As promised, we’ll be having one contest a day for our Ultimate Seminar Speaker contest, first going through the first round of our bracket, then going through round 2, etc., through to the finals.
Here’s the bracket:
And now we begin! The first matchup is Jim Thorpe, seeded #1 in the GOATs category, vs. John Oliver, unseeded in the TV personalities category.
This is a tough one. Jim Thorpe is the GOAT of GOATS, arguably the greatest athlete ever lived, and with an interesting personal story as well. On the other hand, John Oliver is an undeniably entertaining speaker.
Remember the rules:
We’re trying to pick ultimate seminar speaker. I’m not asking for the most popular speaker, or the most relevant, or the best speaker, or the deepest, or even the coolest, but rather some combination of the above. I’ll decide each day’s winner not based on a popular vote but based on the strength and amusingness of the arguments given by advocates on both sides. So give it your best!
It’s your duty as commenters to give the strongest and amusing arguments on both sides. So go to it! As you know, the comments are the fuel on which this blog runs.