One of the engineers on my team frequently likes to remind us that "this is not a competition." Now, I tend disagree with that statement. First off, nothing says competition more than one team against another. Machine on machine. Team on team. However, FIRST isn't just about the competition the media is interested in. It's a competition against yourself. Can I help build this robot or not? Can I create a design that can play this game the best? Can I make this robot work? That's what FIRST is about. I'm sure everyone has been to a competition where one robot has broken down during a match -- heck, I'm sure that it has happened to everyone reading these postings. If a team is dissabled, there is always someone from another team rushing over to the disabled robot's pit area wanting to help. If it were a football game (Whatever that is ;)), and a member of team A was injured, you won't see team B rushing over to help put team A's player. It is really a beautiful thing to see so many people working together. That is why I am such an avid FIRST participant. You won't see any of this 'Gracious Professionalism' in any other sport. Especialy Robot Wars or BattleBots.