Quote:
Originally Posted by Billfred, several weeks ago...
This will be 2815's first trip to Peachtree (and my first since a day trip in 2006). After coming up short to 1771 and 2415 in the Palmetto finals in 2009, we're eager to try and return the favor.  |
Eh heh...
Anyone who's read this thread over the past few days knows how god-awful our Friday was. This morning was no exception, with our comms going in and out during our first matchup and our digital sidecar getting unhooked during our final qualification match. I'd been talking with folks on both 1771 and 2415 through the days, mostly in the can-you-believe-our-rotten-luck sense. (A 30% run-the-whole-two-minutes rate at a regional is not usually picking material.)
Our second match this morning with 2415--one of those rare clean runs for us--they asked if we could play some defense along the middle. Having beat up our claw at the end of yesterday and not having much time to refine our driving, we agreed. We were encouraged by a good run, but even I (the resident eternal optimist) was kinda shifting into wait-'til-next-week mode.
Seeded 38th of 48th, I snuck up to the stands to watch alliance selections. As soon as I saw 2415 pick 1771, I said to myself "Good game"--these two were very in my eyes the best teams at the event (and if they weren't, nobody was getting two teams that could top them). The first round of picking went by without much fanfare--no way we'd get picked ahead of those guys--and even our representative (Stacy, our junior programmer genious responsible for even giving us a glimmer of ubertube hope) was about to turn towards the pits when 2415 called our number. I was a little enthused, as noted.
I have no idea how we managed to go six matches in a row without any major flubs--the closest we came was a weaker battery in Finals 2 (which is why we slowed down so much towards the end). Everything was clicking--we played our position as hard as we could, blocked hard, shoved as many tubes as we could, and only broke out the claw to pull tubes off the wall and deliver them (or during the last few seconds when we had little else to do, as our minibot aspirations were dashed on Thursday). I have no idea how this managed to work so effectively against three different tough alliances, but even through the rougher parts of finals we managed to hold it together and bring out a win. Once again, I was a little enthused--this was 2815's first ever regional win, and my first in eight seasons of competing in FRC across three different teams.
To
2415 and 1771, I can not thank you guys enough for taking the gamble on our team. No alliance I've ever worked with has been more relaxed, more prepared, and more able to adapt to challenges--I hope our kids were taking notes. (If nothing else, I know they took notes about minibots--we're definitely working on that for Palmetto.)
Thank you to
the volunteers and crew for running a very smooth event. When running a little bit late is the worst thing you have to say about an event, it's a very good event.
Thank you to
all the teams that helped us with little bits and pieces. I should've known we'd be in for a long three days when we realized our toolbox wouldn't fit on the bus.
Thank you to the
NASA machine shop...and sorry about those axle shafts.
Thank you to
the millions (plus or minus 99.99%) of 2815ers watching at home that called, tweeted, Facebooked, and texted us through eliminations, and to the parents and USC mentors that welcomed us home to the machine shop tonight. Also thanks to all the non-2815ers who've passed their congratulations along.
And finally, thanks to
my teammates. Thanks to a surprise exam, we lost our USC mentors for Peachtree and had just eleven people making the trip--nine kids, one teacher, and me. Their experience, never-say-die attitude, and ability to work through all our many gremlins is the only way any of this could even be possible. We're graduating an exceptional group of seniors, and they've certainly set the bar high for our underclassmen. Cameron, Will, Christian, Stacy, Manoel, George, Aaron, Lizzie, Meg, and Chris--thank you all for a wild ride.
Now to fix up that arm....
(PS to 2415 and 1771: When I said after the photos we've got to do this again on Einstein, I meant it! 
)