Chief Delphi - A Question on Sportsmanship

First, I want to say I had a great time at BTB - I was a field reset person (my first volunteer position) - Thanks Erin and all for organizing the event...

To the subject... I was not looking forward to this thread expecting it to get rather negative, but I must say that having read the responses my attitude has changed - I am able to understand more of what transpired and was presented a perspective that I hadn't even thought about (Andy B's).

I was dissappointed when it was announced that the third robot was not going to be allowed to replace a broken robot. My automatic assumption, having heard the "gracious professionalism" mantra over my three years in FIRST, was that the alliance should have been able to replace a broken robot. This partly comes from my viewing the reason for having three teams in the finals is to have a safety net in case of a damaged robot - the competition can continue on a level playing field. I've also discovered that I am a bit ignorant on the fine details of the final rounds rules as I don't get to attend many regionals. I held the opinion that Team 61 was not practicing gracious professionalism in their decision until I read Andys response... my opinion was changed by his reasoning as I hadn't viewed it as asking someone to break the rules.

Being a lurker on the Delphi forums I often read posts of people requesting solutions rather than complaints, so here are mine:

1) If it is stated in the rules that the ref can ask the opposing team this robot replacement question, remove it - as Andy stated in his post. I would rather see teams upset with a ref(s) (no offense Aidan) than an entire team, as I believe adversity against a ref will be easily forgotten, but against a team will linger.

2) It seems to me that there should be someway that a third robot can be placed when a scheduled robot in not operable. Perhaps a handicap/penatly can be applied to the round where this is practiced - for this years game a penalty of 50-75 points might be appropriate. Also, the opposing team should be given 2 minutes to change to any robot selection they desire to counter this change.

3) Although Aidan told us in his reply that he communicated the passing time limits frequently to the Team 61 captain I think for the benefit of the audience and all teams members there should be some central countdown clock for these inbetween round times. I believe my solution would be enjoyed by all as it utilizes the BIG RED BUTTONS. Create a kiosk/tower with a field clock module , two field lights (red and blue), and three BRBs. The head ref upon waving his hand in the air to signal to the field reset crew to begin would immediately walk over and press the center BRB. The clock would begin counting down the normal interval period. During the first 3 minutes any personnel from either of the two alliances could come over and press their approriate BRB to indicate the desire for a time out - their team color light would begin flashing and the extra time out minutes would be added to the clock. At the end of the countdown the foghorn would sound and if a robot is not on the field the match will proceed without it.

Merle Yoder
Mentor
Team Paragon 571