WOW!!! I hope everybody is okay now.

I was wondering if any of you from the west coast who attended the aforementioned scrimmage could clear up a question I have. It seems that everyone seems to be in agreement that the lexan "carpet" tether was an entangling threat. It looks in all pictures to be no more than 1/2 inch off the carpet, yet refs and other team members complained of getting hung-up on it.

My question is, what could extend with less thickness (obviously height off the carpet is what caused the hang-up) than the lexan and still reach the desired zone? FIRST has stated that a device consisting of " A telescoping arm, given sufficient
rigidity, lack of sharp features, etc., would likely not present a risk of entanglement, but might prove flimsy and unreliable." This, however, would have caused the hang-up and/or entanglement that team 992 was DQ'd for. It appears that VERY few, if any tethering devices will be allowed.

It was, in fact, no more than 1/16" off the carpet. Originally, a few of the tiles were loosely tied to allow the device to pivot. This also allowed them to occasionally lift. After the judge's warning we retied these and had no more problems with lifting.