Re: Bills Blog - Champs info
 

If you really think about it. it will be 4 fields in the pits and 3 in the dome.

2 divisional fields and 2 practice fields.

Then the 2 divisional fields and the one Einstein.

Re: Bills Blog - Champs info
 

I'm wondering if they'll change the time for the Dean's List presentation...any teams that have Dean's List students are going to want to be there, and it's currently scheduled for exactly the time that all the teams are supposed to switch fields...

Re: Bills Blog - Champs info
 

I know that unfortunately. :o

I was commenting on how the dome will be quiet with half the teams and 2 less fields. If I was a visitor I wouldn't even bother hanging in the dome but rather go to the pits as that is where you have the best of both worlds: pits and qual fields.

Here is something new I just picked up on. He keeps saying qualification fields. Does that mean eliminations will be in the dome? I am very confuzzled.

Re: Bills Blog - Champs info
 

We should have a 'Steps Taken For FIRST' contest. Everyone wear a pedometer and keep a log of how many miles you walked at the St. Louis Championship. That could be a lot of fun. Do they make pedometers for robot carts?

Jane

P.S. What is this going to do to the whole "ROBOT" yell in the midst of an exodus? Create a chorus line?

Re: Bills Blog - Champs info
 

The only counting that'll be going on with me is the hundreds of times I will be counting to ten trying to lead these teams too the proper field amidst all the chaos FIRST has wrought.

Re: Bills Blog - Champs info
 

Like many of the posters on this thread, I too am not pleased with this news. I hope there's another part of "the plan" that hasn't been unveiled yet, to take away this bitter taste of disappointment.

I loved the situation in the Georgia Dome. I loved being able to walk the oval and go from Curie to Archimedes to Newton to Galileo. I loved searching for my 'home regional' teams and visiting with them. I liked 'the intimacy' of each individual field, but I liked 'all of it together' in one spot. Common lighting, common seating, predictable restroom locations, overpriced food. I guess I will miss that.

But still...

My kids are stoked. No one on 1899 has been to CMP, ever... not the mentors, not the kids. This will be their first time... it might be their only time.

They are so looking forward to sharing the field with HOF teams, powerhouse teams, RCA winners, and regional winners from around the globe. They're excited about touring the pits and seeing these fantastic machines up close and personal, machines that they've only seen on webcasts or photos.

Without Atlanta as a reference, they will have a nice empty canvas to paint their own memories from this experience. I won't let this situation bring them down.

Re: Bills Blog - Champs info
 

Took the words out of my mouth. Teams have a hard enough time hearing calls for their teams to report to the field in a normal pit environment. Add to that 2 actual competition fields with teams cheering and shouting? That's a nightmare waiting to happen.

And like many other people I'm curious as to how they decide who gets priority on the dome fields for the elimination matches on Saturday.

I'm willing to wait and give things a chance...but so far they aren't off to a very good start with the new venue.

Re: Bills Blog - Champs info
 

Unfortunately, calls are not made at the championship event.

To address the problem of transfering field information, why not just drag over the computer that is made to be portable? I believe theses are turned off overnight at each regional.

Re: Bills Blog - Champs info
 

I didn't know that calls weren't made (I was either in the stands or on the field during qualifiers) and knowing this, the pit set up sounds even more of a logistical nightmare....although I do think I'll be right next to Don with some popcorn to watch the stampede.

Re: Bills Blog - Champs info
 

just my two cents and not substantiated but i was told by shippers that the reasons for the multiple fields was the big, surprise musical act for the team party.

Re: Bills Blog - Champs info
 

I'm not too pleased either; I loved everything about Atlanta... But this reminds me of when FIRST changed to districts for Michigan and everyone got in a huff about that too. That ended up working out with little complaint from people now-a-days. So I'm going to say what I said then:

FIRST encourages us to innovate and try new things, lets do the same for them.

Re: Bills Blog - Champs info
 

That was my immediate reaction as well.

I was told that one of the big reasons for choosing St. Louis over Indianapolis for the FIRST Championship was the difficulty of getting all the fields to fit in Lucas Oil Stadium and have good visibility and seating for Einstein without shortchanging the FLL and FTC programs. I'm sure that leaving out two of the FRC division fields would have satisfied that issue, but I'm just as sure that such a proposal would have been laughed down had anyone been silly enough to suggest it.

Re: Bills Blog - Champs info
 

The big surprise musical act? Is that the same team party that follows the closing ceremonies? The ones that follow the World Championship? The World Championship that teams that are competing at paid lots of money to compete at?

Surely that can't be the reason.

Jane

Re: Bills Blog - Champs info
 

To try and calm a few nerves, we were set up in a convention center at Smoky mountain regional and it was one of the best environments I have ever been in. The stands were comfortable and spacious and the pits that were set up right next to the playing field were spacious and the most quiet FIRST pits I have ever been in.

So if it's done properly the fears of the pit being too loud or not enough seating in the stands can be mitigated.

Now having said that: Why FIRST chose a venue that can't accommodate 6 fields + FTC is totally beyond me (well not totally but I won't speculate further.).

Re: Bills Blog - Champs info
 

At Disney, if my memory is correct...there were a couple of setups.

One was three stages (two small, one big) and teams rotated from small to big to make sure everyone got a chance to play on the big stage. There were reserved seating areas that teams had to rotate in and out of during/after their match. It worked well enough.

As Nationals got bigger, it turned into the main pit tent, two tents with fields, and Einstein Stage. Each field tent had two fields and each field was a division (Einstein was a division the first year, but only the first year...I think). I think this was the same setup in 2001 and 2002. Your division field was where you played most of your matches and was where the elims were held. Each division rotated to Einstein for an hour at a time I believe and I think everyone played two matches out there...not consecutively. Divisional seating was tiny... bleachers maybe had 15, 20 rows at max, and were the length of the field plus a bit more. ON ONE SIDE ONLY. I don't know how people watched matches (I was on the field), but that was part of the reason we're no longer at Disney. We got too big.

If the pit hall is anything like the Atlanta pits, I don't see how this will work. Traffic and queuing are going to be a mess (at least queuing in the dome, albeit LONG, was scenic), its going to be noisy, and seating will be nonexistent. Ceiling height could be an issue too (there are some human players with high throwing arcs). Will the pit fields have video production? Will they have a visible screen for teams to watch (drive teams especially?)?

I've never been in the EJD but if it is at least the same floor space as the Georgia Dome, there was plenty of wasted space that could have been put to better use. Not to mention that once FLL and FTC pack up, Einstein was left vacant for the better part of two days and the FTC space became a giant void. FIRST College could use Einstein if FRC fields are being moved for that.

Plus - no robot parade!?! This irks me...not just because we finally earned a spot in the would be parade this year, but because I loved seeing all the mascots, HOF teams, and RCA teams get their moment in the spotlight - the time for the teams that might not have the best robot but represent what FIRST is all about to be seen by all.

At least there's no Houston ramps to deal with....