[Peter Matteson]

Originally Posted by staplemonx

Defense is an awesome part of every game. FIRST may not like them but, last year team 3553 was one of two really well design defensive bots and world championships. Also I do not believe defensive bots make the game any less watchable. Unless the defensive bot is so amazing at its task as to shut down all scoring. Such a bot would be awesome to see in action, because they are going to win everything.

I'm not saying I agree with this. I'm saying I can read between the lines of the rules. There has been a clear move to try to make the games primarily offensive via penalties and DQs starting in 2008. Part of it is trying to balance offense and defense. Part of it is watching high scoring games where a lot is going on is good for the theoretical outside spectator.

Most of you probably weren't around for 2003 which was a purely defensive game. It was horrible. The game was so bad no one wanted to watch it and lives in infamy as the worst game we've ever had.

2006 on the other hand was great because everyone had to play offense and defense which made for a great game flow.