W00t

I am reply #200.

The championship should be in Canada. ya baby ya. Oh god it is earlier stupid fundraiser meetings.

My coworker heard the news this morning on WJR (Detroit, MI) with Dean Kamen being interviewed.


===> Houston.

I can hear it now already in the pits..."Houston, we have a problem"

Could the time have finally come?
 

The "interactive" map is down again. One can only hope this isn't a false alarm. Will we know in the next 20 minutes where the Championship Event will be? Who knows...

[edit:] My thought process is flawed. FIRST, if they announced the championship location, would send an email to each team contact before placing such news on their website. However, I still am hanging on to a shred of hope.

w00t IT IS DOWN!

This page is also down
http://www.usfirst.org/frc/public/FM...s.htm&-findany
it is the site with all the events listed and occupancy so.... Hopefully the update will come soon.

Wow, the FIRST server is really bogged down!

They only have a shared T1 line for their server.

Yeah I think we will be hearing from FIRST very very soon

Let's hope. All I can say is, it's about time.

It's still down come on announcement

I hope they arnt just playing with us

seems to late in the day for them to do anything

nope the site is working and there is nothing about nats

For the in the dome that opens:
It seems nobody has been to Toronto for the infamous opening SkyDome.

Chris

Almost confimable rumors state that Disney's only date they offered FIRST for hosting the the championship was May 1st- 3rd, but FIRST had to reject because they felt that May was too late for the championship, also the price butchering was another factor.

My sources state that the Nationals will be either April 10th- 12th or April 24th to 26th.

I know why don't we have the competition at UNH!!! Everyone bring your robots up here we can use the hockey center as the playing field and everyone can gain some vital college experience by visiting UNH:D Wow I'm dreaming now but it would be fun.

You, sir, are absolutely correct. With a little research, I found this Real Audio stream of Dean's interview this morning.. Jump to about one minute 50 seconds to hear him state the Championship Event location.

Enough said. Thanks Joel! :cool:


[edit] now, waiting for a date....[/edit]

If they release something today, can someone please e-mail my cell


Mobile@htownradio.cjb.net

Wow, Texas

Dean said in the interview that this years National Championship will be held in "The new version of what used to be called the Astrodome." Now does he it could be any one of the buildings in Reliant Park ie. Stadium, Centre, Arena, Hall, or the Astrodome itself? I couldn't find a website for any of these except for the Texans website, so I was unable to find anything.

I think that it will be at the Astrodome or the Stadium becasue from what I found for exhibition space there is no bleacher seating except for in these two places. So unless the are going to pay more money to bring in bleachers then I'm goin with the Astrodome.

Oh yeah, just so you all know Six Flags doesn't open weekdays until the second to last week of May so there wont be much to do on Thursday and Friday unless they wait till late May or they have some kind of special deal for the teams. (maybe a private team party?)

While it's true that the convention center doesn't have bleacher seating, by the same token, the Astrodome and Stadium don't really have any large, easily powered areas for pits spaces. And as big as FIRST is, the fields would still be fairly small and insignificant looking when placed inside a huge football stadium like the Astrodome or Reliant Stadium. So I think it could still swing either way, really.

so, what now.....
 

So, when do you think the announcement will come? Also, do you think that it was an intentional leak to see if we'd catch it, or accidental, or they just haven't put it on the website yet?

Re: so, what now.....
 

I think he didn't announce the dates on the radio, and details haven't been firmed up enuf for FIRST to want to post the announcement yet.

Just checked with hotel near Astrodome, they said FIRST would be coming in on April 10-12, 2003.

Thank you!

Wow. you people sure do take your decective work seriously. Still, even if that is the day, I think it's important to remember that it hasn't been officially announced by FIRST, and more importantly, that anyone jumping the gun and booking flights and hotels now is going to miss out on whatever packages FIRST is diligently working on for the teams. Indeed, booking things now will probably undermine FIRST's efforts.

Thanks Joel
 

GREAT JOB JOEL - Thanks for posting the link with Dean's announcement. Hopefully the dates will be forthcoming.
;)

I agree. If you book the hotels and/or flights right now, you are very likely going to drive up the price of the FIRST package. And besides, what if the rumor is wrong and it ended up being another weekend? Then you will have to go through the trouble to cancel your reservation.

Also, we don't exactly know where in houston the event is going to be held. The FIRST package is likely going to provide the best hotels closest to the event... They might even set up transportation just like the buses in Disney World so that its easy for team to travel from hotel to the event to whatever recreational park there is near the event. You don't want to accidentally book a hotel far enough that you have to rent cars to get to the event, do you?

Just wait... I am sure it will be announced very very soon. And if not... I wouldn't risk listening to rumors and book hotels right now...

Just for the record, this is the rumor mill. I'm waiting just like everyone else.

Just asked...
 

A contact at FIRST just wrote me and said the
Nationals will NOT be at Epcot in 2003, but
wouldn't said where.

That's another piece of the puzzle!

:D

Re: Just asked...
 

You're 3-4 weeks too late for it to be news.

A down website doesn't mean anything except server problems. Updating the location of the event is as simple as changing a field in the database, a few simple key strokes that wouldn't require taking the site down.

I know, I know...
 

I know, I know...
it's OLD news, but I was just
trying to confirm the rumor about
the Houston, Texas venue.

:p

Hmmmm I think he that we have all the info together, I would put mony on this info.

Re: I know, I know...
 

Did you get the memo?
Office Space rules...

http://www.usfirst.org/robotics/CMPannouncement.htm

That was posted many, many weeks ago.

OOH... The possibities!!!!

Look at the Floor plans, Reliant Hall looks promising for three stages!!!!

LOOK HERE!!!!

Bah. Reliant Center is MUCH bigger than Reliant Hall. And I think the ceiling is higher too. At any rate, it's a much newer building, and I programmed the system that controls all the audio. Or attempted to at any rate. It was a summer job, and the approval process took WAY too long.... But I definitely worked on it. So Nyah. :p

well after seeing and hearing what u guys recently posted i'm willing to go along with everyone saying that Disney's out the question and Houston will be the new home for the Nationals this year.

Just for the record, Reliant Hall, formerly Astro Hall, doesn't exist anymore. It is part of the parking lot.

Last year at the Houston Regionals, members of my team went to Six Flags on Thursday(practice day). So I don't know if its different this year or what, but it WAS open on a weekday last year which was during march. I'm not TOTALLY sure they'll be open this year though, that was last year. So maybe they will be open, there's always that chance, and if I'm not mistaken, its walking distance so it should be easy to get to.

For me and my teammates in the past years, we never had anytime going to parks until the last day... It was always staying in the pits until the very end, and meeting other people. While its fun going to the park after Saturday, I would go to the Championship event even if there isn't an amusement park. But that's just me.

But hey, it would be pretty cool going on rides in a Six Flags park. More exciting than most of the Disney rides if I remember correctly. But then again, its not the "happiest place in the world".

I checked the Astroworld website, and they were indeed open for one week in March. This was cause the Houston Regional happened to coincide with Spring Break for HISD and most Texas colleges. Thus, Astroworld was open that week to pick up the extra business. Spring break isn't going to be in April anytime, so Astrowolrd indeed, won't be open during the week.

Looking at their website, it appears their 2003 operating schedule is still listed as TBD. Which could mean, among other things, that a time for it to be open could be considered under the "entertainment" portion of the package which FIRST is trying to negotiate...

perhaps.... the Space Center will be entertainment for us if in Houston?

So we all know that is is Houston (from the radio show), but FIRST won't admit it (I tried calling them, and they said the location was still TBD). This is like when Disneyland started building a Winnie the Pooh ride in full view of the public, but didn't actually admit that they were building anything at all for almost six months.

Space Center Houston, while entertaining, is a 30 min or so drive from the astrodome complex. Thus, it could be ok for after hours entertainment, but won't help you out during the day. Really, Astroworld is the only option that's close enough for during the day entertainment. Unless you don't mind team members and chaperones completely abandoning the team for hours at a time....

I didn't know the entertainment was for during competition hours.... I thought it was only for post-competition hours. I know as a driver, I would not be at all pleased if members of my team were at a source of 'entertainment', and not watching one of our robots' matches, or doing their scouting assignments.:(

Just one more nail in the coffin. I checked the FIRST website looking to reserve hotel rooms for a regional. I then checked for hotel rooms for the Nationals. The meeting place has hotels listed (but no dates or rates). All the hotels listed are in Houston. Check this out.
http://www.meetingcompany.com/tmc-bi...gen#JWMarriott

After you click the link - go to the top of the page and select "FIRST Championship" as the event.

Yeah, good work sully!!

It says under each hotel under the "FIRST Championship" Catagory, "X amount of miles from Reliant Park"

Hint at Championship Date?
 

This is ALL pure speculation, but....

After a brief glance at the Meeting Company website, it seems the hotel payment cutoff dates for the regional competitions are, on average, about three weeks before the actual competition dates. If we assume the same holds true for the Championship, then......

the average cutoff date of 3/17/03 listed for the Championship Event hotels in Houston would place the actual date of the competition on or around......

4/10/03

But this brings up another, perhaps more important issue - the cutoff dates listed are all before the last two weeks of regionals take place!

If these dates are valid (maybe they are for the 4/3 Lone Star Regional and the Championship cutoffs have yet to be posted...), and the current qualification system remains intact, wouldn't this make it rather difficult/impossible for teams who qualified for the championship during the last two weeks to find accomodations via the FIRST-sanctioned provider?

This brings up the biggest question I have of all......

Given the point I made above, the apparent massive size of the Reliant complex, the proximity of the rumored 4/10 Championship date to the date of the last regional week, and the length of time it's taking FIRST to make an official announcement........

Could they be planning to do away with qualifying entirely and open up the Championship Event enrollment to EVERYONE this year?

I know that many of the odd-numbered teams who were shut out last year might be initially upset if this were to happen, but I think after they realize that A.) they'll still be going this year, and B.) more teams = bigger event = more people = more positive exposure for the FIRST program, I think they just might be receptive to the idea.

But who knows what will happen? I certainly don't. We'll all just have to wait and see.

wow...
 

wow, great detective work, you found the
"smoking gun."

Nice job Sully.

:)

Re: Hint at Championship Date?
 

My oh my, that would be interesting. That place appears big enough to hold 500 or so teams, that's for sure. This may be the reason for the delay... or who knows, maybe not.

But... we can dream, for now.

I can see it now...

4 equally grouped, 125-team divisions

40,000 screaming FIRSTers

A requirement that each team must donate 2 people as "volunteers" to help run this mammoth thing

Lots of FIRST-labeled water

They say that everything is big in Texas, why not the Championships?

Good idea, Travis!

Andy B.

That would be great to invite all teams, and I really hope it would happen, but I think FIRST is going to keep the qualification system up to balance out from last year. Also they (pretty certain now) have a new venue for the event, if they start with a smaller event, they will know if they can handle more people next year.

So did you notice that the room rates are still not listed? Might that also be one of the things that is still being negotiated?

Announcment
 

Just talked to FIRST about an unrelated issue and they said the official announcement would be today.

Cabin Fever
 

I just heard from a good source that the Championship won't be in Houston as we've suspected.

Instead, we can all expect luxurious accomodations in Vail, Colorado, complimentary ski rentals and lift tickets for our teams, and gift certificates for snooty, high-class shopping, too!

Everyone always talks about a water-based field. . .well, snow is water based!

;)

As weedie said, why do you need entertainment during the day? What more do you need than robots competing concurrently on 4 different fields? What about wandering the pits and seeing other team's bots and meeting people from other teams? Aren't those the reasons we're all going?

I get mildly upset when I see our team members show up & cheer during our match, but then disappear to Epcot until the next one. Maybe moving Nats to a non-Disney venue will weed out the students who are more interested in the theme parks than the competition. One can hope.

Mike

It's official
Reliant Park in Houston
April 10-12

Perhaps the life of this thread has run its course?
 

Now that the Championship Location is no longer a rumor, I vote to close this behemoth. New rumors (such as "Will they/won't they allow more teams to register?") could be started in a new thread.....

amen.