of Stanford. To prove how talented he was, he said he would flow the round on a bubble gum wrapper. I’m not that talented; I would have to do it on a post-it. This round was really close but Ryan once again provided the better turns and it was just a matter of how the TOC judges saw it. Oh yes, Ryan won again and went on to win the tournament. He actually tied for the win because both finalists agreed that 1:00am was too late to debate and agreed to close the tournament out.

These two were my favorites because you knew when they met it was going to be a battle. It was also enjoyable because you could comprehend everything they said and their arguments were crystal clear. Remember, if you want be one of the elite, you have to try and debate everything.