As great as Frank's blog is, FIRST seems like an unnecessary opaque organisation. How was this decision made: who did they talk to, what were the options and what are the priorities?
I would love to know more about how FIRST makes decisions: from GDC to Big picture strategy.
There seems to be a large amount of passionate negative reaction, and a fantastic opportunity in three weeks to manifest that constructively. I think (and not as any form of team representative) the idea of a visual protest (a poster at each pit or a petition) is a great idea.
From FIRST's perspective, I can understand if they want a cultural shift away from sports, or a sports-oriented culture. But as others have said, that side of FRC attracts a lot of people (including myself) to the program, so it would be great (and respectful to the community) to admit that up front
if that was indeed the case. Especially as it's a tagline they are
promoting in the announcement: