The NDT and me.

• Author: Cross, Frank
• Position: National Debate Tournament

The National Debate Tournament is very special to me. Even now, twenty years after winning NDT, that event remains perhaps the most significant and valued achievement of my life. And the last twenty years haven't been entirely pathetic. Today, when required to come up with a password or access code, I still use "1976NDT" or some closely related permutation. I know that I will never forget this term, even though I have forgotten the name of my colleague, whom I somehow dragged to victory.

Winning the NDT bore immediate fruit, as Bill Balthrop and Chuck Kauffman introduced me and Old Whatshisname to new entertainment possibilities in Boston. Shortly after the tournament, I was publicly condemned as a "SCONPO" debater who spoke at an inhuman rate, thereby destroying the activity, but giving me a certain renown. I suspect that my NDT victory was the little extra I needed on my application to gain admission to Harvard Law School. When I sought to work as a research assistant for Professor Laurence Tribe, I was introduced to him first as an NDT champ. His memorable answer: "That's always nice." Well, he's not easily impressed, but I did get the job. As I am farther removed in time from having won the tournament, the identifiable tangible benefits are not so obvious, but the intangibles remain great. To have succeeded in such a challenging activity against opponents whom I so respected remains enormously satisfying, intellectually and emotionally. Many of those old opponents have gone on to attain an eminent status in the world, higher than my own. Yet my NDT championship remains the "Super Bowl Ring" that they all desperately want even to this day.

Of course, the best team does not always win NDT. Yet the winning team is always deserving. To win the tournament, a team must repeatedly perform under the greatest pressure against the top competition the year has to offer. That team must survive the excruciating uncertainty of prelims, plus at least four even more excruciating but exciting single elimination rounds. The debaters must adapt to the whims of a wide variety of eccentrics (called "judges") from throughout the country. The whole process is so physically exhausting that some have fallen apart in semifinals. In the finals, the winner must prevail on stage, in front of critics and a ready-to-party audience of many of the nation's best debaters and coaches.

The NDT is for more than just the winners, however. I have much more experience losing...