[Tom Line]

Sudo,

I read your post. I sympathize with you being DSQ'd. It must feel horrible. However, I'll point out that I don't think this post should have ever been made.

First and most importantly, as you yourself admit, you are working on second stories. Those stories are likely third and forth hand in reality. Also, having never talked directly to the inspectors and the judges who made this call yourself, it's probably fifth and sixth hand.

A much more likely story would be that an opposing team noticed your bumpers and pointed them out to the refs. The refs checked the rules, found your bumpers were wrong, then DSQ'd you.

This situation is infinitely more likely than teams purposefully withholding hurtful information until the last minute. I have never seen a FIRST team conduct themselves that way - and I hope I never do. Accusations without proof are very, very dangerous.

That said, you should not let a single unfortunate situation color your view of FIRST. I think you need to work past the idea that anyone did this on purpose. As you found out from your teammates, many people's first reaction to catastrophe is to try to place blame rather than solve the problem. Start using your energy constructively and create a process on your team that will never allow this to happen again.