Best Ballot You've Ever Gotten

[CManning]

This thread is to post some of the best/most hilarious comments you've received on any ballot in any event.

I'll start:

Last year, in OO, I had a line that said the word "boobies." I received a ballot from pre-lims that said:

"I would prefer breasts to boobies, especially in an oratory..."

Also last year in DEC finals at uPenn, I was doing a former OO from one of my former teammates, Nick Bateman. This comment read:

"Nick Bateman. Nice. I love that kid." I also got the 1! Yeah, good times

[Pasty]

Last year a judge wrote on my OO ballot: "You were very passionate, almost Hitler-esque..but not in a bad way." Okay so I'm like the guy who started the Holocaust...but not a bad way.

[mnjspeechie12]

I did Anne Frank as a DI last year (weird that this should come after the Hitler comment haha) and there's one part where I say a prayer in German. The judge wrote "Some parts were hard to understand... Like the German" Um.. I would assume so. It is GERMAN.

[cameronman]

i got one for my DI, The Last Goodbye

"Simply Excellent"

that was all. i got the 1, and it was great

[acon11]

Recently, in oratory.

"Why do I care about this?"

1.

[CManning]

Recently, in oratory.

"Why do I care about this?"

1.


That's actually a legit comment. The "why?" factor in OO is important bre...DPFL

[m92king]

Mine said....

"I don't know if I can write this....but you were ****ING amazing."

He gave me the one. haha

[CManning]

I know someone who judged a round and wrote on someone's ballot:

"You never go full retard!"

[MajesticTOASTER]

Similar to the Hitler comment, I had a judge in one of my congress rounds that wrote "You remind me a lot of Sarah Palin. Except you're smart. And not Alaskan-y." He gave me 1st.

Either that, or in one of my humor finals, I had a judge draw a huge giraffe on the ballot and then write under it in tiny print, "I hope this wonderfully wonderful giraffe will make up for my lack of written critique. Rock on!" He ranked me first, also.
It was glorious. : ]

[MFL speech]

My favorite two ballots ever!:

Woah! That was weird...but I liked it, 1

(I made flashback noises in my DI)
What in the World is that hissing noise? It makes me really uncomfortable.
(I don't remember what I was ranked haha but I beleive it was 6)

[vallainous]

"You are a badass."
Fave. By far.

[TheDebateHub]

I once had a judge write a very very long and vindictive ballot that included: LUCKILY I CAN SEE THROUGH YOUR ARROGANT DEMEANOR on it.... lets say i didn't get the one that round...

[kevking]

HAHA well i got his one on an HI ballot one time. My piece was crazy and had like 8 or so characters.....

"Great performance! But i think i would prefer if it was maybe only one character.Kinda like a monolouge."...........hahaha

[klau1230]

in a prelim round at gmu one judge had the same last name as me.

when i got the ballot back i saw that he gave me a 1 but also some comments that weren't in english. they were in chinese.

[remiss]

"You should bring a note card when you go up to speak" - Harvard Extemp (after they say you can't use note cards when speaking)

[cshrecengost]

in my oratory i make reference to v****a fill in the blanks and instead of saying it i say stomach. and all he wrote was "va-stomach" bahaha i enjoyed it. apparently so did he haha

[cameronman]

i got a good one this last tournament.
"You should ask santa for a nice jacket. I don't really have much to say about your performance. You seem to be a natural at killing yourself!"
no lie.
i got a 2, but that was to john tyree, so i was okay

[CManning]

Wow haha! I feel like when I judge people, I'm gonna point out their outfits like that too.

[mayday53]

i do an oratory about uncomfortableness... the judge only put my rank, time, and code on the front.
on the back on the bottom in THE SMALLEST writing i have ever seen, it said "i was uncomfortable telling you that i liked how you looked more than your speech."

...i got a one... so...?

[CManning]

i do an oratory about uncomfortableness... the judge only put my rank, time, and code on the front.
on the back on the bottom in THE SMALLEST writing i have ever seen, it said "i was uncomfortable telling you that i liked how you looked more than your speech."

...i got a one... so...?

So best of both worlds haha!

[SageShadows]

I'm a natural pacer at heart, so I usually pace when I prep for Impromptu.
One ballot said, "Don't pace around so much. Maybe prep facing the corner."

[allgiants20]

"I think it would be funnier if your female character sounded more orgasm-y."

Does the context even matter?

[CManning]

I actually recently had a judge who basically hit on me via ballot.....it was kinda weird........but I mean, I got the one. I think the whole orgasm-y comment reminded me. Man, I love this thread.

[mayday53]

i realize this doesn't really connect to ballots, but there is on kid who i ALWAYS hit and after each rounds, he always comes up to me and is like "we really should get lunch or something. you're really a great person."

it was flattering the first time, but after that... not so much

[allgiants20]

Oh sexual tension in forensics... what problems can't you solve?

[remiss]

You must be a bombshell, (at least in the forensics world), if all these creepers are hitting on you so frequently.

[pharaohdeli]

"You sound like a rather discombumolated robot...you should make beeping noises, except not beeping-but confused beeping...if you know what I mean"
Got that on a poetry round xD And I was that tournament :D

[acon11]

One time I wrote all the wrong information on a ballot (It was a prose round and I wrote down all my DI info) and luckily the judge didnt notice and gave me first in the round. not so much funny as it was a "Phew!" moment.

[k3l5h10s]

to start my piece is about columbine. so my intro is a suicide note. the comment was " your intro is very solemn but very overpowering." what am i supposed to break out into a joke as i say goodbye to all my loved ones?
and then the piece continues with eric harris asking my character if she wants to die. i was told his question "do you want to die?" was "too cruel" um hello? this was taken from what they actually said people!

and then my all time favorite that you only get occasionally: thanks

[CManning]

Adam, you should put that one up you got in OO this weekend...haha

[donsG]

because it was hilarious.

[CManning]

almost as hilarious as the Prose final ballot where I, with my sub-7 minute piece beat his....but that is all

[otterpaw]

2 of my PFD friends lost a round in which they rightfully should have won. On the ballot, the judge twice misspelled 'Obama's' as 'Obhamas.' He didn't feel too bad about the loss.

[apples]

You must be a bombshell, (at least in the forensics world), if all these creepers are hitting on you so frequently.

This is somewhat related...but pretty offtopic nonetheless, - but man oh man is there a lot of flirting at the tournaments I go to.

My favorite was when this guy asked me to go have dinner and see a movie with him. I said I'd think about it, we exchanged numbers and headed our seperate ways for awards. On my way to my seat in the auditorium his best friend stopped me. This was only 5-10 minutes later but he also asked me if I'd like to go on a date with him. I said I'd think about it and we exchanged numbers to be polite. They figured it out a little bit later that they had both asked me on date.
One of them later told me, "It was so crazy. We were talking on the busride home about how each of us had been talking to this absolutely stunning girl from HI and we had exchanged numbers with her. We asked each other if the girl said yes and both of us were honest and said that she just said that she'd think about it. We each talked about how if things didn't work out that you'd still be a person we'd want to be friends with and just about how cute you look when you give your piece because you're just so adorable. Then we asked each other which girl it was since there were only a couple in HI that day. We each said your name and that's when the busride took an awkward twist...."
They are both splendid guys, by the way. We're all just good friends for the time being.
It's flattering, honestly, I love that all the lovely gentlemen who have ever asked me for a date have usually seen me perform (I do HI) and still would like to get to know me. I don't know if that makes sense? haha.

I apologize for the offtopic-ness of this post. It's just that the girl in me just gets so smiley by these things.

[foster]

"Your tie is absolutely scrumptious"

from a 6 foot 6ish black guy who didnt say one word the entire round.

[remiss]

LOL ^ The silent judges have interesting ballots.

[remiss]

"Absolutely beautiful, I loved your ending"
It really made me happy because it was the first tournament I broke at (Pennsbury!) and it was in impromptu, so that's unexpected.

[PunjAvi]

Impromptu at locals : "You had no clue what you were talking about, you spoke the complete opposite of what the word really meant. Still I liked the way you presented and your voice" - I got the 4 in the round.

[CManning]

Haha! Kenny that's hilarious.

I don't know if I already posted this, but an anonymous judge who I may or may not know wrote on a ballot one time: "You never go full retard!"

[PunjAvi]

its PunjAvi lol and thats really funny! and thats a quote from tropic thunder- one of the funniest movie I've ever seen

[CManning]

My bad Avi, the avatar pic that you guys both have keeps throwing me off.....haha lol and yeah that would be why he wrote it. Great movie

[remiss]

Pennsbury is this saturday

[CManning]

what exactly does that have to do with comments on ballots? although I am really pumped for that.

[remiss]

Their version of impromptu is beast

[klau1230]

speaking of impromptu...here's an impromptu ballot I got:

"YES! I LOVE THE OFFICE!"


that's it.

[PunjAvi]

My bad Avi, the avatar pic that you guys both have keeps throwing me off.....haha lol and yeah that would be why he wrote it. Great movie

Lol its all good connor , and kenny had i been the judge in that round i would surely given it the one! lol I <3 The Office!

[born2question]

Oratory finals ballot from this year. Judge ended up giving me 2nd.

"He's got a story reader's type voice. It's a story! He's using a listing style, Love it! Wow. Just wow. A reference? I didn't see that coming. I'm expecting background music to be playing... TONE! Oh wow, tone, infliction! It's all here!"

I really wish I could've seen what he had written for the girl he ended up ranking 1st.

[CManning]

I like how that guy wrote in the third person... that's pretty funny

[Jubanpride]

In an OO round

"Maybe I was too coffee'd up when you did, because I felt excitement. But maybe I wasn't coffee'd up enough because I wasn't with you on some of the lulls"

He actually wrote lulls. I ended up getting the 1.

[klau1230]

Oratory finals ballot from this year. Judge ended up giving me 2nd.


What tournament was this, Adam?

haha sounds like he's an ESPN commentator or something

[CManning]

I don;t know but that comment is "...as cool as the other side of the pillow." see what I did there? ESPN...

[klau1230]

Boo Yah, Connor. BOO YAH

[acon11]

Thanks, Connor.

[CManning]

Kenny appreciated it......and then you killed the fun...

[allgiants20]

That kinda just made my day right there. Stuart Scott and Scott Van Pelt should've done a duo, especially because then they could've been Scott/Van Pelt. Hmm, where have I seen something like that before?

[klau1230]

you mean it would kinda be like Conner/Manning

[allgiants20]

Yea that was what I was going for there.

[klau1230]

haha alright i gotcha
I wonder if there are any other duo teams like that. it's like they were destined to be DPFL (sorry if I'm violating copyright)

[allgiants20]

Is there DPFL merchandise or anything like that? T-shirts? Livestrong-style wristbands?

[BrutalViking]

Last year a judge wrote on my OO ballot: "You were very passionate, almost Hitler-esque..but not in a bad way." Okay so I'm like the guy who started the Holocaust...but not a bad way.


That's a win dude

[MCH]

"You do a pretty passionate job - this piece actually moved me."

[onecoolguy]

In one of our duo rounds a judge wrote on the ballot, "Wow you and your partner are matching! Was that on purpose?"

Haha gotta love league judges!

[interpwarrior40]

Never get a speech girlfriend. Trust, me I would know. X(

Best ballot ever

[interpwarrior40]

Never get a speech girlfriend. Trust, me I would know. X(

Best ballot ever

[R_Merlino]

One time i was at a local tournament and I was doing OI just for fun and in th first round my judge gave me a 5 and said that i needed to memorize my intro, i guess she didnt realize me closing my book and giving intro memorized. When i walked into my 4th round i realized i had the same judge! But this time she gave me a 1 in the round and told me how great my piece was.
Wow........

[MCH]

One time i was at a local tournament and I was doing OI just for fun and in th first round my judge gave me a 5 and said that i needed to memorize my intro, i guess she didnt realize me closing my book and giving intro memorized. When i walked into my 4th round i realized i had the same judge! But this time she gave me a 1 in the round and told me how great my piece was.
Wow........

If it was OI, theoretically your first round piece would be different than your fourth round piece, now wouldn't it?

[missameliax]

I do prose, and the judge wrote almost nothing, just how much I captivated her. After the round, she came up to me with mascara stained cheeks and said "You made me cry!" At that moment I knew I'd done well. (: And I got a 1/100 in that round! (which surprised me because I made a huge mistake).



At Harvard my friend did an OO about being positive, and she talks about fmylife.com in it to show how we dwell on the negative, and a judge wrote that she should talk about mylifeisaverage.com to show how people embrace their averageness.

[cshrecengost]

If it was OI, theoretically your first round piece would be different than your fourth round piece, now wouldn't it?
what is OI?

[MCH]

OI is Oral Interp, alternating rounds of Poetry and Prose. Sometimes it's Declamation.... depending where you live.


Also, how do you get a 1/100? There aren't 100 people in a round...

[DavidSSabb94]

I once received a 6 and the comment 'lol' on a Congress speech. I remember I made jokes but can't remember what the bill was now, somefin ta do wit edumahcachion.

[cshrecengost]

oh ok. we dont have that here

[allgiants20]

OI is Oral Interp, alternating rounds of Poetry and Prose. Sometimes it's Declamation.... depending where you live.


Also, how do you get a 1/100? There aren't 100 people in a round...

Actually Declamation is a completely different category, where you present a speech someone else once gave.

And 1/100 is first place, 100 speaker points, another tiebreaker if ties are unable to be... broken.

[cshrecengost]

wow its so complicated everywhere else. we have the categories that are at nats and you either get 1 2 3 or 4 haha

[Sparkle8]

On an Info ballot I once had a judge who wrote:
"You be lookin good ;)"
Creepy, mildly. Funny, oh yes

[betsycon]

The best ballot I've ever gotten was from an extemp round. The girl wrote my name and her comments in calligraphy pen and put a bunch of golden star stickers on it.
Mind you, I got a four in the round...but that doesn't mean it wasn't the most exciting ballot I have ever received. :)

[rawrCooper]

My favorite ballots are the ones that say, "Good, good, good. Great, good." Then, they rank you last.

[CLT787]

One guy on my team did an OO about how education is really unneeded. When he got his ballot back there was this rambling comment that covered both front and back of the ballot. And was just criticizing him for his topic! Let's just say that he was less than happy...

The best ballot I've seen was a friend's HI ballot "I really like your eye contact" then a couple lines down "Use more eye contact"

[ispeak4u]

"Amazing f***ing duo!" ahah

[zay]

my freshman year at uil district poetry a judge wrote on my finals ballot: your voice fills the cosmos, so passionate and the best he has ever seen.

[blair.ct]

I once got
"This piece really fits you"
for my DI which was about a bipolar cutter who ended up in a rehab facility for trying to commit suicide.
favorite comment and judge ever. :)

[Jake]

I had a judge just gush over me in a ballot once saying the phrase's " moving, original, and inspiritional." 4.
I also was sick at a tournament once and had a runny nose, and was sniffing during my round. My judge gave me a good ballot, and at the very bottom wrote "good job, but your nose deceives you." This was an old man who had 3 pairs of glasses that he switched multiple times during the round, and he was wearing a Tie with Darth Maul on it. My favorite judge ever.

[rawrCooper]

Just recently I had a judge give me ballot saying "needs more inflection".
At the bottom of the ballot it said, "amazing inflection".

Which brings me to the question, "Do I need more or am I okay?".

[Laxgoalie]

This wasn't me, but last year a girl on my team did a Marylin Monroe DI and at one point in her piece mentions her measurements, I can't remember exactly what they were so I'll say 36 38 34. One judge wrote absloutely nothing in her paper except a picture of a ballerina-ish figure with 36'' 38'' 34'' next to it. And she got the 1.

[Gabrielle]

Yeah I got a ballot with the "weaknesses" section covered completely with critiques, and the only thing on the "strengths" column: "I don't know if I'm allowed to write this, but you're pretty" ..........the only strength.

[rawrCooper]

Recently, I just got a relatively positive ballot with great critics. It was semis of a DI round and I got ranked 2nd.
The critics were just critics, but at the bottom of the ballot it said, "Thank you for taking me on a journey :)"

I wish there were more judges like that guy. He actually gave me critics and a positive up-lifting comment that made my day that much better.

[MissInterpretation14]

My duo partner and I do a piece that has 2 characters romantically interested in each other. The thing is, I'm tall (5'11") and he's short (5'6"). However it's not like we're at a school with a lot of duo partner options, and we wanted to do it together, so we did and we never heard one remark about it all year.

Then it state we ranked well throughout the entire tournament. In final round one judge gave us our worst score (dead last). His only comment was "Women shorter, men taller."

The funny thing is, stereotypes really aren't all that true because my duo partner and I used to date each other.

Lol it was the most ridiculous ballot I've ever seen x)

[This Is Awkward]

Last year I did an episode of 'The Twilight Zone' as an HI, and though it didn't do well, almost every judge liked my Rod Serling character. Then, in sems at some small tournament, the ballot as that is integral to my finalling says:

Rod Serling is rolling over in his grave...
And laughing!
5

Did not Final.
I also had a congress ballot at a tournament I was PO for a session of, and the judge wrote on the ballot:

Well, you're exactly like all politicians.
You don't deliver anything you promise.

4

Fun times.

[bleeckerstreet]

In Poetry, the judge wrote these as the first and second lines of his critique:
Work on diction.
Good diction!
REALLY NOW?

[Haileyloves4n6]

Once, I got one and all it said was: You seem kind of nervous.
that's it.
The dude stared at me creepily the whole time, but I ended up winning the tournament! So it's all good!

[Zachary Smith]

My favorite ballot (or at least the one I remember best) came from my second year of debate. After a tough round, I got back a ballot from the young lady judging the round which said, "You have a beautiful speaking voice." That seems like a pretty unusual statement to make on a debate ballot, but I actually really appreciated the compliment. :D

[cow]

my best ballot was completely blank. all he filled in was my name, his name, and the rank. i got the one.

[dramarama101]

At my Columbia quarterfinal, I gave one of the best performances of my piece I ever gave and the room was totally responsive. Then, I heard my time: "10:32".

I still broke to semis, thank god, even though I went over, and one of my ballots from that round said "It really was a shame I couldn't give you the 1. I've been coaching for 10 years and that was the best OI I've seen in a very long time." 2.

[dramarama101]

most hilarious comment:

(about my DI on anorexia) "physical traits add to believability of piece" 1.

most frustrating ones:

"you should not break up the selections" 6. (in a POETRY round--only 6 i got at the entire tournament)

"characters were well portraied"
"great imagry in the conclusion" 3.

[Nebraska OO]

My Oratory about embracing the awkward

"I'm not sure if you want me to communicate more, or examine my sexuality"

Side note, no where in my speech do I even hint at "examining your sexuality"

[Oralinterp<3]

I once had a judge that wrote NEVERSAYNEVER on every ballot he filled out(my teammates showed me) and then in my friends speech he said how justin Bieber sounds like a girl and he gave him a 5 and said not to "hate on the biebs" ...

[Crimson]

I was doing novice extemp (Which I hadn't done for like three tournaments) and at the bottom of the comment sheet it said "I am glad I got to judge you. You have an amazing speaking voice and I know you will make it very far in all the events you do. Keep up the good work!"

[ianmcentee0112]

So I've actually gotten quite a few good/funny ballots. On one of my DI ballots (for my piece "The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me") the judge wrote on it "You're kinda awkward...I like it."

Then for my Poetry piece the judge wrote on it, "You connect to this poem so well, if I didn't know better I would of questioned if you wrote it."

And my last odd one was for a Duet, my partner had gotten sick the day before so she wasn't there and my coach made me do a filler with a friend. So we get up there and do this stupid thing about Llamas and the critique sheet said "What the ****?" but the funny part is we didn't get last! We actually got like 5 out of 8...

[MichaelFerguson]

On a DI ballot of mine, the judge just said at the bottom,

"Dont thank me for judging." I got the two. haha.

And then on one HI ballot, This judge wrote the whole front and back about how much she hated to give me the three and why I didnt get the one or the two, and then at the end she just said, you make me smile. But she never smiled and I swear to God I never saw her write once. hahaha.

[Tylerr]

Got slapped by my partner in our duet and one of the judges wrote, "Took that ***** slap like a man."
Got 1st place (: