[MrJohnston]

Martin,

All I am really saying is this:
I am in Washington State. According to you bio, you are in Georgia. Both of those locations are far enough from Dallas that we are not likely first-hand witnesses. (Okay, you could have traveled, but from the sound of your comment, you did not.)

We do not know that it was a bad call. We don't have the information. Yes, I have lots of "ifs." That's because you and I do not know what happened and, from my perspective, there were all sorts of things that could have justified the referee's decision.

As for GP: Yes it is a competition. Yes, we want to win. However, the desire to win does not excuse us from Gracious Professionalism. In fact, I would suggest that one of the most important lessons of FIRST is to learn to maintain GP in the heat of competition - or in its aftermath. Is it not professional to listen to both sides of a story before jumping to conclusions? Do we really want to condemn a referee without at least hearing his justification for a call?

Read the well-worded response from the 148 mentor between our two posts. In his mind, the rules were followed correctly, they only question the "guidance" and "warnings" given- something that is certainly not defined within the rules.