[fox46]

the idea of inevitability starts taking hold in people's heads.

-agreed

Have you ever been to an Ontario regional? You can't experience this over a webcast but to be there in person all you need to do is listen to the crowd- the applause and cheering when 1114 and/or 2056 are walloping a team... the lack thereof. Everyone knows what the outcome will be. I remember being at the GTR regional last year and during one of the quarter finals it was so quiet you could hear the solenoid valves firing on the robots. I respect these teams immensely for their awesome achievments but the reality of the situation, like it or not is that there are many many teams out there who are becomming less and less hopeful toward winning a regional when they find themselves up against this alliance. That being said they are a huge driving force behind the Canadian robotics effort. As a kid on one of my teams said- "We don't have to win, we just have to beat 1114 or 2056!"

I know of several Ontario teams who steer clear of their local competitions simply because they don't feel they have a fighting chance at a win. It's rather sad IMO. So you can bet your pants that there are teams out there who will refuse to cooperate with them if only to try and split them up for eliminations.

I can't think of a better series of finals where 1114 and 2056 are forced to play against each other- THAT would be a serious fight which I very much hope to see this year!