Re: 301 points! and could have done more
 

Its been fun to follow who joins the 300+/no penalties club. If these circumstances are accurate, I would hesitate to add it to the list. Kansas City Qual. 49 and Waterloo Semi 2 were genuine competative matches, this appears to be more of a mutual exhibition. We were part of a 370/no penalties practice match in KC, but not being a genuine competative match it obviously doesn't count. You can argue the ethics of playing a match with a wink and a handshake, but as far the scoring records go, it certainly deserves an asterisk*.

Re: 301 points! and could have done more
 

FIRST very well could have told an event sponsor they were not allowed to make that offer, for fear of hurting the integrity of the game (if that is their view).

Re: 301 points! and could have done more
 

That's probably a matter for the FIRST board of directors to discuss...since the fellow who made the offer is on the board.

Re: 301 points! and could have done more
 

While this is enjoyable to watch, and might be a viable strategy to win a game, i would have completely understood those claims if the 500$ bonus wasn't a part of it.
If that 500$ being a motivation for a team to chose a certain strategy over another, in my opinion not only is it wrong - but also is a dangerous, slippery slope.
Teams are supposed to chose their strategy for a given match based on scouting data and professional considerations, not on a basis of a possible award, especially if it's a financial one.

Re: 301 points! and could have done more
 

As a dad of Team 2403 I have to weigh in on this conversation. Being the 3rd pick on the 1st seed alliance was simply amazing to me. We weren’t good enough to lead an alliance, nor good enough to be picked on any of the other alliances, but we did have enough skills to nicely compliment the best 2 robots in the competition. I agree that the score of this match can’t fairly be compared to the scores of other matches played with defense. I don’t understand why that is important except for bragging rights. So who out there has the highest score in a match?
But I totally disagree with the other sports comparisons and here is why: football, basketball, soccer, tennis, etc. all have ONE game piece and your opponent is really the only thing keeping you from scoring infinitely. In aerial assist, each team has a game piece, and much of the challenge of the game remains in the shooting and passing and ball handling, but most importantly both alliances can play offense AT THE SAME TIME, since they each have a ball. So this became more of a relay race. I thought it was awesome and should be encouraged, and given the point value in the rules for ball passing this seems to be more in the spirit of what the gamemakers envisioned for this game, but maybe that’s just me. The second assist is worth 20 points, which is twice as big as any other scoring event on the field.
In many of the other matches, it happened that a ‘bot was lined up to take a shot only to be bumped at just the right moment to miss the shot and then the robots have to go scrambling to pick up the loose game piece; that was heart-wrenching and difficult to watch. Basketball doesn’t allow that kind of fouling, but the rules allow it here. I personally think the game would be much better without that kind of defense.
Also, this was a fascinating match that really helps answer the question of how many points are really achievable in a 2:15 game. Could we have executed everything flawlessly and a little faster and gotten 360 points? That would be amazingly fun to try. Also, the blue alliance put 180 points on the board and everyone was cheering for them to reach 200! It was awesome!

Re: 301 points! and could have done more
 

I for one would LOVE to read your write-up of what "went down". I can't say that it will change anyone's mind, but this sport is much more fascinating the more you know about what really goes into each match.

Re: 301 points! and could have done more
 

In an amatuer sport or competition, if the offer of a monetary reward causes you to play any differently than you otherwise would, then that is wrong. It is that simple. Any other details of the story are just rationalizations.

Re: 301 points! and could have done more
 

We did not do it for the money, we did it for the challenge....

Re: 301 points! and could have done more
 

You're contradicting yourself.

Bolded for emphasis.

Re: 301 points! and could have done more
 

...

Re: 301 points! and could have done more
 

Do you think that all teams involved would have agreed to attempt this "challenge" if there were no monetary incentives attached to completing it?

Re: 301 points! and could have done more
 

What daring! What outrageousness! What insolence! What arrogance!... I salute you. (Quote from ???)

Well maybe not those things specifically... but I like the attitude of thinking outside the box...making the game something special for you and your event.
Let's have fun with the game and accept a challenge

I don't think it matters why it was done....
It is our game...

I do salute you

Re: 301 points! and could have done more
 

We have had teams in Arizona do stuff like this in the past, just for the fun of it. So the answer is yes.

The level of friendship between the Arizona teams is astounding. I've seen some sore losers in other states, but never in my three years at the Chandler event.

Re: 301 points! and could have done more
 

That is true if the offer is secret, or to limited participants, but in this case it was very publically announced at the beginning of the competition, and became part of the ground rules. Now perhaps since this regional competition is also part of a national competition, that might be a problem. That’s an issue for the people in charge.
I can’t speak for Mr. Sanghi, but I’m sure the challenge was issued to elevate the game play, and I’m sure he wasn’t intending that a no-defense strategy would be necessary to meet the challenge, and still it wasn’t met.

Re: 301 points! and could have done more
 

Iin AZ there is a tax credit system in place for donors. If you donate 200 if single and 400 if married ,you get the amount back dollar for dollar. For many in AZ 500 dollars is not that big an incentive. I can't speak for anyone else but we raise over 10 thousand a year in tax credits. Money is never an incentive for us to throw our morals out of the way. We were doing it for the challenge. We always try to take on the challenge Steve Sanghi puts out to us each year. Maybe he should not offer any money based on how everyone is out of sorts or maybe he should donate the money to a charity so that everyone could relax. There was no big conspiracy or underhandedness. It was just a challenge. A public challenge, everyone one in attendance knew it. He never told anyone to not play defense, that was a decision that both alliances came to on their own. Maybe it would have been better if the challenge were different like giving both alliances $500 if all balls were scored in autonomous. Thant way no one would have to give up anything. That was more along the lines of the type of challenge he has done before. Maybe that is why no one thought any different for this challenge?