[Dan Petrovic]

Man, this will be my first time posting in years, but since I was able to attend and I opinions, let's let them fly!

The Good
St. Louis - It was a nice area that wasn't too crowded, the parking around the dome was incredible and, I felt, that there were plenty of places to eat in and around the dome. Also, the people from the area all seemed extremely interested in what was happening in their dome.
The Saturday Afterparty- I had been to Atlanta twice and getting dinner was never that easy. They were EXTREMELY prepared to feed all of the people there and they were able to get food to every very quickly and easily. Well done there. Also, the Talent Show was everything we've come to expect after years of seeing the IRI Talent Show.
The distance between the dome and the pits - I'm glad that I don't need to pack a lunch before going between the stands and the pits.
The weather - I know those in charge have no control of this, but it's still worth noting that the weather was fantastic.
The concert - Not only did it have the teams excited, but the commoners on St. Louis were excited to hear that the Black Eyed Peas would be in town. That was a ton of fun. Would attend again.
The hour before the Einstein matches - I never knew that music and airplanes would make waiting around so much fun.
utcjobs.com/first - As a college student, this is very much appreciated.

The Bad
The concert - The effect that this concert had on the rest of the competition cannot be overlooked.
The fields in the pits - This wouldn't have been so bad if there was more seating, or more space around the field. It felt like the Boilermaker Regional, but with twice as many teams. There's no way that would work.
Einstein matches - I don't know about you guys, but I felt that Einstein was rather lackluster. Not to take anything away from the teams who played there, congratulations to you all, but it wasn't what I was expecting this game would end with. Maybe it was the lack of music, which I'm assuming had to be done because of the I.Am.FIRST, but that doesn't make it any less true.
Announcing the Chairman's Award Winner at the concert - This might be my biggest gripe of the whole event. My team was able to attend the championship event because of winning the RCA at GSR. We got on the floor, which was awesome and had a ton of fun at the concert. However, there were people from my team that did not go to the concert because they were tired, did not care for the Black Eyed Peas, etc. How would they have felt if they had not been there to receive the Chairman's Award? It wouldn't have been so bad had we been told that the Chairman's Award winner was going to be announced, but we had no word of that.

All in all, the sheer volume of the event still made it a great place to be. I just hope that this publicity that FIRST is getting wont continue to get in the way of the experience that the students are having. If you ask me, I'd tell you that FIRST is great no matter what the celebrities say.