CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

GREAT JOB TEAMS! You all well deserved this title, and played to your best! To all of the other teams, no matter if it was a matter of ranking, or field issues, you all did great! Everyone was a winner today.

Plus, I get a free shirt out of the win. Thanks! :D

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Yeah congratulations to all three teams, especially 25, a fellow MAR team, and I hope we both meet up next year in nationals(:

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Great job, all!

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Long overdue. Congrats World Champions!

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Congratulations to the 2012 world champs!

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Now the all important question, What's in Shaun's Backpack? :rolleyes:

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Ha! I don't think even a world championship could convince him to reveal that.

It's like the Wu-Tang Secret of FIRST.*

I will never reveal the Shaun's Backpack Secret.

*Extra points to anyone who gets that reference. (I'm looking at you, Billfred.)

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Congrats to every member of this alliance! Special congrats to team 25!

I know you all work tremendously hard for everything you earn.

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Way to go Galileo! Congrats to 180 25 and 16. You guys are amazing competitors.

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

1629 GaCo would like to congratulate 16, 25, and 180. You all played hard on Einstein and earned the victory.

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Shaun did indeed reveal the contents of his backpack, but the webcast cut out as he did so. I have some pictures I'll upload once I get back!

Also, thanks for the congratulations, everyone! I'll write a much longer post later!

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

I have to agree with this ... we need to know what's in his backpack !!

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

He spilled it out on the field after the second finals match. Those of us who were on the floor dome were lucky to be close enough to see ;)

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Much deserved congrats to 16, 25 and 180! You all performed at the top of your game from Galileo QF 1 through Einstein F2. While watching the elims on all the fields unfold, you guys quickly became my favorite to win it all with your consistent performances.

Looking forward to working with and competing against 25 in the future! Way to represent MAR!

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

congrats on winning the world championship! you had the most complete alliance with great scoring and feeding and a (triple balance in your back pocket) and deserved regardless of the field issues winning from both the red and blue alliance side. I'd also like to give a shout out to 25 for representing MAR so well and to the whole alliance for not letting the new balls effect your accuracy because I know that was a big issue for our alliance. It was a lot of fun watching you play and I think I'm still in shock that 16 fell so far in the second round. congrats again:D

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Had a great time competing with you on Galileo, and am very pleased to see you represent us well.

Tremendous job!

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

I could have sworn 16 had won worlds before this...
Oh well, now they have! Congrats to the winning alliance! You truly did amazing this year.

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Congrats!:D :D

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Indeed, none of the robots on Einstein disappointed me!

Seeing the all-Canadian alliance was fantastic as well!

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Congrats! I thought we had a pretty low combined team number when we won champs (294+67+177=538), but putting together 180+16+25=221 is truly impressive! :ahh:

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Congratulations!!!

You guys have perservered to victory and you truely deserve recognition.

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

I followed 25 on Facebook all weekend. I was cheering the whole time! Especially after 1885 from VA got knocked out. I felt invested... probably from all the times 25 destroyed us on the field in the past (I actually stood in the box, utterly impressed a few times over 2010 and 2011 while they were on the field). Good to see they picked one up while I was in FRC as a student.

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Bomb Squad, Spam, and Raider Robotix. I have the utmost respect for you. In the midst of all of this insanity regarding the field issues you have stayed professional. Though I agree that it is unacceptable that FIRST has these issues, I would LOVE to express my contratulations to you for your outstanding performance in the 2012 FRC season. You are remarkable teams and I look forward to seeing you and competeing with you in the future.

CONGRATS!!

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

I debated a bit over the legality of your win, but.....

Congratulations! You guys are the 2012 champions no matter how mug you look at it. I swore that 16 and 180 had already won world champs. I guess I'm right now. :rolleyes:

Go Spamming Raider Squad!

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Congratulations 180, 25 and 16!

You guys were an amazing alliance for being the fourth seed. You could triple, perfect auto and outscore most teams in tele-op. How you managed to get 16 as your third pick I will never know, their defence was fantastic!

Well done on becoming World Champions :D

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Congrats 16,25 and 180 on becoming world champs. I think that this alliance winning shows why rebound rumble is such a good game. It is not just about putting the best shooters together on a team and hoping it works, it is about building the best alliance. And this was the best alliance at champs. I especially like 16's defense and the ability to triple made them even better.

I'm already looking forward to next year.

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

I believe that We did such a great job due to how we scouted. we looked for a good consistant shooter and a ball collector. plus they just happened to be perfect for a triple balance :)

I will be making a photo for the alliance and will post it shortly. GO BOMB CAN ROBOTICS!!!!

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

I was watching from at home and was only able to catch the last four matches on Einstein. When I first saw that this alliance was together it brought a smile to my face. 16 was amazing all year and I have always looked to them as a strong veteran team. My team has been tied to 25 since our teams allied at Palmetto in 2005 and it is always a pleasure for 1251 to bump into them at any event. Over the years I have to come to know the 25 core mentor group pretty well all great people. Now on to SPAM, what can I say about 180, being a fellow Floridan, I know these guys bring it every year. This years robot was no exception as it was flawless from day one and then continued to be improved. Finally, I am continually inspired by their mentors and designs. Congratulations to the entire alliance, no three teams could be more deserving.

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Well done. All of the robots in Einstein were inspirational, especially to such an "adolescent" team such as ours. We have just enough experience to see how much more experience we need to gain. Watching a wining alliance (whose numbers add up to a total sum of 221!) with cumulative decades of experience was highly educational.

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Emma, we all love you for this XDD

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Wow, great job guys. I'm so impressed! Great designs, great drive teams, great strategies, consistency. It was all there. I knew Florida was a killing zone this year. I'm proud of all of you and everyone behind the scenes that helped to make that happen. And I'm super proud of 233 getting that far again also. It's just amazing work from all of you! Congrats!

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Thanks to everyone for the congrats! Everyone did well, and there were no bad robots in any divison, all the competing robots were great!

As far as the whole "legality" of the win issue, this is just people complaining (my opinion). Throughout the entire 2011-2012 season, everyone at one point has had field issues, especially SPAM, we've had about 5-6 field issues where we lost connection to the FMS. One or two matches we lost because of this too! "What happend (with us at least) is the first time at Orlando we had a problem with the coverage of the field's WiFi network around the field. In South Florida, our bridge's FW version was not compatible with their system, and in Einstien we might (I do not know for sure) gone out of the range of the network, or all the spectators with over 68 open WiFi networks that I can see on my phone (I should rent a Fluke WiFi Analyzer and go around the fields next year) that were competing for room on the WiFi spectrum. That is my best guess for us. On the early matches with the problem with the red alliance is a network cable came unplugged somewhere (it was the same DS spot). Things like this happen sometimes, with very little time to fix them they can do only so much." [From one of the other students on 180, who knows this information himself from being on pit crew] Things like this should be assumed that they'll happen, and teams should design their robots with these situations in mind. We ended up changing a few things with our robot during season just to shorten the amount of time it would take to reset our robot.

Either way, we had this problem with our robot and we still won, so I don't see how this would be a "legality" issue. If it was that the lossing team in the finals of Ensiten had this problem, then yes I guess you could then argue that point. Anyways, I will say, as a rookie this year (and please don't reduce me for being a rookie, I know a heck of a lot more than your average rookie does, and I'm a sophomore) I was impressed by every team this year and PINK's alliance made for VERY good competition in the finals. Looking foward to next year!!

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Congratulations 16, 25, and 180!!! You guys were amazing throughout the eliminations and on Einstein.

I will say this about field issues: I don't think it would've mattered. 16 was unstoppable in starving the field, and 25 and 180 were just powering through their shots. I don't think 118 would've been enough for Newton to stop that, and the Finals matches were somewhat clean, so they are your well deserved winners!

Congratulations! Enjoy the nice blue banners, and see you next year at Championships!

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Thanks to everybody for such positive words. We are very proud to have our first world championship in our 17th year.
And a BIG thank you to our alliance partners who recognized our value in the face of much inconsistency on the field. It was an extremely frustrating first few days. We had very few issues through three regionals, and then at world nearly every part of our catapult failed multiple times (motors, gearboxes, programming issues, and a game pad failure). However, it was all a blessing in disguise because it caused 12 other picks to go before us, putting us with the best two key shooters in the division!

And how about some love for the Galileo division?! Nobody gave us a chance to win this thing!

Thanks again. And good luck next year.

Edit: and yes... Twice getting our comms knocked out on the field and sitting idle while the radio rebooted.

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Loved the design of team 16. A small robot that could do everything. The scoring was every fast and concratulation on your win.

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Congratulations to teams 180, 25, and 16!

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

I first encountered FRC 16 in 1996, when my rookie team (now long gone) had its pit directly across from the rookie team from Mountain Home, in that absurdly hot tent in the Epcot parking lot. I recall being impressed by the level of mentor and parent engagement, and in the quality of the robot they built. The judges were clearly impressed, too -- the Baxter Bomb Squad were Chairman's Award Finalists in their first FIRST season. After several more CA Finalist recognitions, the won the CA outright and joined the FIRST Hall of Fame in 2000.

2002 brought the Bomb Squad to the St. Louis Regional, where again I was mentoring a rookie team, 931. That was the first time I met the Novaks, if I recall clearly. 16 seeded first and won the regional. I think that may have been their second regional win (after winning Midwest in 1998?) -- anyway, today they have more regional wins behind them than I can count without looking them up.

For the next several years as a volunteer at the St. Louis Regional, I had the honor of sweeping the Bomb Squad out of the pits on Thursday night -- they were ALWAYS the last team to leave, because they were always working on some kind of improvement, aiming for that elusive perfection. I didn't mind chasing them out, though, because by being at our event they raised the standards of quality and effort, and they found many ways to help other teams and to help the local volunteer corps. When I was the LRI and later the FTA, I encountered many situations where advice and assistance from John Novak proved invaluable. In 2009, John was recognized with the Woodie Flowers Award in Atlanta.

Joining forces with two other great (ok, let's call them powerhouse) teams 25 and 180, the Bomb Squad finally got it all together this year. Three regional wins (all with the help of great scoring teams) and then a switch to ball-control defense in division elimination play -- and finally an inspiring display of field awareness on Einstein. Their robot was where it needed to be , doing what it needed to do, nearly all the time. (Except when it sat there doing nothing -- but that happened to many other great robots, too.)

Now that 16's trophy case includes all three of the big prizes, it is time for the next step. They've been busy mentoring new teams, and now Meredith is working on a new regional down in Arkansas. I'll go out on a limb and predict that will be a great event.

Well done, Team 16. :)

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Congrats! It was great to see a MAR team bring home the gold!

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Congratulations are well in order for three amazing teams. I have to say you were my favorite alliance to watch and seemed like the most cohesive unit on the field, and your use of 16 as a feeder was brilliant. I have never seen ball starvation done as effectively as your alliance did it. Congrats once again 180, 25, and 16.

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

WOO! 16, 25, and 180! Congrats!

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

It saddens me to say that this victory will always be viewed with skepticism. You guys had an amazing alliance and had communication issues yourselves in the finals, but that is how people will always view this years championship and the worst part is that it is FIRST's fault and you guys handled it in the most composed and professional way that you could have which is the mark of a true champion.

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

This may be true, but every team on that field, and everyone watching those matches, knows that the unfortunate events that took place had nothing to do with the winning alliance. The teams on that field are all class acts and I'd like to think respect each other enough to feel happy for one-another.

Big congrats from 3929 to 16, 25, and 180. I do not know 180 much at all but I am sure they are just as great of a team as I have learned 16 and 25 are.

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Congratulations to 180, 25, and 16...you guys had a great strategy and awesome robots.

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Congrats to 16, 25, and 180!

It is sad they these teams/robots will be shadowed with the issues of Einstein 2012.

Congrats again Bomb Squad, Raider Robotix, and S.P.A.M.!

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Congratulations 180, 25, and 16 you guys had phenominal robots, still wondering how you were able to get together!

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Yah, 16 was a steal for a 2nd round pick!

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Me too. :rolleyes:

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Raider S.P.A.M Squad.

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

I think you mean the S.P.A.M Raider Squad. :p

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Congrats 180, 25, and 16! I may have done a metaphorical facepalm when that powerful #4 alliance was created, because the other 7 alliances in what many considered the weakest division allowed 3 amazing Einstein caliber teams to pair with one another. Although I missed the Galileo finals to watch Archimedes, from what I hear they were some amazing matches including a 73-74 loss by the eventual winners. Congrats, Galileo!

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

We were very inconsistent throughout the qual matches. I can't praise 180 and 25 enough for seeing through those issues to our potential as an alliance partner.

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Congrats to our 2012 FRC champions! Even though Galileo was supposedly the weakest of all of the divisions, you guys showed how if 3 of the best 5 or so teams in a division somehow work their way onto an alliance (I still don't know how that was possible and was dropping my jaw every pick after team 25 that 16 wasn't selected...), anything can happen.

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Congratulations! It was a pleasure to watch your robots work.

I'm looking forward to seeing 16 again at Cowtown Throwdown in the fall.

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Definitely a huge congrats to this powerhouse alliance (literally). You were a sight to behold on Einstein, and my god, 16 has to the best ball feeder of the entire season.

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

It is really cool that Bomb Squad finally has a championship under their belt. It is basically hilarious that they managed to sneak onto an alliance as a second pick. They have always seemed like consummate champions ever since I got involved with FIRST in 2009.

Congratulations to the entire stacked alliance of 180, 25, 16!

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Congratulations to the winning alliance! :D

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

I'm so happy for all three teams. I haven't had much interaction with 16, but I've come to respect them and their reputation. I've interacted a lot with SPAM in the past during 103's time in Orlando and I know what a solid team they really are, on the field and off of it. 25, I consider to be the team that I'm the closest to out of all the teams in FIRST. We always work closely together and every single weekend during the build season, 25 and 103 were working together. I'm even lucky enough to be dating their head scout :D . I'm happy to see these three teams do so well. Great job!

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Congratulations to teams 180, 25 and 16. You guys were a great alliance. Congratulations to all of the other awesome teams that made it to Einstein as well. And to all of the contestants and fans, please don't dwell on the distracting field issues...just celebrate what is and not dwell on what may have been. We will never know what might have happened had the field been more reliable but we do know that the competition is over and life goes on. Focus you energies on encouraging FIRST to get to the bottom of the technical issues that have been around all season but happened to get spotlighted the other day and continue to take advantage of all the opportunities associated with your involvement in FIRST.

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

On behalf of Team 987, I would like to congratulate Teams 180, 25, and 16 on their 2012 World Championship victory. We had a great time playing against you guys in the Einstein Finals. I am still amazed that the Bomb Squad ("FRC Top 25" Pre-Championship #7 ranked robot in the world) was a second pick. Hang your banners with pride and we'll see you next season (or at IRI).

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Congratulations to all 3 teams on winning the championship! It was our team's pleasure to compete with you all on the Galileo field this past weekend.
Team 180: Great job in earning your top spot as alliance captain. Your team's dedication to quality shows in all aspects of your team and robot!

Team 25: Your deadly accurate shooter was one of the most reliable in the whole field and you showed it during the finals. Great Job!

Team 16: Great Team/Robot and a class act both on and off the field! We saw this first hand in winning the GKC regional with you this year. Nice job guys you made the Ozarks proud!

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

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

What Libby K said - they helped start FRC 1882 Team Rebel Robotics and the reason I am still a FIRST coach now for the Girl Scouts of the Jersey Shore. They will give the "Shirts of their Backs!" I am a proud wearer of one of their original Hawaiian shirts! Thanks for the inspiration and continued support over the years. I know you guys are the go to team when I try to expand up to the FRC level again! Congratulations !

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Thanks all for the wonderful sentiments. I feel that getting allied with SPAM and Bomb Squad was serendipity and we were blessed.

This was a really rough year for us. We had a lack of everything- money, materials, tools- time. You name it. Fortunately Cybersonics was there to help us along and together our two teams built our machines side by side.

At our initial event in Orlando we simply weren't ready. Got our butts kicked. But the team rallied and we used every minute of our Bag and Tag time to fix the problems and improve. After learning from SPAM's flashlight of death we decided on a beacon of our own to line up and it made all the difference.

To end up as partners with SPAM for the Championship and also link up with our perennial pit neighbors BBS was great. We have highest regard for both teams and hope to play together again down the road.

And I will be forever indebted to these teams for helping us earn the Galileo banner. Getting that one was a goal we have had for a very long time. Now I can retire.

While I am on here I also want to give a shout-out to 341 Miss Daisy for being our partners at the MAR Championship. We really expected to be seeing them in the final 4 last weekend- their machine is truly spectacular.

Eventually all this controversy about comms, storms and robots will be sorted out by FIRST and next year the games should be better. Heck- with the end of the world happening outside the arena during the finals, for a time there I thought we weren't leaving that place in one piece.

And like Woodie told us in his talk, all the bad stuff we anguished over will be replaced by the memories of the achievements and good time we had this year. My team is graduating yet another class of great kids who will go into the world capable and focused. And after a decade and a half of FIRST robotics those memories are as treasured as any trophies.

WC :cool:

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

congratulations 16,25,and 180 you guys really did deserve the win and i really enjoyed being on one of the only alliances that got to play a third and very exciting match against you guys. also thanks 180 for lending 1918 a hand when their robot was having some issues

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Wow, I just realized that this is only Bomb Squad's first championship! For whatever reason, I thought they already did!

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

It's now a few days later and I can finally see straight again, what a season this turned out to be.

180- Thank you, not only for picking us first round at champs but you were the reason why we placed a light on our robot for aiming at the goal. Because of the light we went from a 40% shooter from the key, to 85%. Sometimes the simplest ideas work the best.

16- Wow what a steal for a second round pick. Without a question your the reason why our alliance won. You made 2 above average shooters look like super studs. We had so many balls on our side of the field all we had to do is drive back 5 feet and we would be fully loaded, ready to shoot again.

Bryce and Brandon- It has been a long long time since I had an alliance where all 3 coaches were completely on the same page. When mistakes were made, we fixed them. We had game plans ready for dead robots, which happened to us. It all just worked. I can't wait for the day to be behind the glass with you 2 again.

103- We can't thank you enough for everything you did for our team. I hope I can return the favor one day.

Re: CONGRATULATIONS 16, 25, and 180!
 

Thank you all for the kind words. Thank you to 180 and 25 for picking us. We had great hopes coming into St. Louis after a very successful regional season, but were plagued by gremlins and odd failures to the point of discouragement.

Though we never really got to show off the improvements we had made for the Championship, our drive train suffered none at all from the abuse it took and our drive team lived up to their reputation under pressure.

The combined 48 years of team experience on our alliance proved invaluable. I have stayed out of any discussion regarding all the issues on Einstein, but have total faith that our alliance could have come out on top regardless. For all the nastiness on the field and since (some of it very painful), absolutely none of it has come from the 12 teams who were actually affected by the situation and I take great comfort from the wonderful attitude of all our worthy opponents.