[mwtidd]

For years I have been arguing that FIRST should make the games more accessible to the casual spectator, and I think this year's game has taken a turn for the worse. Don't get me wrong, I am all for the assist system, however I would argue that it shouldn't have been brought into the match scoring. I can't think of another sport where the assist counts for game points. However in many sports the assists are used to contribute to a player's points.

I personally like the hockey model where a player receives a point whether they provided an assist or a goal. The game scoring still stays the same, but the player's ranking benefits from the assist. I would argue that just as the player's ranking benefits from the assist, it would be nice if the alliance benefited from assists.

I would argue that most people also don't understand the way team points work in the NHL either, but that doesn't affect the casual spectator either. So following the NHL analogy, where each division game is worth 3 points, imagine if in each game there were 3 qualification points to be earned. 2 for the win, 1 each in a tie, and 1 for the alliance with the most assists.

In this model, there would be plenty of motivation to go for the assists, but the casual spectator wouldn't have to understand it.

Just my 2 cents...

Good luck this year to all the teams!

P.S. I love the goalie concept.