[cadandcookies]

I actually like this game.

It's unfortunate that the many good ideas have been poisoned by an ambiguous and ill-defined rule set and a lack of enough referees at events.

Frankly I'm surprised that there haven't been more complaints at competitions. It's one thing for us teams who are familiar with the rules and can understand why fouls are given to see a match decided by foul points, but it's another for parents or passer-byes who see a clean looking match swing another way because of heavy foul points. I can't count the number of questions I got on the rules this weekend from not only spectators, but also teams who were wondering why exactly they were disabled before the match started (and I'm not even a volunteer! Just a guy in a hat!).

Frankly, I'm exceedingly impressed at the volunteers and how hard they're trying in spite of the rules. Both of the events I went to were exceedingly well run (despite some misunderstandings), despite all of the inherent difficulties and high tension at the events.

All in all, I think it's been significantly better this year than it would have been if this game was played in my first year of FRC, 2011. Looking forward to seeing what next year's game brings.