Re: Silicon Valley Regional 2014
 

We all were too. It hurt to see such a classy team be eliminated by such a ridiculous decision.

Re: Silicon Valley Regional 2014
 

That's the classiest action I've ever heard of.

Disappointing exit for an amazing team.

Re: Silicon Valley Regional 2014
 

I personally spoke to Mark about it before the second match and he told me that he called Frank at hq and Frank said based on the situation what decision should be made. I don't know who made the final call but the decision that was made was in line with FIRST hq. Although I may not agree with it, this is how the process was explained to me.

Re: Silicon Valley Regional 2014
 

I don't know if classy is the right word ;).... but we love our buddies on 1323.

We were shocked to watch this, and can't imagine having a season ended like that.

1323 is an aggressive and passionate team that has improved annually, I'm sure they will channel this into a great 2015 season.

Re: Silicon Valley Regional 2014
 

How would you know he is not reasonable or intelligent? Have you been mentored by him for 7 years like me? Has he dropped you off at home because you were stranded after robotics at 11 pm.? Have you won volunteer of the year for FTC? Do you know how much he hated having to make that call?

Mark is the most logical person I know (I know a lot of people) and he was bound by making the correct decision. He explained to me that he doesn't like making tough calls and knows what they mean. He may not make every correct call but I'd like to see you do a better job. I don't agree with the call, but you should realize that you are writing about a hardworking human being, and jumping to conclusions on the basis of being upset.

Re: Silicon Valley Regional 2014
 

Spoken for truth. Mark is a great ref, and I know personally that he doesn't like to make calls like this, but he is one of the few refs (especially this year) that listens to you when you're in that question box and he'll always explain calls when you ask. Aside from that, he's a great FTC and FRC mentor, and he was well-deserving of the Woodie Flower's award he won at Sac last year. The work that him and Jill have done with Playing at Learning is tremendous and I can't wait to see all the wonderful things that they'll do in the offseason.

Re: Silicon Valley Regional 2014
 

I don't normally post a lot on here, but having read this thread I want to say a couple of things.

Firstly, as Sean said above, Mark is an outstanding member of the FRC community. He has always stood out as a positive role model to our team and others. He has strived to follow gracious professionalism outside the field. Belittling him as a person because of a call where no one currently knows for certain what happened behind the scenes is offensive both to him and to the ideals of FIRST as a whole. We've always turned to him in the past as a great mentor, and the work that he's done for the FIRST community can not be understated.

Secondly, although I was disappointed to see 1323 no longer playing, my understanding was he went to the pits after words and double checked, in addition to all that's been said above. Regardless, in consideration of the fact that no one here really knows what went on behind the scenes, no one has any right to belittle him personally over a call like this. We don't know who made the final decision, nor anything else about this situation.

Mark has always been both a positive role model to members of our team in and out of FRC. No one has the right to belittle his character over a call, especially when no one knows the full details.

Re: Silicon Valley Regional 2014
 

I do not want to get crazy involved but what I can say is that Mark did ask 1323 to double check on the whole situation and RC (1323's Lead Mentor) said "No, We are in". I was talking to RC when Mark approached and asked. I believe at that time, RC, and the whole 1323 team was still unaware of the flop in cards given to the Ref as was almost everyone in the pits. There was no announcement in the pits what so ever.
Just wanted to clear that part up as I was 2 feet away from that conversation.

Re: Silicon Valley Regional 2014
 

Just to be clear, if the teams in question were not aware of the flop in the cards, then why would the response be "No, we are in?" That specific phrase seems contradictory with the original lack of knowledge of the card flop. I believe that the current lack of understanding about what actually happened means that no one should be coming to any concrete opinions on it just yet.

Re: Silicon Valley Regional 2014
 

Just one last point on that topic. The question asked was. "Are you out?"
And I could tell he was kinda confused on what was being asked but I believe that would be anybody's response if asked that same question. And Im not putting the guy down. Ive talked to him a few times over the years and he seems like a really cool guy. I dont want to bash on anybody. Just would like to clear that conversation up as I was present. This is to hopefully avoid any false rumors.

Re: Silicon Valley Regional 2014
 

Today, I saw one of the best teams in FIRST crying in their pit when they were forced to sit out of their last match of the 2014 season.

I don't know what else to say... :(

-Mike

Re: Silicon Valley Regional 2014
 

"Inspiring" definitely isn't the first word you think of.

Re: Silicon Valley Regional 2014
 

While I don't think there is any place for calling this person unintelligent, I can see why several people would say it is unreasonable. To me, this is not really a tough decision to make. A team made a simple mistake, it seems (still waiting for a full story), and the sub-in issue could have been avoided. Doesn't really seem like a tough call to make. +0.02

Re: Silicon Valley Regional 2014
 

Yeah, I understand what you're saying and agree it should've been fixed. I was referring to Adam calling Mark unreasonable, not the call.

Re: Silicon Valley Regional 2014
 

This is the version of events as I understand it too. I also know Manchester was involved, and I believe Frank was the one that made the final call.

While I like Mark personally, and believe he has generally done an excellent job as a referee, I agree with Akash. This should have not been a hard call to make. Giving the field crew the wrong card was an honest mistake, and the field crew was told that 1323 wanted to remain in. Why were they not allowed to correct an honest heat of the moment mistake? If the backup robot card was really "irrevocable," why did the field crew insist that 1323 be subbed out, despite the fact that they as the alliance captain wanted something else? Given that the entire red alliance wanted 1323 to remain in, why was this even an issue?

1323, along with the entire alliance, deserves an apology.