I wish I had my own country :-(

OK folks, after some exhaustive investigative work, I am willing to bet that the location is Huston. Don't ask me how I figured this out; I can't say.

Idaho ?
 

Raul,
You must be exhausted, why would FIRST locate the National Championships in Huston, Idaho?

I think you start looking around again.....

Or, did you mean Houston as in Texas? That would be a more probable location....

I guess I better cancel my flight to Huston. :-) Houston it is.

Yeah, I have a problem with typing fast when I am in a hurry to go get some lunch.

Raul's words are usually good enough, even if its in the Rumor Mill ;). I guess Houston it is. Besides, after 1 hoax about this, no one would dare pulling a second hoax.

Wonder how many teams won't be going because of this.

Less than 2 week, people... Less than 2 weeks.

By the way, I think FIRST is keeping all these secret because they are finalizing the deal with the venue, and any sort of leak about this to the media might affect the negotiation in a negative way. So, let's just keep this in the rumor mill for now.

Whatever starts in the Rumor Mill stays in the Rumor Mill.

Well Raul, or whoever has been to Houston, what is there to do there? I mean, where would (at what place) would they be held? I mean, there arn't a lot of places that can take all those ppl. Also, what 'fun' things can you do there. And, Raul, i know that you said that you can't say how you found out, but could you mabey hint?

Also, if we could figure out at what place the Nats. would be held, they may have a list of all events at that place on their website, and they might have put up that FIRST will be held there.

I guess last year was my last Nationals....

I was just snooping around at possible locations. While looking around Houston, I found this photo, and my reaction was "Oh!, the endless possibilities!" with a place like this.

It depends on how many teams they limit nationals to this year.

Last year my old team (an odd-numbered team) got into nationals because there were some spots left after the qualifying teams had ample time to register. They then left the remaining spots open to all teams to take, so our leader grabbed it right away.

Counting the amount of money it costs to travel farther than Houston rather than Disney, I'd rather have someone else go than me, someone more important.

WOW!
 

WOW WEEDIE, THATS SOME PHOTO:rolleyes:

i'm from houston and the reliant domain (astrodome, astroarena, reliant stadium, etc.) which is the most likely place it will be is right across the freeway from Astroworld and Waterworld with a bridge from the complex's parking lot over the freeway. about 10-15 min from the galleria, 60-90 min from the beach, 45 min from spashtown, less then an hour from 2 airports and since houston is not a major tourist hub, there are reasonible prices (for the most part)

I just did a search on Travelocity. The cheapest roundtrip flight from Richmond to Orlando at around the right time was 207. The cheapest to Houston was 277. I'd think that extra 70 would be offset by the cheaper hotel rates you're bound to get in Houston. Plus, while airfare might be a little more expensive for the Eastern teams, it will be that much cheaper for the Western teams.

thanks weedie, but that isn't a real pic, but at least it shows me the large ammout of space. I personally think that moving the nats. more west would help the west teams in flight costs which would be a good chagne(like Kevin said). As for $70 more, that really isn't a big deal for most teams.

Thanks TomA for telling me what is around Houston. I really didn't know and i'm gald now that i know that are things to do. The hour drive to the airport is a little more than it was in orlando, but i don't think it is that much longer.

I hope they announce soon! i can't wait!

That 70 dollars will probably be saved since your not paying "Disney Inflation" to eat, stay at hotels, or buying souvineers..

and

Yes there is a lot to do in Houston, but my question is: does it really take an hour to get to the airport??? I was in Houston back in the summer of '99 and it took us about 35 to 45 minutes to get from our hotel (a few blocks from the astrodome) to the airport....

If it only takes 30-45 min to get to the airport, then heck, thats pretty much the same as disney. And yes, i'd think that just about everything would be cheeper becasue of no disney. Especially if they hold it close to easter. I'm sure busneisses rase prices around easter, so it would be even worse going to orlando during easter. (Not to mention millions of ppl :)

OK - our rumor source that said Houston also said it will be April 10-12, the week after the last regionals. Has anybody else heard this?

Personally, i'd think that they would give it more than a week after the last regional. BUT... how much after the last regional was it last year?

It depends on what airport you fly into. There are two in Houston, they consider 3, major airports there. Bush and Hobby are the better known. You probably flew into Hobby because it is only supposed to be 7 miles from the central business district of Houston. Bush, the intercontinental airport, is 23 miles north of downtown so if you fly into that one it can take about 30 min. to get to Houston, depending on traffic of course from my experience there. So it really depends on which one you fly into. If you need anymore info you can always go to Houstons airport web page houstonairportsystem.org

~SHANA~

Will they hold Nationals during AP exams, SAT, ACT, or Easter weekend?

Starting the weekend after the last regional...

April 10-12 : ACT Test
April 17-19 : Easter weekend
April 24-26 : nothing that I can think of...
May 1-3 : SAT Test
May 8-10 : AP exams
May 15-17 : AP exams

The price of air fares, to a significant extent, depends as much on the nature of the place you are going as to how far it is. It is highly likely that it would be cheaper to fly to Orlando than Houston from many west coast airports, just as it is cheaper to fly from Indianapolis to Las Vegas than to many places closer. Since Orlando and Las Vegas are kind of "tourism capitals of the US," there are a lot of cheap flights to these places from about anywhere in the world.

Still, as many people have pointed out, the total cost of a non-Disney championships is likely to be less because we probably won't be buying such expensive meals and largely unused park passes. I guess we'll find out when we get to the new location how much we actually spend on food and off-time entertainment.

My info also pointed to the second weekend in April.

Nope I did a search on flying from LAX to houston and orlando, and houston was cheaper. As for travel times from airports to the astrodome area... Bush is around 45 minutes away. Hobby is probably 10-15, since it's on the southside of town to begin with. This is, of course, assuming non-rush hour traffic.

Nope, it was Bush, I found my old boarding pass today while cleaning...

I seriously doubt that nats will be one week after the last regional. what about the even teams that qualify during that regional and want to attend? There is no way they can make arrangements in one week. Airfare would be like 1,000 dollars per person alone, plus you have to factor in hotel reservations and all that. I just think FIRST will do that.

April 24~26 looks like a great weekend to do it without much interferring with much of anything important for students. That's around when Nats was held this year. But if rumor says the 10th, then I guess that's when its going to be. ;)

Not too many students take ACT test, right? Besides, they can always take it a little bit later at the beginning of senior year :P.

Plus, the ACT and the SAT are both offered about 8 times througout the year. It shouldn't matter, since you could always take them a month earlier or later.

PLEASE LET IT BE OVER APRIL 24-26!!! My birthday is April 25. that would be fun to be at Nats on my birthday!!! (BRING PRESENTS!!!)

That would be way cool. And, if you won, i think that it would be the best b-day present ever!

ooooohhhh... never thought of that... AWESOME!!! YOU WILL LET 87 WIN SO I CAN HAVE THAT AS A BIRTHDAY PRESENT. (OR ELSE I WILL SIC DIABLO ON YOU)

Rumor has it....
 

I got "inside sources say that it will be in Houston at Reliant Center - April 10-12" from a non-inside source but it is reliable....

Take it for what it is worth..... :)

On a scale from 0 to heard it from Dean, how sure are you guys with "inside sources" about TX?

On a scale from 0....
 

0 being absolute certainity and 10 being I threw a dart at a map, I would say that it is a 1. Put it this way, confirmation came by a complete accident, from a source completely outside the FIRST community, but someone who would know where teams would be "laying thier heads".......

But, remember this is the Rumor Mill so I make no warranty either expressed, nor implied.....


(pssst... It's still a 1... ssshhhhh......)

I just checked the FIRST 2003 Competition page, and the site is down and being updated....are they announcing it or could this just be maintenence??


*sits and waits patiently*

It was like that at 1:00 AM EST also.

Sounds like our source is the same as Mike's, although I'd put it at about a 4. Too many issues at stake - they could have misunderstood what they were asked to do, or could have been asked as a contingency, or could have old information... any number of things.

Having said that, I'd bet on Houston April 10-12. I wouldn't bet the house, but maybe the garage if it was single car.

False alarm....just routine maintenance it looks like...


<edit> I type so fast sometimes i miss a letter or 2 :p <edit>

If you make Dean a 10, I'd probably rate my source as a 7 or 8. Unless something changes I'm pretty confident about Houston for April 10-12.

Then again, you never know.

we have a 10 for Houston- good enough rumor!! ?

WC

I just heard from Lucia Sevcik that nationals will be in houston. She met with Dean recently, so this would probably be a 9 or 10

Yeah... and your credibility (being anonymous) automatically makes that a 0 in my book.

Even so, (from one of my sources) Lucia Sevcik was one of the main people that tried convincing FIRST to change the location of the Championship to Houston back in 2000 or 2001

My appologies for not using my name, but Lucia is a leader on my team, team 57, and has asked us not to say anything.

You're still violating her trust. You're doing so anonymously, perhaps, but your actions stand a chance of hurting your entire team - if only because she cannot know who she can and cannot trust anymore.

Next time, think about the intent of the rules rather than thinking about their loopholes.

I hope that she doesn't get in trouble because you're foolish.

Good job.

Your Secrets Safe with Us
 

Don't worry your secret is safe with us..... See you in Houston!

Re: Your Secrets Safe with Us
 

and the rest of the Internet. :)

I noticed that the event list page is down again... perhaps FIRST is preparing for a big announcement???

The page is back up, and there's no change. Oh well, try again tomorrow.

I think FIRST is taking it down and putting it back up on purpose to tease us...

I am willing to bet tat they announce it on Thanksgiving. TO give us all something more to be greatful for.

Plus that is 2 weeks in full.

If you ask me i am let down by FIRST on this subject. I understand all the planning involved and the variances, rentals........ BUT how are you odd teams suppose to schedule your events that you are going to depending on money? I mean, a team who has anough money for two competitions, but nats turns out to be too far away to pay for, than by the time they find out all the spots will be taken in the other regtionals they were considering?
If anybody else feels the same way about this subject please respond. If i am mistaken about something please tell me because my deductions are based on what i have heard.

I think it will be even tougher for the even numbered team that becomes eligible for the first time at a regional on April 5. I did hear another rumor that FIRST is attempting to make arrangements with some airlines. If so, this may help with last minute plans.

If that's the case, how can FIRST possible know where its winners are flying from? Holding spots on an airplane for an entire team will be next to impossible, I think, and that may mean they limit the number of attendees. That is, I think, almost worse than leaving it to the teams to arrange their own transportation.

Interesting
 

As somebody said in another thread that was closed

Yesterday at "The Brunswick Eruption" Bart Kamen was the special guest visior and several people bugged him to see if he knew the location of the Nats, and he spilled the beans

Houston Texas.

I was there myself and people I went with reported that he indeed said this. So unless Dean likes to tease his little brother, Houston it is.

any1 know if six flags astroworld will be invloved in this?

How far is six flags from houston?

from talking to a friend who used to live in Texas, I am told it is very close to the astrodome and reliant complex, which is the supposed place of nationals this year.

According to the Houston website, Six Flags is "across the block" actually there is a bridge connecting them, also with Six Flags is a water park.

To officially clarify this.


The astrodome and 6 flags share a parking lot.

You walk across the bridge over the highway and you are at astroworld.

Sounds very cool. Seeing how close six flags is (which provides fun stuff to do that disney / universal studios had) and how Houston is in the middle of the US, AND that just about everything is cheeper, along with a huge place, I'm pretty much sold on Houston being where nats will be.

I guess we'll find out sometime this week though! :)

(Hopefully Monday. The notice on usfirst went down on Friday, but then came back up. Mabey they wanted to let dean's bro. spread a big rumor, and then once everyone in 99% sure, finalize it)

You must not know lots of things about Astroworld do you? If you read previous Krass posts you'll know that the only good coaster they have is being toarn down and the place is basicly crap in maintainance and cleanlyness.

Oh...

NO FUN!! :( :(

Sorry if this has been discussed already, but i'm too lazy to read alot.

Has anyone heard about dates for nats.?

Houston
 

Now don't get me wrong, I think having the competition in a central US location, if Disney can't happen, is a great location.
The problem is that Houston is one of the more expensive cities in the US. Airline flights into Houston are amoung the most expensive in the entire country, and on top of that, very few airlines fly any direct flights into Houston from major cities.
I would hope that Nationals in Houston, if that is to be where they are located, would be less expensive than Disney would be, but my fear is that won't happen.
I dunno... we'll see.

...
Jeff

So far the 2 dates people speculated are both in April, the weeked of the 10th, and the 24th.

Only a few more days (hopefully).

maybe to get us there, dean will give every kid a sterling engine powered segway to make the annual journey to the FIRST holly land


maybe...:D

I would bet on the 24-26 because having it the weekend of the 10th does not follow along with the April 15th deadline for Championship money for newly qualified teams. But who knows, things could change. I didn't mention any May dates because only heaven knows how much I would hate for it to be then.

I'm really supprised that they haven't made an announcement yet. I mean, if what they said in the last one (that they would make an announcement) is ture, then they would announce by the end of this week.

Now... really, do you think that there are going to be FIRST people working on thanksgiving or the friday after? - I think no. SO... today would be the last real day for the announcement. Or they will announce it on Thur. or Fri. (which i think is realy dumb)

OR... the last option is that they won't do it this week.

What do you think?

I don't see it happening until next week.

I also fear that they will just send another "We are finalizing the details" letter.

What's the big deal? We all know it's in Houston on April 10-12. The wait to figure out where Nats is was over almost a week ago.

Do you think they are just going to say in the next letter, we are going to wait till Kick-Off to tell you?

Until it is on this site, nothing is final.

Grasshopper (Mike Soukup),

The big deal is:

1) Its not official until FIRST says so.
2) Everyone who is eligible is anxious to sign up for the Championship event and that cannot happen until FIRST makes it official, and opens registration up to do so.
3) No one is seriously going to make flight or hotel arrangements until it is official, and the longer we wait the less time we have to find good airline deals (unless FIRST does somehow make a deal with the airlines as was rumored).

Until FIRST announces the location and date, anyone booking flights or hotels not only risk getting the date or location wrong, they will also drive up the price for the hotel or flights making the FIRST package more expensive than it needed to be.

And the people are just anxious because they want to get started on the booking as soon as possible. No one want to wait till the last minute. The earlier you get these out of the way, the more time you have to stress on other things. And besides, the sooner all of us know where/when/how expensive, all the teams will have to start discussing travel arrangement and who gets to go, how much its going to cost, etc.

Rumors I heard from my sources is that they are working on getting the FIRST package done, and registration system figured out so everything can go as smoothly as possible. Have faith ;). Just wait till Friday and see what happens.

I am hoping for the best, and that FIRST won't take such actions. However, it would not surprise me if they chose to wait till kick-off. It may cause issues with travel arrangements though. :rolleyes:

still no announcements
:mad: :( :rolleyes:

an excuse for not announcing anything?
 

I love how FIRST sent out an e-mail yesterday saying:

Please note our offices will be closed on Thanksgiving Day, November 28th and Friday the 29th. We will resume our normal business hours on Monday, December 2nd, 8:30 am - 5:00 pm est

Happy Thanksgiving!

-----------------------------

Think its their excuse of delaying the announcement for a few more days? Today is exactly 2 weeks from their last announcement.

Re: Nationals, this year and beyond
 

take this into account as well:
this year we have teams from the UK, and now another from Germany. If this keeps up FIRST may grow into an INTERNATIONAL competition with teams from all over the world. So in maybe 10 years, a thread like this may be focused not on Nats, but on the location of the International championship.

Imagine the accomplishment from starting with about 14 teams in a highschool gym, to teams from all over the world with many more regionals, nats, and and international championship (not that the 800+ teams and 23 regionals isnt an accomplishment)

Re: Re: Nationals, this year and beyond
 

May 1-3rd, 2003

Houston Astrodome Complex

nuff said...

of course this IS the rumor mill

WC

Interesting fact
 

I find it quite interesting that most of our speculations are pointing towards Houston, TX being the location of nationals. But if you look on the 2003 Event List, The Houston Regional has the most available spaces left out of ALL the regionals, there are 26 spaces left and the only other closest is 11 and thats in Pittsburg. Everything else is either full or almost full. Those are just from my observations. Does anyone think that has anything to do with the rumor or people just don't want to go to the Houston Regional?

My team has gone to Houston for the past 3 years and decided to go to St. Louis this time, so our decision had nothing to do with the rumor, a matter of fact, I'm the only person on my team to know about the rumor. What about everyone else?

May 3rd: SAT

Still Stickin with the April 10th-12th

Sorry to say- I doubt if SATs, APs, MCATs, IQs, DQs or any other test will really have any impact on whether or not the Nationals are on a given day. Only a small percentage of the students involved would be effected. And while they may be very important to you I doubt if they have much significance to the decision makers at FIRST. Not everyone will be happy about this.
One of the biggest concerns is that the robots from the last round of regionals can be shipped to the Nationals in time by Fedex. If you recall last years situation, Fedex fits the machines in any free space they have on flights. It took a while to get our robot returned from the Nats because of this. Therefore the two weeks after the April 3 weekend are not workable.
As for the Houston regional- well the rumor theory might account for the lowered enrollment. It could also be that with all the new regionals available, the teams that have attended Houston in the past have siphoned off to other sites. In any case the location of a regional and the nationals are not necessarily interconnected.

I stick with May 3, Houston. (We've heard a few things out here)

WC

I disagree, considering A LOT or FIRST kids tend to be in advanced classes, hence quite a few taking the test! I think you need to look farther into what you say before you just announce it! This might be rumor mill but hey know what you are saying before you say it. ;)

I'd agree with Wayne on this one. . . especially considering how often the SAT exam is offered. I can't see how FIRST would plan around something like that, especially given that students at all levels participate in this.

While I've never seen anything that confirms your assertion that most FIRSTers take advanced classes, that does match up with my experience - but, only 11th and 12th graders, usually, are taking the SAT.


Maybe FIRST can get Nationals to be an SAT test site? :)

AP Tests start the week of the 1st-3rd also according to my school's schedule, and also May would be too late because schools start letting out in the next few weeks, and there are final exams, and it would be impossible for students to make up their homework, quizzes, tests, etc.

Yes, maybe the SATs are held several times a year, but AP exams are once a year and final exams are once a semester, and im perfectly sure that FIRST is aware of this.

I don't think APs start until after May 1-3. I believe the first one is the next Monday, May 5. While it would be cutting it close, it is not, strictly speaking, a conflict.

Re: Re: Re: Nationals, this year and beyond
 

by international competition i meant that there would be many more non US teams. enough so that FIRST would have to add regionals (maybe nationals) in other parts of the world. Then maybe an international championship event that's position would change every year (country to country like the olympics do)

I don't take the APs next year, but I do take the IB examinations. IBO, the organization that creates the exams, are very strict when it comes to makeup exams. You are only allowed to make up an exam if there is a death in the family, you become physically injured, or something insane like that. Even then, they only give you a few days to make up the exams. If FIRST decides to hold the nationals during the first week of May, it will conflict with the IB exams given in English HL. If I miss the English exam, I won't be able to get my IB diploma, and in addition to that we won't get a refund. IB exams are really expensive. I'll stop whining because it really doesn't matter now. FIRST has obviously decided upon a location and a date for the Championship Event and we can do nothing but live with it.

Sorry Team 93First-

You may not LIKE what I said but it WAS thought out and makes perfect sense. I TEACH AP classes and I KNOW that the testing dates are close at hand.

The needs of a relatively small percentage of students will have little effect on a million dollar project like the Nationals. Remember, this is the same organization which, on the day before registration last year, cut out 50% of the teams in a single proclamation. I am sure they are confident that even if the test takers don't attend they will still have a big enough crowd to make the Nationals a major event.

From the information we have received here in NJ from some pretty reliable sources the date will be May 3rd and the place will be Houston. If I'm wrong you have my permission to say "I told you so".

Rather than be ticked that you don't like what I've said, be ticked at FIRST for stringing this out so long. They certainly know of a date and place and the last I heard it was to be announced this past Friday. Was it?

BTW- if the date IS May 3rd and there is a way, I am willing to volunteer some of my time to help you guys review for the AP Bio and AP Envi Sci exams. We'll set this up when the time comes.

WC

The need of the many, outweigh the needs of the few. --Spock

Just a little Star Trek humor:)

Yes you are correct. I checked with someone today and they said that the 2nd of may is some AP Training session for students taking the test.

Comming back from Nats and hitting the AP Test on Monday morning would be quite difficult though...

The need of the many, outweigh the needs of the few. --Spock

or the one- Kirk

especially if the one is named Kamen- FIRST

ROTFLOL!!!!!!!

Re: Championship Location Rumor
 

You missed a place with a big opening dome stadium: Toronto. Go SkyDome! Oh wait. It's in Canada. I look forward to Houston assuming we make it. Sadly, there's quite a chance we won't because of FIRST's rampant expansion.

So, anyone think that there will be an announcement tomorrow (Monday)?

Announcement??!?!??!
 

I've been certain too many times there would be an announcement 'tomorrow'. Don't hold your breath!

:rolleyes: