Quote:
Originally Posted by Karthik
Thanks for letting me know I wasn't doing FIRST for the right reasons when I was a student, I wish someone told me sooner.
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I'm glad someone else voiced this. I honestly thought I was screwing something up for myself and my students when I read that. There are some bad matches that are just plain unforgettable, especially when you're behind the glass with everything on the line.
I'd like to answer the OP, though I'm on a fine line (I was reffing the event, though the incident was caddy-corner to me and I did not witness it). Without discussing the call, I will say--in a statement that's biased more as a coach than as a ref anyway--that I don't believe the head ref's conversation was ungracious, if for no other reason than he was talking to a mentor, which he's not intended to do anyway.
OP, I'm interested to know what happened when one of your students asked in the Question Box. If they did not receive a timely and correct answer, that's certainly something that can be changed.
I have no solutions to offer for the ranking system, though I will point out that the system is part of the game. Yes, there's luck in the schedule, but if you can't work with the ranking, you're not playing the game. We've been on the good and bad sides of this, and I have to say this year is among the most straight-forward years in recent history.
That said, I love the District Model's guaranteed 12 matches. Turnover is impossible sometimes, but it's serious bang for the buck. Finding a way to manage something like this in other places would be great, but I'm involved enough in MAR to know how challenging it is. Even just adding another field to Javtis requires significantly more volunteers and support.
Like others, I cannot see video replays happening. I wouldn't mind having a challenge flag that instituted some other yet undetermined review process, but I can't see an unbiased and cost-effective way to institute video reviews. Some events have enough trouble setting up video at all. And especially in this year's game, angle is everything. The view from my Week 1 driver's station* is entirely and utterly different from my Week 2 ref stand (despite running back and forth for both). It's really unlike anything I've played on in 8 years. You can probably find an angle to show anything this year. Take a stroll around the field--it might even tweak your strategy.
*...from whence I ranted silently about several 'blatant' missed fouls in a match we lost by 1 point. ...It goes both ways though: in Week 2, I got reamed by a coach that thought an opponent was hitting him in a hang, when in fact from the side it was clear his ally was the one in the way, and the opponent wasn't even in contact.
As for G25, I stand by my Q&A suggestion. I'd do it right now (and I will do it later), but I asked 5 of the last 7 and the GDC may or may not be ready to kick me. I'd suggest something about if blockading can mean 'robots-on-robot' or if it must be a 'zone defense' sort of thing (relative to impairing the
field rather than a robot).