[Koko Ed]

As a part of team que I see many teams having great difficulty taking care of their buttons (one team lost their button 3 times!). I had teams come tho the que line in complete disarray (when the mentors don't understand the concept of the driver's button that's when the problems ensue) and start passing around the buttons amongst teammates to get the right one on the field without realizing that the one with the dot on it denotes the coach and they are not to touch the controls. FIRST needs to explain to teams in theor packet what the drivers buttons are for and how important they are to gain access to the field.
Last year I got into a confrontation with a mentor who claimed I didn't have the authority to deny a student access to the field because it's all about the student when being part of team que my authority about who gets to go on or off the field is EXACTLY my job and another team whined about how unfair it was that drivers buttons were required to participate because their whole drives team was out to lunch and a group of replacements wandered down to take their place and I would not let them go on.
I know people get all bent out of shape when FIRST and the GDC put up all these rules to get in the way of their fun and all but there is a reason why they control access to the rild to just anyone who wants to go out to the field area so that not just any person who wants to check the place out just wanders down there and clutters up the p;ace like they do the pits and grinds the event to a halt.

As for media badges at FLR they had six to give out to teams when their team was out for their match. I don't think Florida let anyone out because there was no room and Chesapeake didn't have a badge and just let it slide if an extra person wandered down (but if six to 8 people were out they were dealt with).
If I had it my way I would just do away with the stupid media badge thing altogether. My job is to get the robot on and off the field and keep the event moving. I do not have the time, the resources and oft times the staff to be bothered with teams need to get a better picture of their drive teams adventures down on the field. Some of the biggest headaches I have had is with media people who just become a general nuisance to an outright irritant giving me attitude because I won't allow them access to the field whenever they feel like it.