[sanddrag]

This is embarrassing to our organization as a whole. In FIRST Robotics, we hold ourselves and our students to a higher standard than most, and this is not representative of the world-class organization we are. The practice needs to stopped.

In addition, throwing anything is a huge safety hazard. In Long Beach, there were beach balls going through the stands, and people were hitting them with all their might, rather violently. We nearly had expensive camera equipment topple over a railing due to an impact from a beach ball. It wouldn't be a stretch to imagine a student toppling over the railing trying to save it.

If you want to fly airplanes go to the park. The rest of us are trying to enjoy a robotics competition.