After some brief words of advice from tournament director Adam Johnson, the pairings for the first round of the 2010 Montgomery Bell Extemp Round Robin have been released. Each extempers National Points Race rank is identified within parenthesis to the left of their name.
The topic area for this round will be Constitutional Issues, Courts, and States.
As a reminder, today is the last day that you can enter the Extemp Central MBA pick’em contest. If you can correctly choose the order of finish for the top five extempers in the tournaments you can receive such prizes as gifts from SpeechGeek.com and iTunes and Starbucks gift cards. For rules and procedures click here. The deadline for receiving entries to the contest is at 5:00 p.m. EST today so give it a shot!
Also, live coverage of tonight’s Round Robin begins this evening. Tonight will see the first two rounds of competition, followed by six rounds tomorrow, and three rounds on Sunday. Late Sunday afternoon will see the Exhibition Round and awards take place. The draw for the first round takes place at 7:10 p.m. and if everything goes according to plan this is the time that Extemp Central will be able to post round one pairings. We will also keep you notified if any of the snow that has hit the central U.S. has prevented any competitors from attending and if there are any last minute substitutions.
Here is your R&D top five for January 8th:
Connecting the Dots on Intelligence Reform from the Council on Foreign Relations
Economy loses 85K jobs in Dec., unemployment rate stays pat at 10 percent from the Washington Post
Dahlan: Talks to resume in coming weeks from the Jerusalem Post
Coup is elephant in the corner at British Cabinet meeting from the UK Independent
Migrants riot in Italy over attack from Al Jazeera
Here are the answers to this week’s Extemp Central news quiz. See how you did!
Here is your R&D for January 7th:
Russia, China, Iran redraw energy map from the Asia Times
Schwarzenegger — What Might’ve Been from the San Francisco Chronicle
Nigeria: Bank Crisis and the Limit of Sanusi’s Capitalist Reforms from the Daily Independent of Lagos
Peru’s Supreme Court Upholds Fujimori’s 25-Year Sentence for Murders and Kidnappings from Upside Down World
Americans Reaping Benefits of U.S. Membership in WTO from the Washington Times
Don’t forget that you have until 5:00 p.m. on Friday to enter our 2010 MBA Pick’em contest. The contest asks you to predict the order of finish for the top five extempers at the tournament. Prizes include vouchers for SpeechGeek products, iTunes and Starbucks gift cards among other things.
To view the rules and procedures of the contest click here.
Here is your R&D top five for January 6th:
Obama assails intelligence failures in Christmas incident from the Los Angeles Times
To rein in Al Qaeda in Yemen, Britain taps its colonial past from the Christian Science Monitor
Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd won’t seek reelection, will retire at end of term from the Washington Post
Central Asia: Migrants and the Economic Crisis from the International Crisis Group (remember to read the full report!)
Bye-bye, Dubai from Foreign Policy in Focus
1. Should Napolitano step down?
2. Will the recession benefit the GOP in 2010 but not in 2012?
3. Should more of NASA’s work be outsourced to the private sector?
4. Which would be more beneficial for the US economy: electric powered vehicles or biofuel powered vehicles?
5. Does the U.S. need to look into some form of profiling to protect the nation’s airlines?
6. Is the Cornhusker Compromise unconstitutional?
7. Will the U.S. be forced to bail out California in 2010?
8. What was Obama’s most significant accomplishment in 2009?
9. Can cap and trade pass the Senate?
10. Why are economists projecting weak U.S. economic growth next year?
Here is your R&D for January 5th:
Census 2010 Can Count On Controversy from the Brookins Institute
Health Spending Rises in 2008, but at Slower Rate from The New York Times
Chile’s presidential January 17 run-off in its decisive leg from MercoPress
Loaded: Freighters Ready to Shoot Across Pirate Bow from The Wall Street Journal
Current Decade Rates as Worst in 50 Years from the Pew Research Center
1. Are there significant parallels between China’s economic growth and Japan’s of the 1980s?
2. Why is Pakistan only concerned about Taliban elements that threaten its domestic security?
3. Will Yulia Tymoshenko win the Ukranian presidential election?
4. Should the international community be doing more to support the protests in Iran?
5. Will BRIC turn into BIRIC?
6. How can Europe make itself less dependent on Russian gas?
7. Will a 2011 referendum on southern independence in Sudan lead to the breakup of the nation?
8. Is Berlusconi the cause of rising tensions in Italian politics?
9. Will the near arrest of Tzipi Livni in December significantly impair the Israeli-British relationship?
10. Do the Liberals have any chance of winning the Australian elections in 2010?
Everyone thinks they are an expert about rounds. Just go to a tournament, watch a final round that has a decent number of audience members, and after it is done listen in on what everyone thinks about it. Everyone has their own opinion about how the round went and how they’d rank it. Well this time, Extemp Central is asking you to put those skills to work and predict the top five extempers at the 2010 MBA Extemp Round Robin.
For the MBA Extemp Round Robin, the 16 competitors are placed into four rooms of four in each of the ten rounds of competition. There is a three-minute cross-examination period in each round and there is a balance between rounds that are United States and International extemp oriented. Competitors will hit each other twice and are judged in each round by a panel of three judges. Unlike last year, there will be no crossover between LD and extemp judges at the Round Robin. At the end of the ten rounds, the top five extempers go to an Exhibition Round that is adjudicated by the eleven extempers who do not make the Exhibition Round. Their scores determine who wins it and if there is a tie this year it will be broken by a panel of Round Robin alumni (confirmed Round Robin alumni that will be there this year include Jason Warren, Stacey Chen, Hunter Kendrick, and Logan Scisco among many others). Keep in mind, though, that the Exhibition Round scores are not put together with ranks from the ten rounds prior to the Exhibition Round. In other words, the Exhibition Round simply stands by itself.
So what are you playing for? Here are the prizes.
Here is your R&D for 2010 at Extemp Central:
Fed chief calls for tougher regulation from The Financial Times
Iran in Turmoil: The beginning of the end? from the Economist
Terrorism’s Triumphant Techniques from the New York Post
Must 2010 Be 1994? from the Washington Post [Courtesy of Real Clear Politics]
Obama’s First Year: ‘Great Expectations,’ ‘Daunting Realities’ from the Council on Foreign Relations
Looking for a challenge to start 2010? If so, here is the short answer version of this week’s Extemp Central news quiz. Good luck!
Here is this week’s multiple choice version of the Extemp Central news quiz.
Pick well and good luck!
Here is the very last installment of profiles for the sixteen competitors who will be at the 2010 MBA Extemp Round Robin. This last installment details Florida’s competitor in this year’s field, a pair of teammates from California that are making their MBA debut, and a Minnesota state champion who is making her return to the tournament.
Keep in mind that tomorrow on Extemp Central we return to providing you with regular content on the website and will unveil the rules of our contest where you can predict the order of finish for the top five competitors at the Round Robin and the winner of the Exhibition Round. At stake will be gift certificates/cards to SpeechGeek, iTunes, and Starbucks.
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