[ToddF]

Well, this has been beaten to death, and I wasn't going to continue beating a dead horse, but I might as well get this off my chest.

I knew what to expect regarding the pit fields from reading CD, but our kids did not. I was unable to travel with the team and had to fly in Wed night. I met the team in the hotel for our team meeting, and the kids were excited about the awesome practice fields in the pits. I had to be the one to break it to them that those weren't nice practice fields. Those were the fields where we would be playing our first and third day of quals and our elimination matches, if we were good enough. At first they refused to believe me, then they were horrified.

They wanted to know why all four divisions weren't playing in the dome, and couldn't believe Dean would allow an entertainment act to displace the competition. When idols fall, they fall hard.

My feeling is that if there had been adequate seating for these fields, the tradeoff for the concert might have been worth it. But, because the pit field setup was so incredibly botched, our team and others were deprived of one of the promised rewards of attending the Championships.

The setup was so bad that we don't even have video of our pit qualification matches to show to those team members who were unable to watch our matches from the bleachers. At the two regionals we attended, we recorded all the matches in HD, posted some on youtube, and submitted video to the Blue Alliance. At the National Championships, which many parents were unable to attend, of which the kids most would like a keepsake, there wasn't room to set up a tripod in the center of the field.

The kids rightly claimed that even the off-season event we attend is set up better.

I believe that someone at FIRST made a conscious decision to move these fields to the pits to make room for the concert. I believe any of their claims to the contrary are at best disingenuous and at worst flat-out lies. I sincerely hope that FIRST makes changes for next year. But, for our seniors, who worked their hearts out for four years to finally make it to the National Championship for the first time, that comes too late.

As a rookie mentor, who contributed my valuable time, precious vacation days, and approached my employer for sponsorship money to send the team to this event, I feel I have a right to expect that the kids I have sacrificed for are treated as the stars of the show, not shuffled off to the side.

I await the arrival of the official event feedback survey with baited breath.