Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevin Sevcik
Are you proposing that we should start random baseless flame wars just to remind people that the scorn of CD will descend upon them if they have even a hint of impropriety? Frankly, I'm starting to feel really bad for anyone with a broken robot heading into selections. Their options are now to decline any picks, lie about their robot's functionality, or be accused of sandbagging.
Here's a hypothetical for the doubters. And I'd appreciate it if you'd actually really consider it. If this exact same situation happened, but the team in question was team 5592 or 30XX or something, would we still be having an argument over them sandbagging their way to the #1 seed? Or would we have accepted the explanation that they thought they were broken and noncompetitive, but managed to pull off some highly impressive repairs over lunch?
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I don't really see this thread as baseless. There was a less than desirable situation for everyone in that division, one that created a lot of questions and hurt feelings (based on the questions and feedback I received from numerous teams while standing at the inspection desk after alliance selection but prior to elims). I think it's important to air it out and get the facts that 97% of the teams in the division didn't have - the only teams that truly knew the situation with regards to 217's functioning and risk were those on the alliance.
The only alternative to starting a thread about the situation would be to leave Champs suspecting some of the best teams around of using underhanded techniques in order to win, allowing that impression to sit there and fester, and ultimately having a negative impact on anyone involved (in terms of reputation, outlook, and possible future actions by teams who suspected the worst).
For those who weren't in the division and weren't in the elims against this alliance, consider what they heard and saw. 217 told them they were broken, couldn't be fixed in time, and not to pick them. Then they saw them then get picked as a third robot for the #1 alliance. Their very first match in elims, they shoot in autonomous, seem to drive just fine, and proceed to do some full court shooting to feed their alliance members. It's extremely easy to jump to the conclusion that something fishy was going on, and many people did. While many of us here on CD know about the best teams and individuals in FIRST and would give them the benefit of the doubt, a large part of the FIRST community doesn't.
It's important for us, as a community to occasionally have discussions like this that bring us back to the question "What is Gracious Professionalism?" Would it be declining any and all alliance invitations if you were in 217's shoes? Would it be picking a team that just broke, with the intention of helping them get fixed so they can perform in the elimination matches? Would it be digging into the facts of a situation before passing judgement on another team? This situation, and this thread gives us an amazing opportunity to constructively discuss one of the core principles of FIRST.