[PayneTrain]

This thread was brought to my attention earlier this evening. I took the weekend off from dissecting the competition and watching the forums to spend time with the team and my friends and family before I go dark Wednesday night.

Full disclosure: this thread is populated with the words of adults and I am but a senior on my robotics team, and a wearer of many hats. I haven't been around the block as many as some of you have, but as I read, a sour taste grew in my mouth.

I don't mean to sound like a condescending parent, but I'm disappointed.

I'm disappointed that this bridge, which was identified as a point of collusion instead of coopertition, was made such a big factor by the GDC.

I'm disappointed the GDC should have had to consider that this would happen.

I'm disappointed that teams apparently took their weekends out of high school to take stereotypical high school peer pressure from the hallways of schools to the aisles of a regional.

I'm disappointed that this kind of conduct left the pits and came on to the field. You get 135 seconds to do your very best. In those 135 seconds, teams shouldn't be conspiring with one another to do worst than your best. Our sponsors believe in us enough to donate to our occasionally expensive cause, because we believe in ourselves. I told my team this year that in the past we fumbled around, slapped some metal together, and got lucky, and those days were over. I'm proud of what we all did this year, and one of our sponsors noticed enough to throw more support our way. When mentors or students throw any aspect of the game on the field, you shame every logo on your robot.

I'm disappointed that we go through the same tired charade every year of "this robot is mentor built" and "why are adults on the drive team"? There are thousands of FRC teams. If we were all the same, it would be boring and pointless. I take pride in the way our team conducts our operations, and I'd like to be more focused on how to win with what we have than how others win with what we don't.

I know I'm going to get heat for this, but I'm disappointed in how the victimized teams took to their Twitter, Facebook, and Chief Delphi accounts to throw down other teams. Yes, teams shouldn't be jerks, and yes, they were jerks. However, if we elect to preach the merits of focusing on how well your specific team is performing, and how you shouldn't worry about how other teams practice their interpretation of Gracious Professionalsim, don't go complaining about it all. I've read how 1114 has received negative feedback for positive performances before. People are people. Kids shouldn't have to deal with other teams negative attitudes, but I have to go to school with people who shouldn't be rude. I would hope mentors would take this opportunity to tell their students to rise above the BS of other's personalities instead of taking their complaints to the internet. That usually just results in hurt feelings, which were clearly laid out in this thread.

I know your opinion on that may be drastically different, but I feel like it should be mentioned.

I considered condensing this message and sending to the team in one of our emails, but frankly, this thread has really pulled my enthusiasm about FRC down a few notches. I'm going with three dozen members and coaches to my final home regional this weekend, and suddenly, I'm not looking forward to it at all. Here's to hoping it changes by Wednesday.