Alrighty. I haven’t said anything on Chief in a while but there are a few things about this past weekend that I feel need to be said.
First, I would like to acknowledge all of the hard work by the judges (and their impressive dancing skills). I was a Judge Assistant and some of the amazing things said about so many teams are truly incredible (some of which I already knew). If your team did not win an award, you still have a heck of a lot to be proud of because some of the discussions were pretty intense. I hadn’t really seen that perspective before.
Next, of course, congratulations to the winning alliance as well as Makeshift for their “double-win.” You guys truly have a special program going on and I wish you all of the best. It really is a neat case that every robot in the finals gets a ticket to champs. As much as I still have mixed feelings about this game, both alliances were impressive to watch.
Lastly, I need to give a shout-out to 1126 because, well, I’m a bit biased. I may not be able to put it as eloquently as a good friend of mine just a short scroll up the page but I agree with him 100%. You guys were ready to go on Thursday and functioned like a well-oiled machine…while working on a well-oiled machine. It was really neat to talk to some of the newer members and see that the flame is far from extinguished. I couldn’t watch matches on Friday, but I got score updates and I was texting Dylan throughout the day. Even after some exciting scores, every response was followed with “could be better.” This isn’t terribly surprising, but I’m happy to see that the drive for continual improvement is still ever-present – and you guys did just that. Saturday brought some excellent matches (and high scores!!) that you should all be proud of. You made your way to the 2nd seed alliance captain and picked a stellar combination that would have been playing in the finals in any other year. You gave every eliminations match your best shot, even after an unfortunate mishap in the semis. In true SparX fashion, you put up a fight to the end and showed everyone that you were out, but by no means down. Some of the plays I watched you guys make are things I would expect from a veteran Drive Team, and the four of you conducted yourself like pros. It was truly a pleasure catching up with people and meeting some new ones. The team may have had a few hiccups while I was a student, but the past few years have shown me that you have come back fighting. I truly wish each and every one of you the best.
I haven’t paid much attention to this year, but I truly had an exciting weekend. FLR is always such a high-quality event and this year was no exception. Hope to see you all next year (or, shameless plug time, at
Ruckus, which will be on 10/17 at the Main Street Armory in Rochester).