[Brandon Holley]

Originally Posted by rich2202

That may affect when you get on the field, but, once you are at your placement location, and the location is clear, your 60 seconds starts, regardless of what is happening on the rest of the field.



Any team that takes more than 60 seconds to setup. However, if a team routinely takes 65 seconds, I probably won't notice them. But, if I do notice them, you can bet that they are taking more than 60 seconds.

Yes, they get warnings, and a lot of slack during early qualification matches.

After a few matches of being warned, that is when I will be a PIA to them. They will also know that I am telling the Head Ref about them.



If a team is complying with the 60 second guideline, they have comfort in knowing that they will not be disabled because of the rule. Just because you may be in reasonable compliance doesn't mean that you have earned back an extended grace period.



I don't know the specifics about Dallas. If a team has been sufficiently warned, then the disabled should not be a surprise to them. If they had not been warned, then I think that is a problem. In practice matches, we were calling a lot of fouls. That is like a warning to the teams. By the time we got to eliminations, no fouls were being called. We didn't get more lax at calling fouls. The Teams were getting better at not committing them.

I think the 60 second guideline is: you know it when you see it. Obviously there will be extenuating circumstances, and a team should get more time. But, 99% of the time, a team knows when their 60 seconds starts - they are at their location, and able to place their robot. IMHO: All the other what-if's are red herrings. In general, the Ref's can see the situation, and adjust accordingly. Now, if teams are fighting over who goes where, that is an Alliance Problem, not a Ref/Field problem.

Rich-

I think your interpretation of the rule is fair, reasonable and a good example of how to enforce it across every event.

The issue is that not every referee is you, and actually can (as depicted in the various examples across this thread) widely vary from the method you are describing.

Unfortunately there are situations that have already occurred that leave teams in a bad position and force us to protect ourselves. We need to ensure we are not surprised by rule interpretations when we get to an event.

This clarification is something I think all of us would really like to see, somewhere in 'black and white'.

-Brando