NFL Final

[Josiahzacks]

Does anyone have the piece titles from NFL finals?

And to prevent an old argument before it starts: I am NOT interested in stealing any of these peices for competition (that would just be dumb). Rather, I want to see what worked for people this year, and what peices to avoid using at big tournaments next year.

Thanks.

[xxLusciousZechxx]

This is all I got for now...

Buddy Haardt - The God File by Frank Turner Hollon

I'll post more later, if I find them out.

[DCdisco]

Whitney Schaefer, Eagan HS, MN

"Spoonface Steinberg"

[brdwaybabe05]

Final Rankings and pieces:

1. Pierre Clark "Life is so Good"- By ???
2. Whitney Schaefer "Spoonface Steinberg"- Lee Hall
3. William Cole "Stuck in Neutral"- Terry Trueman
4. Sarah Lee "Speake Easy"- By ???
5. James Neyhart "My Name Isn't Bro"- Jerry Rabushka
6. Buddy Haardt "The God File"- Frank Turner Hollon

[Ryan]

As I recall from Oprah, Pierre Clark's piece is by a really really old guy!

[karma]

i was really rooting for spoonface...her talking about how everything would still be there when she was dead was just about the saddest and the sweetest thing i've heard in a DI

[dustybottoms55555]

I believe that Buddy Haardt was the guy doing The God File. He got so screwed in finals. He was wonderful. He was so much different than the other pieces in that round, people came out of that round talking about that piece. And when i saw the ranks from that round i was amazed. The God File was a fresh new piece that had not been done and when he did it i was blown away. Apparently so was everyone else, except for the judges, but i guess thats what you get when you get the vice president of schwann's to judge instead of a person that knows what they are doing. Oh well he was great and he was in nationals finals in two events. so i guess thats all that matters. Congrats Buddy, i wish i would have gotten to meet you.

[xxLusciousZechxx]

Amen, yay for Buddy on double finaling. I didn't watch the round, but Buddy is really really talented. Congrats man.

[brdwaybabe05]

I totally agree with you dustybottoms, Buddy did awesome in finals, me and my teammates thought that he would take the round, but obviously the Schwan's employees didn't... but I seriously dislike the fact that NFL had more CEO's judging, than coaches who actually know what they are doing.

did anyone feel that it was hard to hear some of the performers in DI finals??? i felt that the acoustics were a little messed up in the church.

[RentZachRent]

Do u know what "The God File" is about? Or any of the other pieces for that matter? Thanks!!!


Zach :D

[brdwaybabe05]

I have never read the actual book,although I one day plan to, but I can give you a synopsis of the cutting that was in finals.

Background info: The main character basically has an affair with a married woman, and the woman then shoots her husband, but the main character takes the blame for the shooting instead of having his wife (Janie) arrested. So therefore, the guy is charged with capital murder, and is set to spend the rest of his life in prison.

The whole DI takes place in the jail cell. And the main character talks about after being prison 20 years, he has started to doubt that God exists. And in order to prove his theory, he has started this file called "The God File", and in it, he stores letters, etc. of feelings that he has felt while in jail. For example he has a fear file,that he started after he was attacked/raped while in jail, and the fear file gives him evidence that God isn't there, but then he has a laughter file, which he stores the memory of him and a couple of other guys joking around about their jobs. He also feels happiness when he thinks about his wife, and when he holds his baby daughter in his hands... and all of these signs of happiness, prove that God exists, so he is really puzzled about God's existence, Buddy then ended the piece saying a couple of words of wisdom about hope.

It's really very good. But sorry for any confusion that my synopsis provides, I can be long winded at times.

[RentZachRent]

It sounds interseting can anyone give a synopsis of the other DI's in finals???

Zach :D

Here is how I ranked it

1. Spoonface Steinberg-- Awesome. This girl has the best face ever. The layers of the character (child + british + autistic + cancer) are amazing. The part where she looks at the drawing of the "buttahfly", quietly says "Genius" and taks it up on the wall was simple and beautiful.

2. Life is So Good-- What a fascinating character. Great message... but it comes through sort of awkwardly at the end. Sort of typical race reflective piece (Reminded me a lot of Having Our Say, last years champion)


3. Stuck in Neutral-- Well done. The part where the mentally disabled guy gets burned is too much for me to stomach, though.

4. The God File-- Great, unusual piece.

5. Speak Easy

6. My Name Isn't Bro

[dmcordon9]

Somebody asked for synopses of the final pieces here they are in the order that I would have ranked them.

Spoonface Steinberg - This piece is about a little girl with autism (spelling) who tells then developes cancer. The cutting was phenominal and she did awesome. I just loved it. The emotions were real. There was a well defined character and best of all there was no screaming or shouting. I can't tell you how many people I saw at that tournament who shouted and screamed. I'm so tired of that. Someone mentioned earlier about the part where she talked about all the things that would still be there when she died. I thought that was so moving. Incredible. Also the end where she said "genius". Just amazing

The God File - It was good to see a piece in the round that didn't have to do with a person who was handicapped. I really like the change in this piece and I thought he did an awesom job of presenting it. The piece is already described above so I won't recap it.

Life is So Good - I love James Logan's style. This piece was an old man telling about when he was younger. The young man witnesses the lynching of a young black man in his town for the supposed rape of a girl. When the baby comes, however, it is a white baby. I liked this performance except for I thought that he got a little too melodramatic in the middle. Great character however.

Stuck in Neutral - A lot of people I talked to really liked this performance. I don't know, maybe I just wasn't paying close enough attention. The thing I really liked about his performance was the fact that there was a lot of subtlety and no shouting!!! (If you couldn't tell, I hate being shouted at) The piece is about a man with Cerebral Paulsy. Good stuff.

Speakeasy - I'm not sure why I'm ranking her so low. I thought she was phenominal. This is about a woman with Down's Syndrome who falls in love, gets married and soon thereafter her husband dies. I thought it was moving. I heard about this girl early in the season and so I looked up her piece. The cool thing about it is that it isn't a fictional work. It comes from a book written by a psychiarty student who interviewed several mentally handicapped people and the included essays are what they really said. They are true stories and some of them are really moving.

My Name isn't Bro - This piece is about a little kid that idolizes another kid that has earrings, dresses in black and other stuff to prove how much of a man he is because he has a lisp. I'm not a big fan of the piece or the performance. I think there were some better people at the tournament.

[Mr.Pants]

Ok, I have a few things to say. First and formost, STOP COMPLAINING ABOUT THE JUDGING AT NATIONALS!!! I have been to nationals in four events, and broken deep into outrounds, each time thinking that my piece is better than others around me. I have also seen pieces that I thought should have broken that didn't and pieces that I thought shouldn't have broken that did. The plain fact of the matter is that judges in interps shouldn't have to have high levels of training to tell who did the pieces the best! There is a vast difference between any form of debate (with the exception of Ted Turner) and interp in the necessary training for legitimate judging decisions. Mr. Neyhart did an excelent job in the final round at nationals and, having seen his semi final round as well, he seemed well on his way toward a higher ranking than he got.
If you made it to nationals, which i doubt that many of you complaining did, you would notice that there are not that many DIs that are ****-your-pants good, and Jimmys was closer than many that I have ever seen, let alone at nationals this year. He was technically accurate, he had great character distinctions, and his pops were some of the cleanest in any of the interp finals.
When you begin to judge will be able to subject competetors to your personal biases, but until then, stop complaining. It will not get you far.

[dmcordon9]

Mr. Pants -

Excactly (spelling) who is you post aimed towards. There are many people who post on this site that are national qualifiers and some that have even made finals. We all have our opinions and as far as I can tell there wasn't too much complaining about the judging at nationals. There are many people on this site that have as much a right to express their opinion as you do. Just the fact that you have qualified several times does not make you more deserving to express your opinion than any one else.

[Mr.Pants]

dmcordon9-

The post that I made was directd at each and every person that was complaining about the judging in the final round, the people in the final round, or even bashing the performances in the final round. What everyone has to realize, hard as it may seem, you can change what has happened in the past by *****ing about it now. In addition, as you said many of the people that are on these boards may have qualified for nationals and possibly been in finals. Why, then, do you feel the need to stand up for those who would insult the preformances of people in that round that may read these boards? Common decency prevents most people from doing anysuch thing.

If you got the impression that I wanted to take away the right to oppinion of anyone on this board, than you need to reread the post. That was not the intent at all. the intent was simply to show that there is no need or logical reason to complain about what was just because it didn't turn out the way that one other objective spectator said it should have. You can think what you want and you can say what you want, but do it with a little more tact and consider the perceptions of those around you.

[sillhi]

Just a suggestion though.

[Mr.Pants]

I appologize for thinking that these boards were for intellegent discourse. It must have been a misconception that most people care about their fellow man. This apparently isn't the case here. I will thus make my self scarce. Food for thought: human decency seems to extend to the debate community, but not through it.

[karma]

sad but true. but this guy doesnt score many points saying


If you made it to nationals, which i doubt that many of you complaining did , you would notice that there are not that many DIs that are $h*t-your-pants good, and Jimmys was closer than many that I have ever seen, let alone at nationals this year.

honestly, thats a pretty lame thing to presume (as well as illogical since i doubt theyd be complaining about a final round IF THEY DIDNT GO). anyways, i dont think this jimmy is going to lose much sleep over what a couple people on a web site thought of his DI. the fact that he finaled speaks much louder, at least to me. nothing i've read here seems too ruthless to me anyways.

deep breaths and happy thoughts. its only someones opinion, and i think they expressed it in a much more civil way than this guy has. oh well, i'm sure there are bigger tragedies in life.

[xxLusciousZechxx]

They should turn this DI Finals deal into an actual DI piece... Too much drama for me...

[myoreo]

i know lol drama queens...

[Vegetathalas]

I have been to nationals in four events, and broken deep into outrounds

Did you end up changing your piece before nationals? I liked your piece at state, and Jimmy's too. Wish they had had satellite feed so I could have watched. I hope you had fun.

Faa. This would make a boring D.I. round. Maybe if someone started talking about child abuse while taking heroin and suddenly the nazis burst in the door...

[Mlapin]

I just heard that pierre was DQed for some reason. anyone else know anything?

[LouieTheLip]

What's the source of your info? That's a pretty unfortunate rumor to be going around if it has no grounds.

[Mlapin]

i was talking to my friend who is at utnif right now, and that's what he told me.

[jewis]

i was talking to my friend who is at utnif right now, and that's what he told me.

yeah they are not going to act on it, but pierre competed in the wrong district, a much easier one, to get to nats

[karma]

huh?! what district was it? and wouldnt some competitors KNOW that he goes to logan, and that logans not in their district? this seems a bit too ridiculous to be true.

[speechgal]

edit

[Master of Noogies]

What are guys talking about!?!?! Who started ever that B.S. needs to do some homework. My coach was on the District chair this year and the President of CHSSA ( California High School Association) happened to be at nat qauls. That guy would never let anything happen at a importent tournament like Districts amd Mr. Lindsey would never pull any fast one because it goes against our morals and ethics as a forensics team. And why is it funny that three DIs came out of our district? Other districts had 3 spots open in extemp or HI. So what makes our district so strange? We didn't compete in the wrong district. My league is also a district because it is so big. For the person who said pierre qauled in a easy district, you are dead wrong. Logan competes in Area 1 which is the hardest Area to compete in california and especially if your trying to go to nationals. Those are the type of rumors that bring negative attention to competitors and teams like mine. I find it stupied and obserd. It makes me just want to slap the person started the whole thing. Be smart and ask yourself one question, does this really make sense? :evil: :oops: :cry: :shock: :!: :?: :idea:

[LouieTheLip]

Wanted to add to the Noogies response, which was understandable in its tone, considering that kind of rumor-slinging is irresponsible - Lindsey and the crew play by the rules, a team of high ethics. On top of that, districts CAN qualify three in an event, if they have enough competitors entered in that event. You must have at least 38 entered in a category to qualify 3. And it should go without saying that if there ARE 38+ entered, the district is pretty decently competitive. Most districts, it seems, don't have those kind of numbers and can only qualify 2 or 1.

[Master of Noogies]

Thank you

[chrispac]

pierre is really really good.

[sharpstick5]

This reply is a little dated but I did want to comment on the people complaing about the Juding at nats. First and formost if I am not mistaken the CEO ballots are thrown out and are only taken for show, at least that was what my coach told me, ergo complaining about the CEO judges is moot. Furthermore I believe that all interpers should be prepared to accept judgments and criticism from any judge no matter what thier level of experience and training may be. As anyone who has been to nats or been to outrounds or even finals can tell you that one goes to a tournament to be judged by any and indeed everyone. So while it may seem unjust to suddenly enter an outround and find a lay judge all competitors should be prepared for it. Furthermore I would have enjoyed the final round of DI soooooooo much more had I been able to hear it better . I sat on the ground level and I could not understand half the words being said by the competitors because of the accostics or whatever. That's all I have to say now that I've rambled on.

As anyone who has been to nats or been to outrounds or even finals can tell you that one goes to a tournament to be judged by any and indeed everyone. So while it may seem unjust to suddenly enter an outround and find a lay judge all competitors should be prepared for it.

Exactly! I have been there, and when you are in an outround or final, or in any performance for that matter, you put yourself on the line to be judged by the masses. Then again, we are the masses, and thus we can critique, comment, complain all we want. Actually, I thought the finals were ranked pretty accurately (my ranks were closer to the actual for this final than they were for any other speech or interp event). I would have switched Spoonface and Life is so Good, but I think Life is so Good maybe had an advantage over Spoonface in that his was more of a typical DP. Then again, 2nd place isn't too shabby.

"Genius"

[dmcordon9]

Just to clear up, the CEO judges ballots are not thrown out. Every contestant has their highest and lowest ranks in the final round thrown out. If you look one the packet they gave us after awards or in the Rostrum, at the end of the final ranks there is a "/" followed by two numbers. These are the ranks that are not counted for that contestant.