Quote:
Originally Posted by JABot67
I don't know what to think.
What goes on in Canada is so much different than what happens in Michigan.
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Yes it is, and one of the reasons we created the District Competition structure was to specifically address this issue. We often don't like to openly talk about non-GP behavior, but it does exist and should be addressed.
The problem is not how good 1114/2056 are; the problem is that the traditional FRC regional model ONLY promotes the winners. Thus a team who perpetually finishes as a finalist or semifinalist never gets promoted to the next level, and this leads to eventual resentment of the top teams. Believe it or not, back in the 2005-2008 time frame, there were very clear cases of this going on here in MIchigan, targeted at some historically great teams such as 67, 217, and 469. These teams typically win the events they attend. They are also role models to all of us. Hatred toward them or anyone else has no place in FIRST. When we were given the opportunity to make some systemic changes back in the summer of 2008, fixing this was at the top of my list.
In a nutshell, one of the design objectives of our system is: "Teams who exhibit good performance at both of their district events should be promoted to the State Championship". Simple. If you are good and prove it, you move on. The exact threshold of "good performance" moves up a little bit each year as our league grows, but no where are you ever required to be the best in order to succeed.
A team who places as a Semifinalist at both districts will advance, and the State Semifinalist move to Worlds. This system basically distills any hatred that may have once existed. Now another team's success really does not affect your own team's fate very much. HOT winning Waterford last week does nothing to prevent 573 and 3098 from going to States, they all will go and all will have a great time.
Any system which only promotes the very best will naturally tend to generate negative sentiments from the group who almost won. This problem is solvable and it has been solved. Our best FRC teams should be role models to all, and anything which works against this should be obsoleted.
"Don't hate the player, Hate the game"