[James1902]

500+ passionate posts from a group of usually very busy people on the subject of what is, to the outside world, a high school extracurricular activity...if we're not an amazing fandom I really don't know what is.

As someone who has worked to present FIRST as a form of entertainment for people inside and outside the program (which I think is consistent with the goals of FIRST) I have an issue with a narrative that lacks a satisfying conclusion. "One Championship event, bringing together competitors from around the world to have one shot at un-paralleled glory and prestige" is just a more compelling story than "two "Championship" events that bring most of the competitors from a certain area of the world to have a shot at equal prestige as that other competition". This just makes it more difficult to tell the story of the FIRST season, and that's already pretty difficult as it is.

Change is a fact of life. We grow, evolve, regenerate, and usually we move on, better than we were before. With the way FIRST is growing some sort of adjustment must be made, I think a majority of us agree with this sentiment.

Does this mean I like the changes they've made? No.

Is it driving me to quit the program? Probably not.

Have I become that annoying mentor who asks rhetorical questions to make a convoluted point? ...

I'm hoping that FIRST has a longer term plan for this system that addresses my concerns, but if they do I wish they would have made that clear when they made this announcement.