Re: Basketball Traditions at FIRST Events
 

I guess I just don't get it. How is cutting up a basketball net any sort of celebration?

Google pointed me to several explanations that it's a marker of the end of the season. With that in mind, I think it could be appropriate after the final match on Einstein. But intentionally destroying a piece of the FRC field doesn't seem to celebrate anything that I want to focus on in FIRST.

Re: Basketball Traditions at FIRST Events
 

In my mind this falls under,

"just because its tradition, doesn't mean its not stupid"

But I've never been one to watch sporting events

Re: Basketball Traditions at FIRST Events
 

I think this falls under a certain social criteria that if you are one of those people who don't get it's significance or it's appeal for others, no research or explanation from anyone else will fully explain it or justify it for you. Certain cultures have traditions that they enjoy and/or feel strongly about that if you are not a part of that culture will feel foreign and confusing to you. This is just one of those traditions in the basketball/sports culture. If you don't consider yourself a part of that culture, it's very unlikely you'll ever understand or appreciate it. That's fine, but don't belittle the tradition just because you don't appreciate it, personally.

Simply put, people that do get it probably want to be able to translate the tradition over to this year's game in some way, even if it's adjusted to fit into what FIRST deems appropriate for the field equipment and post victory awards ceremony.

Re: Basketball Traditions at FIRST Events
 

This might be one for Q and A or the game committee to release a statement regarding the matter, Field crews should not be put in the position of having to play traffic cop. Getting them chewed out because they didn't protect the nets from teams is unfair to them and they don't deserve to be ripped apart by over-exuberant teams who want a souvenir either.

Re: Basketball Traditions at FIRST Events
 

It's a trophy. A part of the actual field of play where you were victorious. Much like when a golfer gets a hole-in-one, they keep the ball and frame it.

Re: Basketball Traditions at FIRST Events
 

When is anything in FIRST ever just 5 minutes (except a timeout). Even taking pictures on the field with the three winning alliances takes about 30-45 minutes, all told.

Also, from the videos I have seen, they are having each player on the team cut a piece out of the net. at a minute per student, that can still take almost an hour per alliance, even for only moderately large teams. I'd rather see each of the six teams that win a Championship qualifying award get their choice of a single new or used game piece, but not part of the field. Get the ball signed by the MC and head Ref, and call it good. That would be a better trophy than a piece of string cut from a net, IMHO.

Re: Basketball Traditions at FIRST Events
 

Most basketball teams drape the cut down net over the trophy in their trophy case. It's part of the trophy for them.

I feel like this is a great basketball tradition which FIRST is ignoring.

Re: Basketball Traditions at FIRST Events
 

Official events can do as FIRST pleases.

I will say that at the end of our offseason event in October, the coaches/captains of the winning alliance will be invited to "cut down" the nets and take them home. Once the nets are in the teams' possession, they can do with them as they please.

I think the confusion comes from the term "cutting the net" - it is not cut into tiny pieces, it is removed from the hoop to be taken home as a trophy. Not an act of vandalism, just a souvenir of a very special achievement.

Edit: What Alan said.

Re: Basketball Traditions at FIRST Events
 

I appreciate your attempt to enlighten me, but it's just confusing me. A golfer doesn't take the hole home. He saves the ball that he provided. He certainly doesn't dig up the green around the hole so that nobody else can use it!

I've done some more research, and it looks like I had the wrong idea about what "cutting the net" actually means. I started out thinking it was all about destruction, but it turns out it's about distributing pieces of it to team members. With that as the emphasis, I can see why people would argue for it.

Re: Basketball Traditions at FIRST Events
 

Like I said in my previous post we are not playing BASKETBALL we are playing REBOUND RUMBLE a FRC game based on basketball. Lets do something different to celebrate.

I love basketball and I play it as often as I can but that doesn't mean that I want to bring it into what I do in FRC.

Re: Basketball Traditions at FIRST Events
 

The point is you keep something from the experience. Every sport has it's own tradition. In golf, you obviously can't keep the green, so you keep the ball.

In hunting, you keep the antlers (or the entire head, or whatever).

Baseball players like to keep their homerun balls.

For whatever reason, the tradition in basketball is to keep the nets.

For those who aren't familiar with the tradition, here are a couple of links on the subject: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_did_the_tradition_of_cutting_down_the_nets_sta rt
http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/84156

Re: Basketball Traditions at FIRST Events
 

Over 50 posts about a $5 net? I don't want to see the discussions about dumping Gatoraid field coaches if we have a football game next year..."But there are children in Africa dying of dehydration and your wasting all that liquid!"

Re: Basketball Traditions at FIRST Events
 

It won't be football! It will be an FRC game based on football so we shouldn't talk about football. :rolleyes:

Re: Basketball Traditions at FIRST Events
 

even timeouts aren't 5, thet're 6! :)

Re: Basketball Traditions at FIRST Events
 

Alan it is confusing to me why anyone would want to learn Kilngon :)

It's not vandalism or to much celebrating it's just a tradition in amature basketball. I don't see the big trouble with it and let's please not argue about $20.00 worth of nets.


Now I can see some validity in the volunteer difficulties.