Last year SPAM ended its year with a finalist award at the Florida Regional, and a win at the Palmetto Regional. Not being picked to compete in the elimination matches on Curie last year was a hard hit to end a year with what we thought was an exceptional robot. Before 2011, SPAM had not won a regional since 2006. I feel last year resparked SPAM's fire of competitiveness. After a great 2011 season for SPAM, I knew no one wanted our spree to end in 2012.
This year was an amazing follow up. A finalist award in the gruelling Orlando regional. We were the captain of of the inaugural South Florida Regional winning alliance. St Louis was once again in our grasp.
We went into St. Louis being placed into the Galileo division, which was considered by many to the weakest division this year. On threads, there was only a few posters who felt we had what it took to be an Einstein competitor. The events of last year haunted the entire team. Were we once again going to fall short of eliminations, and not even be given a chance to compete for the
FIRST Championship? We competed with all of our hearts, and well the rest is history.
I would now like to give my thoughts of some the other teams that you all saw "compete" on the Einstein Field.
Team 25: You guys were amazing. Seeing you come full circle from a team with technical issues in Orlando, to one of the fiercest competitors in our division, was nothing short but inspirational.
Team 16: Before competing with you, Bomb Squad was only a name I heard in stories around the pit. You guys proved how having a killer robot is only one part of the Einstein Equation. Experience is also vital to victory. Lucky for us, you guys had both.
Team 548: Your team blew not only my mind, but all of the other SPAMies who were hear watching the Michigan championships. We could only compare your robot to a mighty rebound rumbling dragon. You guys truly had a terrifying robot, and I say that with the utmost respect.
Team 118: I had the pleasure of watching you guys compete two years ago at the Florida Regional for breakaway. Since then, you guys have been on my watch list, and after seeing your unveiling video for this year, I knew you guys would bring it to any field you got connected to (please don't take that statement in any way other than the fact that I have tons of respect for you and your robot). My biggest regret was not being able to fully compete against your killer alliance.
Teams
2056, and
1114: Oh man. Where should I begin. First of all, being from Florida, I have only heard legends of what a mighty force that Canadian teams bring to any
FIRST event. An entire Canadian alliance honestly instilled a feeling of fear inside me. 2056 is an unstoppable team that has never lost a regional. 1114 is the newest Hall of Fame Inductee, and has only lost 6 out of the many regionals that they have participated in during their 8 years of being team (sorry if I failed at counting). You guys were truly amazing to watch compete throughout the weekend.
Team 233: Pink, Pink, Pink... You guys are easily the most formidable team from Florida. Every year, you guys leave any regional you attend speechless with the "Pink Effect." For the last two years in a row, you have been the biggest hurtle in our advancing from the Florida Regional. But this is not a bad thing. Competing against you guys shows us how a great team plays the current game, and leaves us wanting to improve. It was only right that we were on opposite sides of the field on Einstein.
Being the operator for this amazing team called SPAM for the last two years has been a life changing experience. This has put me in a position to meet some of the most amazing people in the
FIRST community. Making it to Einstein gave me hope. Hope that we then had a shot to be seen as a well known team, much like how I see the teams listed above. I have included links to each of their
FIRST accomplishments page. I didn't feel it fair to list all of SPAM's accomplishments without showing theirs.
Now to get to the point. I will not be sharing my feelings of what happened on Einstein. I am afraid to post anything about our win because anything I say, will leave a sour taste in someone's mouth. The last thing I am looking to do is start trouble. This is not what I wanted for SPAM when I started this season with a personal mission to continue on past our last save point at St. Louis. I hope I speak for many when I personally ask for an entire community based off of Gracious Professionalism to move on. This was an eye opener for
FIRST, and I am sure they have been working their butts of since Saturday to get to the bottom of this. Of course nothing short of a time machine would be able to truly solve what transpired over the weekend. I now have a new goal. However little time it might be due to the next four years of college, I will continue to support SPAM with my free time so that they may win another World Title, one where there is no question in a single persons mind that they were
THE single team that most deserved that title.
Congrats and thanks to all of the mentors of Team 180. You have all been working hard since your last vision of Einstein in 2002.
Also congrats and thanks to teams 25, 16, 233, 987, 207, 548, 118, 2194, 2056, 1114, 4334 - every other Jr. FLL/FLL/FTC/FRC team - And every single volunteer. You all helped to make this my favorite year. EVER. I can't say that I ever want to forget these last 4 months of my life.
Sincerely Thankful, Ralph Rivera ~ Team Captain for FRC Team 180 SPAM. 2012 World Champions.