[Canon reeves]

The game is very interesting at the upper level of play. We all love rooting for our favorite team, or watching teams like 1114 obliterate the land fill, but it's easy to over look how the large majority of teams not represented on CD feel. From a lower to mid level team's stand point, it's considerably more difficult to do well than past years. Last year all we needed to get picked was a robot that could drive well and simply possess the ball. My team spent less than $50 dollars and had a robot made of pvc, yet we got picked 8th at the Arkansas Regional. This year seems much more difficult to be a useful alliance member than in the past because of the lack of defense. It has it's pros and cons, over all I like it though. I just wonder what kind of impression it left on the rookie teams who didn't do so great.