Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Could not have happened to kinder people. Thank you for being an inspiration on and, more importantly, off the field for all teams.

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Congratulations to the Galileo and Einstein Champions, 180, 25, and 16. You were the 3 highest ranked teams on our pre-event scouting, and we expected a tough fight. Now I don't feel quite so bad about losing to you in 3 matches in the QF's with 1718 and 2337!

We stayed at the same hotel as Team 25, and they are as gracious and well mannered outside the venue as they are inside (as are 180 and 16, I'm sure).

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

A truly excellent alliance won this weekend. After alliance selections, we viewed that #4 Alliance as extremely formidable. I'll say that I have very few memories behind the glass that were as exciting or purely as much fun as the three quarter finals matches against SPAM, Raider Robotix, and Bomb Squad on Saturday.

It took us an incredible amount of strategy and pure execution to be able to win our second match against that an alliance, and I see it as unfortunate that mechanical troubles forced our last match to be lost by such a wide margin. Still, I feel no regret losing in such a hotly-contested round to the new world champions. I would personally like to thank our fellow Michiganders 1718 and 1918 for asking us to join their alliance and keeping us perfect for appearances in the eliminations at our four Championships, and for playing hard for the win against the eventual Champions.

Congratulations to all three teams: Bomb Squad on winning the world championship that so many of us believed you were due, SPAM for finding, once again, and surpassing a similar level of success to what you have enjoyed in the past, and Raider Robotix for continuing your record of excellence and for winning your second World Championship.

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

I remember selecting Bomb Squad back in 2004 for the St. Louis eliminations with 967. They were just as great of folks to work with then as I am sure they are now!

Congratulations to all three teams!

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Congratulations to our 2012 Einstein Champions!

Way to go teams 180/25/16!

Recognition to all the division winners. You earned your trips to Einstein by winning extremely tough matches. Kudos to all of you!

Thanks to FIRST for a great 2012 season.

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Since this is my first year as a mentor for FIRST I am always in awe of the true powerhouse teams, and your alliance was nothing short of amazing. It gives our entire team something to shoot for in upcomming years. Great job.

Our team used the finals as an excuse to get together for a party and watched the finals together. We learned a lot and know the bar is set fairly high for next year. I only wish we had an HD feed to see more detail of the robots in action.

Great work, and sincere congraduations.

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Last year SPAM ended its year with a finalist award at the Florida Regional, and a win at the Palmetto Regional. Not being picked to compete in the elimination matches on Curie last year was a hard hit to end a year with what we thought was an exceptional robot. Before 2011, SPAM had not won a regional since 2006. I feel last year resparked SPAM's fire of competitiveness. After a great 2011 season for SPAM, I knew no one wanted our spree to end in 2012.

This year was an amazing follow up. A finalist award in the gruelling Orlando regional. We were the captain of of the inaugural South Florida Regional winning alliance. St Louis was once again in our grasp.

We went into St. Louis being placed into the Galileo division, which was considered by many to the weakest division this year. On threads, there was only a few posters who felt we had what it took to be an Einstein competitor. The events of last year haunted the entire team. Were we once again going to fall short of eliminations, and not even be given a chance to compete for the FIRST Championship? We competed with all of our hearts, and well the rest is history.

I would now like to give my thoughts of some the other teams that you all saw "compete" on the Einstein Field.

Team 25: You guys were amazing. Seeing you come full circle from a team with technical issues in Orlando, to one of the fiercest competitors in our division, was nothing short but inspirational.

Team 16: Before competing with you, Bomb Squad was only a name I heard in stories around the pit. You guys proved how having a killer robot is only one part of the Einstein Equation. Experience is also vital to victory. Lucky for us, you guys had both.

Team 548: Your team blew not only my mind, but all of the other SPAMies who were hear watching the Michigan championships. We could only compare your robot to a mighty rebound rumbling dragon. You guys truly had a terrifying robot, and I say that with the utmost respect.

Team 118: I had the pleasure of watching you guys compete two years ago at the Florida Regional for breakaway. Since then, you guys have been on my watch list, and after seeing your unveiling video for this year, I knew you guys would bring it to any field you got connected to (please don't take that statement in any way other than the fact that I have tons of respect for you and your robot). My biggest regret was not being able to fully compete against your killer alliance.

Teams 2056, and 1114: Oh man. Where should I begin. First of all, being from Florida, I have only heard legends of what a mighty force that Canadian teams bring to any FIRST event. An entire Canadian alliance honestly instilled a feeling of fear inside me. 2056 is an unstoppable team that has never lost a regional. 1114 is the newest Hall of Fame Inductee, and has only lost 6 out of the many regionals that they have participated in during their 8 years of being team (sorry if I failed at counting). You guys were truly amazing to watch compete throughout the weekend.

Team 233: Pink, Pink, Pink... You guys are easily the most formidable team from Florida. Every year, you guys leave any regional you attend speechless with the "Pink Effect." For the last two years in a row, you have been the biggest hurtle in our advancing from the Florida Regional. But this is not a bad thing. Competing against you guys shows us how a great team plays the current game, and leaves us wanting to improve. It was only right that we were on opposite sides of the field on Einstein.

Being the operator for this amazing team called SPAM for the last two years has been a life changing experience. This has put me in a position to meet some of the most amazing people in the FIRST community. Making it to Einstein gave me hope. Hope that we then had a shot to be seen as a well known team, much like how I see the teams listed above. I have included links to each of their FIRST accomplishments page. I didn't feel it fair to list all of SPAM's accomplishments without showing theirs.

Now to get to the point. I will not be sharing my feelings of what happened on Einstein. I am afraid to post anything about our win because anything I say, will leave a sour taste in someone's mouth. The last thing I am looking to do is start trouble. This is not what I wanted for SPAM when I started this season with a personal mission to continue on past our last save point at St. Louis. I hope I speak for many when I personally ask for an entire community based off of Gracious Professionalism to move on. This was an eye opener for FIRST, and I am sure they have been working their butts of since Saturday to get to the bottom of this. Of course nothing short of a time machine would be able to truly solve what transpired over the weekend. I now have a new goal. However little time it might be due to the next four years of college, I will continue to support SPAM with my free time so that they may win another World Title, one where there is no question in a single persons mind that they were THE single team that most deserved that title.

Congrats and thanks to all of the mentors of Team 180. You have all been working hard since your last vision of Einstein in 2002.

Also congrats and thanks to teams 25, 16, 233, 987, 207, 548, 118, 2194, 2056, 1114, 4334 - every other Jr. FLL/FLL/FTC/FRC team - And every single volunteer. You all helped to make this my favorite year. EVER. I can't say that I ever want to forget these last 4 months of my life.

Sincerely Thankful, Ralph Rivera ~ Team Captain for FRC Team 180 SPAM. 2012 World Champions.

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

No asterisks, no "but"s, no nothing: These guys kicked butt. (Heck, SPAM was even broken for a big chunk of Finals 2. Win anyway, as we say around here.)

I'm thrilled for my friends on these great teams, that SPAM got its 11-year-old Einstein monkey off its back, and that the Bomb Squad could join the even-more-rarified group of WFA/Champions/HoF triple-crown winners (now comprised of 16, 51, 67, 111, and 365 if memory serves me right). Congrats again to all of them!

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

This was a great game this year. The winning alliance were teams with 15, 16, and 17 years in FIRST.
The universe conspired and after all is said and one, the result was inspiring.

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Don't forget to now include 1114 in that triple-crown.

And Congratulations for the entire Winning Alliance. You guys were all great, and all of these threads show the reason I am in FIRST, which is to help other people, and not place blame or complain if problems happen. Even though there were problems, we can guarantee that they will be fixed next year, because FIRST will not let this happen again.

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

You guys are AMAZING!!! Congrats, I am so glad that Florida powerhouse teams went to Einstein. I would also like to congratulate all of the other great teams that made it to Einstein! Those were some of the most memorable moments of my life. I cant wait to see the success these teams are going to do!

This is my last year on my robotics team, we went out with a bang and definitely will remember all of the great things that came out of FIRST.

FIRST has definitely changed my life. I could go into that story but I know no one wants to hear it. LOL

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Great post, and congratulations. You were great at Orlando, and were great at Championships. I think this thing on Einstein will be a learning experience for all, and I am very confident that this type of problems will not happen in the future.

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

I remember seeing the lineup of the 4th seeded alliance on Galileo and being totally shocked. There's always the "How the heck did these guys get together" alliance at champs, and this one was it. I might not agree on the way the matches played out, but I agree with the fact that the Galileo alliance packed some massive firepower and easily would have won even without the field issues.

Congrats to 180, 25, and 16 for winning. I'm especially happy that our friends from the Midwest, The Bomb Squad, finally got their first win after more than 16 years of hard work and great attitudes. 16's always friendly, always willing to lend other teams a helping hand. I'm not as familiar with Raider and SPAM, but I met Shaun of 25 this weekend and we had a brief chat, which left me feeling like Raider was a pretty cool bunch. I'm sure 180 is no different.

Great job guys.

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Congratulations 180, 25, and 16. You guys performed really well. :)

25 is the only reason 'my rookie' 1923 survived back in their early days. We will always appreciate their support.

Mama Novak from 16 has always been a mentor to me- seeing her excited and happy to the point of tears, absolutely made my day.

I applaud your alliance -and all the Einstein alliances, for being as professional as you were during the semis and finals. Please, please don't let anyone drag your win through the mud. You guys are awesome.

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Congratulations to all of you for winning the 2012 CMP!
Regardless of the issues that occurred on the Einstein field, your alliance proved that with teamwork and a great strategy, you could be highly successful.

Bomb Squad was for sure the best defense (ball collector) of the 12 teams (207 was great also). With a steady and consistent dose of 1-2 shooters, you folks proved you could play with the best.

After hearing how bad things were from the beginning of qualification matches Thursday from Wayne and Bob, I'm sure its all in the past now.:p