Re: can the game flag be used?
 

I loved the flashing spinner lights, those were great, but the shields on them also broke very easily whenever hit by any scoring object pretty much. In 03 after the LI regional was done on Friday they opened up the mesh ramp and had people crawl under it to vacuum and clean out the debris. It was fun to collect bits and pieces of light shield, I think I came close to being able to make an entire shield just out of parts that fell below the grates.

Re: can the game flag be used?
 

I think that it's good for FIRST to move away from the lights, however cool they may be, just from a specator standpoint. From way up in the bleachers, it can take a good 3 seconds to determine which robot is on which team. In a match that lasts 2:10, that's a large chunk of time. They're also hard to see in peripheral vision.
I also believe, however, that the bicycle flags aren't the best method. The restricted mounting procedure means a lot of teams will have problems incorportating it into their design. There's probably a better way, but I sure haven't of it....

Re: can the game flag be used?
 

Here is the official answer from FIRST Q/A about using the game flag to block balls: http://forums.usfirst.org/showthread.php?t=344