Quote:
Originally Posted by Karthik
Consider the situation with an above average alliance on the field. Let's say they manage to score 5 balls in a match. With your "ideal" delay, that means this alliance would spend 45 seconds of the match waiting for the pedestal to light up. That means 32% of the match would be spent with an alliance waiting to be allowed to enter a ball into play. This is simply unacceptable. Both the teams and the volunteer referees deserve better.
Thankfully, the pedestal delays I've witnessed in Ontario have been significantly shorter than "ideal" delays witnessed at Crossroads.
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As someone who lives and competes in a region who hosts a single regional of 63+ teams and only allows for 8 matches a year, I like to employ the dollars per match when comparing our regional to other regionals/districts when discussing a desire to change competitive format. (Yes, in Virginia, a team could say they paid $625 per match... how lovely). Using this idea here where you spend 32% of matches waiting for the trashcan to glow, you are spending $1600 to stare at a translucent white trashcan and not go insane thinking about the action you are performing.
At Alamo in our 6th match, I remember running a few cycles where the lightup time was at least 5 seconds after the ball definitely cleared the goal. I wasn't actually counting but I did turn around and politely asked the trashcan "WHY IN GOD'S NAME AREN'T YOU LIGHTING UP" twice before it actually lit. That was 15 seconds of match time, or 1% of total match time granted. Still, that's paying $50 for one team to watch a trashcan illuminate itself in one match. The object itself had to cost no more than $50 to even make. It's stunning, to say the least.