Well, my blood pressure has gone down, I still don't have a voice, and I am exhausted beyond believe. That could only mean that this event was an amazing success, and it is now time for thank-you's and congrats.
56 and
1370 - Thanks for being such great alliance partners. Some of our matches were so unbelievably close, with winning our first Quarter-Final match due to some hidden if-you-get-a-tie-in-the-elimination-rounds extra point rule, only advancing to the Finals by winning our third Semi-Final match by a single point, and going in to our third match in the Finals not expecting our robot to have any communication. I am still in a state of astounding shock, and am again and again reliving through my mind the feeling of counting down the seconds with both alliances double-balanced on the bridge, waiting for the match to end, hoping nothing would move, fearing that any opposing imbounder-thrown ball would cost us the match. 56, we can't wait to see you at Mt. Olive; our ball feeding strategy couldn't have worked better. 1370, I know you’ll do great at Lenape; your defense was invaluable to our alliance.
1403, 2016, 3515, and 203 - Congrats on being finalists, you guys put on an awesome fight. You deserved to win just as much as we did, and we were honored to play against you. Good luck in your future competitions. 2016, we can't wait to compete with you again in New York City this weekend, hopefully this time WITH you =).
75 - Wow. Your team is beyond words. I honestly don't know how you all can still talk and stand after this past weekend (How is my voice gone but yours aren’t!? =P). Even though your robot had the same comm issues that we did at first, you guys never gave up any of your hope or enthusiasm. Not only did you cheer for your own team, but fellow teams as well, even when you were competing against them. You are the true embodiment of Gracious Professionalism, and our team is so glad to be friends with you. Congrats on winning the EI and the Industrial Safety Award; even when times were tough, you made the best of it. We can only aspire to try to be like you.
11 – A huge congrats on Chairman’s and Website. You guys rightfully deserved it. I hope your Music and Memory collection went well this past weekend, that’s a great charity. I loved seeing your Kinetic Player down there, it seemed to work out well for you guys. Your new ‘Kinetic Mode’ shirts were also a hit, any chance you will be selling them?
223 – Another extremely kind and spirited team. We wish you the best of luck at Lenape, you know we’ll be rooting for you. Even though you didn’t win an award this past weekend, I saw you still dancing during the Finals, which was truly inspiring. I’m sure we’ll see you again in Philly. Also, thanks Steven for hooking me up with a pair of your flame pants
.
4281, 4347, and 4128 – Congrats on all three rookies at the event getting awards! Rookie Inspiration, Rookie All-Star, and Highest Rookie Seed, respectfully. We know we’ll watch you grow in the future.
Finally, thanks for everyone else who helped the first ever Rutgers University MAR District Event run smoothly, we were almost never behind schedule. Congrats to everybody who participated at the event, we loved seeing all of you and had a wonderful time. We are hoping to get our archived video of the matches posted soon, and will let you all know when it’s up.
Good luck to all teams in their next competition(s), and a gigantic thanks to everybody who has helped make us 5/5 for our past 5 regionals/districts.
New York City, we’ll be seeing you in just 4 days. Wow, already it’s less than 90 hours away
. It’s coming up fast, and though I may be tired, our team couldn’t be more excited!
P.S. To the 4 teams who have still not played in a MAR District, get ready for some great memories to be made.