[JaneYoung]

There's nothing wrong with being a stick in the mud. There's nothing wrong with caring about the events that you participate in and that you want to help shine. There's always something wrong with selfish carelessness.

Not sure why the new teams don't get the word about building or buying robot carts to transport their robots. So much of this was discussed last year at the end of the regional here in CD. I'm sure that it was discussed by the event planners, too. It should have been.

There is no reason for the pathways for the robot to and from their pits to be blocked. Not at the Alamo Regional.

I'm scratching my head over the bridge play, though. Not cool.

Edit: Ed, I think some of what you are seeing with the students in the pits - is the young age of the teams at the Alamo. I think a lot of what you are seeing is that. Also - At the BEST competitions, there is a Spirit break and teams bring their cheerleaders and drumlines for the Spirit break. At BEST Regional level, teams bring their cheerleaders and school bands to the event. A lot of the Texas teams are also BEST teams. There could be some crossover at a FIRST event. My opinion is that the event planners should be aware of the problems of crowding the floor around the field and they should plan for it. After the Alamo last year, I was very frustrated with the crowd situation. I thought about events that I had been to where the crowds were huge and happy/excited and the one that came to mind was IRI. Even in a high school gym that did not have the space that the Alamo venue has - there is not that crowd issue. The teams maintain - themselves - very well. I think that is key and I also think the event planners are key - in managing the crowd behaviors.

Some guidelines could easily be developed.

Jane