[colt527]

I haven't read through the whole thread yet, but I was a volunteer on the field every day at the Pittsburgh regional and wanted to put in my input.

First, congratulations to 1114, 1503 and 3492. You guys were great!

I was a first hand witness to one of these types of incidents regarding 1114. So, these types of things do happen. The incident I witnessed involved tempers flaring after a team was eliminated. We have all been there. In the heat of the moment and we let our emotions get the best of us. It is a very tough challenge to try and change the culture so much that tempers will not get the best of teams. However, I believe this change is necessary. It needs to start with the mentors of the team and filter down to the students. The culture of coopertition and gracious professionalism needs to be preached and practiced by the teams early and often.

This is a huge undertaking and I don't think it will be solved by 1 CD thread. Every once in a while it pops up, not much happens, and then it goes back to the same-old, same-old. I don't know yet what this action needs to be, but I think we should have a conversation where we talk about possible solutions and how to actually get them done.

I also want to mention that I don't think Pittsburgh specifically should get a bad wrap from this. This was the first time I had ever been to the regional and the overall reception and attitude of most people was great. It was a super fun regional. However, there were definitely things said and done by people that should never happen and are totally unacceptable. In all the situations, it seemed like the bad comments and actions did not represent the whole team, but a small group of students inside that team. I have also been to many other regionals and the problem seems to be widespread.