Re: FRC Blogged-Something New--Early Release of Event Dates
 

Chris did not say this at all.

The Idaho/Montana/etc teams would feel the same way if they heard similar rumors about the Mid-Atlantic and New England districts.

Re: FRC Blogged-Something New--Early Release of Event Dates
 

We have had a great time playing with the PNW teams over the last 6 years and look forward to the opportunity to do it again soon.

Of the teams in the mountain west - those close to Boise don't seem to be as challenged by the district boundary rules as 2130 and 4334. Personally think that it should be possible to develop and publish a hardship criteria based on travel distance/cost (in the short term) that would allow teams to compete within a district that are outside of the boundary.

For now, it looks likely we will be revisiting friends in California or making new ones in Nevada or Colorado.

Re: FRC Blogged-Something New--Early Release of Event Dates
 

Precisely why I originally questioned the term "opt-in". I simply couldn't imagine it being so.
Really, it comes down to the volunteer base. IF folks want to get the "district advantage"* they have to work for it. Win friends and influence people and all that.

* Just 2 years ago districts were seen as an awful horrible fate to be avoided at all costs. Now see where we are...

Re: FRC Blogged-Something New--Early Release of Event Dates
 

I'm not critical of Saturday-Sunday events as a whole... just surprised that there are only two Friday-Saturday districts in New England. The Saturday-Monday does seem odd; however, I highly doubt it's a typo... that is within the realm of possibility for sure though.

My comment on the webcast viewership had little to do with there being Saturday-Sunday events... having the elims nationwide spread out over two days is actually kind of nice. I more meant the fact that - at least in New England - we now have Thursday-Friday and Sunday-Monday events! It seems to me that having three or four different days that elims are on starts getting too spread out...

Re: FRC Blogged-Something New--Early Release of Event Dates
 

On the other hand... what about the ability to get both of your districts in on the same weekend, if there's a Thursday-Friday and a Sunday-Monday both within range of you? Or is that just too much?

Re: FRC Blogged-Something New--Early Release of Event Dates
 

It looks like Sunday-Monday was a typo. Those 2 district events have been changed to be Saturday-Sunday events. I think 2 districts in a weekend might be a little much but I'd give it a shot though!

Re: FRC Blogged-Something New--Early Release of Event Dates
 

I'm sure it could be done, but it would be exhausting for the team. The biggest problem with this is earning points towards your district championship. There are lots of lessons learned from your first event that can be applied towards improving your on field performance. Forsaking the 8 hour unbagged window at your shop as well as any fill-in practice you get at your second event could leave you at a severe disadvantage points wise if your performance at the first event was average.

Re: FRC Blogged-Something New--Early Release of Event Dates
 

Looks like either there were a bunch of typos with the New England District events or several of the dates changed... Now there are no Sunday-Monday districts. There are only three Saturday-Sunday districts (the three in CT), while there are now two Thursday-Friday districts (UNH Durham and WPI).

This definitely opens things up a fair bit for our team... WPI or Northeastern are big possibilities.

Yeah, it does seem like losing the 8 hours of unbagged time between your two districts would be a huge loss, along with any practice time. Additionally, just running into the second event without the first would cut out really almost any time to sit back and reflect on it.

I suppose it's feasible, but it definitely seems like it'd come at some costs... not the least of which being how tired you'd be on Monday morning! :-)

Re: FRC Blogged-Something New--Early Release of Event Dates
 

I'm really liking how theres now 7 (i think) regionals within a not completely stupid driving distance for me.

North Bay: 238km, 2:29 travel time
Oshawa: 70km, 1:04 travel time
Mississauga: 130km, 1:32 travel time
Waterloo: 201km, 2:11 travel time
Montreal: 556km, 5:37 travel time
Windsor: 455km, 4:30 travel time
Rochester: 383km, 3:50 travel time.

Cleveland clocks in around the same as Montreal, and Pittsburgh is 6:01 travel time, too.

Re: FRC Blogged-Something New--Early Release of Event Dates
 

So after looking at the schedule a dozen times, it just clicked in my brain that the Peachtree regional has moved from the Gwinnett Center in Duluth to the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. Also the new home of GRITS. Next stop, the Georgia Dome baby.

Re: FRC Blogged-Something New--Early Release of Event Dates
 

Concerning the teams in ID joining the PNW district from what I understand ID was originally intended to be part of the PNW district. However it didn't make sense for the southern ID teams to join and the northern ID teams were asked if they wanted to be part of the district some time ago. I guess that there were not enough of them that said they wanted to join or FIRST wanted to stick to state boundaries for districts.

I am quite sad that we won't be seeing some of our friends from ID or MT unless it is at CMP.

Re: FRC Blogged-Something New--Early Release of Event Dates
 

MAR didn't stick to state boundaries in Pennsylvania.

Re: FRC Blogged-Something New--Early Release of Event Dates
 

Correct but MAR was another pilot district while the NE and PNW districts are part of the official roll out of districts that will eventually go nationwide. Note just like FiM, MAR was allowed to set their own system of advancing to the district CMP and world CMP while the current word from FIRST is that all districts will use a common points and advancement system for the 2014 season. Part of the reason for the common system is of course due to the fact that many people want interdistrict play and the other reason is because FIRST wants to ensure the mix of teams (on field vs off field performance veterans vs rookies) advancing to world CMP is similar to the mix of teams that advanced from traditional regionals to CMP.

Or it could be as I also postulated that not enough of the N ID teams wanted to become part of the PNW district. The S ID teams did not traditionally play frequently at the regionals that the PNW district is replacing while N ID teams did. I know from some of the N ID team mentors that I talked to after they had been given the option during early discussions they had mixed feelings about joining the district. It also just could be due to the projected growth of teams in WA and OR. We are shooting for about 125-130 teams for WA alone this year. The OR legislature just approved multi-year funding for FRC team grants similar to what we have had in WA for a few years now, so their growth rate could increase dramatically in the coming years.

Re: FRC Blogged-Something New--Early Release of Event Dates
 

Noticed that the name of the regional has been changed to "Central Illinois Regional". (http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr...egional-events)

Still no date or location listed.

Re: FRC Blogged-Something New--Early Release of Event Dates
 

I'm assuming that Preliminary means they haven't set the date, right?