[Qbot2640]

Originally Posted by Qbot2640

This

In 2012 we got to championship by winning a regional, but so many teams get there by other means that it is easy for a first-time championship team to get overlooked and not taken seriously. I don't want to diminish anyone's experience, but when everybody wins, what is the significance of winning? It's starting to sound like rec league soccer...everyone sign up to bring a snack at one of the events, and when you get to championship...here's your trophy and here's your Capri Sun.

Originally Posted by Kevin Sevcik

I'm also concerned by this attitude. Champs as the ultimate robot competition is depressing to me ...

It was hard to try to express the complexity of my take, and yes - I am concerned by this attitude (of my own) as well...but isn't there a part of all of us that feels this way? I'm certainly not advocating doing away with all of the "non-winning" championship invitations...but it is the group of "winners" that makes the event prestigious for a Rookie All Star, or another possibly less competitive team to be there. When 400 teams became a problematic size for championship, perhaps it was time to start being a bit more selective...not less.

After reading all of these posts - and there's tons of wisdom here - I've concluded that a much better solution would be to make districts universal (with notable exceptions of course), use the district championship as the premier event to share with more teams, and keep a single championship of around 400 teams - shared with FLL and FTC...because seeing what they do, and letting them see what we do is part of the magic.