Re: Ann Arbor District
 

I'll be there as a volunteer! I haven't been to a FIRST competition since I volunteered for the 2008 CT regional. Once of the first things I thought of when I decided to do grad school at UMich was the fact that I hadn't had the chance to be involved in FIRST in years and, since FIRST is huge in Michigan, now is a great time. I can't wait for Friday!

Re: Ann Arbor District
 

On behalf of everyone on 3098, we wish everyone good luck at the Ann Arbor District Competition (In which we will be vigorously competing :D ).

Re: Ann Arbor District
 

God i cant wait, heading down there after skool cant wait to check it ouT!!!

Re: Ann Arbor District
 

Anyone up for shirt trade @ A^2? ive got two extra 862 shirts im lookin to get rid of, both are larges. if interested pm here or find me @ arena, ill be the one with the maid doll attached to my waist

Dean Kamen Arrives!
 

here he is with our mascot:

Re: Ann Arbor District
 

Ok, so I do not know if I am the only one to think this. But did anyone else think the alliance selection was a little out of the ball park. Like I know there where some good ones and such, but man did it get loopy for a bit?

Re: Ann Arbor District
 

It was a bit odd, I'm assuming your referring to our alliance. We were the 25th (i might be a little off) ranked team after qualifications and were picked second. This is because 3098 was against us at Waterford and new what our bot could do when at full strength. Before alliance selection they asked a mentor on our team if we were back to what we had been at Waterford, he said yes. The captains took a bit of a risk picking us, but I think it paid off as we made it to the finals together. Also thanks to 3098 for picking us even after our performance on friday and to 247 for being great partners and playing defense and finishing a few logos durring the end game.

Re: Ann Arbor District
 

No I will admit. It was a great alliance and I do thank 3098 and 548 for believing in our defense to help keep the game rolling. I am more surprised that we dropped so low. I know we were not top of the charts. But there where a lot of teams who picked outside the top 8 which is good to see. It also goes to show that rankings are not as important as everyone makes them out to believe.

Re: Ann Arbor District
 

The Ann Arbor Competition was, in a word, awesome.

First of all, thanks to all those who made the event happen:
- Lisa, who again ran a great AA District and was helpful at every turn
- The venue staff, who were overall very gracious
- The volunteers, who were, like all Michigan events, awesome. Specific shout-outs to:
- Jeff and the rest of the refereeing crew, who calmly explained calls during highly stressful finals matches, and made the right calls the whole way through
- The FTAs and field crew who kept the event running smoothly!
- The judges, who were some of the friendliest to whom I've ever talked. The Chairman's judges specifically actually seemed pretty cool.

It was great to see Dean, Jon Dudas, and François Castaing at this awesome Michigan event!
Of course signing fests with Dean ensued. :rolleyes:

To talk teams:

494 - What a deserving top pick! Besides great tube scoring and a blazing minibot, you're one team that's just out of this world! I hope we get to partner up again!

66 - How were you still around at the final pick?? You played tough defense, had some clutch defense and logo-finishings, played our strategy brilliantly in each match! While the red card was a low point, the defense played in the last twenty seconds of Finals match 3 may have won us that match. It was great to be Pink with you, and it was great to repeat with you!

The Finalists - From the beginning I thought this matchup could go either way. You made it really stressful. 4 minibots that would be first in any other match... Only one word for it: INTENSE.

573 - The missing link from last year's alliance.. You were all-around great at this event, and very deserving of the 3rd pick. You were up there on our list, just not quite there.. I hope we can pair up at States!

This event was just amazing.
It was stressful and awesome and challenging and great in all the right ways.
And I'm not sure what could even match it this year.
But we'll see, I suppose.

Re: Ann Arbor District
 

Dane and his killer strategy seems to have worked pretty good!

Re: Ann Arbor District
 

There were some tense moments during the draft, but Team 66 is glad we were still there to repeat with the Nerds as well as with Martians this year as the "Pink Alliance"! Congrats to 2337 on the Chairman's win! We look forward to seeing you at Eastern again this year.

To the Finalists, you played a tough three matches with three outstanding robots. Great job, and we'll see you at states!

Re: Ann Arbor District
 

I was the lead scouter on 3098 and team 548 was near the bottom of my list at the end of the day Friday, but as they did at the waterford district they had it all fixed saturday and showed me they were ready! Therefore we selected them and 247, and we formed the best alliance we could of had to go against the #1 seed in the finals. Congrats to 2337, 494, and 66. Can't wait for states!!!