Quote:
Originally Posted by 1075guy
I think putting the rankings on the big screen between matches (in addition to, or replacing, whichever, the slideshow) is something we should have been doing for a long time. I think it would make it easier for a casual observer to see the effect that matches are having on the rankings and how that affects the overall competition.
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I understand your point, but I think this practice would be dangerous. I often have rookie team members glued to the ranking screen to see how we're affected after each match. A common chorus on our team is "rankings don't matter until Saturday afternoon."
As has been discussed before, there is quite a bit of luck built in to FRC games. From the Coopertition award formula to the serpentine draft,
FIRST injects chance into the competitions. Also, as good scouts know, sometimes good teams end up on not-so-good alliances. Just because a team is ranked low, doesn't mean it is underperforming (the converse is also true). One match on Saturday at QCR catapulted us 20+ positions directly pre-match to post-match.
The ranking system is necessary to create the alliance captains, but IMHO it should not be broadcast to the general audience throughout the event. If you would like to show the effects of rankings to a friend, you can use the FRC Spyder app to which you alluded.
tl;dr: Rankings are an important tool, but much like OPR, they only give you a biased snapshot of a team's performance.