Most Exciting Regional.
 

Now that all the videos have carefully examined and Championships is almost underway, what did you think was the most exciting regional? Which regional would you want to see all over again? *Also there isn't a single FIRSTer who attended every single regional who can tell us facts about why that one regional was the most exciting one. In this case we can only make prediction. When you post, please discuss why the regional was the most exciting one.*

Pavan

*This segment of my post was written by Arefin Bari.*

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

ConnVex. Definitely!
(But I'm a bit biased.)

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

Only because it had such a great MC. Right, Kathie? :p

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

Tossup: Lone Star for defense (though I only watched the eliminations), San Diego for everything.

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

Im quite partial to West Michigan, as it is year in and year out one of THE TOP regionals. I liked Midwest for suspense though (5 finals matches) and Waterloo for domination

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

GLR was off the hook, alot of good robot. From an exciting and yellow card competition, to 1114 & 67 being beaten in the semi-finals, all the way to the victory of Teams 573, 503 & 1015 it was just a phenominal competition, but I too am biased;) .

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

Define "THE TOP"

-John

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

AWESOME MC, great volunteers, my favorite music, super teams attending... when can we do it all over again?

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

Hmm, Midwest had 5 final rounds? Davis, Sacramento, had 5 quarter final rounds in one match. Alliance 1 vs Alliance 8. That was pretty intense, but I'm not really partial to any regional as of now.

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

I can't say that I've watched all the regionals on video... that would take a while, and... really... as much as the camera crews try, a single video feed doesn't allow you to catch all the action.... and hardly any of the excitement.

So I'll make some observations about the two regionals I experienced first hand.

Toronto, as you might expect with it being a fifth weekend regional, was much more impressive than Portland, and matches throughout the qualifiers were much more exciting to watch.

The final match of the elimination rounds at Portland, however, where one robot tipped, then righted itself with just seconds remaining as it climbed a ramp will go down as a classic. The video shows some of it happening, but misses the crowd response as one alliance went from losing it all to winning it all in a few short seconds.

Jason

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

I watched almost every web cast, and I must say that no regionals stuck out this year as super exciting. Last year GTR was the regional to rule them all, but I could not place my thumb on a similar event this year. WMR came close, but no cigar. It must be something about either...

A) The spread of teams at events
B) The style of the game
C) The new match algorithm/serpentine draft

.. that made for a bunch of generic elimination matches.

That being said, my vote is for Newton in 2006.:cool:

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

Pavan, good topic. But I would like to point out few things.

If I were to really comment on which regional was the most exciting one, I may be bias or only talk about the ones I attended. There isn't a single FIRSTer who attended every single regional who can tell us facts about why that one regional was the most exciting one. In this case we can only make prediction. When you post, please discuss why the regional was the most exciting one.

I watched quite a few webcasts and attended Florida Regional. Out of all, I believe the Waterloo Regional and Las Vegas was the most exciting ones. First reasion being the emcees and the game announcers, they made the arena rock. Mark Leon is always jumping up and down, and Karthik always tells stories; on the other hand copioli makes the match sound very intense at all point of time. The DJ kept the crowd dancing all day long and music that he played during the match was exciting. Also, the volunteers worked all day long to keep the regional going smooth and on time. If I had a chance, I would definitely like to attend Waterloo and Las Vegas Regional.

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

For sheer energy of the whole event:FLR.
For the best elims of the four events I attended (FLR, BAE, GTR and Buckeye) the nod goes to Buckeye.

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

I have not watched all of them but I liked florida, and Davis sacramento the best.
They had a lot of good teams, and were exciting.

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

waterloo and then Midwest

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

I loved the GTR i live in mississauga and it was so much fun every one was into it and so meny people say its the best one people came from ohio and bc. it was so cool every one was nice and the hosts were great. Lol the wizerds really made me laugh. good job

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

Some more pics

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

Of the competitions I attended (LA, SVR, Vegas) and watched online, I thought Vegas was the most exciting.

However, I didn't get to see any of the others that people have been mentioning as being really exciting (GTR, WMR, etc).

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

Between what I've seen in real life and online, I'd say West Michigan had the most exciting finals matches, and Detroit had the most.. intense? Not sure what word to use.. there was soo muuchh defense played, it was almost painful to watch haha. I heard GLR was good too, but I didn't get to see it.

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

Philadelphia.

The place is way too crowded with robots and teams.
It's exceedingly hot, and sweat covers everything.
The building rocks from the noise of some of the loudest teams in FIRST (with Wayne Penn doing nothing to discourage it)
The teams are old, wise, and have tricks up their sleeves.
The competition is rough, violent, and visceral.

In short, it's everything that I love from a FIRST event.

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

Yeah... plus the #1 seed alliance (1000, 648, 447) played a total of 12 elimination matches. Three quarterfinal matches, four semifinal matches, and five final matches. Definitely the most exciting regional I went to... heh.

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

My personal favorite was Boilermaker, what with all the great teams like techno-kats and 1501 being upset in the first round and many matches coming down to whether or not a robot will be lifted or get up a ramp. The final match (with it tied 1-1) came down to whether or not (sorry if i missed the team #'s) 1023 could get up 461's ramp, while no ringers were scored and 1555 lifted 234 and 1730 up for 2 15 point bonuses.

Though I know for a fact that I have a biased opinion :p

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

by the end of the summer, IRI :)

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

I've only attended 3...but NJ was personally my favorite.

We had a Hawaiian team and Canadian Team, and awesome MC...AND a conga line that wrapped around the field not once, but twice! We danced, the hula, did the hokey pokey, and the teams were amazing! Not to mention our mascot pit.

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

yea I thought Vegas was very exciting as well.

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

West Michigan, of all the ones I went to this year. Plus, we won, so I'm kinda biased.

It was truly an amazing regional. The eliminations were intense; I felt that any of the alliances could have been the one to win. Even 494 was around for the 2nd round of picking. That should tell you something about the caliber of the robots at that regional.

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

I would have to say Davis in the first round of quarter finals the #1 vs #8 went to FIVE ROUNDS. in match 1 two of the bots team 100 and 997 tipped over the crowed went balistic. second round 100 997 and 1458 pull off the win. round three intense match ends in a tie. round 4 they messure #8 alliances ramps first and one robot is short and gets 15 points. you think its all over then all of a sudden #1 allaince is short TOO! the crowd goes insane. round 5 #8 alliance ramp bot's ramps fall down and it goes south from there but I think if that didnt happen it could have easily gone to 6 matches at the least. It would have made for a very intense final.

then a semi final round went to the third round. one alliance got both bots on the ramps last second to squeak out a win the crowd jumps in the stands. match ends and the ramps fall down and the other alliance wins and the whole arena becomes practicaly defining from the roars.

by far the best regional I have ever been too.

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

Davis,
the quarter finals... 5 matches for one round... 2 ties ;)

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

Midwest all the way. 4 match quarterfinal, our 4 match semi, and our 5 match final. We played 7 back to back matches and by the end, even the coach was feeling it. Sometimes there wasn't enough time for the controller to shut off in between the battery changes. Then the controller never got reset, and all our autonomous did was raise the ringer in the air... but im not getting into that now. Even from the very beginning, Midwest was the most exciting.

Malhon

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

Yep. We were highly impressed. There we were, waiting there with our ramps down and 1087 tipped. We tough we lost the match for sure. But then it pushed itself up with its arm! 1087 was a great robot and a wonderful team mate.

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

Davis.

5 Quarterfinal matches between the #1 and #8 alliances. Two bots tipped over in the first match. One attempted to be tipped over in every match after that. Ringers on flags being taken off by teammates, and some really cool lifts by 997.

'Nuff said.

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

I thought we tied the following two matches then won two times. Or maybe I was just too shocked to remember.

Yeah, imaging being on the alliance team of the number 1 seed and having your ramp robot, that has never been tipped before, on its side seconds into the competition. Then having a ring stuck to the flag pole of your best scorer. After spending half a minute to take off the ring of the best scorer, the best scorer gets tipped over too!!! One minute into the match, you are completely shocked. The 8th seed had just punched you in the face and you are dumbfounded. You then try to fight your way back. But then the other team fight you back just as hard, keep matching your score. It was insanely intense for us the drive team if not for the crowd.

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

Oh man. 997 and 100 got knocked over, and I swear, everybody in the crowd lost their freaking mind (including all of 675). It was less a "punch" and more a "wrecking ball".

You guys did great, though.

Amazing regional.

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

And those two quarterfinal Davis ties were high scoring, too. First 63-63, and then 91-91.

I believe the order was:
8th alliance win
Tie 63 - 63
1st alliance win
Tie 92 - 92
1st alliance win

And we (team 100) managed to hang a keeper in that final round!:D

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

out of the ones in the southeast UCF, Peachtree, and Palmetto I attended all three

palmetto was by far the most exciting, though on the webcast it seems as if those guys from jersey have a great time....

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

Because I only went to one regional which was Boston, i have to say the last match of Boston was amazing. One reason could be that my team was in it, another reason was in the last seconds team 69 has their ramps down and then team 125 got up with 0 time on the clock. I know that this might not have been the most exciting regional but it was the third match in the final and came down to the wire.

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

Out of all the regionals i went to and all the regionals i viewed online.. i have to say Buckeye was the most intense and the most energetic regional..

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

I have to agree, Buckeye was VERY intense - especially the eliminations!

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

That keeper was great! It gave us a head start and much-needed confidence. We did pull through on the last match with a score of 128 to 64.:D

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

At Palmetto the #1 alliance outscored the #8 in the first elimnation round 240-0 including 8 ringers on the second spider leg in the first 90 seconds. That alliance (without a ramp-bot) made it all the way to the finals, but lost in the 3rd final round.

All the bots at Palmetto were competitive. Weonly had 3 no-shows through 75 matches. Everyone won somematches and only two teams had only 2 wins.

But I would have to agree that going 5 rounds in the finals woudl be the most exciting ending. Whatever regional that was must have been awesome.

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

I want to shake that driver's hand.

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

West Michigan, Vegas, Great Lakes, St. Louis , Lone Star ,

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

detroit was by far the most intense if u saw that regional u were on the edge of your seat that was defense in its purest form i just wish they had videos of that regional

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

I attended four regionals this year and watched another, and I would have to say West Michigan was the best I saw. Each match in the elimination rounds was a battle. The scores were so close and the teams were so good. I think six of the eight alliances that competed probably could have won any other regional (Except GTR). While it was not the highest scoring, the quality of teams were probably as good if not better than any other regional. WildStang was the sixth pick, when does that happen. These teams were all great and very competitive. The next best I saw was Detroit. The defensive matches and parity of the alliances made it great to see.

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

Lone Star regional takes my vote. Some matches were decided by a penalty and the final elimination match only had 2 points difference between 1st and 2nd place.

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

It is a testament to the game design and the growth of the FIRST program that there are so many well supported arguments for most exciting. As little as four years ago, this subject could easily be discussed among maybe five undisputed "Most Exciting" regionals. Obviously, other regions have caught up with the early regionals. While I think West Michigan continued it's seven year tradition of having some of the most exciting matches anywhere, it seems the gap has shrunk considerably.

I really didn't see all that many matches this year, so I can't pass judgment, but why limit the excitement criteria to the playing field? At Arizona, many new teams showed up with inoperable or illegal robots. By Friday morning all of them were on the field thanks to help from established teams. It seems there was lots of excitement in those pits that day. Every award ceremony has it's share of excitement. This year the Arizona mentor thank you and West Ottawa's announcement of the State Senate's declaration of March as Michigan FIRST Robotics Month come immediately to mind. I will forever remember last year's WMR Woodie Flowers Award.

The thrills of a heroic repair, a well deserved award, a compliment on our efforts, the growth of our team members, making new friends.... These can make a memorable and exciting FIRST regional as much as a close match.

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

I had ring side seats for VCU, Peachtree and Palmetto. I have to say the intensity grew as the season progressed. My vote would be Palmetto. As covered is some other threads even the Refs were challenged. But, based on the trend I saw, the Championship is going to be much more extreme!

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

guys ... yall forgot VCU

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

I would deffinatly go for Davis. I attended SVR and eventhough there was an upset or two, no super thrilling matches. At Davis its shinning moment was the first QF that everyone is talking about. Match number one was the best Ringer bot, the best lift bot, and a great Ringer bot, against a ramp bot, a rookie ringere bot, and a ringer bot that mostly stuck to defence. Ofcourse we (Team #1) went into thinking it would be an easy win. Not a chance: here are my 2 favorite.

Match #1 about 20 seconds in 997 get tipped, you blink and oyu missed it. Then everyone is thinking stratagy: How many ringers do we need to make up for lack of lift?, should we try to box out thier bots from reaching home zone? and before you even knew what happened, team 100 gets a tube on their flag! this means out lift bot is out, and our score bot cant touch a ringer! We had to decide the best action, and went with removing the ringer from 100. This wasn't easy do to defence and correct positioning. with about 30 seconds left in the match we remove the ringer. Now we had to score like crazy and home that their ramp fails. Before 100 scores once, they flip. This was detramental. Our morale was shot, and we felt like we didn't have a chance. We go into the second match with a revised stratagy on avoiding flips, and are holding onto to the last bit of destroyed confidence we had.

Match 3 starts just as the first, great defence by #8 with the rookie team doing what they can to score. Thing were going fine, 3 ringers on each side and both teams trying to get the all important 5er. As team 100 approches the Rack to score a 4th the defender that knoked both over last time start blocking 100. They move tward the Rack and OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO tipping!!!.................... feew, back down, they approach again and OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO tipping!!!................ feew, back down. This repeats then finnally the defender focuses on us and 100 can score. it is now a line of 4 for us against a line of 4+a line of 2 for them. both teams go back to their zones for the lift. We skid over to 997, who hit the lift button withh maybe 2 seconds to go, and their pneumatic system is able to finish the lift after the bell. While thier team's electric system falls at they bell and one bot rolls off.

Im youtubing the quater finals as we speak, ill post a link

match 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CWHYF1BwSo
match 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ci0QMpVgQQ

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

I was impressed with Kansas City, because I thought it was well run for a rookie regional. That being said I liked the competition at Houston the best out of the two we attended.

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

my most exciting one was Southern California Regional

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

WHAT REGIONAL OR FIRST EVENT ISN'T EXCITING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THEY ALL EQUALLY ARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

i personally loved the GSR because of the teams and kids. NOWHERE else have i met a better group of teams out there to have a good time. I also loved socal because a lot of good robots come out of there and that makes it great. Teams like 126, 190, 175, 40... the list goes on of teams that do well every year at our little regional and by the end of my four years of being there i have met the regulars and met friends from all the teams and i suppose that is what makes any regional great!

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

Our team went to the Boilermaker Regional and Long Island. BMR was ABSOLUTELY AWESOME, partly because it was the first competition I had ever been to as a part of my team, and it had a lot of great robots.
Of course, our team had never been to Long Island before either, therefore that regional was FABULOUS, because it was a totally new experience.
EVERY REGIONAL IS EXCITING. THAT'S WHAT FIRST IS ALL ABOUT!:)

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

Not that it is a big deal, but there were no rookie teams on this alliance...a 2nd year team, yes...a 3rd year team, yes...but no rookies:D

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

We focused on defending a defender, 1662, that the 8th seed's robots were free to score and that almost killed us. Maybe that wasn't the smartest move we made, but I think we were all affraid of 1662 tipping 100 over again.:D

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

My heart almost did not make it through those matches.

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

i still gotta go with VCU, a DQ in the finals so it had to go 3 matches and the winning alliance was a canadian , a rookie and an underdog at hte 6th seed, ya it may not have been the same as what happened at the orlando regional.... but im a bit biased

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

GLR, GTR, WMR. MWR. From what I've heard.

GLR ALL THE WAY!

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

For the overall experience, I'd say that NJ was the most exciting. Great teams, great energy, and that dancing! Whew. We also had the one of the best MC/Announcer duos. High-octane FIRST spirit was what it was all about.

From the videos I've watched of other regionals, GTR, SVU, and BMR seemed equally exciting. Awesome robots provided for some intense competition.

But hey, this is FIRST, when is a regional not exciting? :D

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

I thought Long Island was pretty exciting. There were two MCs, and they competed by the colors, that added more zest and friendly competition to the event. But Boilermaker Regional was awesome! At the award ceremonies they used smoke, and a locomotive rose from the stage! IT WAS SWEET!

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

Wisconsin was simply amazing. Especially come finals time. That final match was the best I've ever seen other than maybe the finals of last year's IRI.

Re: Most Exciting Regional.
 

I have been to many over the years and I would have to say that I thought that the Philly regional was one of the loudest, most entergitc, great competition between all of the teams, the town is so friendly(I know know why the call it the city iof brotherly love), great bowling alleys, and there is so much more to do around the town.