[vhcook]

By all means, stand up when your team is introduced and during the score reveal, but not during the match.

Telling other teams to get there earlier to get front seats is not helpful. There are a limited number of front seats, a huge number of people who want them, and I would generally prefer my students not contribute to the perception that being the volunteer who lets the teams in is like participating in the running of the bulls in Pamplona, but less safe. We also aren't generally aggressive seat-savers.

I'm short (5' 2"). If a team lower in the stands or (in the case of stadiums that are wider than the field) more centered is standing and the stands don't have a very steep pitch, I may not be able to see the field even if I stand up too. It's even worse for little kids in the stands, who might not be able to see unless somebody stands up and puts them on their shoulders, which is unsafe. These are the kids we're trying to recruit into robotics for future years, and the standing team in front of them is turning their excitement into boredom and frustration because there's something exciting happening on the field, but they can't see it.

The first few times I have to ask someone to please sit down, I'm usually very polite. The fifteenth, I start to get a little frustrated, and occasionally my graciousness slips a bit. I'm guessing you weren't the only problem the team behind you was having with visibility, and they lost their cool a little.

You can cheer just as loudly and enthusiastically from a seated position. I may cheer for you too. If I can't see the field, I'm not cheering for anyone. I'm just annoying you by asking you to please consider assuming the seated position or irritably waiting for your match to end while not getting any scouting data on you or the other five teams on the field.