Re: 2006 Most Competitive Regional
 

This may be a little biased because these are the ones we go to but i think that BAE systems and the new Boston the are the most competitive regionals.

Also a note to everyone the Boston regional OWNED it was awesome Woody and Dean were there plus the panel of judges included 2 MIT profs. The co-founder of Apple. Inventor if the Ethernet. Chairman and co-founder of IROBOT.

Re: 2006 Most Competitive Regional
 

NJ was intense, but, i think philly i think will win hands down as most competitive. 56 was good at nj, even better at annapolis so who knows what will happen next weekend. many other teams will by now have improved the strategy and watched others and prepared for whats to come. so who knows what will happen, but be prepared for great things to happen.

Re: 2006 Most Competitive Regional
 

GTR, hands down. Take a look at this roster.

9 Regional Wins (4, 217, 229, 1006, 1114 x 2, 1281, 1503 x 2)
5 Finalists (188, 610, 703, 771, 1241)

Plus, there are all sorts of other strong teams.
45
48
65 -- They will be a force this weekend, especially after their Saturday performance at GLR
296 -- From what I've been told they're one of the elite teams this year
378
1305 -- A mean drivetrain, and a crazy fast ball pickup
1547
1680 -- The last triplet, who looked 10 times better in Waterloo than they did at GLR

Re: 2006 Most Competitive Regional
 

I watched the SoCal matches on Saturday morning (something I didn't get to do much of at PNW, except when Maverick nee Top Gun was either staged or on the field), and I think David is right -- the scouting at SoCal was not so good overall. I didn't see many surprising picks of good robots with mediocre records, and I saw a lot of picking which looked like it was based purely on the rankings. It's not necessarily really a bad thing -- but it does result in some pretty iffy robots getting into the finals. It makes a few disappointed good teams who don't get picked wonder if anyone was doing any scouting.

Anyway, I am pleased to report that Sanddrag doesn't look anything like his avatar.

Re: 2006 Most Competitive Regional
 

The finals at Wisconsin were crazy. It was one regional winner(111) and another regional winner(494) with robots of similar talent on each alliance. It was awesome to just watch autonomous mode because those scores alone were pretty high. The competition all around was very tough.

Re: 2006 Most Competitive Regional
 

I think it will only get better. i know we are bringin our best to Houston and the time that we have had to watch matches has helped us immensly with strategy and figuring out little tweaks we have to do to our robot.

Re: 2006 Most Competitive Regional
 

I don't know of the two I've been to (NJ and NYC) so far, NJ has definately been the most competitive. Granted, I have heard that Philly is a sight to behold, so I'll wait to unveil my final verdict until next week.

Re: 2006 Most Competitive Regional
 

I would like to add that the final pairing at SoCal was really impressive. The first match took about 10 minutes to score and resulted in a tie, with 968 laying on its side. The other two matches were exciting all the way. Both finals alliances at SoCal would have been competitive anywhere, and they duked it out with enthusiasm and grace.

Re: 2006 Most Competitive Regional
 

The SoCal finals were definately the best regional finals I have seen since the 2003 SoCal finals

Still not as good as last year's championship rounds though... those were absolutely intense.

Re: 2006 Most Competitive Regional
 

I think <insert Local regional here> is the best

Re: 2006 Most Competitive Regional
 

thank you! in the post-phili world, i gotta say, phili was amazing! the finals had teams who weren't even involved (including us) up on our feet and screaming ourselves hoarse! DUDE! it was wicked awesome.

Re: 2006 Most Competitive Regional
 

I've watched the video's and was at Phila. this weekend. I believe the last week regionals are the toughest. Allot of team have already played at other regionals. They know what works and what doesn't. The drivers have developed their skills. The robot systems have been worked on and debugged. The scouting is much more focused and thorough. I was impressed with the alliance strategies that were discussed before matches. If you have a weak team, go to a first week regional. If you think your good and want to play hard go to a last week regional. I'll make one more comment and may get flamed. East coast and in particular Northeast teams are not afraid to bash their robot. Much more physical.

Re: 2006 Most Competitive Regional
 

Flamed, Heck No! The dents and gashes in the frame just make it look like we had more fun! Chicks dig scars...:D

Re: 2006 Most Competitive Regional
 

The finals in Philadelphia were really weird. After seeing some of the best shooters at the event knocked out in the quarters and semis, the finals had an alliance with one shooter bot vs. an alliance with two shooter bots. The bot that we were most afraid of was team 84, who could score about 25 low balls at the same time. I think the last game of the finals happened without a single high shot at all. It was an entirely different game than I have seen anywhere else the last few weeks.

Re: 2006 Most Competitive Regional
 

Okay now even if i wasn't on a team that went to GTR, I must say that truely i believe that GTR was by far the most competitve.

Just look at one of the semi finals matches.

1114, 1503, 865 v. 229, 217, 4

You have here some of the best teams in FIRST. Now this isn't a regional where all of the best teams are but look at this.

1114 previously went to 2 regionals and won them both.
1503 previously went to 2 regionals and won them both.
229 previously went to a regional and won it
217 previously went to a regional and won it
4 previously went to a regional and won it

What other regionals had an elimination match that featured teams that were this strong?