[GeeTwo]

While this was the first year that we left before the pits closed on Thursday, it was not because we weren't interested, but because this is the first year that we bagged a robot that we had practiced with and only needed minor mods to be ready to go.

Scouting and pit conferences were at least as common this year as others at Bayou, With the wide variety of tasks to perform, and the handful of teams that could regularly make one or more tall capped stacks, it was essential to fill in the capability gaps, and no ranking or OPR is going to provide that.

Finally, while I expected the game to be boring, I found it anything but, especially in the last few rounds of quals and playoffs. Even watching 0-0 matches usually wasn't boring. Frustrating, but not boring. (Can't they at least bulldoze a single row of totes onto the platform?) Even the people who "wandered in off the street" whom I spoke to were cheering, especially after a couple of resets or a dance break explaining the basic rules.