[pfreivald]

Since when are any of us owed victory?

A couple of rambling thoughts on this meandering topic:

One of the coolest moments in 1551 history was when the Thunder Chickens were worried we weren't going to pick them at FLR in 2010. (We did pick them, and we won, and it was another of the coolest moments in 1551 history!) No one gave us that; we earned it, and it's more special because of it. ...and yet the trip to championship was near disaster on the field, thankyouverymuch, as we learned some important lessons about durability when you do multiple events. (Murphy camped in our pit in Atlanta, but everything that went wrong was, ultimately, our fault.)

There's nothing wrong with the bar being set very high (as in, as high as other teams choose to set it within the bounds of the rules), but there could be something to better educate the rookie teams on what they're getting into. Pulling in kids and adults from other districts for a year or two before spinning them off into their own team gives them a much firmer foundation, and a much better idea of what they're getting into.

Talk to the mentors of 217 and 254 and 1114 and 2056 -- they'll happily tell you what they've done to get to where they are. Use that information as you see fit, whether it's a team overhaul or incremental improvement. Don't bemoan the circumstances that put your school or team at a disadvantage, or do, but either way take them as a challenge and circumvent them as best you can.