[Ken Streeter]

Originally Posted by Racer26

I noticed at Waterloo, especially on Saturday, the head ref was being particularly quick to pull the trigger on the "Blockading" techfoul for any 2v1 defense that was being played against teams like 1114, 2056, 610 and 1310.

I, too, was very surprised at the blockade calls. The first one that I saw was in Match #23 (see http://watchfirstnow.com/archive3.php?id=62472516 starting at about time 2:00 in the video) and really surprised me.

From my perspective, at the point when the game announcer called the blockading, I had only seen good, clean, 2-on-1 defense that didn't seem to me to be an "attempt to stop the flow of the MATCH." There was at least a 10' path around the two robots on either side, as the "blockade" was right in the middle of the field at the center line. A few seconds later, there is a moment when 610 drove up against the side wall that might be interpreted as a blockade if it persisted, but even then, the 2nd robot immediately backed away.

In any case, from the matches I watched at Waterloo, it seemed that almost any 2-on-1 defense was being called as a blockade. Even though our team's robot is primarily offensive, so such a call would typically work in our favor, I don't think forbidding of any 2-on-1 defense is the intent of G25, but maybe that's just my "New England Defense" view. I sure know we had to struggle against 2-on-1 defense at plenty of tournaments each of the past two years!