[Grim Tuesday]

I want to extend my thanks to the organizers and volunteers of the Fingerlakes Regional. I've been to six different locations in my time in FIRST and can say with confidence, FLR is the best of all of them. The venue is just the right size for watching closeup but the stands never seem empty nor cramped. The pits are an easy walk and scouts always have a good view, not to mention that there is free internet in the pits and stands provided by RIT. The planning committee deserves intense kudos.

We managed to get our dream team this year with JonDarr and Karthik, and Angry Eric is quickly becoming one of my favorite MC's. The refs, led by Dante are amazingly vigilant and make fair calls. They are truly a gold standard. The inspectors (special shout out to the amazing LRI Rob) are fantastic: helpful, quick and competent. And let me not forget the field reset (first week regional running ahead of schedule!?) pit admin and all the other volunteers that made the event run so smoothly and constantly spoil our team when we go to any other events.

What makes FLR so great in my book is the comradeship of the teams and how deep the event is. We saw deep strategy in the elims that I don't think we'll see again until week 7. The gameplay wasn't just great for a week one, it was amazing period.

There are too many teams I want to shout out to so I'll keep it to a minimum, but I want to congratulate 3003 on their win this year. We had a great time on an alliance with you last year, we knew you would go far this one. Good luck in St. Louis! I also want to compliment 1126 on the defense they played, it really put us to shame. You guys were a real second round steal. I want to thank 1450 for their help with our robots numerous problems. Every time we asked for help with anything, someone from them would poke their head into our pit (they were diagonally across from us) and help us.

Congratulations to 1111 for your EI, we know how exciting it is to win that unexpectedly. It was great having you guys at the regional, sitting next to you and made a lot of new friends on our team.

Finally, I think 2809 deserves incredible respect and congratulations for winning Chairmans. To win it over all the amazing teams at Fingerlakes that applied is really impressive. Congrats. Would you be able to post your essay as well as your video? I'd love to take a read.

Thanks to everyone who made this an exhilarating Fingerlakes Regional. I can't wait for a second chance at Buckeye!