April 26, 2018
Do aff solvency advocates say what debaters say they say? And if they don't, is that bad? We need better topic wording because without it, theory and topicality abound and negs get free rein with abusive counterplans.
March 24, 2018
Bob argues that the current LD metagame requires a level of argument flexibility unseen in the history of LD. He predicts this year's TOC champ will demonstrate that flexibility and then isolates three factors that could explain why the metagame is where it is today.
February 23, 2018
This edition of "10 Things" by Bob Overing features Harvard, the good Samaritan paradox, Success Academy, Dartmouth's 1983 teams, and more!
February 14, 2018
John Overing discusses the concept of multiple counter-interpretations and how they might help debaters better address frivolous theory.
January 19, 2018
Bob argues that "object fiat" is a conceptually confusing and misleading term. It may be that "object fiat" just refers to counterplans that we don't like.
January 12, 2018
Bob's holiday disclosure post series continues in 2018 with 10 things he likes and doesn't like about current disclosure practices and the LD metagame. Drawing on disclosure from Blake and CPS, Bob covers advantage counterplans, open source, how to account for theory in metagame analyses, and more!
December 22, 2017
Bob forwards a new solution to the puzzle of combo shells. To make explicit that the strength of combo/conjunctive shells often depends on the unfairness of their component parts, debater should separate each part and argue its unfairness as a separate theory argument in addition to the conjunctive claim. He calls this a "multi shell."
November 5, 2017
This season's first edition of "10 Things" by Bob Overing features the Apple Valley tournament, lots of theory, small schools, women in debate, snapchat, and lots of theory.
October 10, 2017
This is Premier Debate's first panel-style post of the new season. In this edition, we probe the minds of three prominent coach-judges on the national circuit what they've seen so far on the topic and what they'd like to see at upcoming tournaments. For more on what to expect in your region, T-military only, and the roads aff, read on!
August 3, 2017
Bob dissects and rejects "neg abuse outweighs" and "1AR theory bad."
May 4, 2017
The first edition of "10 Things I Like and Don't Like" by Bob Overing features the Harvard tournament, plant pedagogy, and "1AR theory bad."
