SINGLE ENTRY VS. DOUBLE ENTRY

[LouisTheLip2]

Well, it finally happened. No black ribbons this year. No double entry. Some people believed Single Entry Only would strengthen competition... more contestants, all more focused on their single events. Others said Single Entry meant that super-talented people were now denied chances to double-break and therefore the overall competition would be weaker. What do you think?

[SniffyGuy]

weaker: here's an example

Natalie Sintek could only do her HI. While i have not seen either Soccer Moms (with or without her), from what i heard, Natalie made the duo much better, which would not surprise me. I would be willing to bet that things such as this happened across the board. I know the kid that did Once Upon a Mattress at CFLs, who was excellent, was busy with duo at NFLs. Double entry would not have restricted excellent performers from performing excellently in multiple events. It is only expected that competition go down as a result.

[Ryan]

I totally agree that double-entering makes the competition better. Last year at nationals, 4 interpers double-broke to finals (Nick Kanellis, Tom Finley, Whitney Shaffaer, and Buddy Haardt) and it would have been a mighty task to ask any of them to choose one event. Would the tournament have been any stronger of a competition without Batboy, I Hate My Sister Maggie, or Oobeck? I think not.

[DCdisco]

The National Forensic League has its organizational head on backwards.......they are trying to do 2 things:

1. Maximize the number of participants
-----schools such as Eagan would have the advantage over smaller schools that don't have strong double-entrants.
-----they want as many people as possible to get to experience Nationals.
-----member schools that never qualify anyone may eventually drop their enrollment in NFL (so, member numbers in general may drop)

2. Keep the tournament running as smooth as possible
-----with double-breaking in events, it can be very difficult to keep a tournament the size of nationals running smoothly and on-time. (hence, why many people feel that this year's tournament went MUCH smoother than last years')


Even though they may feel that they are providing the best circumstances for the competition, they are really restricting the competitiveness of the NATIONAL tournament. They aren't allowing someone as talented as Natalie Sintek to double-enter......who won HI, but definitely would have had a chance at winning Duo as well, had it been allowed.

The NFL should ask this question........"Is it more important to run the tournament on time and to maximize the number of competitors OR is it more important to allow the most talented people to show off their skills?"

THERE IS A REASON THAT PEOPLE HAVE DOUBLE-FINALLED IN THE PAST: and that reason is that those people truly deserved to be in finals. They not only worked incredibly hard on ONE category, but a SECOND ONE as well.......and by proving that they can double-final and potentially win a National tournament......I think that is saying something.

Personally, I might really dislike someone who double enters and takes the last spot in finals, when i am next in line. But I always remember in the end that hey, at least the most talented person gets that 8th spot, instead of the next Joe in line.....

We want the best of the best.......then we know we aren't fooling ourselves. If we settle for the second-best........who knows? maybe that person or partner-team doesn't deserve that honor and recognition.

Something to ponder---

If you qualified in Duo and something else, you had to go in the duo. Thus, wouldn't HI and DI be the categories missing out on a bulk of the talent?

[iismepeter]

HI and DI would be weakened because there would be less "good" people in it, since most H/DIers do DUO as well. DUO would be strengthened. So that would leave HI and DI to be one of those throwaway categories, making less talented people make it to finals, and turning the supplementary categories even suckier than they already are. :roll:

[narcotictwizzler]

not really on topic (for the record- I'm a double entry fan), but I loved both soccer moms. Thought I'd throw that in there.

[xxLusciousZechxx]

Something to ponder---

If you qualified in Duo and something else, you had to go in the duo. Thus, wouldn't HI and DI be the categories missing out on a bulk of the talent?

No, not really...

Justin Blacklock was going to go in Duo and in DI at Nat quals but knew he would probably place in both, so he just went in DI instead...

If people know they're going to qualify in both (and be forced to choose the partner event), they're not going to go in it, they're going to do their main solo event.

No talent is missing.

(Hopefully all of that made sense).

[Owokere]

They should definetly go back to the old formant of being able to double
enter in extemp, HI, or DI if you do Oratory. Like past double national winners Colin Stokes and Josh Gad. Then they could bring back the trophy of highest points winner that Megan Bartle won a few years back. I definetly felt robbed not being able to do Oratory and DI. Especially after looking at finals of DI this year. :(

Oh and I beg to differ xxLusciousZechxx because David Kenton from Nova was the most consistent DI'er all year and qualed in both Duo and DI but choose to go in Duo because of his partner. And coaches can feal sympathetic for the duo partner left out of the mix.

[xxLusciousZechxx]

Oh and I beg to differ xxLusciousZechxx because David Kenton from Nova was the most consistent DI'er all year and qualed in both Duo and DI but choose to go in Duo because of his partner. And coaches can feal sympathetic for the duo partner left out of the mix.

Well, he wanted to go in Duo, he has no right to complain because he knew he could've qualified in DI but still went in Duo.

[iismepeter]

I think what Owakere means is that in the NFL qualifying tourney, he doube entered in DI and DUO and qualified in both events. Given the opportunity to go in either event (but not both because of that **** double qualifying rule), he decided to go in DUO for the sake of his partner. :)

[Ryan]

Haha, I love the chatter about what David intended to do. I chatted with him numerous times today alone and have done so quite frequently in the past. We have discussed his district reasoning in the past and he never went to nfl nationals in any previous years (plus he just missed qualifying for cfl nationals). He wanted to make sure that he got to nationals and if he had only entered in DI and something happened (our district is fairly tough), then he would have never gone to nfl nationals in all of high school. Clear it all up?

[WonderingAlice]

I think there is also a lot more pressure on people when they are not allowed to double enter. Some people perform much better when they double at tournaments because they know they have two shots at finals and sub-consiously they allow themselves to take more risks in their performances.